Tuesday, 4 October 2016

Untamed by Laxmi Hariharan: a review

The second book that I have read of the authoress, Untamed by Laxmi Hariharan is wonderful in more ways than one. We might've read many types of stories and most of them coming of age ones but one that merges itself with being a many lives story us the first in its lot. I got attracted to the book the first time I read the authoress and the cover of the book helped me like the book more. Here's the blurb of the book.

According to the blurb- Leana Iyeroy, the first hybrid in her family, only ever wanted to be 100% human. An unexpected encounter with the Hugging Saint of Bombay forces Leana face the wolf inside her. A shifter, coming of age story, UnTamed was originally published as part of the UnCommon Bodies Anthology and is a standalone story in the Many lives series.

After reading Feral, I had a lot of expectations from the book and I wasn't really disappointed. The cover had me at first glance and so did the blurb. It seemed a very typical Laxmi Hariharan book from her Many Lives stories series and rightfully so. The book starts in the year 2070 just as all the other books of the series which gives us a glimpse of the lives of hybrids and an imaginary Bombay. The book started on a very high note and that brings a punch to the story.

Then the story goes on and it speeds through the whole book. A novella of around 25 pages or so makes this book a 10 minute read to say the max. I will talk about the writing style of the authoress. She has this habit if enchanting her audience with the way she writes and so did this book.

The characters that she worked with and the way she has described the book gives in the much needed feel of the book and that surely brings in a lot about the book. Leana was a very vulnerable yet strong character to work with and I was looking forward to see what the authoress does with her and I'll have to give it to the authoress to make her so lively.

Now, speaking of the cons of the book. Well, for the people who have read Feral, this book might as well be a disappointed because the effect that the characters of Feral had is missing somewhere in this book. Here, the authoress has speeded through the book like anything and somewhere down the line the readers might get lost in what happens after what and when. Truthfully, I did. On one hand when it feels good when an author makes you re-read certain parts of the book to get the essence but when it's a novella and that too one that's so speedy then re-reading it might feel awkward. I would really want to read a more detailed and developed book from the authoress.

All in all, the book is a wonderful one time read but I'll caution you- please read slowly. While I loved feral and keeping in mind that this is a standalone book, I would like to rate this book 3.75 out of 5.

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