Books and Writing | Rearranged Dictionary

Book Review – Legends of the Condor Heroes: A Hero Born

Posted on February 9, 2019 by DaminiK

Author: Jin Yong (Pen name of Louis Cha)

Translator: Anna Holmwood

Publisher: Maclehose Press (Hachette)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Martial Arts

Pages: 394

Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

China: 1200 A.D.

The Song Empire has been invaded by its warlike Jurchen neighbours from the north. Half its territory and its historic capital lie in enemy hands; the peasants toil under the burden of the annual tribute demanded by the victors. Meanwhile, on the Mongolian steppe, a disparate nation of great warriors is about to be united by a warlord whose name will endure for eternity: Genghis Khan.

Guo Jing, son of a murdered Song patriot, grew up with Genghis Khan’s army. He is humble, loyal, perhaps not altogether wise, and is fated from birth to one day confront an opponent who is the opposite of him in every way: privileged, cunning and flawlessly trained in the martial arts.

Guided by his faithful shifus, The Seven Heroes of the South, Guo Jing must return to China – to the Garden of the Drunken Immortals in Jiaxing – to fulfill his destiny. But in a divided land riven by war and betrayal, his courage and his loyalties will be tested at every turn.

You are looking at a book fondly called the ‘Chinese Lord of the Rings’. This moniker so intrigued me that I purchased this copy and waited almost a month for it to be delivered (thanks, Amazon).

At first glance, this book seems a little intimidating, especially if you aren’t familiar with Chinese names and history. But it comes with a very helpful character index and introduction, that I frequently consulted if I got confused. But that, I thought, was a small inconvenience because the book itself reads like butter.

The story moves so smoothly from one scene to the next, each packed with incredible action and martial arts fight scenes worthy of a hundred silver screen adaptations. The book sports a rich pantheon of characters, and I had a lot of fun picking and choosing who I loved best. The main character, Guo Jing, is so honest and endearing that you can’t help but love him. The Seven Freaks of the South (great name for a group of martial arts masters, by the way) are just effortlessly cool and blow your mind constantly.

This story was first written as serialised pieces in the Hong Kong Commercial Daily in the late 1950s. I think this adds a special something to the writing style, because I do admit it takes getting used to. I do wish that the female characters received more attention, though it needs to be said that for its time, the Condor Heroes series was very progressive in its depiction of women.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, A Bond Undone.

Book Review: Daughters of the Sun

Posted on February 7, 2019 by DaminiK

Author: Ira Mukhoty

Publisher: Aleph Book Company

Genre: Non-Fiction (History)

Pages: 276

Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

In 1526, when the nomadic Timurid warrior-scholar Babur rode into Hindustan, his wives, sisters, daughters, aunts and distant female relatives travelled with him. These women would help establish a dynasty and empire that would rule India for the next 200 years and become a byword for opulence and grandeur. By the second half of the seventeenth century, the Mughal empire was one of the largest and richest in the world. The Mughal women unmarried daughters, eccentric sisters, fiery milk mothers and powerful wives often worked behind the scenes and from within the Zenana, but there were some notable exceptions among them who rode into battle with their men, built stunning monuments, engaged in diplomacy, traded with foreigners and minted coins in their own names. Others wrote biographies and patronised the arts. In daughters of the sun, we meet remarkable characters like Khanzada Begum who, at sixty-five, rode on horseback through 750 kilometres of icy passes and unforgiving terrain to parley on behalf of her nephew, Humayun, Gulbadan Begum, who gave us the only document written by a woman of the Mughal royal court, a rare glimpse into the harem, as well as a chronicle of the trials and tribulations of three emperors Babur, Humayun and Akbar her father, brother and nephew, Akbar’s milk mothers or foster-mothers, Jiji Anaga and Maham Anaga, who shielded and guided the thirteen-year-old emperor until he came of age, Noor Jahan, ‘light of the world’, a widow and mother who would become Jahangir’s last and favourite wife, acquiring an imperial legacy of her own and the fabulously wealthy begum sahib (princess of princesses) Jahanara, Shah Jahan’s favourite child, owner of the most lucrative port in medieval India and patron of one of its finest cities, (No Suggestions). The very first attempt to chronicle the women who played a vital role in building the Mughal empire, daughters of the sun is an illuminating and gripping history of a little-known aspect of the most magnificent dynasty the world has ever known.

51486679_566653157144069_6706445420995805184_n

(As you can see from the pink post-its, I’ve made copious notes of all the things I loved in this book.)

There are few things I love more than feminist history, and about the Mughal empire? That’s it, I’m sold. I have always been endlessly fascinated by the Great Mughals kings. This book is a story of the women who surrounded those men, influencing Indian politics and changing the shape of the country as we know it. We are introduced to women such as Babur’s older sister Khanzada, Jahanara and Roshanara Begum, Noor Jahan, and countless other royal ladies with Daughters of the Sun.

Mukhoty’s thoroughly-researched book blends seamlessly with a light-fingered writing style, as she manages to capture the lives of these women in the context of their tumultuous times. This peek into the Mughal zenana destroys the Orientalist image of a harem of sexually-frustrated, oppressed women (an idea popularised by European visitors to the Mughal court, who never actually got permission to enter a zenana, and were left to simply imagine what it was like inside). It puts women back into the story of Mughal history, and frankly, I’m glad for it.

I would recommend this book to any feminist, any Indian history nerd, and in a larger sense, anyone who is capable of reading a human language. It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a book like I enjoyed this.

I was at the Hyderabad Literary Festival!

Posted on January 29, 2019 by DaminiK

This weekend, I crossed a milestone by launching my novel, The Sunlight Plane, at the Hyderabad Literary Festival. It was. So. Cool.

It goes without saying that I met some incredible writers. So many people are doing such amazing things, and it was such a privilege to be sitting among them. I received some excellent advice on how to improve my craft, and I got my first real taste of the real literary scene.

My book launch happened on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I had ten minutes to talk about my novel and read a small excerpt. Amita Desai and Dileep Jhaveri jointly launched The Sunlight Plane, which I was so happy about! I even had a standee. Which is probably a lame thing to be excited about, but well.

(Also, it was pretty risky wearing a white sundress and white cloth shoes on a day so rainy, but I managed not to get any mud on my outfit!)

Besides that, I also got interviewed by the New Indian Express (Hyderabad edition), a clipping of which is below:

new indian express interview

It was an unforgettable experience, and I’m really looking forward to the next step in my writing adventure.

You can buy my book on Amazon (Available in India and USA). The Sunlight Plane will also be available in Crosswords Bookstores across India.

Book Review – Perdido Street Station

Posted on January 29, 2019 by DaminiK

220px-PerdidoStreetStation(1stEd).jpg

Author: China Miéville

Publisher: Macmillan

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 867

Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies the city of New Crobuzon, where the unsavory deal is stranger to no one–not even to Isaac, a gifted and eccentric scientist who has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before encountered. Though the Garuda’s request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger. Soon an eerie metamorphosis will occur that will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon–and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it evokes.

Here’s a book you don’t come across often.

Before I get into it, a bit of backstory: I went through this phase where I was fascinated by the -punk genres. Steampunk, cyberpunk, dieselpunk, whathaveyou. It took me a few seconds of Googling to find this novel, which I would say falls nicely into the dieselpunk fantasy genre. It’s a long book, and part of the Bas-Lag series, although you don’t need to read other novels to be able to understand this one. It can stand alone.

This book gave me whiplash with every page. The main character, Isaac, is a scientist who is dating some kind of…I guess the best way to put it is ‘insect woman’. Because the best I understood it, Lin is literally a human-sized anthropomorphic insect–of a race called the ‘khepri’. She is an artist, and they are deeply in love.

Next, there’s Yagharek, a Garuda. Those of you accustomed to South Asian mythology are familiar with this word, but in the desi context, Gardua is a great mythical bird (or bird-like man). In Perdido Street Station, the Garuda are a race of mostly desert-dwelling birdmen with an intensely fascinating set of ethics and philosophies.

The one thing that stuck out to me the most was the world-building. In fantasy, that’s always crucial, and this book has some of the best world-building I’ve ever seen. The sheer amount of detail packed into each page is awe-inspiring, not just in how it displays the writer’s attention to detail, but also in how readable it is. I never found this book boring.

I also really enjoyed all the characters, though I did think that they would have done with a little more development. That’s not to say that they’re underdeveloped or bad–quite the contrary. But personally, I respond to intimately crafted characters, and I didn’t get a sense of that here.

I took a very long time reading this novel. I started in September of last year, and I finished it in January 2019. This is because I was only reading a few pages at a time. The world-building detail I mentioned before? That did make things a bit overwhelming. This book is a bit like extra-rich chocolate cake. It’s so good, but you can only have it in increments, or you feel ill.

Would I read this again? Yes, absolutely. But…not any time soon. I finished it feeling like I’d climbed a mountain. I need a break.

A Portrait of the Darkling as a Villain

Posted on December 30, 2018 by DaminiK

Last Friday, I finished the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I’ve written about this series before, not in the nicest of terms, and I can say with confidence that I did not entirely enjoy it. I wouldn’t read it again. In fact, I didn’t read it at all. I listened to audiobooks, because I knew for a fact that if I tried to read this series, I wouldn’t get through it. Reading is a far more immersive activity than listening, and I knew I couldn’t bear Mal and Alina whining about their love life all the time.

That being said, something still did keep me ploughing through these books. Why would I bother with this series otherwise? Truth be told, from his very first appearance, I was fascinated by the Darkling.

I’ve written about him too, but now that I’ve finished the series, I think I have a clearer idea of who he is. So I’d like to write about him as a villain, and consider what we, as writers, can learn from this character.

This post will contain SPOILERS for the Grisha trilogy. You have been warned.

Book Review: Shadow and Bone (Grisha Trilogy #1)

Posted on September 5, 2018 by DaminiK

Ughhhhh, okay. I guess we’re doing this.

I downloaded an audiobook a while ago. I like them, it’s the adult version of listening to a bedtime story. I put them on when I can’t sleep and if they’re read well, I get easily engrossed.

So I downloaded Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo, on my Audible app. It’s the first book in the Grisha trilogy, and I’m not convinced I want to read (or listen) to the other two.

Anyway, here’s the blurb for this book:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves her life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone.jpg

The audiobook has been narrated by Lauren Fortgang, who I think did an amazing job, especially with the voices of the characters (and especially with the voice of the Darkling, one of the book’s key figures).

But…uhh, the book…how do I put this…was not the best.

Here’s what I liked:

The world: it’s fantasy fiction, so of course the worldbuilding and the magic is essential. I really enjoyed the world that the story was set in. I think the Grisha powers were well-explained and interesting. I was swept up in it, and I wanted to be a part of it.
The Darkling: I’m not going to give you spoilers, but he is incredible, in any capacity, and one of the only reasons I’m considering putting myself through books 2 and 3 of this series. A truly fascinating character. I want more.
The support characters are super cool, particularly Genya and Baghra. On that note, I really loved how many interesting female characters there were. I’m such a sucker for diverse female characters in stories :’)

Here’s what bothers me:

Alina is an idiot. I’m sorry, I really am, I don’t mean to be glib, but the fate of her world is at stake, and she can’t stop thinking about who she wants to bang. I was sympathetic at first, because I don’t actually hate her, and to an extent, I empathise. But as the book progresses, it becomes more and more about which guy she wants to be with, despite the crushing stakes of the story.
Mal is the worst thing to ever happen. He’s the main love interest, Alina’s best friend, and a whiny little boy who just can’t stand that Alina has a life beyond him now. I found myself actively hoping for him to die.

I find that when you can’t root for the main characters, your interest in a story is tenuous. So I’m really not sure if I should read the next book. It took me a month and a half to finish this one as it is, because I kept listening to it with the same enjoyment I felt while sitting down to do algebra homework. I’ve read reviews of the sequel, and there seem to be some new, interesting characters coming into the mix. So I guess I might…

As for this one, I’m just glad it’s over.

Feminists Write Better Characters

Posted on July 30, 2018 by DaminiK

feminism gif

I see feminism as the reversal of the damage patriarchy has inflicted upon humanity. When I was still learning how to write stories, one of my major roadblocks was figuring out how to write male characters. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what men were like because I had been told they were all different from me. The way their minds worked were different, the way they felt emotions were different. Boys were not vulnerable, so I absolutely HAD to write them as tough. Were…were men capable of complex and sensitive behaviour?

The first piece of advice I received from an online writing forum about this was: write men as you would write women.

And there begins my point.

Of course I’m a feminist, and my feminist thinking has helped me understand that the patriarchy has made it seem like men cannot be sensitive, complex, emotional, gentle, or soft. That they absolutely have to be tough, mean, aggressive, bullies. Men I know have expressed their inability to communicate affection towards their friends, how they were shamed for crying or showing any sort of vulnerability, I even had someone tell me he used to believe that personal grooming and personal hygiene were effeminate practices.

When it comes to writing, the problem with the idea that men are all muscly, sweaty, wood-chopping, horse-riding, punch-Kim-Jong-Un-in-the-nuts kinda action heroes, and women as dainty, superficial, fragile, giggly Barbie dolls, is that they’re caricatures. They’re not even slightly realistic. They lack depth, they lack complexity, they lack the ability to grow and develop as people do, because they are not people. They are an idea of gender that the patriarchy wants you to subscribe to. And when you write your characters like this, they will never be engaging.

I firmly believe that men deserve to have gentler heroes. Characters who are interesting, heroic, attractive, and yet imperfect, sensitive, emotional. (The two can coexist!) Men deserve to have characters they can look up to without feeling belittled by. Men should get to aspire to kinder male characters.

And you only get characters like these when you acknowledge that people of all genders have complex inner lives, that vulnerability isn’t personal failure, and that gentility can be something to respect.

Case in point: writers like V.E Schwab (who I love, love, love) and Leigh Bardugo both have a cast of male characters, and they’re all fascinating. And that’s because the writers have been able to explore the full depth of their personalities without getting caught up in patriarchal mindsets.

I’ve focused on male characters in this post because of my own personal growth as a writer, but the problem exists for female characters too (of course).

Feminists write better characters because they can dive deeper into their characters’ personalities without getting caught up in the web of lies the patriarchy has sown.

Book Review: Vicious by V.E Schwab

Posted on July 26, 2018 by DaminiK

I’m a huge fan of V.E Schwab, the fantasy/action writer who I want to grow up to be. Her ‘Shades of Magic’ trilogy (which I’ll definitely gush about in another post) is one of my favourite fantasy stories ever. Today I’ll be reviewing her novel, Vicious, pointing out all the things I adored about it.

Vicious_(2013)_V._E._Schwab.jpg

As someone always on the fence about superhero stories, I was intrigued by the concept of this novel. It follows Victor Vale and Eli Cardale, two bored geniuses at a fancy university, who realise the secret to becoming ExtraOrdinary (or EO) is to have a near-death experience. They unlock special abilities, and then turn on each other.

The story is a cat-and-mouse game between Eli, and Victor, who is out for revenge. It is tightly plotted, bloody, and gripping, with an unexpected ending. I particularly love how gracefully Schwab has handled the many time jumps this book takes, because a lesser writer might mess it up and leave the reader confused. But her breathless pace and clever use of time jumps keeps you constantly on your toes, as it reveals the dark side of superpowers, and turns all the classic superhero tropes on their head.

I love Schwab’s feminist writing. Her female characters are complex and fascinating. I couldn’t decide who I loved more: silver-tongued Serena, or her younger sister, Sydney, whose childish innocence and emotional sensitivity adds much-needed softness to an otherwise ruthless story.

I also want to mention Mitch, the gentle giant whose constant presence really held things together. Schwab has a gift for characters, and in this book, I honestly can’t pick a favourite.

The sequel to Vicious, Vengeful, comes out in September, and you can bet I’ll be waiting eagerly for my copy.