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Book Review : The Hidden Children - The Lost Grimoire


The Hidden Children : The Lost Grimoire is a book written by Reshma K Barshikar, and stands as perhaps the only book to render me speechless, or rather wordless as a book reviewer. Penning a review entails giving an opinion – for that, the pre-requisite is that I should have one! And, once I have formed an opinion, I should have idea of what to write, or how to express myself in words. In both, I honestly admit to having faced great difficulty. After much deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that this book rates 3 to 3.5 Stars in my scale; I settle for 3 stars. Why? Read on!



THE BOOK
The book is about, well, magic. Almost. And, the book is also not about magic. Confused? Good. That will keep you glued -  I hope – to the end of this review. The book blurb at the back doesn’t reveal much, and neither shall I. The book is about a teenaged young lady, 17-ish, avid sportsperson and a good student {rare combination, that} – and her travails as she meets & befriends a new girl to her school, just returned to India from Scotland. The new friend pulls our heroine into the world of magic, and a fantastic story of intrigue, danger, real risk and compelling suspense. Read the book to find out more!

THE ANALYSIS
First, what I didn’t like, and in no particular order. The book cover – why o why do publishing houses choose black for a fantasy themed book? Mystifying! From millions of colours, they found only black? This is the 3rd or 4th book that I have seen doing this; colours are key triggers, and black isnt suited to this theme. Am I nitpicking? I don’t know; but this is what I felt as a digital marketer, and as a reader. Next, the length of the book – or to be more precise, the way  it is presented which makes it feel long. When you have pages of dialogue, you need to spruce up the visual presentation a lot more-  this helps engage readers. This was a definite and massive minus in this book. The eyes need relief – so use white space / re-draft the sequences / play with fonts and sizes for the entire book – I mean a larger font. Do whatever fancies you – but improve the readability. And this is not nitpicking, of that I am dead sure.

Now, the core book itself. The story is not one of magic – regardless of what even the author says! Magic is just present as a sprinkling throughout – this is a lovely story of school time, young relationships, friendship, confusion in the minds of teenagers {all of us have experienced this}, and their adventures they go through. The two central characters – Shui & Anya and their friends  & their rivals –this is what this book is all about. The part of magic is the adventure they go through, and how they manage to sort it all out.

The plots are deep and involved – I mean both the plots of friendship and that of the Magic. This is a complex many-layered story, deeply engaging at some levels, intricate and full of intrigue. The story is slow moving, and goes deep into each relationship it portrays, even at the cost of characterization at times. This isnt a negative. Character definition by inference is also an art form used by authors as opposed to more direct methods.

The story is about how friendships change, go through rough patches; about the support systems friends give in trying times – as Shui is propelled into strange magical areas leading to stress in her daily life; and about how these support systems come through for her when she needs them most. This is definitely not your average fast moving fantasy plot; fantasy is but a small aspect here – this is a book of relations and emotions, a human interest story for want of a better word or term.

CONCLUSION
The publishers – sir, there are millions of colours out there for your book cover; hundreds of fonts as well as font sizes ranging from 7 {lowest I have used in my creatives} to 72. We readers don’t mind if the number of pages are 500 or 700 if the book is good! And these visual cues are significant aids in value addition and readability. That cost the book half a star. For the rest, this is an interesting and fascinating story of teenage adventure – high time we saw such efforts in Indian writing. Would I buy the 2nd book – yes, I would. The story is fascinatingly poised, and I am interested for sure.


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