Sunday 25 February 2018

Fate's Design by Subhashish Dey: a review

There are books that appeal to you because of the cover. There are books that appeal to you because of the blurb. Then, there are those rare books that appeal to you with a kindness after seeing the age of the author. When I was first approached with Fate's Design, I looked through the mail randomly and I reached the author's bio. What was so interesting in it that made me get the book and read it? Well, the author Subhashish Dey.

About the book- When a kidnapper redeems his lost conscience and finds himself unable to murder the girl he has kidnapped, what does he do? Fate is cruel to him, and good intentions are never enough. At the same time, a woman dissatisfied with her existence flees from her home, not knowing what lies ahead of her. But all things come at a price, and she has a hard path ahead through storms and fire. Watch how fate has entwined these lives together, into a song through struggles of conscience and identity, through the deepest lows and greatest highs, and through the flame of madness and the stings of survival.


You read about the book now. So I guess you can now guess what's special about the writer. No? C'mon. No, still? Okay. Let me tell you. This book is written by a 14 year old student. Yes! That's exactly what my reaction was after reading the author's bio that attracted me to the book. After receiving the book, I went through it's pages and there was one thing that struck me. There was an Epigraph. I agree there are many books that start with epigraphs but which author starts the Epigraph by writing, “Epigraph" on top of it? Majority of the readers go through the Epigraph without even knowing it is one.

That impressed me at first sight. Then, I went to reading it. And I must say, this young writer took me aback. I, for the longest time, couldn't believe that such a magic of a book can be written by a writer so young. I'm sure after reading the book many readers would want to compliment the writer on the same and why not? He deserves all the accolades.

Now, coming to the writing. Interesting part of the book is that the characters of the book are not from your day to day life. You have character names like Asterope, Natalia, Anastasaii who you do not encounter in your daily life readings of other books. Attempting such was an intelligent feat. The writing style was very lucid and not too colloquial which can be a risk for such a young writer. Dey’s debut was a dream it seems.

The way the story has gone forward, it never felt like falling into one compact genre: it had a mix of everything and that makes the book all the more worth it. Arriving to the cons of the book I would like to say that such a beautiful writing deserved another round of proofreading perhaps, which would've sharpened the potential of the story. The pace, also, needs to be worked on. Along with the fact that I expected a bit more work on the cover because it might get lost in the midst of the others. All in all, a heartwarming effect the book had on me and more so, when I see the future of Indian writing is in good hands. Looking forward to the best results from the writer in the future, the book is a 3.75 out of 5 for me. 

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