The Gatekeeper's Staff (TJ Young & The Orishas #1) by Antoine Bandele

I was listening to too many serious books that I decided to try one YA or middle-grade fantasy book. It was then I came across "The Gatekeeper's Staff" on Netgalley. I liked the cover and description, on top of that I have listened to one more book by the author, so I applied for the review copy. I got it in exchange for an honest review.

The story is written around boy TJ who belonged to a magician family. Magician in the book is known as diviners. TJ's sister was a child prodigy and was working on a secret project. Though he was from a strong line of magicians, his skill as a magician was nothing but a lucky charm and tingling on the top of his fingers. But the demise of her sister changed everything. He was selected for a camp where wizard kids go for training. Read the book to know more.

When I started the book and heard words like Orisha, Diviner, Ashe I thought the author has taken ideas from Tomi Adeyemi. But later on, I searched on the internet and found that Orisha is mythology and no one has their claim on it. The book is a good mixture of fantasy, mythology, a mystery to give you good company. I will wait for the sequel.

The book deserves a good 4.25 out of 5.

The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson

 I was going through English Audiobooks available for review on Netgalley when I saw the title "The Cul-de-Sac War" by Melissa Ferguson. The very first thing I checked was the language settings in Netgalley. Then I google the word "Cul-de-sac", what I gauged from the title was the book must be around neighbors. And that was described in the blurb. Based on these few things, I applied for the review copy in exchange for an honest review, and luckily I won it. So here I am discussing the sweet love story.

Written in settings of a cure rom-com (you may say sitcoms), the story revolves around the personal & professional lives of Bree & Chip. I don't want to discuss the plot once again as the blurb is more than enough. Let me talk about things I liked about the story

1. Pranks between Bree & Chip

2. Gentleness of Chip in all situation never losing his temper

3. Characters of the girlfriend of Chip & boyfriend of Bree. Both were caring and marriage material.

4. Fun-filled incidents ( I know the very first point was a prank, but I feel I should mention it)

Coming towards good points about the book

1) Light read

2) Language is easy and age-appropriate

3) The pace of the story is fast and will maintain

4) To the point story

Overall I enjoyed listening to this book. The book deserves 3.75 stars out of 5. 

So You Had to Build a Time Machine by Jason Offutt

I wanted to listen to something light during the festive season of Diwali, so I selected "So You Had to Build a Time Machine" by Jason Offutt, after checking its blurb. I selected the book based on the title and blurb, as the cover design has only a title with cockroaches (later on, I came to know why cockroaches were portrayed). As per the blurb, the book was a comedy based on time-travel, so I thought of having a different experience this time. 

Though the blurb says about time traveling, it doesn't say much about narration style. There are 5 main characters in the story, four of them are on the good side, and one of them on the bad side. Skid, David, and Brick took a major role, their time-traveling scenes were given in different sequences, initially, I found them too random and haphazard but later on, I understood that it was done to keep the interesting quotient intact.

The author has taken the liberty and used the style of a scary movie to make the book a light-hearted comedy. In the scary movie, you find comic scenes based on different movies, here the author has taken plot-based characters from various fantasy books. You will find dinosaurs, golems, mantis, ogres, giant cockroaches, and whatnot. Things will pop out at unexpected corners and make you laugh. 

An enjoyable book. But it could have been better. 

I am giving 3.25 out of 5 to this book.

By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story (The Sky Pirate Chronicles #1) by Antoine Bandele

I am reading and following manga since 2008. And my most favorite is "One Piece" a Japanese comic based on a fantasy world where Pirates rule the world. So when I saw "By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story" I was very excited. I am happy that I got its copy in exchange for an honest review.

"By Sea & Sky" is my second audiobook from Netgalley honest review copies. I was glad that I waited for app updates because, by the time I started this book, the forward/backward option started working.

The book belongs to "The Sky Pirate Chronicles", a fantasy world. Our two major characters are  Karim and Zala. Karim was from the Vaji empire and was stationed on the first-ever sky Shop built by Vaji Empire. They were given tasks to prove the ability of the ship. On their voyage, they apprehended some notorious pirates, one of the key prisoner was Zalani, Zala's husband. Zala and her husband joined pirates to make some quick money so that they can buy the required ingredients for remedies for Zalani's cursed disease. But in that process, they got separated. Zala with 3-4 other members from her crew was stranded on a lone island. Read the book to know whether she was able to reunite with her husband or not.

The plot and storyline have good potential but the portrayal was shallow. The author had sprinkled every bit of things he had in mind for this fantasy. Many of those bits were used or referred to just one time. For the first book in the series, it would be too much for a reader to attach so deeply. I was expecting more details if possible for a few topics. 

Coming to characters, though Zala might be the protagonist of the story, I found Karim more interesting. Zala's character was part selfish and filled with folly. Usually, in this kind of book, the author portrays such that the reader gets attached to one side either pirate or marine. But here the author has used an unbiased approach, when I was listening to Karim's part I wanted marine to win, and when I was listening to Zala I wanted pirate to outsmart.

Coming to the audio book, the narrator has done a good job, voice modulation and tone were proper. In many places, background music is also given.

Overall an okay book still deserves 3 out 5.

Book review - Blood & Ash (The Jezebel Files #1) by Deborah Wilde

I was sincerely waiting for Audiobook review copies by Netgalley. I started checking out books within a month of audiobook launch. But my selective choices have delayed my Netgalley audiobook experience by 2 months. The very first book for which I applied and received a review copy in exchange for an honest review was "Blood & Ash" by Deborah Wilde. I could have reviewed the book within 15 days of approval, but a month was wasted as due to some technical issues in the app, I was unable to download the book. For another month, I waited for a technical bug to get resolved, which I was facing in the app. The bug was about forward and backward buttons, these buttons were kept playing chapter from the beginning. Also, the app was forgetful many times where I left last. One more thing I found was that this issue was with a certain set of audiobooks only, and unfortunately, Blood & Ash was one of them. Anyway, I don't want to downrate books because of technical issues.

As mentioned in the blurb, the story is portrayed in today's world. But magic is added as a fantasy flavor. The world is having two kinds of people mundane the normal humans, and the Nefesh, human with magical powers. There are separate rules and houses for wizards. The protagonist of our story is Ashira Cohen, a mundane private investigator. All she has in her life are her job as an investigator and her roommate/best friend Priya, a cybersecurity expert, and somewhat space for her mother. Things are changed when she discovers a hidden tattoo on the backside of her body, and she realizes that she can do magic. As if these complexities are not enough, she starts seeing mysterious shadows attacking wizards. She also learns that kids are disappearing from different locations. Read the book to know how things are related. 

Coming to writing style, the author has covered multiple aspects in the book, but my favorite are

1. Badass female protagonist

2. Satirical dialogues

3. Action sequences

4. Suspense behind situations

The character of Ashira is unique. She is intelligent, kind-hearted, too much introspective, less friendly, to the point in nature, and last but not least bad mouth at times. Throughout the book, you will see Ashira's way of seeing her surrounding like you are living through it. Suspense creation in the book was good, but I was expecting more in the climax. 

Anyways a good book series to follow.

I will give 3.75 out of 5 to this book.

Confused - Audible or Storytel? 3 major differences between Leading Audiobook Apps in India

Are you confused about which audiobook app is better for you? Are you not sure how audiobook apps operate? Not sure which one suits your need? Check our video.

There are three simple differences which will help you to make your decision. Questions are subscription-style, cost & book portfolio. Check the video to know how these three things will help you.

For more details, you may contact us.

Do follow our Instagram handle for more updates. https://www.instagram.com/fewgoodreads_/

Book Review - The Many Adventures of Peter and Fi

When I had compared my yearly, quarterly & monthly book read logs, I realized that compared to 2017, year on year I was/am reading fewer books. From 70+ in 2017, I am around 40-45 books now. At the same time guilt of not able to read kept increasing, to cover the lost/missed pages I needed an option.

Around that time I came upon a mail by "Kelvyn Fernandes" about his book "The Many Adventures of Peter and Fi Volume I: Homecoming". I had little time and about to decline a request when I saw the audiobook available. So I took that as a sign from stars and downloaded the first chapter. I gave a try during my morning cycling time. I liked the experience so much that after coming back I downloaded all chapters and also worked around audiobooks from other authors. I know I am mixing up my first audiobook experience with this book's review but I cannot separate them as both are linked.

Coming to the actual story, it is about two characters Peter and Fi. The first one is a magician and the later one is from the mystical beast clan. The story started when Peter for his magician qualification took a quest. On the way or I would say to reach his goal he went through various situations. Fi was an orphan raised by Peter. She joined him in his quest in return for the promise that Peter would take her to her hometown. Description & adventure are filled with the fantasy world and its creature. Read the book to know more.

Though written for middle grade, it can give satisfaction fantasy readers as well. There are parts in books which brings smile to your face and there are parts (like condition of prisoner, punishment to people around city wall, attack on Phi's village) will make you feel emotional. The story is divided into multiple short ones, side characters of each stories are well thought of keeping Jack & Phi as mains.

The book is written with simple language for the targeted audience. The plot is simple. Voice artist has done a good job. He has maintained the difference between different characters which has given uniqueness to the narration. Overall a good book/story. I will give 3.75 out of 5 to this book.

Book Link - Amazon & Goodreads