Tales of woven wishes

Satin: A stitch in time (Harper, Rs 250) by Payal Dhar is the first book in the author’s new fantasy fiction series — and unlike other fantasy fiction hopefuls, Satin surprises the reader with its slickness. Dhar’s world of fantasy is the land of Kuzerazi, a once-magical place that now no longer tolerates the use of magic. At the heart of the book lies Marik Yavi, a magician, and his quest to confront his demons and unearth the underlying meaning of his grandfather’s legacy. Marik’s sister, Fahe, and a young fugitive, Keas, decide to accompany him on what is, inevitably, a dangerous quest. While recognizable motifs abound in Dhar’s book, she strikes a beautiful balance between a realistic description of the characters, their personalities, lives and journeys, and the fantastic events of their intriguing mission. This is not a large-scale attempt at fantasy fiction; even so, it does not disappoint. What’s more, Dhar’s use of beautiful old words like ‘mage’, meaning magician, adds a charm to the narrative that would have otherwise been missing, even amidst all the magic.

Hollywood Sinners (Mira, Rs 299) by Victoria Fox proudly claims to be a book that readers will devour if they love Jackie Collins’s books. That, however, probably isn’t the greatest compliment Hollywood Sinners could have given to itself. Having said that, one has to admit that the book is, at the very least, unapologetic about all its Hollywood potboiler trappings. But if one did not know that Victoria Fox is the author, the book would read like a Jackie Collins scandal-filled saga from beginning to end. From Lana Falcon’s convenient marriage to the gorgeous Cole Steel and Chloe French’s attraction to the dangerous Nate, to Kate diLaurenti’s crazed possessiveness about her philandering husband, Hollywood Sinners has everything required to titillate the senses and nothing to fulfil a reader. A sexually abusive brother, a couple of murders here and there and a few dozen illicit affairs later, the lives of the protagonists come to a crossroads that Jackie Collins’s characters have traversed many times. One reaches the end of the novel with the regret that, in spite of being an enjoyable read, it remains a replica of Collins’s work.

Maples: Rejuvenating cocktail (Frog, Rs 195) by Bhavna Khemlani is yet another book about the dysfunctional lives of a number of unconnected people who eventually come together and experience an epiphany. The quirky, interesting name of the book and the attractive illustration of maple leaves on the jacket reflect nothing of what one encounters when one starts reading the book. All the reader gets are lacklustre glimpses into the lives of dull, one-dimensional characters, from the camera-toting Ryan who never knew his parents, the stereotypically ambitious Genelia who always prioritizes her career over her relationships, to the orphaned Ria, and Simmy who, strangely, likes dentistry. While the narrative is thoroughly disjointed, Khemlani makes a flimsy, last-ditch effort at the end of the book to justify the title and prove that “life is like a cocktail”. The reader, of course, is left mystified.

Don’t go away. We’ll be right back: The oops and downs of advertising (Tranquebar, Rs 250) by Indu Balachandran is a surprisingly comprehensive little handbook about, well, advertising — from the swanky conference room straight down to the hoarse, penetrating yells of the man selling tea at the street corner. Delightfully illustrated by Paul Fernandes, Balachandran takes great pains to explore the fundamental tenets of advertising without putting her readers to sleep — and she succeeds admirably.