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| Picture Courtesy |
“Burger and Vada Pav in my
plate!”
Very amusingly my feeling was similar
to this while reading the book ‘God Is A Gamer’ the first ever bitcoin thriller
authored by Ravi Subramaniam,a story set against the backdrop of financial
service industry. This was my first read of this author’s work after having
received a copy from Blogadda under the Book Review Program. His other works- If God was a Banker (2007), Devil in Pinstripes
(2009), The Incredible Banker (2011), The Bankster (2012) and Bankerupt (2013) are on my reading list now.
Looking at the titles of his previous
works it is but obvious to expect some money and trade in the story. The author
has ventured into deeper aspects of running gaming companies, corporate
sectors, finance ministry, politics and personal issues. Multiple characters
and situations run in parallel in the United States and India in this story.
Assassination, deaths, ATM robbery, game launch, drugs, parties, affairs and
many other intriguing things keep a reader glued to the suspense, so many
incidents in different parts of the world happen simultaneously.
The ‘UNPUTDOWNABILITY’ of
this book is due to the twists and turns, and probably the selection of
readable words. Few aspects mentioned are well researched and interesting, like
Socrates Death and the Misznay Schardin effect. That was some general knowledge
gained. The first few pages are more like connect the dots, till you find your
way through the maze with the short chapters. The tension is highly escalated
through each page and the people in the story are portrayed with their own
vulnerabilities, like any of the usual thrillers of today.
What puzzled me was the subtitle, while
the book asks “Is Revenge A Crime?” I could only figure out the revenge element
of the story in the epilogue which seems to be hurriedly written. As in what,
why and how it happened is being summarized in a couple of pages,
although for a moment in the end you know Varun is up to something at Tanya’s
house, for me the plot was a give away at that point when he throws something
in her cupboard. I wouldn’t be giving any spoilers in this review. As an Indian
reader who is reading an Indian author the book left me hungry for more, maybe
for an inspirational character or a memorable dialogue. I was a little
disappointed about that, you know the kind of impression one gets when you read
the last line of the book and close the cover” Tch! Just an another
brave attempt at an Indian thriller!” plainly it was just
that. Also there are a few grammatical and spelling errors in two or three places,
I wish they were avoided. I did enjoy the book while travelling to work last
week, and I do plan to read more of this author. If God is a gamer, we are his
players indeed. If there are more books, they are worth reading indeed.
A few of my favorite lines from the
book:
“Career longevity is more important than career enhancement…If you live,
you get to fight your battle another day”
“Success is not always measured in terms of dollars earned or turnover.
It is measured in terms of the difference you have made to the people around
you.”
”The problem with theorizing on the basis of
incomplete facts is that we end up twisting the facts to suit the theory. We
should be doing it the other way round”
Last but not the least, one from Ravi himself:
KEEP WRITING AND SMILING YOU TOO ! :-)
Book Details:
Title: - God Is A Gamer
Author: - Ravi Subramanian
Publisher: -Penguin Books India
Publication Year: - September 2014
ISBN 13:- 978-0-143-42139-9
Binding: - Paperback
Number of pages: - 324
Price: - Rs 299
My rating: - 2.5/5
PS: This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
-R.
3 comments:
wow! you recv an author signed copy! congrats :D
I just loved his 'if God was a Banker' though I think it should have been titled 'If God were a Banker'.
Nice review but why only 2.5/5?
@Ankita: Thank you so much, and yeah that 2.5/5 has nothing to do with what everybody would feel about the book. My expectations are a little high when I read someone whom I have heard about a lot ;-)
Nicely reviewed. I am sort of apprehensive to reach for thrillers. But this one sounds promising. Thank you for the review.
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