Book Review The Revenge Of Kaivalya

When someone you know writes and publishes a book, it is an exciting moment, especially when you like her! And so it was when the book “The Revenge of Kaivalya” by Sumana Khan was offered for review. I was excited to read the blurb and applied and received the book – with a cute little greeting card from Sumana – nice personal touch!

What followed was a great experience – nothing beats the pleasure of a well-crafted book. That’s what The Revenge of Kaivalya is – a fine tapestry of fiction cleverly woven together with vivid descriptions to create a fantastic and gripping read!

The Revenge of Kaivalya

Publisher: Westland
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Genre: Fiction – Supernatural Thriller
Pages: 392
ISBN 9789383260287

Here’s the book blurb that grabbed my interest:

In the lush forests of Sakleshpura, a tribal man dies under mysterious circumstances, his body branded with words in an ancient Kannada script, and only the eerie silhouette of a young woman to be seen.

Nearby, in modern-day Bangalore’s concrete jungle, Neel, young, handsome and till now carefree, uneasily wonders if his friends on the party circuit are playing a prank on him — his penthouse reeks of charred flesh, and he thought he saw a young woman out of the corner of his eye.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Sakleshpura forest reserve, newly-married Shivaranjini experiences a devastating siezure, emerging with a terrifying new personality.

What are the mysterious forces at work here and how are all these things related? How does an audacious kidnapping investigated by a svelte police officer fit in? Is it a case of paranormal activity, as believed by the beautiful Tara, or something much less sinister? Neel and his friends are caught up in the vortex of these seemingly unrelated events, until the day they unravel the truth — and discover the revenge of Kaivalya.

The revenge of Kaivalya – My review

I won’t go into the story in detail because I’ll end up spilling spoilers – that blurb is enough. The book is a series of complex plots, well-crafted characters and intricate details. Sumana has done a fabulous job of stitching all these subplots together quite smoothly.  A number of seemingly unrelated incidents are wonderfully woven together to form an intriguing whole.

At some point, I swear I smelled what I read. The book had me totally absorbed and drew me in completely.

If I had questions about the plot and the connecting stories from time to time, I simply squashed them and focused on enjoying the book. Over-analysis is not such a great thing especially when a book is enjoyable as it is.

What I liked

The author created great imagery with her words. The descriptions of places, scenes were very visual. The intense research was such a major plus. The characters were excellently created and were easy to love or hate.

Various incidents bloomed across the book and connected seamlessly. I loved the camaraderie and chemistry between the characters and the sense of humor in their communication. I adored the female characters in the book. At no point did the book drag. I loved that most of it was set in and around Bangalore where I live and that lent a sense of personalization to the book, for me.

The book had my heart racing in parts, which is exactly how I like a solid story to be. To use a cliche, I just couldn’t put it down until I finished it, and if dinner was delayed or served cold for 2-3 days, I blame the author. If, sometimes the food missed some salt, I blame her for that too.

Do I recommend the book?

Oh yes. Yes. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Buy it here:

About the author:

Sumana Khan is a screenwriter, blogger and author. The Revenge of Kaivalya is her debut novel. I hope she’ll write more. Please visit her blog at This and That – best enjoyed with South Indian Filter Kaapi

Interesting links: The story behind the name

That blog title alone should be enough to have me running over eh? Kaapi = Coffee.

Have you read a good book lately?