Merjella by Yuvaraja Dhayanithi

Though 'Merjella' by Yuvaraja is written for kids/young adults, it is a refreshing read for any age group. Merjella can remind us why fantasy is still the best genre to read.

Blurb of the book goes like :

Jella, an octopus, is the rightful ruler of Zypher, a kingdom in the sea. But her father was killed and the kingdom was taken over by the evil Chiro. She has no one left but her two little friends, Qwerty and Bingo. Now the task of winning back Zypher and freeing the people is up to her.

Marina is an eminent scientist who has no clue about her contributions to the world. Her inventions are placed in the wrong hands, posing a huge threat to everybody.

Jella finds Marina stabbed and left to die in her sea. In a magical intervention, together they discover each other’s life experiences - but will they be able to reclaim their destiny?

Story started with an octopus Jella, who had ability to become Jellopus (octopus with magical powers). She was living far from her birthright Zypher with her friends. Her life changed when one of her octopus friend went to Zypher to challenge evil Chiro. Her friend got defeated and she was forced to go in hiding. During this Jella accidentally met Mariana (a human). Mariana was stabbed in her back and she was thrown in sea. When Jella tried to save Mariana they both merged in each other and became a new species called MereJella. Because of this fusion Jella got magical powers. And became Jellopus in real sense. 

With her new power she wanted to fight Chiro but Bingo, her friend, asked her to be patient. He advised her to make a strategy and come back when she understand her own powers. Considering Bingo's advice Jella go to human world. She makes friends there. She also started finding out reason behind Marina's murder. Jella train an army of various fishes species and lead them to war against Chiro. Story was sure-shot page turner till last page.

It was a good - light book for young adults. The pace was pretty fast. There were few lose points where author ran very fast to describe scene / part well. Author has used fish capability well to characterized them in story.

Talking about ratings:

1. Cover - 3.5 / 5
2. Concept - 4 / 5 (Completely new, no doubts about it.)
3. Content - 4 / 5 (Specially for facts provided about fish)
4. Language - 3.5 / 5 (Proper for its age group)
5. Story Line - 4 / 5 (Pretty straight)
6. Characters - 3.5 / 5 
7. Overall - 3.5 / 5

Book can be found at - Amazon & Flipkart

Review from other readers can be found at - GoodReads