The book is set in and around the fictional town of Levion. The protagonists are Conner White and Victoria Parks. Conner is a controversial author who finds out that his negative and pessimistic books have resulted in someone committing suicide. So he reaches Levion with the purpose of reconnecting with people and finding himself. There he encounters Victoria Parks, a girl who is fighting her own demons. Dark secrets, including ones of death and illness, are exposed all around; with several prominent characters all seemingly having their own inscrutable motives. And Conner White has to save Victoria and the town of Levion. But to do that, he has to first save himself.
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Varun Gwalani has whipped up a fictional town and a bunch of fictional characters to show us the reflection of some of our harsh realities.
Conner White is an author with a number of depressing fictions under his belt. When a reader commits suicide after reading his book, Conner takes on a journey of self-discovery and ends up at a small town of Levion. There he meets a variety of characters but it is Victoria Parks who he gets close to. When bodies start to fall in Levion, it is up to Conner to save the day.
First of all, though the plot of the story is not extraordinary, it had great potential that was not fully realized. It turned into one of those formulaic hindi movie script with over the top ingredients that are sometimes hard to digest. The characters swoop in and save the day… I liked the way Conner is developed and somehow is ‘hero’ like persona suited him well enough. Victoria Parks is also an interesting character with her own baggage though I would have liked to see a bit more development in her case.
As for the writing style of the author, his youth shows through his writing. It needs some working but for a debut author his narrative style works well. Another thing irked me a bit – the fact that an Indian author has used international names for his character has not gone down well with me… Why use Tom, Dick & Harry when you belong amongst Ajay, Vijay & Rahul? Especially since the plot rolls out like a Bollywood movie!
Review Copy received from Leadstart Publishing
Well, the reader commiting suicide after reading the author's book has me intrigued and interested. But then again, the lack of creativity and origninality has me questioning my own choice. I'm glad this book was just about enough for you to give it a decent three stars. Great review, DDS!
ReplyDeleteSarika @ The Readdicts