Percy Jackson : Heroes of Olympus. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus. The Lost Hero.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin Books. (www.puffinbooks.com) Penguin group.

ISBN : 978 0141325491

This is the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series.

Jason got up in the back seat of a Wilderness School bus, not knowing who he is, why he is here or even where he is from.

And like a perfectly normal demigod day, he takes a dive down the Grand Canyon and fights some storm spirits. By coincidence he is rescued by Annabeth, who gets the message that Percy, who had gone missing will be there.

Getting to camp wasn’t any better. He realized that he had already been claimed and that the queen of Olympus had taken away his memories intending to use him as a ‘bridge’.

As if the day could get any more eventful, he gets a prophecy that Hera is being held hostage and that he is supposed to rescue her. Leo has another task, helping his cabin to destroy the dragon, Festus, to lift the curse from his cabin, but how can they do what nobody has done in all these years. And Leo can’t stand the thought of this beautifully crafted dragon to be destroyed, so he has to tame it, thinking that it could also help in the quest, but he has little time to do it.

The questions and possibilities are many, answers scanty…….

Will they succeed in rescuing Hera, will Jason get his memory back and  does the arrival of Jason have anything to do with the disappearance of Percy. 

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin Books. (www.puffinbooks.com) Penguin group.

ISBN : 978 0141346885

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian is the last book in the Percy Jackson series.

On his sixteenth birthday, Percy gets a prophecy that could save or destroy the world…

“A half blood of the eldest gods

 Shall reach sixteen against all odds

 And see the world in endless sleep

 The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap

 A single choice shall end his days.

 Olympus to preserve or raze.”

The Titan lord Kronos, is starting to attack New York City. The dreaded monster Typhon is by his side. As if things could not get any worse, the enemy reports that they have a spy at camp….

Percy and just forty of his demigod friends set out against untold evil. Nico has a plan, but Percy doesn’t think he’s ready yet, it could kill him.

Hades and Poseidon have their own issues down there and cannot join the war.

But, like always, things don’t go the way they’re supposed to… Annabeth gets stabbed, Chiron gets buried, Rachel gets recent visions and the Ares cabin at camp refuses to come to the battle till they get the chariot back….

Is this Kronos’ way of dividing them to conquer Olympus? And things get more complicated when Percy gets Pandora’s jar as a gift from a Titan, who said that if they open it, and release ‘HOPE’ they will know that they have surrendered.

Percy’s only hope is to convince Luke to turn over and destroy Kronos, but it seems unlikely.

As the demigod of the prophecy all of this is on Percy’s shoulders….. Will they beat the Titan Kronos or will they be taken over by monsters….

Hack into your creativity by author Michael Burns

Book: Hack into your Creativity

Author: Michael Burns

Publisher: Penguin Books, Penguin Randomhouse, Penguin group.

ISBN : 978 0670090105

American Michael Burns is a university teacher, writing coach, actor, editor and storyteller. He has a BA from Georgetown University, an MS from UMass Amherst, and holds a PhD in documentary film history from the University of Birmingham in the UK. He has directed five films for international television and his work has been seen in over twenty countries. He moved to India in 2011, and founded Tall Tales, the country's longest-running, live storytelling event series. He also conducts popular writing workshops around India. 

Everyone of us has a tale, a story that only we know best and can tell it with emotions, humor, insights. And yet when we pick up the pen , our words are stymied. We are unable to put it into a coherent narrative, into a style, that tells the tale to a reader sitting far away, in a different country, in the same passion and style that we narrate it. You know this feeling well. I certainly do !!!

This book holds your hand and takes you through the initial jitters to how to get the narrative going, how to get the creative juices to flow through your pencil. How to get a story and its subplots to stick together.

This book is divided into various segments : Character building, Genre, Integration, What next , Everyday magic, and on and on. It literally teaches you how to build a story. That same story, that you know the best, all your life, and yet it is stifled inside you.

If you’re a veteran of writing prompts from the Internet or newspapers, you will find comfort in familiar formats right next to brand new ones. So challenge yourself with types of prompts that you’ve never seen before and discover writing interests and abilities that you didn’t even know you had! Whether you are a casual flash-fiction author, scriptwriter, non-fictioneer or branding executive, this book will set your creativity on fire. Be a story alchemist. Transform your writing. And above all, have fun doing it!

The biggest laurel for this book is, a young reader of 11 years of age, who helps me write the kiddy books on my blog, picked it up and read it for some minutes and said “Wow, just the way you are teaching me to blog, this book is teaching me how to write”. And that young budding author, has since then picked this book up thrice and sat down to read it !!!

Percy Jackson & Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin Books. (www.puffinbooks.com) Penguin group.

ISBN : 978 0141146830

Percy Jackson and the battle of the Labyrinth is the fourth book of the Percy Jackson series.

The labyrinth was thought to be lost a millennia ago, but when they find a secret entrance right in the middle of camp, things start to go terribly wrong, and that’s just the beginning….

The Labyrinth was created by Daedalus, a maze, connected to his life force. It is a maze used to trap the Minotaur, a maze that is alive, where time and space are meaningless, keeps shifting and is full of horrors.

When a Labyrinth entrance is found in the heart of camp half blood, the enemy decides to use the Labyrinth to get inside camp. If they succeed, thousands of bloodthirsty monsters will invade camp.

But the enemy will only be able to navigate through the maze with Ariadne’s string. The string was kept with Daedalus, who was thought to be dead a million years ago, but as a demigod you can’t be sure…

Percy, Annabeth , Tyson and Grover are trying to find Daedalus before Luke can and convince him not to give Luke the string…

Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Grover descend into darkness with the prophecy,

“You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze.

  The dead, the traitor and lost one raise,

  You shall rise or fall by the ghost’s king hand,

  The child of Athena’s final stand.”

Will they accomplish their mission of will they end up with something else inside the Labyrinth………

Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse by Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin Books. (www.puffinbooks.com) Penguin group.

ISBN : 978 0141146816

Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse is the third book of the Percy Jackson series.

Percy, Grover, Thalia and Annabeth are off to a new boarding school, Westover Hall and almost get themselves killed in two hours.

Grover had caught scent of two unclaimed demigods, powerful, he called them, and the four were off to rescue them. Percy didn’t have a good history with teachers, but this teacher at Westover Hall, Dr. Thorn, turned out to be a monster, captured Annabeth and warned them about a legendary doomsday monster… and all of it is connected to his old frenemy, Luke.

The hunters come to camp with the news that Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, has disappeared. A quest of five, hunters and campers set off to find the goddess, her disappearance being linked to the capture of Annabeth and the rise of the doomsday, with the prophecy….

“Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

 One shall be lost in the land without rain,

 The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

 Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

 The Titan’s curse must one withstand,

 And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”

The problem being, Percy is not part of the five demigods of the quest.

Will Percy sneak out of camp to go look for his friends or will he leave it up to Zoe and Thalia to get Annabeth back? And what do the two new demigods have to do with this quest?

Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Puffin Books. (www.puffinbooks.com) Penguin group

ISBN : 978 0141146847

Percy Jackson and the Sea of monsters is the second book of the Percy Jackson Series.

It’s not easy being a demigod, even when Camp Half Blood is guarded by Thalia, a demigod who sacrificed her life and got turned into a tree way before Percy came to camp. The tree guarded the camp for years and kept out the monsters and mortals but things start to go terribly wrong when the tree’s magic starts fading, no one knows for what reason.

There is only one option from stopping war and the whole camp getting invaded by monsters, an option that was thought to be lost forever thousands of years ago … The Golden Fleece has to be found.

As if the worst is yet to come, Chiron, the activities director is replaced by Tantalus, a spirit from the Underworld, who seems to care nothing about the safety of camp and has already termed Percy as a problem and enemy.

Percy, Annabeth and Grover are denied the quest for the Golden Fleece, but they are not ready to give up, not yet. Percy is warned by Tantalus that he will be kicked out of Camp if he leaves for the quest.

Things take a turn when Percy discovers he has a brother, supposedly.

Now being turned into a guinea pig, being captured and given a makeover by an immortal sorceress and fighting Cyclopes seems normal to Percy.

Will Percy risk it and leave in search of the Fleece, or will he let Tantalus disregard the safety of camp…

A definite must buy for my teenage readers.

Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish Tripathi

Book: SITA Warrior of Mithila.

Author: Amish Tripathi

Publisher: Westland Publications Ltd. (www.westlandbooks.in)

ISBN : 978 93 86224 58 3

My personal opinion, already expressed, in my previous reviews of author Amish Tripathis books has been, he is an awesome author, he has picked up the vastly neglected genre of Indian mythology and he has a very deft interweave of storyline and fiction and culture. I thought there were some areas which he could improve on. He has vastly improved over his first 2 books.

This is the second book of the Ramachandra series, of the epic  Indian Hindu mythological tale Ramayana. The basics of this tale are known to every child of India. It is played out by travelling theatre troupes every year in the villages and towns of India culminating in Dusherra.

Author Amish has tried a unique technique with this series, he takes the same story and explores it only from the view of one character. Also another unique thing that he has done is picked up all mythical mythological creatures and made them more humane and less magical, more relatable.

Here Amish focuses on the favourite female idol and ideal of entire India, Sita or Ma Sita as we fondly call her. The daughter of Raja Janak, of the Himalayas. Avatar of Divine female Shakti. Goddess for millions of Indians. And maybe India’s most loved female protagonist.

The story is nicely traced through the growing up of the princess Sita. Her character, her strength.

Then the story suddenly tries to weave the event of her Swayamvar into the narrative. Swayamvar is an ancient Indian tradition, respecting the choice and wishes of female, where the female picks the suitor who she wishes to marry..

I repeat, my favorite part of this book is the scene where Lord Rama encounters his future wife, Sita, Divine goddess in her own right. I have yet to read any romantic encounter that has moved me so much.

This book too explores the brief encounters between Rama and Ravana.

And ends at the abduction of Sita to the island kingdom of Ravana, due to  which the epic battle of Ramayana took place.

I am a definite Amish Tripathi fan. Any book of author Amish is a must buy for me.

Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief by author Rick Riordan

Book: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books (www.DisneyBooks.com)

ISBN : 978 0786838653

Percy Jackson and the Lightning thief is the first book of the Percy Jackson Series.

It starts when ‘the problem child’ Percy gets kicked from his boarding school…again. He is sent to a summer camp, a camp for kids like him, where he finds the Greek Gods walking straight out of his textbooks .

His Latin teacher turns out to be a centaur who has trained great heroes like Achilles and his best friend turns out to be a satyr, half man half goat, his protector.

 And that’s the least of his troubles. The king of the gods, Zeus has lost the lightning bolt, the source of his power. The gods suspect Percy and he has to bring it back to prove himself innocent.

 He is warned of a friend who will betray him, and to solve that riddle Percy must first find the lightning bolt. He suspects this quest has something to do with his father who abandoned him, and his mother who died saving him.

     “You shall go west, and face the god who has turned

       You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned

       You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend

       And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.”

This is the prophecy he gets from the Oracle, and if he doesn’t catch the culprit, Mount Olympus, the center of the power of the gods will be destroyed.

To solve this quest, he must unravel mysteries more ancient than the gods themselves.

This post today on account of Aug 18 being Percy Jackson's birthday.

Happy Birthday in advance Percy. Fans, you have to wear blue and eat blue food.

Scion of Ishavaku by Amish Tripathi

Book: Scion of Ishavaku.

Author: Amish Tripathi (@authoramish )

Publisher: Westland Publications Ltd. (www.westlandbooks.in)

ISBN : 978 93 85152 14 6

My personal opinion in my previous reviews of author Amish Tripathis books has been, he is an awesome author, he has picked up the vastly neglected genre of Indian mythology and he has a very deft interweave of storyline and fiction and culture. I thought there were some areas which he could improve on. He has vastly improved over his first 2 books.

This is the first book of the Ramachandra series, of the epic  Indian Hindu mythological tale Ramayana. The basics of this tale are known to every child of India. It is played out by travelling theatre troupes every year in the villages and towns of India culminating in Dusherra.

Author Amish has tried a unique technique with this series, he takes the same story and explores it only from the view of one character.

Here Amish starts with Ram. The crown prince of Ayodhya. Avatar of Vishnu. God for millions of Indians. Author is nicely able to give human reasonings for his divinity.

The story is nicely traced through the growing up of the princes of Ayodhya. Each characters strengths.

Then the story focuses mainly on the 14 years of exile of Lord Ram, to keep the sanctity of  a promise.

This story tries to focus on the exile mainly and brief interactions between Rama and the asura Ravana.

But my favorite part of this book is the scene where Lord Rama encounters his future wife , Sita, Divine goddess in her own right. I have yet to read any romantic encounter that has moved me so much.

I am a definite Amish Tripathi fan. Any book of author Amish is a must buy for me.

The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi

Book: The Oath of the Vayuputras.

Author: Amish Tripathi

Publisher: Westland Publications Ltd. (www.westlandbooks.in)

ISBN : 978 93 82618 34 8

My personal opinion, already expressed, in my previous reviews of author Amish Tripathis books has been, he is an awesome author, he has picked up the vastly neglected genre of Indian mythology and he has a very deft interweave of storyline and fiction and culture. I thought there were some areas which he could improve on. He has vastly improved over his first 2 books.

This is the 3^rd book of the Shiva trilogy. These were the books where Amish was checking his forte his boundaries, trying to refine them.

Being his ardent fan I yet criticized his penchant for going into detail of every scientific experiment.

In this book, Amish really came into the flowing, narratives that he is now famous for.

This book has a multitude of Indian mythology characters, and very nice interweave of mythological fables and a human narrative.

Shiva, the favourite Hindu God, Neelkanth, finally reaches his destination, where his destiny and arch nemesis is revealed.

Shiva gathers his forces, his Nagas and also the Vayuputras. The final battle.

In fact forget everything else, all the pages, all the 2 previous books, this book is worth the buy and read just for the description of the final battle, the emotions of Shiva and the description of the weapons used and the war.

A definite must buy and must read.

White Mughals by author William Dalrymple

Book: White Mughals.

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Penguin Books.

ISBN : 978 0143030461

The books of William Dalrymple which I have read are the ones based in the Asian subcontinent and India.

His book “Return of a King” opened my eyes to the machinations, intrigue and intricacies of international politics. How a nation like Afghanistan became the lynch pin in the affairs of mid Europe and hence an unwilling stage of an enacted world drama. One of my favorite books.

His book “The Last Mughal” was important to my understanding of Indian history transition from Mughals to the East India Companyy to British Dominion status. A nice slice of my own history.

This book also traces the same time period, but in a different sphere and different context.

This book traces a complex family tree. And is centred around a career British soldier. The soldier falls in love with a muslim Indian girl. To get her love he eventually converts to islam.

Woven around this love story are the intricacies of the Hyderabad court, its royalty, which was supposedly the most devious of all Indian royalty. The Englishman reportedly even became a double agent, working for the Nizam of Hyderabad against the East India Company.

I have liked Williams books till now. This is one more from his well researched genre.

The Sacred Sword by Hindol Sengupta

Book: THE SACRED SWORD.

Author: Hindol Sengupta

Publisher: Penguin Random House Pvt Ltd.

Code : ISBN 9780143440192

Let me say it very clearly, this is a book that I picked up with the most anticipation and excitement.

It is a story of the Religious leader of one of the most brave, jubiliant, warm and welcoming sects of India, the Sikhs.

It is also a story of a warrior, religious head.

That means it has all the ingredients to make it an instant hit.

It is set in ancient India. It is set against the backdrop of barbarity of the Mughals. It traces the story of Guru Gobind Singh.

But frankly this book to me read like a documentary. 
I was left with a wish to taste more. I would have wished for this book to be a series of 3 books and detailed stories. Or atleast this book to be 1000 pages and allow more detailed introspection into the life of Guru Gobind Singh.

It doesn’t. 
It left me dissatisfied.

To be honest, the author has an awesome story telling style. Beautifully builds up the scenes, tension and drama. But I would have wished for more depth.

Also the author wasted a lot of pages and my attention in meaningless word breakup of war cries or the Sikh salutation.

Having said that, I loved that someone wrote this book. A book on one of the favourite religious leaders of India. I would request the author to write a longer, detailed, in depth book.

A definite must read. This could even be made into a movie.

  

In The Name of God by author Ravi Subramanian

Book: IN THE NAME OF GOD.

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Publisher: Penguin Random House Pvt Ltd.

Code : ISBN 97801432425731

I have read other books by Ravi Subramanian.

Personally I feel this is his best book yet.

If you remember some years ago their were whispers going around about how the wealth of some temple in Kerala has been disturbed and presence of an Italian Ship off the Kerala coast.

This book very deftly weaves those rumours into a story.

Many temples all across India have ancient wealth stored in vaults or on the deity itself.

Here the author weaves a story around an ancient wealth with modern context and all modern technology and gadgetry weaved in.

The safety of the wealth of a temple in Kerala is challenged in the courts of modern India by a custodian. The Court recognizes the need for safety and valuation of the wealth and appoints a team. This ruffles many feathers. And yet law is upheld.

The author now weaves a web of mystery, intrigue, politics, royalty and deceit around this premise.

There are murders. But the author manages to grip your attention and adds elements of surprise into the story.

Plus the author very precisely weaves the usage of modern technology by the Indian Police to solve crimes. Attention to detail is commendable.

A definite must read.