GOD IS A GAMER :: BOOK REVIEW

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GOD IS A GAMER :: BOOK REVIEW
Blame it on my ignorance, but I hardly knew the author of this book. And by the time I finished this particular piece, I was kicking myself for the same!! Not only has Mr. Ravi Subramanian carved out a perfect plot but he has also made the novel fair bit edgy and absolutely gripping. The story starts with a murder, follows it up with a phishing scam, another murder, then showcases an ATM heist (cyber crime) and ultimately reveals the reason why Mr. Subramanian gave the tagline- “Is revenge a crime?”

The storyline is crisp and precise. All the connections are explained in a concise way and all the questions are answered at the perfect time. The prologue introduces the concept of bitcoins-the modern money and senator Gillian Tan. Ironically, the main story starts with the murder of the senator and flows into a myriad of cyber-crimes committed at seemingly unconnected places. The story has different angles at different junctions.
While the murder of Senator Gillian Tan brings in the FBI in the foray, the case of the supposed suicide of the CEO of a prominent international bank is handed over to the CBI in India when the finance minister of India gets involved in it. Then there is Mr. Aditya Rao, the legend in the Indian banking industry and the owner of the Indian gaming company- Indiscape. Mr. Aditya also owns the most respected BPO in India- eTOIS. Alongside him is Sundeep, his protégé, helping him run the company and another former colleague Swami, who is the head of retail banking at New York International Bank, the same bank whose CEO, Malvika, died. The story also introduces kids of Malvika and Aditya bumping into each other, first at Rio and then at Goa. All these, with a few more supporting characters, find their lives turned topsy turvy under different circumstances which are ultimately strewn wonderfully into having one common origin at the epilogue of the book.

Although I would agree on usage of fair bit of technical jargon of the finance world, but the author has tried his best to give lucid explanations of the financial terms. The best part of the book is undoubtedly the epilogue. After you read the final chapter, you find yourself accepting the predicament of the situation somewhat unsatisfactorily. You yearn for more answers and a better ending. That is what exactly the epilogue provides. “Is revenge a crime?”- The author completely justifies this tagline and even presents an opinion, albeit hidden in the plot. The epilogue will make you sit upright, bring on an expression on your face which would depict that you are slowly but enjoyably digesting every bit of the maverick plot and make you mutter a gamut of expletives in awe.

If at all one has to find the chinks in the armour then it would be a not-so-capturing blurb and a relatively easy narration. Even though the easy narration helps at times, but more often than not you wish to be more challenged in terms of capturing language.
Crisp storyline, well-carved characters, an impeccable plot and a method in all the mess are the defining characteristics of this book. Being just over 300 pages, it is a very good weekend read.

Book Details-

Title- GOD IS A GAMER

Author- Mr. Ravi Subramanian

Publishers- Penguin Books

Genre- Fiction Thriller

ISBN- 9780143421399

The winter is coming- Two Conflicting Tales

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Sanchit Wadhwa|10|Doon International School, Derhadun

“The winter is coming” thought Sanchit Wadhwa, the 10-year old kid who was the scion to the Wadhwa group of companies. Known as Sunny among his friends, he looked at the distant tree rife with brown leaves clutching to the tendrils draped with gloom. The thought of visiting his home cast a pall over his usual idyllic demeanor. Kids of his age eagerly await the whole year for the winter break but Sunny would feel unsettled by the idea of going home, or what others called his home. Little Sunny has been in the boarding school since when he was just 5 and a half years old. At his home, he remembers going to sleep every night against the backdrop of his mother’s suppressed shrieks and his father’s violent outbursts. He was too small then to understand, but now he does. The love out of which he was born had fizzed out.

On one such tumultuous night, he gathered enough courage to venture into his parents’ bedroom. Little did he know that it would kill the innocence he had as a five and a half year old boy. In there, he found his mother sobbing on the bed, in a torn designer gown with a bleeding lower lip and dishevelled hair. That is the last memory he has of his mother and his so-called home. Every year he dreads going back to that haunted place where he is treated as royalty. He would rather stay in the empty hostel than go to that hollow, cold home of his. But for that he needs to be a 16-year old.

“The winter is coming” he sighed and went back to bed.

Dhananjay Kate|12|Gun Factory, somewhere in Haryana

“The winter is coming” thought Dhananjay Kate, the 12-year old kid who did a man’s work in a gun factory along the borders of Haryana. Known as Dhanno to his masters, he looked at the distant tree rife with brown leaves clutching to the tendrils and his eyes lit up. He gets a month off, every December, when he goes to his family residing at a small village in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He remembers how distraught his mother was when he decided to accompany his uncle to work in the factory to support his family. With his father losing the battle against TB when he was 5, Dhanno had long given up on his dream of education and had made peace with himself. He had come to the gun factory when he was 7 and had started working as the chaiwallah’s apprentice. Now he had a “job” in the gun factory and earned ten times of what he did. The best part of going home in December was that he got to celebrate the birthdays of his two younger sisters. He planned to buy bangles for both of them this year from the nearby mela with the bonus he got in Holi.

Just when a tear, signifying his sweet nostalgia, trickles down his smiling face, a firm hand pats his back and the man yells, “aye kid, I don’t pay you to count the number of trees outside. Get back to work”. “Yes sir” says Dhanno and gets back to the machinery.

“The winter is finally coming” he says to himself in a low voice with the widest possible grin on his face blotted with charcoal.