Book Review - Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch by Anuja Chandramouli

Before I start let me thank Anuja Chandramouli for providing the review copy in exchange for the honest review. I would like to apologize Anuja for delaying review beyond her consideration. The wrong delivery of the book has somehow put the book in the farthest corner of my shelf. Being a fan of Anuja's book I was well aware of what kind of mood her books needed to read, I took the book when I would be able to read with the needed attention.

Book Blurb

As Yama's Lieutenant, Agni Prakash, has diligently been tracking down demons and spirits that threaten peace on earth and dispatching them to his lord's thousand hells. Danger is a constant in his job, but this time an apocalypse threatens his entire world. Agni must go up against a terrifying sorceress-adept in the ancient art of stone magic-and her bestial army of demoniacal creatures who used to be humans before they were transformed into willing killing machines. The witch has a nightmarish vision for a new world that involves large scale culling of the humans-and it falls to Agni to stop her. He must find the Samayakalas, the mysterious keepers of time and reset the clock before all life is destroyed. However, any contact with the Samayakalas is forbidden to mortal and immortal alike and those who flout the ancient decree risk incurring punishment far worse than death. The price asked of him is an impossible one, but Yama's Lieutenant does not have a choice. Enlisting the help of old friends, he must submit to being borne across an ocean of death and destruction to find the Samayakalas before darkness engulfs them all.

"Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch" is the second book in the series of Yama's Lieutenant. The story started with a few pages of the re-cape. Agni the protagonist of our story, the Yama's Lieutenant, was up against a sinister witch. Along with the main story, Agni's sister's (Varu's) story/letter written for Agni also continued in this part. Now coming to the antagonist of our story Nayima was the stone witch. A precious gem she possessed had given her unparallel power. She dreamed of a perfect society. But just like Thanos of Avenger, the stone witch also had an idea of destroying current order before procreating ideal world through her selected humans. Her army was the harbinger of death, where ever they went; death, chaos, and carnage followed them. Even Agni had only one option to approach and take help of an unapproachable GGodess. He had some new comrade to help him out. Read the book to know more. Don't worry I haven't revealed much.

Now coming to good points

• A complete combo of action, thriller, and horror. Better than 1st part
• Language usage is brought down to a simple one compared to 1st part
• Awesome cover art
• Ignoring the initial 50 pages even pace is also improved

Things that took time for me.

• Anuja has magic in her words when she writes all the characters (no matter how minute or sidelined it would be) given a great depth. While reading you will feel them important characters, but they would not be. Many such descriptions have added some percentage of bored-ness in the reading experience. For me, without them, the book might be 50-60 pages lighter.
• The bar of the first 50 pages. The slow-paced of first 50 pages were like a never-ending wall for me. It took extra efforts from me.

Overall a wonderful story. Better than part one. Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 4/5
2. Characters - 4.5/5
3. Concept - 3.5/5
4. Content - 3.5/5
5. Overall - 4/5

The book can be found at Amazon and Flipkart

Reviews from other readers can be found at GoodReads