The Tales Pensieve

Alchemist of The East is a story about a boy who copes up with his life after the untimely death of his parents and tries to follow his dreams only to be informed about a legacy he is a part of. Everything that follows adds to the making of a man out of a boy, or a ruler out of a toy-maker. When I read the synopsis, I was thrilled about it and it had such big promises that I could not wait to read it. Just a few pages in, I immediately understood that this book is going to disappoint me.

The book has a very good story, not uncommon, but definitely one of those which I don’t mind reading again. But, everything was ruined as soon as the story lost the touch. The story had so much potential, and and things would have been better if the plot line was a bit refined and writing was a bit polished. By this time the least I was expecting from the book is good grammar, but it was a big disappointment in that area too.

The plot line was pretty basic which, in a way, frustrated me throughout. At every stage, I expected some twists and turns, but it started and ended without intricacy and it was very distressing. I could sense a broken connection between characters, events and the story in general, which might have added to how the story was shown. There was a sense of confusion everywhere in the story and it was a turn off.

The writing seemed good, at times, but other times, I was a bit irritated. The kind of writing Aporva Kala uses is much more suitable for non-fiction. But for a fiction, and especially fantasy, it was more depressing than irritating. When you write a fiction, you expect a voice to the main character that is different from the secondary characters. For me, all characters sounded same and probably that confused me a lot in between. What Mr. Kala wanted to convey was lost with bad writing and confused plot line.

But what I just have to mention is that the book was full of grammatical errors. Not just in the beginning, but throughout the book. A book should promote grammar and good vocabulary and not just create a story, and this was probably why I was constantly put off by it.

Coming to the characters, I have to admit, Aporva did his best to create some inspirational and good characters. The protagonist was again, a disappointment, but his meek character was easily masked by the greatness of other characters. The characters, although lost uniqueness, were some really motivational ones and they are probably why this book kept me hooked throughout.

Talking of inspiration brings me to why this book would have worked as a non fiction. This book is a book of wisdom. I will not deny that. A book which, if applied to every day lives could reform you. But making it a fiction, just ruined all the reasons why a reader might have wanted to pick it up.

Overall, I would not say this is a book that I will recommend to anyone in general. But if you want a dash of wisdom and inspiration in your lives, this can help.

Title: Alchemist of The East
Author:
Publisher: Musk Deer Publishing
Pages: 160
Genre/Sub-genre: Fiction/Drama
Rating: 2.00 of 5.00
Reviewed for: Author