Thursday, February 22, 2018

Book Review - What Next?

"What Next?" by Santosh Gangadharan is an excellent mixture of history and advanced sci-fi technologies that will occur in future. The story twirls around the journey of a soul.



Book Blurb
WHAT NEXT? That is what the quest is for. An Omani couple travels in India's Chandrayaan 8 mission to moon. While in transit, strange things occur in the spacecraft. During the end of the 15th century, Vasco Da Gama travels to Calicut in India via Malindi, a kingdom on the eastern coast of Africa. Around the same time the great Omani traveller Ahmed Ibn Majid also makes several voyages in these seas. Two sailor brothers from Liwa in Oman are destined to travel with Ahmed. Meanwhile their pretty sister falls in love with a stranger who had come across the ocean to Liwa. Strange circumstances drive the lovers to elope from Oman to Calicut in India. Their past catches up with them and they disappear mysteriously, leaving their son under the tutelage of a local couple. Brave Abhay is adept in martial arts, and different languages and customs. Strange dreams of a man in distress perturb the boy and he sets off to find the man in his dreams. His travails take him through the jungles of Kerala braving the sniper war between the moors (Arabs) and the parangis (Portuguese). When he learns of his origin, he travels over the high seas to reach his roots in the hope of meeting the one who gave birth to him. In his homeland he encounters the threat of the Portuguese and the evil from the past threatens his parents' existence. He has to act fast to protect his family from uncertain danger. He races against time to carry out his mission. The future of the couple in Chandrayaan is entangled with the past of a family in Liwa. What destiny has designed for each one cannot be changed. Rules have to be followed, albeit in ignorance. The soul has its way of drawing the life of its carrier. Nobody is allowed to edit what is already written. The voyage continues.
The plot of the book is quite new. The author talks about the ancient history of Oman, Saudi Arabia, where people buried their dead ones on mountain tops to help their souls to complete their journey.

The story covers India's mission to the moon: Chandrayana 8. With its travelers' roots in past from 15th century. The author has narrated science with a twist of mystery and thrill. At every chapter, the story will leave you guessing What next?

Although the ending of the story was bit abrupt in a philosophical way. The author left us to assume what had happened.

Overall a good gripping historical fiction novel till the end.

Talking about ratings:
  1. Cover: 3/5
  2. Characters: 4/5
  3. Concept: 4/5
  4. Overall: 3.5/5
Book can be found at Amazon & Flipkart
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads

We would like to thank Leadstart Publishers (Frog Books) for providing this opportunity to review book. Readers can check their wonderful collection of books by going through this link - Leadstart Books

1 comment:

  1. Its the first time, I am reading , of an Omani and Indian cultural combination though many people married from Calicut or vice-a-versa, some are real, but 'what next' is unique in relating the two different styles and gifts the reader continued interest. Well written congrats

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