XenoLand- Book Review

Genre: Fantasy 

Pages: 388

Publisher: Navneet Publication

Book Jacket:

The ancient world of Xenoland is under threat of annihilation as an age old prophecy almost forgotten or otherwise misinterpreted has come true. The fate of Xenoland and its inhabitants hangs in the balance as the war of pride and power slowly engulfs the entire world. Now only those at the helm of affairs can steer the world away from extinction by making the right choices. Or can they?

Read about the saviors and the satans of Xenoland as they embark on a journey of pride and honor, right and wrong, love and hatred, war and peace, and finally-existence or extinction!

Book Review

Don’t judge the book by its cover they said. Well said. Because if you go with the cover, this is one of the worst covers I have seen in this history of mankind so far. But if I had omitted this book I would have dropped a wonderful book. XenoLand written by Hardik Desai is based on one of the most untouched genre in India: fantasy. In his first book the author has done a commendable job. His work is nice and detailed. A little more sharpness can do wonders for him.

The story is based on a planet named “Xenoland”. Xenoland’s peace was disrupted when an age old prophecy came true and the dark monarch, Azathor was born. The threat of destruction of the mother Xeno (Xenoland)  leads to the formation of Agniputras which was leaded by Doi, who was destined to fight the dark monarch according to another age old prophecy. And after that the quest of finding allies for the war started and what awaited the future of Xenoland was influenced by a man unknown to all, who aims nothing but destruction.

The pace of the story is nice. This is not a kind of book which will keep its readers on their toes but definitely has the capacity to hold your interest. The descriptions are good and the illustrations for various characters make it more wonderful. The best thing about the story is that the author has shown the point of view of both camps. Neither of them is completely evil nor completely hero. They are just driven by their ignorance.

There are some minor explanation flaws which should not have been there considering it’s a fantasy book. The way in which story progressed towards the final parts, especially the reasons which conformed the final war was not up to the mark but the climax was wonderful.

Out of all the characters, Doi, Dark monarch, Sarvin and Raaman the fool were the best. The character of twin sisters was funny, especially the way they speck was very entertaining.

It would be unfair to compare this book with Harry Potter or Narnia, so never do that. This book is wonderful in its own way. This book is a great step in the Indian literature market. I hope Indian publishers will have the courage one day to publish fantasy books. I want to congratulate the author for picking up this topic and managing it very nicely. Overall, I believe it’s a very nice book and definitely worth reading.

Rated: 4/5