The City of Devi

‘The City of Devi’ is definitely one of the most enjoyable of my dystopia-keyword-library-catalogue-search finds. The blurb is quite coy about the plot, stating only that two people are searching for the person they love most in Mumbai, while the threat of nuclear annihilation hangs over the city. It’s actually much more fun than that might suggest. The two people who team up to survive chaotic Mumbai are the wife and ex-boyfriend of the same man. So it’s a bisexual love triangle and there’s a race against time to see whether the three will discover polyamory before nuclear war breaks out. I found the description of apocalyptic, collapsing Mumbai atmospheric and exciting. The split point of view was very effective and the show more flashbacks well-handled. The death of a main character near the end was disappointing, as I would have liked a happy ending, but it did seem fitting. Too conveniently comfortable an ending would have been incongruous with the background of nuclear war and global disaster, I suppose. The tone is fast-paced and witty, with a wistful, thoughtful edge. There’s something cinematic about it, in fact, that could translate well onto film. As an escapist adventure, however, it sometimes jolted me back into reality with passages about religious intolerance and terrorism. I would term it more of an apocalyptic novel than a dystopian one, personally, and a very good one. I liked the characters, found their emotional dilemmas moving, got carried along by the plot, and thought the settings vivid and compelling. I gather it’s the third in a series, yet it seems to work perfectly well as a stand alone novel. show less

An unorthodox love story that centers around two people searching for the one they love at the end of the world. Set against the diverse background of Mumbai - a city lately under threat of nuclear annihilation - a young bride searches for her husband bearing only the mystic totem of their love, a pomegranate. She will meet Jaz, a cosmopolitan gay man who is searching for the one who got away. Though oddly matched, the two will join their quests and discover more than they ever imagined.

A highly imaginative, fast-paced storyline propels you along, and the three main characters are each touching in their own way. I may have missed something though, not being familiar with Hinduism, because I don't really understand the concept of Devi and what that really meant. I also found the ending to be a bit trite. The author really tried to avoid sentimentality and cliche at the end, but it still felt a bit trite to me. For the right reader, though, this book could be highly enjoyable.