Book Review - Mistborn Trilogy By Brandon Sanderson

 Book Review - Mistborn Trilogy 

By Brandon Sanderson

What Brandon Sanderson did with the ending of The Wheel of Time is indeed commendable. That and the massive amount of hype that comes with his name is the reason I picked up the series. Pretty much any of the Fantasy reader/influencer on Youtube lists Sanderson in their top 5 or 10. 

My overall verdict for the series is 3 out of 5. It is a enjoyable one-time read that will fade away from memory. Nothing stands out except the magic system which is indeed where Sanderson thrives and one that he is proud of. 

The good part of Sanderson' books is that he establishes boundaries and rules for his magic system. Then he plays along with them, within them, and likes to use them with ingenuity. This is a reason why he was the apt choice to translate TWOT. Take the example of the space-warp circles that you can draw in the air that aids you to go from one place to another. In the Jordan era, the TWOT world changed after this was re-discovered and made folks travel from one place to another in no time. In the Sanderson era, he uses these circles as spy devices, drawing them 50 ft above the ground for folks to see what is going on below. When it comes the first time on pages, it is an aha moment and adds so much richness to the rule that was used hundreds of times before. 

Similarly, in Mistborn series, (spoilers ahead), Kandra have a rule that they cannot kill humans. But there is no rule for Kandra killing kandra. One would expect that rule will preclude Kandra killing other kandra,  but Sanderson enjoys these gaps and later exploits them. 

Sanderson's books are known for its world building. How does he do that? It is indeed based on layering. In the beginning, we learn about different metals, their properties and powers, pushing and pulling aspects. We come to know that this is Allomancy. Later on, we learn that there are other forms using the same metals and in fact that there are three - Allomanncy. Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. Sanderson weaves each form in his stories/characters. Later, in book three, we get to know that Allomancy is from Preservation and Hemalurgy is from Ruin. Sanderson explores the role of Preservation and Ruin and how they balance each other out. 

A good rule of world building is that it should always add room to add scope at each layer and able to build more layer on top it. Sanderson does it effectively. He can expand horizontally - example -  add more metals (layer 1), add more techniques (layer 2) or expand verticals - where does Preservation or Ruin come from.  Sanderson is master of this craft and it shows in the text. 

Compare this to the world building of Harry Potter. I have been thinking of which books did I enjoy more - Harry Potter series or Sanderson. Internet says that kids enjoy HP while adults enjoy Mistborn. I am not sure. I feel that Rowling's world building is definitely magical but lacks rules. There could be a spell for anything, it is vague, vast and also lacks a grounded basis. Such limitlessness results in author-convenience, you can create a way out by inventing a new spell. 

However, in contrast I found the characters to be more relatable in HP series than Mistborn. In general, I like books where there is a sense of purpose and people coming together to do something magical. It is easy to create a sense of purpose, for all fantasy books are basically a re-telling of good vs bad. But people coming together, relying on each other to achieve the end goal, overcoming what they thought they could achieve, against all odds is what makes the journey satisfying. See, LOTR, it is the fellowship that establishes the bond. In HP, it is the batchmates of Hogwarts class where friendships are made. 

My biggest gripe with TWOT is that the camaraderie does not shine, seems forced and folks are often jealous or arguing with each other. It is not that bad in mistborn though. Book one is by far my favorite of the three precisely because of this reason. The characters and their fellowship shines the most in book 1. In book two and three, it dilutes down. 

The second trope that I do not like at all is when characters get power without deserving them. Sure, they may be born with it but their process of discovery is important. In TWOT, I could never associate with Matt. In Mistborn, the protagonist, Vin's self discovery is palatable but Elend - I could still see his path to get to become the king (done actually well with Tindwyl)  but for him to become Allomancer is just cheating in my mind. I love the fact that in the land of magic, how people without magic can not only survive but also lead (think - Aragorn, Frodo, Varys), it makes them more powerful. Sanderson throws away that edge in book 3 and I had a hard time enjoying book 3 for this very reason. 

Character arcs - Other aspect of fantasy books is how character arcs shape up, not just the protagonist but the side characters too. The Spook arc in book 3 is well done and satisfying. Vin and Sazed shine in parts but not everytime. This is where I think Sanderson's books are biased towards world building than character arcs. Sazed love interest turned grief mode seems unconvincing since the book shows him in love only for 2 months in his god knows how long life. Sanderson avoids the hero-savior trope by balancing Vin's page-time but he also does not enough meat in it. 

No review of Mistborn is done without Kelseir - the hero of book 1, the spirit of the trilogy and perhaps the best character of the entire series. Book 1 is practically a heist plot, a heist against the God (literally) and Kelseir is the plotter. It is a david vs goliath trope, fellowship trope, new hero discovery and training trope, revenge trope, good vs evil trope in which few good people will die,  it is everything that you would expect from a good fantasy book.  Kelseir is the Tyrion of GoT - a character that everyone falls in love with.  

The other premise that is really good with Mistborn is the class struggle - the Skaa(workers) vs the nobles. Mistborn world is actually pretty dystopian but Sanderson tones it down. The brutality by the nobles, the helplessness of the Skaa, are really good subjects and Sanderson engages with both of them. But, I feel tha they could have been explored more deeply. But, the fact that Sanderson brought them to the forefront and had chose such a setting is indeed commendable. 

Book1 - The Final Empire - 3.5/5

Book 2 - The Well of Ascension - 2.5/5

Book 3 - The Hero of Ages - 3/5

The reason I got the HP comparison is because I felt the writing styles of Rowling and Sanderson are similar. The prose is okay-ish, easy to follow up but does not stand out. Words exist to create the worlds, push the plot along and for the narration to happen. But the wordsmith-ness is not there. Some books have a beauty when you read them. Like Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin for me.  Mistborn is not of that genre. 

Read Mistborn for its world building and it is a great introduction to fantasy, similar to HP series but in a more real world setting. 

Book Review - The Word for the World is Forest

 

The Word for the World is Forest

By Ursulla LeGuinn

A short novel. Ursulla LeGuin writes a story on a new planetary colonization by humans. This new planet, New Tahiti, is 27 years away from Earth. This new planet has a human-like folks who have learnt to live in harmony with nature. They do not kill each other, and when they get angry, they sing. Societies are ruled by woman because they excel in politics while men excel in intellect. The best part is that they can dream while being awake and there is something called dream-time and real-time. They are surrounded by trees and in their language, the term used to describe the world is 'forest'

LeGuin's takes us into this world where such abstract concepts and imagery is brought to light in an easing manner. I wanted to visit this place, learn how to dream while being awake, live among these people for a while. They were content folks. Until the colonizers came. 

The colonizers are cliche-like brutal except one person who is a do-gooder. Earth beings, or yumens, as they are called by the natives, are cruel to the natives, use them as slaves and hunt them for pleasure. Classic tropes are done to create this duality of good vs evil. I am more familiar with this trope from the movie Avatar but as it usually is, Ursulla did it first :) 

It is a good over evil story, so native species win. In that manner, it is a positive ending. But along the way, they learn something from humans - the ability to kill each other. LeGuin leaves the question hanging on how this would change them but hints it enough that it will change them. 

Overall, a short and good read. 3.5/5

Life In 24 Mar to 31 Aug'24

 

No time to waste, so lets get down to the deets. In no particular order. 

Thindi Walk in Rajajinagar with Aarti. 

Thindi Walk

1. We started at a Chiblu idli van that is yet to be found on Google maps. Mandya Halaguru Chiblu Idli, Rajajinagara. -pillowy, fresh chiblu idlis, love rice bath items (pudina, puliyogare and chitranna), masal vadE. All good!
2. THE Ajji hotel with the sakkath khara kanninda neeru baruthe chutney, fantastic chitranna, idli and bondas.
3. Sri Guru raghavendra dosa and veg corner. Shavige bath, Kesari Bhat and vade
4. Siri coffee Mane for some fresh coffee
5. Manjunatha fast foods - Puri with Sunday special tarkari sagu (brilliant!), garlic chutney smeared masal dosE, soft thatte idlis with a dash of ghee
6. Davangere benne dosE angadi, open dosE, benne Khali, benne masalE
7. Lastly, we went to O.G. Varier bakery - a very famous one 

Restaurants explored - 

• Kampot Bellandur - Went with office colleagues for Kajal's farewell. Good Asian food. Not much crowded and no music.
• Biergarten Bellandur - Went with Rick and team. Good beer and near to office. It is a huge place inside. 
• Street 1522, Sarjarpur road with Masi - Good variety of food. Nice combination of food court and restaurant. 
• Multiple visits to Deck of brews from office
• Hotel Annapurna Tiffin Center - Nearby office. Took a cab once and had breakfast before going to office. 
• The Filter Coffee - Tried both Indiranagar (with Manas) and the Brookfiled one (with Rick)

Movies / TV Series

• Kill  - John Wick equivalent from India. Loved it. 3.5/5
• Amar Singh Chamkila - Biopic done well. I liked it a lot. 3.5/5 
• Barbie - 3/5
• Watched Oppenheimer again. I think it is just brilliant. 4.5/5
• Broadchurch - Season 1 & 2. 4/5 . Both David Tennant and Olivia Coleman are awesome! 
• The Bear season 3 - 3.5/5 Still has a lot of heart but story does not move that much forward. 
• Masala series - Tracker (2.5/5), Poker Face (3/5) 
• Masala movies - The Union, Twisters (2024), Twister(1996), Anyone but you. 
• Rewatched Ted Lasso during my Dengue time. 

Travels

1. Trip to Mussourie
2. Surya Top Trek with IndiaHikes
3. US trip - LA, Vegas and Grand Canyon. Details to come
4. Kathmandu + Vipassana  - Details to come. 

Books

Started a book club in office to read management books. 

• On Leadership - HBR's 10 best reads 
• No Rule Rules - Netflix and the culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
• The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
• Siddartha by Herman Hesse
• The Art of Living - Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka
• The devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 

What Else

• Got Dengue - Was out for 2 weeks. Kanishka and mummy fed me lot of juices which helped me recover soon. 
• Did a fruit only detox diet from Team Sharan for a week.

Wheel of Time Book 11-14 Review

 

Wheel Of Time

By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Book 12-14)

Phew! A project comes to an end. I finished the last 14th book last night and it is 3 pm Saturday today and I am still not out of the Wheel of Time World. I liked the ending, I liked that it has ended. It has delivered on many promises, not so much on few. One of the reason that fantasy books, especially series are so popular is because there is a community around it. For WoT, it is the fandom and each one has a different take on it. Since yesterday, I have been reading reddit forums and watching youtube videos, watching secret-sharing videos from Brandon Sanderson - all this to share what has been a fairly significant emotional journey. 

For a series like this one, ones where a final battle has been promised, the ending carries a lot of weight. More so in WoT because there has been so many characters, side characters and we have spent so much time with them, before starting book 11, I had began to wonder that how will all this end. Fore the most part, I had stayed away from the fandom while reading books, but I did check the book rankings and everyone shared that it gets better from book 11 onwards. So, I was prepared for this set. 

I had high, or maybe more expectations. I did not like the 8-9-10 (didn't read 10). My grouse was less with that pot did not move forward but just the environment of the books. I felt that almost all characters were not supportive of each other, lacked empathy, even to folks who were helping them. I was unable to root for anyone of them and that made me didn't care. Plus, the writing was repetitive. But, I am glad that all was fixed and 11-14 are worth a read, infact the series is a worthy read. 

Book 11 - The Knife of Dreams

Jordan definitely got his mission back and this is a book when many threads are resolved and we start to see a beginning of the Tarmon Gaidan - the final battle. First, it is Perrin who rescues Faile and that whole arc comes to an end. It is a good battle scene and this is also an end to Shaido Aiels.  I think we spent more time with Shaidos than we needed to but it is ok. Next this is Egwene's book - I really liked the whole arc of Egwene from book 11 to when she becomes Amryllin in Book 12. Yes, she is not yet an Amyrlin in book 11 but this is a slow burn that I enjoyed. Also, this is a story of grit and you root for her. This has been missing for such a long time. Mat also fares better, marries the daughter of the nine moons and again shows off his battle stratagems. Rand is still annoying, albeit a little less. Overall, the pacing is much better and many arc closures are well handled. Some world building tropes are good such as dead-people walking but others like rooms  or building architecture changing seem more far fetched. 

What I absolutely hate about this book and the whole series is the Elayne character. Absolutely reckless. Even though she is the queen of Andor, such entitlement without much struggle. Yes, she becomes the queen and has affairs to manage etc but her character just did not work for me. Like at-all. 

Nyaneve as a character in book 11 is awesome, in particular, how she encourages Lan to ride. Perhaps the best setup here and that too for a character that is so much loved but so less cover. 

Book 12 - The Gathering Storm

The reins change - now we are in the Brandon Sanderson writing world. And to be honest, I preferred Sanderson over Jordan.  Gone are the repetitiveness, the cut of blouses, the spankings the braid tugging. Sanderson has a mission to tie all these threads together and take us to the promised final battle. 

I loved book 12. It may be my second (or may be third, we will see) most favorite book of the series. This is the book where people come together to help each other. The underdogs win - the long arc of Egwene becoming Amyrlin is closed with a fantastic Seanchan siege of the White Tower - one that was promised some 9 books ago. It is epic and it is awesome! The second best part is the change in Rand. In such epic series, the main characters are not the best, it is the side character that drives the series. But in WoT, I just didn't care for Rand at all. Book 12 still has the same aloofness, and he is even pushed to the extreme but he returns to sanity. This transition is deftly handled and I liked it when I read it. Elayne, Matt, Perrin are absent and it is ok. But the twists in this book are amazing - in particular the Verin one. Books, the good vs bad ones, need to re-confirm your faith in humanity. WoT had stopped doing so for so long that it was so refreshing to see it. 

Book 13 - Towers of Midnight

Or in which everyone gets ready for Tarmon Gaidan. Book 13 starts when Rand visits Egwene, ow Amyrlin and shares that he is going to break the seals of the dark one. Interesting! But this time, he wants everyone to be together. So, folks are indeed coming together. This is Perrin's book since he finally accepts his destiny to be a leader. This transformation is awesome! The whole sequence of forging of his hammer is amazing. Elayne continues to be the most annoying one and I would just not talk about it. My next favorite bit it Nyaneve and Egwene and how Nyaneve comes to call her as Mother but she is her own one. Nyaneve's tranformation in the series, her arc is one of the best one. Mat kills Golam, arranges for the dragons to be manufactured and finally rescues Moraine. Moraine rescue is brilliant with many reveals in those pages. Mat is the comic relief and he does a good job. At the end of 13, everyone has assembled at a common field - fields of Merrilor and we are now ready for the final instalment. Overall, now we have the sense of mission and camaraderie that is expected. 

Things that I did not like - Morgase's reveal was meh. Could have been much better and then she goes to a really side-y character. Gawyn/Egwene has little weight, it was flimsy before and continues to be so. I also feel that Siuan's arc could have been much better handled - she deserved better. 

Things that I like -We do not read more about Kinswoman or the Seafolk, beyond casual mentions. It keeps the series focussed.  Faile/Berlaine peace was nicely handled.  There are many wonderful nuggets such as the chapter where Matt gets stuck in a village where folks are zombies. 

Book 14 - Memory of Light 

There is a section in MoL where Thom is wondering how to describe the last battle - is it magnificent, epic? He finally settles on 'exquisite' . I think it is wonderful that Sanderson takes a detour here and I think it is introspective. 

MoL is exquisite. It is 1000 pages of battle, it is truly the epic battle that was promised. I liked the book and I read it through the week Mon-Fri, often spending my morning and late evening hrs, post-office hrs, finishing this. There are so many things that I like - it is the one which makes all the character arcs finally worth it. Sanderson also does justice to so many characters that it is amazing. An epic series has to land the ending and WoT does and it is for this reason that the journey is worth it. 

And as expected, many good people die in the final book and it is why it is truly heart-breaking. But, this is Lan's book. Lan is the Aragorn promised in book #1 and he is delivered in book #14. The fact that Lan gets justice makes up for many injustices :) 

There are many things to like here - some small and some big. I am going to talk about all in this long-ish post below

I really liked the meeting before the battle where Rand lays out his plan. It leads to bickering between houses and Elayne continues to annoy here. Rand wants to break the seals and let the dark one free and here Egwene behaves immaturely. Rand, though, is now the hero, the one who is trying to take everyone together. For this itself, it is just amazing. Perrin is the loyal friend and hence supports unconditionally. The deal clincher, the maker of truce is no other than Moraine and it is just so satisfying to read those pages. YES! YES! 

What follows next is the the creation of four battle grounds, the four generals and distribution of all characters in between these four grounds. Oh my! This scale is EPIC now. All characters have a purpose now. Faile is in charge of organizing food, Beralin for maintaining hospital for injured. Sanderson shuffles through each battle scene masterfully, it is just fascinating read. We see Uno, Hurin, Tam, Alliandre, Talmanes, Ituralde all side characters and now we know each one. What I absolutely hate here is that Mat is missing and Elayne is chosen as the leader of the battle. I had to make peace with Elayne and I did it. Amongst so many goodness, this was a duh. 

I just loved the plot twist of what the forsaken does here, in particular the Granedal's one where each general is now under compulsion. Massive hordes of Trollocs, we witness scenes when the strengths of men fail yet they continue. The prose is okay-ish, shines on few pages but lands a few punches. But, the screenplay is just amazing. 

What I also liked that in this book of final battle, we have a new character Andhrol, an Ashaman of low power who architects a plot to save the Black Tower. A problem created by the chosen one but fixed by normal (or non-chosen) people. It is an amazing story development and that it happens in the last book is just amazing. 

I also liked the few scenes which just make the book shine. For example - the banter between Matt and Rand on who has done more for the world. Or how gateways are used to spy on the war by spinning them in the sky, at drone level. There are many nuggets which are just too good. 

What I absolutely do not like is the whole Seanchan bit - this is a closure that I needed but did not get. It was told from book #2 that the empire will fall when it is discovered that Suldan can also be damane but nothing happens. Seanchan, in particular, Tuon, are shown to be little sympathetic, because of Matt's marriage but it does not land. 

Eventually, the three fronts loose and are forced to join hands and take a last stand at the Fields of Merrilor. Now, this is where the battle is epic because you know who is in charge now - Matt. Matt in his characteristic style drives the battle and it is a ~200 page chapter and just a delight to read. We say goodbye to many favorite characters but it is ok. I think 80% of the armies are dead. It is also a battle of both one-power and non-power people fighting alongside. It is interesting to see how it comes together. Because so far, be it Dumai Wells or in Tar-Valon Seanchan attack, once the one-power is involved, it is all one-power. In Perrin's rescue of Faile, one-power is disabled via Forkroot, so you see battle of only strength. But the final battle has forsaken going against people who is non-Rand. 

Things that were satisfying but could have been better - Role played by Perrin and Nyaneve in the final battle. They did a lot but they could have done better. Egwene is satisfying but could have been better. Ashaman and in general the conflict of Logain is good to see. 

Things that ticked me off - Galad and Gawyn - why o why. Elayne should have just died. 

Things that where extremely satisfying - Lan killing Demandred. Death is lighter than feather. Loial  and Ogier joining fight and singing while fighting. Matt's moves and his whole attitude lifts the pages - Demandred thinking that it would be Lewis Therin himself.  Lanfear's last gamble is great too. I am also pleased with Rand's battle with the dark-one. 

Finally, Tam al'Thor - man, after Lan, if there is some character with minimal presence and maximal impact. Two Rivers is awesome

Overall, it was a satisfying end. 

And this is where I am reminded that why the ending of LOTR is so amazing. There is no saving of Shire here, there is no post-credits. The saving of Shire brings things home in such an amazing fashion that no other fantasy book has done it for me. 

My rankings between these books are 12>14>13>11.  Here are my book 1-5 and book 6-10 reviews 

My overall rankings are - 

4 > 2>12 >14>13 > 3 > 6 > 11 > 5 > 1 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10

Wheel of Time - Book 6 to 10 review

 Wheel of Time 

By Robert Jordan

Book 6 - Lord of chaos

Well, it has one of the epic ending of the entire series, Dumai Wells, - a fight with multiple tribes fighting at a common scene, some for the hero, some against. Other than the ending though, Robert Jordan continues to build on this fantasy world. New systems like asha'man are introduced and built. Lot of interesting character movements especially for the three women (Nyaneve, Egwene and Elayne) who are shaping well. However, the bit of born with gifts continue on. Example Nyaneve knows how to heal stilled folks and Elayne can make duplicates of Ter'ngreal by studying them, both lost powers are now discovered. It is a bit too much and little too much. However, overall plot developments are very well done and book moves at a quick pace. 

A point to note is that the book remains shallow in many aspects. For example - Egewne becomes Amrylin out of the blue. In contrast, remember how Jon Snow gets elected as the Lord Commander of the Watch in GoT. Similar scheming happens here but Jordan does not dwell much on the scheming. He shows a flashlight that such schemes occurred but refuses to go deeper into them. 

Whenever he goes deeper, the book becomes richer. For example Rand's capture is nicely detailed and is a great arc to follow. 

Book 7 - A Crown of Swords

Things take a turn post Dumai Wells and shape most of the events that follow. However, we also start to see the verbosity starting to creep in. Siaun always complains about washing the smallclothes of the general. The whole Ebou Dar arc and Egwene rebel Aes Sedai is beautiful in conceptual development but it could have been done much better in prose. For example, you would expect that Egwene being so young will need help to manoever things and likely need a confidante, she gets one too in the name of Siuan but there is rarely a bond between the two. Infact both seem to taunt each other and it gets annoying. 

Pacing at Ebou Dar is very slow and here too - you would assume main characters to be friendly to each other does not happen. Elayne, Nyaneve keep Mat out and sneer at him. In every good vs evil story, the hero has friends while the hero may lack in strength, it is the friendship that is the true power. In Wheel of Time, this friendship is not only taken for granted, but outside of the need, there is always tu-tu-main-main between these friends.  This is a trend that goes into book 8 and 9 as well. 

Book 8 - Path of Daggers

Finally, the bowl of winds, Ebou dar arc comes to an end. Where Jordan excels is the world building, there is a notion of similarity that gets repititive over pages - the Kin group and their hierarchy, the sea-women,  Seanchen, the forsaken, all have levels, rules and an inherent notion of slavery. Jordan defines slavery in various forms, it is penance in Aes Sedai, ji'e'toh for Aiel, each society has its rules, its culture. But each society is one dimensional after a point. It is just different flavors, different renditions of the same raaga.  

Overall, one thing is clear is that this is far away from the happy world of Two-rivers aka Shire. It is much bleaker world than GoT

And beyond a point it makes no sense. For example. the sea-women as part of their bargain get agreement that they will get Aes Sedai to train them but then they treat the Aes Sedai like a slave instead of a guest. An instructor who is a slave is a pattern that repeats - Rand-Asmodean, Rand-Moraine, Egwene-Siuan. In this particular instance, it does not makes sense. 

Overall. things move slow in book 8. Book 8-10 are considered slog books of the series. It was evident why. 

One other aspect of Jorden's writing is that he introduces many characters, what they wear, describing places as they occur in detail and it takes a lot of page. It is not important to describe the neckline of each woman's dress. However, considering everything Jordan does it well. However, the inner monologues of each character are okay-ish. Where Jordan excels is to not explain things in detail and letting audience connect. An important aspect like Ashaman going mad and then put to sleep is covered in mere two pages and if you are not paying attention, they tend to slip away fast. So, amid the verbosity of world building, such important incidents tend to get missed and I had to refer to web couple of times to understand how did that happen. 

Book 9 - Winter's Heart

A very bold plot premise - Rand wants to remove taint from the Saidin. But it is never explained how this will work. Yes, there are couple of points to explain it but then more logic here could have helped. Overall, the final sequence is written from multiple povs and it is done well. However, it comes so late in the book, so definitely book is slow. Matt's chapters are much better to read but somethings like bellfounder makes no sense. Overall, a decent end. 

Book 10 - Crossroads of Twilight

I skipped this book since so many had told that this is a slog. Read the chapter summaries on dragonmount.com and I kinda agree. Many arcs are not yet resolved. So, I am jumping to book 11. 

Ranking of this series -  6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10, haha, this is linear.  Looking at my first part review, my overall ranking would be -  4 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 1 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10

Wheel of Time - Book 1 to Book 5 review

 Wheel of Time - Book 1 to Book 5 review

By Robert Jordan

It takes a special effort to start a book series which has 14 parts. At-least special effort to me since my reading has generally been below par and my reading speed should improve. This is a decent page turned, rated well, has good world building, and now has a TV-series as well . So, I have signed up for it. Finished book 5. Here is my review

Book 1 - The Eye of the World

Truth be told, I didn't like it too much. Why?

1. This one felt too much of a rip-off of LOTR. Two Rivers is Shire, Dark one is Saruman, Trollocs are Orcs/trolls, Myrddarral are similar to black-riders, characters are pushed because of their destiny etc etc. 

2. When an ordinary person defeats the evil, it is interesting only when the journey of the ordinary person to become a hero has a transformation that leads to the victory. It is off-putting for me when the ordinary person is a hero because it is their destiny (it is written). In the Eye of the World, the ending is mostly because of the latter. 

3. Prose - It is okay, lacks the richness of LOTR to be honest. 

What works though is the world building - The Aes Sedai world is super fascinating, dark-world characters are wonderful. Magic and non-magic co-exists in a balanced manner. 

I actually stopped #1 and asked myself if I want to commit to this 14 book series. It was not that bad, plus, I really wanted to increase my reading speed. So, I singed up.

Book 2 - The Great Hunt

The first and last 200 pages of the Great Hunt are mind blowing! I just loved the world building. Seanchans are pure evil and this time the writing matches up to vileness. The book opens with Amrylin Seat (Head of Aes Sedais) visiting Fal Dara and meeting the ta'verns (people who play a substantial role in weaving the pattern or pattern weaves around them) and lot of interesting things happen including prophesies, scheming and what nots. The character development is much better here, pacing is decent and the ending is powerful.  Book 2 also deviates a lot from LOTR and now we are in the world of Wheel of Time.

Rand begins his sword training which is good. Mat is poorly fleshed out. Nyaneve / Egwene evolve much better. My favorite by #2 is Moraine - the Aes Sedai who is genuinely trying to make this work. So much so that she goes to do research to understand things. Yes, that is how it should be. 

Book 3 - The Dragon Reborn

After a really good book 2, it is now established that Rand-Al Thor is the Dragon Reborn and he is going to fight the Dark One in the end. Now, the journey starts. If you are the chosen one, with tons of prophecies written about you, do you have any choice left? Are you just a puppet of destiny or can you exercise free will to choose your own path, even though it may lead you to the same end. 

Book 3 is where this journey starts. It is a decent book. What I like here is that both in book 2 and book 3, all main characters are together at the start, then they follow different paths and then they all meet together at the climax. To pull this off in #2 was good but to pull it off again in #3, but now making sense, it is pretty impressive. 

World Building gets bigger with Aiel folks coming in. We get to know more about each city here and each city has its own politics, its own customs, this is fairly interesting. 

However, some characters are becoming irritating - Mat/Nyaneve hating Moraine/Aes-Sedais even when Moraine protects them is little painful. 

Book 4 - The Shadow Rising

Perrin's arc so far has been satisfying and Book 4 is much of Perrin's story. I also like Falme's character and overall their arc is one of the most satisfying reads of the series. Here is also an arc where Perrin has become a hero, some my fate but mostly by his journey and its learnings. Also, he goes back to Two Rivers - hero goes back to village to save it from evil because evil is everywhere now. 

But the start of The Shadow Rising is amazing! Parallel events synchronized by the cockadoo sound, each event is intensely creative and leads to a great battle early in the chapters. From here, we go deeper into the Aiel waste where the world building just shifts gears. The Rhuiedaan and its discovery of Aiel history is very good. 

Post Rhuiedaan, atleast the Mat character becomes more evolved and seems more likeable. Other character arcs of Nyaneve, Elayne, Egwene are proper. Rand understands the weight of his destiny and is trying his best to cope up. 

TSR covers a lot of ground and is very well written, with many plot twists that are difficult to see. It introduces and uses Forsaken very effectively as means to have intermediate villains before the dark one gets out. More interesting events happen at Tar Valon (HQ of Aes Sedai). 

While TSR is so far the best, by now, it is also becoming clear on positives and shortcomings of Robert Jordan's style. While world building is great, it takes characters time to get fleshed out, perhaps little too slowly for my taste. The transition period is incredibly painful, mostly because of writing. Plus, the writing is difficult to follow because it just assumes that readers remember everything. Example - the septs or clans of Aiel, some are with Rand, some are not. It is difficult to follow this and you just go from one para to another hoping that things resolve. 

Book 5 - The Fires Of Heaven

After an satisfying book 4, book 5 is a so-so for first 80% and then the last 20%, it just shifts gears and has an ending that has true pain for me. In any epic journey, good people will die and we see it happen for the first time at the end of book 5. Hopefully, they stay dead, unlike the Thom the Gleeman or our Gandalf in LOTR :) It is the death that creates the pain and then the fear. 

The middle part of Fires of Heaven is a slog - the whole circus bit is repetitive and not so interesting. But some episodes are very interesting - like how Elayne gets Brigette as a the Warder - very creative! But somethings are not fun - like why Couladin will kill people on his journey to Cairhein or why will Elayne know how to make Ta'angreal.  Plus, the decision to not focus on Perrin at all is brave but may not be the best one. 

The ending of Fires of Heaven seems a little stretch, the dream to real world mapping just so happens. Just so happens the adam thing, just so happens that Mat has killed Couladin. Mat as a military strategist is also a fated role instead of an earned one. 

My decision to continue till the end is still on. So, far my ranking is 4 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 1.

Life In 17 July - 4 Oct, 2023

 

I am on a break :)

I am on day 5 of a 9 day work break to just recharge my batteries. Work became too much chaotic last few weeks, so I decided to take a breather, focus on other aspects of life and spend some days without worrying about work. Blog writing does seem one of them

Before I start, here is a quick recap of my break journey so far - 

Day 0 - Fri evening. Took a trial class at local CrossFit. Something that has been in my TODO list for a long time. Wanted to start weight training and felt cross-fit could be a place to make it happen.

Day 1 - Finished book 3 of Wheel of time series - The Dragon Reborn. Decent read. Decided to take on the impromptu class of learning how to make dream cake - apparently a Insta viral thing presently   Kanishka and I took this workshop organized by Yellow Pumpkin, in HSR. The workshop was good. Dream cake is a layered cake, so we learnt how to make Chocolate cake, Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate mousse (which goes via Chocolate truffle), Caramal sauce, chocolate wall and dust. 4 hrs well spent!

Day 2 - Demo class of Cello. Likely going to sign up for it. Fingers crossed if I can be regular on it. Also, went to another gym to sign up for their demo class. Day 2 evening was spent reading book 4 of Wheel of time series at a local cafe - Beanlore - new cafe exploration in parallel :) Interestingly Beanlore had Fountainhead the book there and it has been a while since I had read it (there is a story here for some other time). Spent most of the evening reading Fountainhead part 4. Maybe because I read from the middle but some content is pretty difficult to stomach - as in the point is stated as a fact first and then a long winded verbiage to justify it.  

Day 3 - Demo class at the new gym. Ended up taking membership for 3 months. Fingers crossed. Board game night with friends. Lost both games of Splendor. Also watched this amazing movie - Argentina 1985

Day 4 - I always wanted to get one of our study room walls hand painted. Made few calls but finally got someone who can do it. But that meant cleaning any wall accessories. This led from a wall-cleaning exercise to  major wardrobe cleaning to eventually home cleaning project that went from 9 am to 9 pm and finally Kanishka and I crashed :). Atleast 5 boxes worth of items disposed. Day well spent :) 

Day 5 - Got my hair colored again. Not happy this time but happy of my experimentation. Wall painting guy finalized. Gym schedule started. Plans in motion for a new toy place for Puchka and Taco :) 

The good thing is that none of this is pre-planned. Each plan is materialized mostly a day before or on the morning of the day. Whenever, I have taken a break, I have travelled. So, taking a break and being at home is something that I am happy to do this time. Plus, there are so many small small items that were neglected are finally getting some attention. 

------------

Trip to Varanasi - A 4 day trip Varanasi which was partly official partly travel. Loved the Ghat walks and food this time.

Amritsar-Kartarpur-Delhi trip - Crazy hectic but full worth it. And that both Varanasi and Amritsar happened back to back, it is just mind boggling. Highlight was Karptarpur, documented here in detail. Amritsar was also decent - Wagar border had this women only flag event and dancing to patriotic bollywood songs, Sandeshein aate hain emanating from the loudspeakers. Felt like all 90s or older songs only and too simplistic but liked this time I liked it. Way better experience than my last visit when I thought that I would never come here again. Golden temple was very crowded and Kesar da dhaba is highly over-rated. Satpura is a must-try because of its innovation over Samosa :) 

Multiple weekend  trips to Denkanikottai including one where we went to Murugan Idli in Krishnagiri 

--------------

Movies - Started my bollywood binge to reconnect with Bollywood

Javan - SRK starrer. Lets leave it at that 

Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahanai - Karan Johar goes back to the director seat. Flashy, royal, breaking taboos and 100% bolllywood. Some people understand the industry/genre really well.

Tu Joothi Mein Makkar - Time pass. Lets not apply logic. But, Bollywood is definitely continuing its liberal streak in whole new ways, especially around sexuality, women freedom and rights. This part is good to see. I had thought how Hrushikesh Mukherjee films used to make middle class push the boundary on what values we want nation to follow. By no means TJMM is a Hrushikesh-da movie but collectively, today's Bollywood movies, though standing for upper class, is brazenly calling out the freedom expected in today's times. I do not think that we should take it for granted. Because we have seen how regressive the TV series industry became. 

Mimi - A Pankaj Tripathi film on surrogacy where the worst fears are actualized and resolved too in the end. It avoids the difficult question on what if the son was mentally challenged. But, nevertheless a different film. 

Masala ones - 

Star Wars 4, 5 and 6. Wanted to get Kanishka acquainted to origins of Star Wars universe. Never liked before, do not like them now. The new JJ Abrams era and Andor is impressive though. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - So good that i am not seeing this in cinemas anymore. Watchable but they are not at all enjoyable anymore. 

Amazing ones - 

Perry Mason - Season 2 - 4.5/5. Matthew Rhys continues to cement his place as one of the best actors of my generation. I am such a big fan of him. 

Jury Duty - 4.5/5 - How much I have loved the premise. And boy, how lucky they were to find the right person. Plus, it is legal drama :) I absolutely adored it. Creativity, things done to pull it off, the docu style.  

The Bear Season 2 - 5/5 - It is just brilliant. All episodes are amazing. This has to be rewatched. and then watched again. I am not sure how many times I have told people to watch this series. 

Decision to leave - 3.5/5 - Nice noir thriller and a delight to watch.

I also went through a phase of 90s 6-pointers which I feel are missing in today's world. These simple plot-based couple of twist thrillers are so watchable. 

High Crimes - 2.5-3/5.

The Sum of all fears - 2.5-3/5 

Contrast to the current ones require a lot of mental energy to see them. Example - I saw this series Inventing Anna on how a girl frauded the whose-who of elite but she had a modest background. Besides a badly acted protagonist role, this could have been cut short to a 2 hr movie. 

--------------------

New things - 

Played new board game - Wingspan - Liked it a lot. Good strategy and competitive play but not at all combative. Peaceful competitive game. 

New board game - Diamonds - A new family board game in our kitty. Nice combination of both playing cards and elements from board game world. 

Food stall - Independence day celebration - Kanishka and I along with family, particularly Kanishka's mom had a food stall in Sobha. Featuring Litti Chokha Churma and Hummus with Nachos. Kids came for nachos more than hummus. Litti Chokha was amazing 

New places tried - Long Boat Brewery (3.5/5), Urban Monkey Sarjapur (2.5/5 - though with Bad coffee you can not call yourself an English breakfast place), Indian Coffee House HSR (new outlet launch and it is awesome), Shree Aahar HSR (new Darshini in HSR which is passable). 

From office - Deck of Brews, Misosexy Indiranagar.  

 

Life in 13 March 2022-14 Aug 2022

 

15 Aug weekend is a long weekend this year. And I intend to make the most of it to get back to my blog updates which have been pending for a while.

- NYTimes Wordle and crossword - 

When Wordle got acquired by NYT, it was already a daily habit. I soon bought the Games subscription and since then, have been fairly active on Crossword, mini-crossword and  spelling bee. My Wordle stats are decent, having lost only one so far.  Crossword - I am fairly decent at Mon/Tue ones and attempt other ones with autocheck on. Sun one takes 2-3 hrs. Overall, I love the whole gameplay thing. 

- Puchka & Taco - 

I love playing with them. They are amazing. I love the fact that whenever I come home, Taco is at the door to greet. Puchka stays hidden but she can see me. Love that they make this noise in the morning to get food. I love designing random activities for them and then for them to go at it. 

Album of 2022

- Office parties :)

As office opened up, we decided to get together with colleagues and go to different locations. So far, we have gone to 

• Bowling at the Grid followed by party at Biergarten
• Ironhill - thrice. Farewell of a colleague, a team dinner and a team lunch
• Bombay brasserie - Another team's lunch that we got self-invited.
• Irish house
• Black Pearl Kadubeesanhalli 
• Hilton whitefield - CEO's India visit 
• Prestige Oasis - Kanishka' office colleague party at his grand villa 
• 
  

Family parties

• Bombay brasserie - Mother's day celebration
• Chung Wah - Kanishka's mummy bday celebration
• Xochi - Aarti/Anshika's bday celebration. 
• Arvind & Kanishka's bday celebration at home
• Authentic Andhra restaurant - Father's day celebration
• Fisherman's wharf - Dinner with Aarti
• Home - Papa's birthday celebration
• Elan Home - Rakhi celebration

Parties with Kanishka

• Ironhill
• Irish house - Kadibeesanhalli
• Fenny's kitchen and lounge - Koramangala
• MG/Brigade road - walking + street food
• Broadway HSR

Some venues are repeated because Kanishka has a list of places where I have been and she has not been and vice versa. The idea is to get places off her list asap :) . I also have a similar list and it is getting longer :) 

-------

Travels & Tours

Mumbai - Office trip - for hiring. But also did a city heritage tour via Heritage tours, attended an Atul Khatri performance, walked on Marine drive, had amazing Pizza at Pizza by the bay. Great outing!

Meditation retreat at Bodhi Zendo and Kodai - Big thanks to Parul for pushing us to sign up for meditation

Trip to Shillong 

An upcoming trip to Delhi is planned

-----------

Books

The Wheel of Time - Book 1 - The Eye of the world

By Robert Jordan

Found it so-so. For the first half, it seems like a giant rip-off of LOTR but after mid-point or so, it gets its own arc. I am ok with chosen-one protagonist tropes but I do not like a bit if they get there without going through the phase of learning/challenges. To me, the end here is something of that sort. 

ABSOLUTE POWER - Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam.

By Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu

Loved it. Highly recommended!

This was on the reading list ever since I watched Scam 1992 last year. More so, when the news came recently on the chief of NSE getting her instructions via an online Guru etc. Before we get to the scams, this is an amazing appreciation book on the coming up of NSE in India. It covers the adhoc-ness of then BSE, challenges in setting up NSE, its noble objectives and how somer really good people came together to do their best work and in the process set up a world class trading exchange!

But power corrupts and one unpunished deed leads to another. The regulatory authority has to be vigilant, action swift and the price of not doing the right thing is always very high. Hats off to its authors. 

Dune Messiah 

By Frank Herbert

I for some reason did not like it. It lacked the flow that Dune had for me. New concepts like Ghola seemed more mechanical and there was a weirdness in visualizing them. There are elements of Dune but not too many. Maybe, I will try the third one :)

The Sun and her flowers

Milk and Honey

Poems by Rupi Kaur

I am a fan-boy :) . She belongs to the saare-gunaah-maaf league. I have read both of her books, front to end, at-least twice now. This is also now my number one gift item to give!

Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From

By Tony Joseph

80% read. 

Part of my non-fiction reading streak. Early Indians traces the migrations of pre-historic humans to the geography that we call India now. Using genetic research which is able to point out patterns of human migration over years, the book is very lucky to come out at the right time. At the heart of it, it basically argues that there were two migrations coming out of Africa spread apart by few decades which is basically an Ice-age in between. It is by far the best account of origin of Aryan race, Dravidian race and where we all came from - which is, as we all know, from Africa. 

It is fascinating read. Tony breaks the complex scientific paper articles into an easy to follow language. Must read for fans of history. 

------

Movies & TV

Lincoln Lawyer - TV Series on Netflix - 3/5

Guilty pleasure, legal drama :)

Reacher - TV Series on Prime video - 3/5

Same - guilty pleasure - this one I enjoyed more than I hoped I would :) 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Series ends - 5/5

This one goes to my top-10 ever. Dard ki dawa hai yeh :) My goto series when I am not well. 

I love the goofiness in the series. Love the characters, the desire to laugh, the over the top heists, cool side of police, do-gooders doing good. Made by the same team who made Good place. This one is for the ages!

Modern Family - Series - 3.5/5

I do not know why I like this one but I do. Motley characters going through daily life experiences, creating a goody-goody vibe. I may not re-watch it, may not recommend it but it is something that I love watching with my meals. I am currently on season 7 and I like it. 

Big Bang theory - Series - 1.5/5

May have binge watched upto third season. I absolutely hate it. I do not know why I went to season three. Maybe Sheldon's idiosyncrasy made me curious but it gets so much repetitive.  Also, beyond a point, it is obnoxious to live with him, to watch him.  I can not empathize with a person who depends on others for basic life things, no matter how smart they are. Sorry, cannot do it.  Also, this is even below Friends for me.

Succession -4/5  

(Season 1, 2 & half of season three)

The reason I am half of season three is that I do not want to binge watch and end the excitement. It did not start well but once I understood what this is, it is very fascinating. Ultra-ultra rich people are ass*** and are so up in their heads that they have no idea what happens on the ground. I really like the sets that they come up with - bachelor's party, or birthday party or yatch party, or a fundraising dinner. These events are so obscene that they do not look appealing either. 

But the series is a gem, again a series of characters not known before but perfectly cast for this.  Narration includes corporate manoeuvrings which are interesting but more than that, it is just the greed, the sense of entitlement, the lack of any empathy, it just makes riveting TV. 

Some good cinema - https://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2022/08/good-cinema-2022.html

 -------

Among other things - 

- Applied to renew my tourist Visa for US. Appointment coming up. 

- Took  Puchka & Taco for their annual vaccinations - Puchka did not come to me for a month after the visit. 

- Kanishka & I got booster-vaccinated

- Went to a play - Tajmahal ka tender at Ranga Shankara - Decent. 3/5

- Lastly, we had a grand Holi celebration this time !

Two Book Reviews - American Kingpin & Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

I wanted to read non-fiction books that read like page-turner fictions . A summer beach read with the exception that it should be a real story. I got to know about American Kingpin by Sam Parr on Twitter.  He had shared about this book and everyone in comments had very good things to say about it. Plus, it is from my world - that is tech, not drugs. 

For Ghenghis Khan, I was not looking for him. Browsing through museums in Germany, I wanted to know more about these artifacts. I had no idea about Napolean, Ottoman empire or the new German-Prussia wars. A lot of these artifacts were part of conquests, culture exchange after winning wars and some trade. Bavarian Kings made me wanted to read more about war of the roses. So, I was searching for such historic non-fiction but it should be narrative and fun. That's how I landed on the Chenghis Khan's book. I had once read that many men today are descendents of Genghis and this has always fascinated me. How did this happen? So, this incorrect tidbit sealed the deal. 

Both books were read during the Germany trip - one on the onward flight and second one during return. Especially waiting at the airport to get the results of the test, was made much easier by this book. 

Book I

American Kingpin : The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road

By Nick Bilton

American Kingpin is a story of Ross Ulbright, a libertarian, who believed of an ideal world where people should be able to do whatever they want to do. To realize his ideas, he thought the best way to apply them is on the item that is most restricted - drugs. Ross Ulbright built a website, named it Silk Route, which is an Amazon-like marketplace to sell all kinds of drugs. Completely illegal, yet Ross built an empire and at its top, the website had GMV in billions of dollars, Rolls Ulbright as the sole founder made millions. 

Ross went by his online persona of Dead Pirates Robber. Hosted in the dark web, behind Tor, payments were handled by bitcoins to keep everything anonymous. It is amazing that Ross made everything on his own, given that he did not even have a formal CS background or degree. Even at its peak, there were very few engineers, very few support people and only one manager - Ross himself

The book is a story of how different law enforcement agencies were involved in tracking this website. Traditional Narco bureaus were adept at handling street level drugs. Online drug marketplace, that too on dark web, anonymous payments via bitcoins, it was too much for them. There was a customs angle since drugs were often couriered from outside US. Customs would open packets based on some hunch and realize that it contains small capsules. There was a finance angle to trace the anonymous bitcoin transactions, which at some point will be converted to real cash. And FBI was involved who eventually were able to crack the case with the help of other agencies. But it was not easy.

As Silk Route became successful, there were attacks on the website. Employees tried to steal from Dead Pirates robber. Dirty cops came in to give tips to DPR in exchange of cash. Drug mafia was involved as they were the top sellers. Silk Route expanded its inventory to include weapons and all other illegal things. But where DPR crossed the line was that it used the mafia and underworld to order killings of human beings who posed a risk to his business. Yes, there were killings too. 

It all feels surreal, given the way it all started. Ross Ulbright wanted to prove a point - that libertarian philosophy is indeed the way to live. He was a failure in his life until he made the Silk Route. His idea behind Silk route was to prove that a safer drug trade platform will lead to lower street crime, regulate the bad/fraud drugs that are coming in and eventually will lead to reforms in the entire ecosystem. 

One of my favorite part of the book is a classic startup question - In any marketplace, how do you solve the day-zero problem. There will not be sellers until there are customers and there will not be customers until there are products from sellers. Dead Pirates Robber also realized this problem. DPR's way to solve this was the same as how a typical startup will solve it. DPR grew his own weed and sold it on SilkRoute to get early set of customers. Yes, he made drugs to get customers and quickly recovered his investment and made a lot of profit. Thus proving his MVP and there is a genuine demand. Supply came after that this was a loop more viral than Uber or Airbnb. SilkRoute had a monopoly here. There were copycat websites but by focussing on customers and execution, DPR was able to shake them off. 

The book focusses a lot on DPR's personal life, how he ran this empire unknown to his parents, friends and everyone around him. Book also covers his mentors who became his partners in crime. It is a fascinating story. It reads like a thriller even which you know the murderer but the fun is to see how the killer will be caught. The struggle of different law enforcement agencies, ego clashes between departments, desire to get the eventual credit, bad actors and general bureaucratic processes makes it seem like a miracle that DPR was caught.

Recommended more than a fiction. 3.5/5

Book II

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

By Jack Weatherford

Genghis Khan is reviled in today's times. He was a barbarian. Murderer of entire cities. Brutal. Merciless. 

But we know very little of Genghis Khan. Where was he born, where is he buried. How did he managed to conquer so many cities, entire Asia, Russia and parts of Europe?  A conquest that has no parallel.  His legacy is still with us. For example - Mughals are descendants of him. There exists no painting of him, except one which is not confirmed. Written records, scant that they are, were also made by his descendants who fought wars in his name, often with each other. 

Jack Weatherford's book, a controvertial one, brings clarity to this significant chapter of history. In order to get to balance, he tilts the book in favor of Genghis and argues that modern world, especially trade and exchange of culture is owed to Genghis Khan. While it may be controversial, the book is indeed needed. It is important to know how one man can influence so much of history. 

Genghis Khan was born in a forest-dwelling tribe where wars between factions of tribe were very common. Not a warrior by choice, he was forced to become one to keep himself and family secure. The first part of Weatherford's book traces the roots of Genghis and how he rose to become a ruler who unified all tribes of Mongolia by ruling over them. Mongolia had nothing to boast of  in terms of weaponry or science. But, its men were brave, strong and knew how to ride horses. Genghis Khan was truly special - he also had a lot of military strategem coming naturally to him. But it was honed by his need for survival and that too in harsh conditions.

Once Mongolia is unified under Genghis, he wanted peace and to maintain trade relationships with his neighbors. But they rebuked him. Just like upper caste and lower caste can not have good relations, his neighbors looked down upon him. Sometimes, they also attacked him. Genghis replied and conquered them all. 

He came up with strategies to destroy walled castles by cutting off them from food supply. He built dams and redirected river on to flood castles. He rode over iced rivers and attacked from routes which were not considered possible. His army only had horses no foot soldiers making him move fast. They did not carry food, they would hunt animals and make food. Such strategies were unheard of. 

Genghis did all this because he broke a lot of stereotypes. He valued people with abilities and made them generals and in his inner coterie, preferring them over his blood relatives which was the custom. He was a great listener. He adapted well to science. When he conquered cities, he asked the doctors, pharmacists, scientists to move with him. This allowed great inter-mingling of scientific ideas which led more military prowess in later years. 

After covering Genghis Khan's era, book moves forward to his sons and grandsons who expanded the empire. Here, with so much ground to cover, the book lacks depth and moves fast. The empire was brought down by the bubonic plague.  The downfall was as swift as the rise. Plague affected both the kings and the citizens. 

Given that Genghis Khan did not want to glorify himself, there were no statues by him, no monuments, no castles. Genghis did not build any castle, he himself lived like a commoner. There are records but of the science, of the trade, of culture but not for the man himself. Hence, the history has been lost. In modern history, to keep Mongolia away from being unified with nationalist feelings, using Genghis' name, little effort has gone in when compared to other such conquerors such as Napolean. 

The author talks at length on the positive qualities of Genghis - he allowed all religions to co-exist, there was no torture - death was often swift, his organization building skills and political acumen. Genghis used to murder the elite and then picked good administrators to rule in his stead. But he significantly downplays the destruction or terror brought down by this. In one para, an entire village of thousands was killed because Genghis' son-in-law was killed.  The author's point is that Genghis was far more gentle in victories as compared to his peers. It may be true but difficult to confirm.

But it is clear that the accomplishments of Genghis were massive. His contribution in making the modern world is significant. It should be studied more. This book is a good start for folks like me. 

3.5/5

Arkady Martine's book reviews

 A memory called empire

A desolation called peace

By Arkady Martine

Space Operas. Sci-fi/Fantasy meets politics with a garnish of poetry. An empire obsessed with itself. The native folks call the outsiders as barbarians - uncivilized folks who do not even understand the value of poetry.

The first book starts with Mahit Dzamare who is an ambassador from Lsel station, a colony at the outskirts of the Teixcalaanli  empire. Her predecessor is dead and she is sent to replace him. With her is her colony's unique & secret innovation - imago machines, a neural implant that allows you to have the brain memories of any other individual. In her case, she is carrying the imago of the previous ambassador except that it is a much older one. 

Teixcalaanli culture is obsesses with political manoeuvrings and poets to glorify the ruler - Six Direction. Yes, the names is a letter followed by a word. Such advanced culture but with such primitive naming scheme. The emperor is old and there are various folks trying to rout him out.

Arkady's penmanship is what carries the novel. She build her world slowly but her attention to detail is perhaps one of the best. She is able to leverage the stream-of-consciousness via the dialog between Mahit and her imago counterpart. All is not well in this empire and we get to know about this slowly.

The first book won the Hugo award. I finished the book the same day morning when the awards were announced. 

The second one expands on the world of first one with a new premise - a first contact story where the civilization meets a new race which can not communicate . This new race though is more advanced in weaponry and has better communication protocols. 

It is a good read, much briskly paced. Small inconsistencies here and there but overall a fascinating read and a satisfying ending.

Life in Dec 31,2020 - Mar 28, 2021

 

Woah, cant believe that this year is already 3 months done.  Also, looking at the conditions outside, Covid cases are on the rise again and it will be a while before vaccine comes for us, 2021 will be a repeat of 2020 only.

This year started with us going for a long walk outside Bangalore, organized by a group called Breathing green. This 3-4 hr long walk with lot of chit chat and a good greenery alongside was a welcome change. 

A lot has happened in three months. Lets start with headlines

----

Marriage of Saumya & Saurabh

On Jan 14, Saumya and Saurabh got married at Royal Orchid Bangalore. 13th Jan was Sagan ceremony. 12th was mehendi with awesome chole bhature made by Jiju. On 10th, we hosted everyone at our place with an almost home cooked menu  - Fried rice, Chinese veg stir fry, coconut dal and quinoa salad. 

After the marriage, we got full into taking care of Puchka. 

----

Puchka 

- Got her second dose of vaccination. 

- Got her neutered. Neutering involves an surgery followed by a week of Puchka wearing a cone so that she does not lick the stitches. Post a week, there is an inspection by vet followed by couple of days when cone can be removed. It is pretty irritating for cat and ours was no different. 

- Once the cone was removed, it was life as usual. She has gone bigger in size and maintains a very healthy activity schedule. 24x7 entertainer, more entertaining a netflix subscription. A total joy when she comes on her own and sits next to you, on you or licks you.

----

Cooking

Last 3 months have been very busy with cooking.  First, in Jan, I joined this Team Sharan's 30 day Salad/Smoothies/Soups program where in they shared one recipe a day. Then in March, Kanishka & I signed up for a detox program for a week where we have smoothie in breakfast, proper lunch and salad+soup in dinner. 

As part of this, we have tried many salad/soup/smoothie recipes. This is just what I recall

French onion Soup with Cous cous salad. French onion soup recipe is what we saw on youtube. It looked yummy and simple so we decided to make it.

Three bean salad with celery

Thai red curry - all homemade and it was yumm!

Rainbow salad

Grilled tofu salad

Bombay bhel

Beet carrot salad

Pumpkin soup

Dragon fruit smoothie

But not all cooking has been healthy. We mastered the art of making christmas cake by making it again for our anniversary

And we also made homemade Gulab jamun - 

Experiments are also going on. We made baba ganoush, rajma hummus, and kababs, baked baby potatoes.

Other items without pics are Drumstick shorba, clear soup, homemade vegetable broth

----

Outside of Puchka and cooking, other interesting things done were - 

- Cubbon Park walk with Unhurried and Parul and friends: Long 4 hr walk about the history of Cubbon park and what has survived since ages. Highly recommended.

- Anniversary celebration at Oota, Whitefield. One of the very few times when we have stepped out.

- Aarti's home buying celebration at Whisk & Thyme. 

- Added a vertical garden unit to our balcony

----

Movies & TV

- Rewatched Americans Season 3-6. For some reason, I am drawn to the character of Matthew Rhys and felt the urge to watch Americans again. Finshed some 50 hrs of TV in a week. Pretty brutal.

- Watchmen

4/5

Very stylish, very relevant. Loved all of its twists and everything.

- Big little lies 

one episode left in season 1.

4/5 so far.

- Kim's convenience is still going on

3/5 - Good comedy drama. 

- Rewatched Ocean's 11 & Ocean' 12 

Timepass series 3/5 & 2/5. 

- Wonder woman 1984

2/5

Do not watch, unless you just want to watch it due to pandemic. 

Anatomy of a murder

4/5

Classic legal film.

Carol

3.5/5

Good film about relationships

Heat - 3/5

Rewatched it after about a decade. It was decent.

7500

2/5

Again do not watch, unless you are in pandemic.

----

Books

- Finished NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy

- Almost done with the color of magic by Terry Pratchett 

----