Book review – Tales with a Twist by Varadharajan Ramesh

As part of the Blogchatter E-book carnival, 55 authors (including me) launched their books on May 22nd, 2018 on the Blogchatter platform. As a fellow author, it gets a little difficult to assess or critically analyze books by the other amazing writers on this platform. However, I personally believe in the power of constructive feedback. It has helped me improve my craft and thus I am going to adhere to the same intention of helping another author scale up his work, if applicable.

The details of the first book that I have chosen to review (or rather analyze) is as follows –

Book – Tales with a Twist

Author – Varadharajan Ramesh

Publication – Blogchatter

Pages – 228

Price – Free

Genre – Fiction

Plot –

Tales with a Twist is a collection of 23 short stories and one long story described through multiple episodes. Each story belong to a different genre of fiction but what unites them is the unexpected climax in each case. While the reader finds an unusual scoop of humor in the story ‘Finished’, pain and helplessness in the story of Park Joo-Won and Park Ji -Woo in ‘Innocence’ fast paced science fiction in “The troubles of time travel’ and hope and love in ‘Mariposa’ , the best combination of emotions is found in ‘The Malolan Chronicles’. Each story has a unique plot, setting, characters and ending.

Analysis –

The first thing that catches the eye is an extremely intelligent book cover that manages to raise the curiosity. Tales with a Twist is a remarkable book by the author. Varad had written most of these stories as part of the A2Z challenge in April. They have always been fast paced making the reader wait in anticipation. I took only two days to read this book but that’s only because I didn’t dare to finish The Malolan chronicles in the night. It had such a haunting feeling that I could almost visualize the story in my dreams. In fact, that is how powerful few of the stories have turned out to be.

Also some stories really find a permanent place in the heart like what ‘The Ultra’ did for me. It has stayed with me ever since I read it for the first time in April. And I would say the capability of creating the feeling of an emotion lingering on in the mind, even after weeks of reading the story has been Varad’s biggest strength in writing.

Assessment –

What works well for the book –

1. The uniqueness and freshness in the plot of each story makes the reader curious to read the next story.
2. The pace of the stories is fast and gripping.
3. The wide spectrum of emotions captured through the book surprises the reader .
4. The strong narrative power and vivid descriptions by the author makes it easy to connect with the characters.
5. Writing in language that flows easily and the perfect timing of bringing in the twist to create a long-standing impact on the reader’s mind
6. Through research involved in few stories ensured that the facts are error-free, relevant to the story and the loose ends of the thread could tie up to a knot.

What could have been better –

1. The book might have an additional appeal if there’s a pattern to the order of stories. It could be through sequencing them bases increasing word count or clubbing of emotions.
2. ‘The Malolan Chronicles’ is a personal favorite but I felt dissatisfied with the rushed ending. In my opinion, it deserved more description, background development and reasoning before arriving at the conclusion.
3. The story ‘Perfection’ could become a better read with a stronger evidence based conclusion. The ending felt incomplete.

Barring a few minor deterrents, I am definitely going to recommend this as a must – read book. It surely leaves the readers wanting for more.

Grab your free copy of the e-book by clicking here

My Rating –

This book deserves a neat

4 stars (out of 5)

About the author –

Varadharajan Ramesh is a 30 plus entrepreneur. A voracious reader, he has been coming up with stories from the age of ten. Having taken to blogging in 2017, he has been penning pieces of fiction, both small and large. This book is his collection of short stories.