Ajitabh Pandey's Soul & Syntax

Exploring systems, souls, and stories – one post at a time

Tag: book-reviews

  • Book Review: Antarctica Storm by F.X. Holden

    F.X. Holden’s Antarctica Storm is a thrilling, high-stakes entry into the Aggressor series that plunges the reader immediately into a covert new arms race. This book is set in a world recovering from a devastating Pacific War and poses a serious question to the reader of the entire series: are America’s adversaries truly beaten, or are they secretly preparing to rise again?

    The plot centres around the elite Aggressor Inc. team of private security contractors who are drawn into a deadly race to protect a groundbreaking weapon based on antimatter technology. This power source is supposedly so potent that a mere 0.1 ounces could flatten Manhattan. The US research program developing it has been hidden beneath the ice at Antarctica’s remote Concordia Station.

    The team includes Captain Karen ‘Bunny’ O’Hare and Captain Rory O’Donoghue, both from the previous series. This team oversees a critical test of this new technology, the geopolitical tension explodes. The situation is complicated by the presence of an unidentified spy deep inside the program. To increase the pulse, the Russian operatives launch a covert sabotage operation which threatened not only the mission but global stability.

    Holden masterfully uses the icy, isolated setting of Antarctica to heighten the sense of claustrophobia and danger. The story weaves together the scientific brilliance of a physicist with the sharp instincts of the Aggressor Inc. team. Together they detect the first mysterious radiation spike that signals a very cold war is about to turn hot. The introduction of Chinese and Russian research teams in the desolate landscape cleverly plants the seeds of international conspiracy and conflict.

    This book is a page-burning thriller that captures the paranoia and high-tech stakes of the next arms race.

  • पुस्तक समीक्षा: उफ़्फ़ कोलकाता – सत्य व्यास द्वारा

    यह कहानी कोलकाता के बाहरी इलाके के एक विश्वविद्यालय हॉस्टल में रहने वाले युवाओं के इर्द-गिर्द घूमती है, जिनकी ज़िंदगी अचानक डरावनी और रहस्यमयी घटनाओं से भर जाती है।

    कहानी की शुरुआत एक हॉस्टल और एक अभिशप्त आत्मा से होती है, जो मुख्य किरदारों की गलती के कारण वहां आ जाती है। यह आत्मा बच्चों को परेशान तो करती है, पर मारती नहीं। डर और बचने के इंतज़ामों से उपजा यही हास्य इस उपन्यास का मूल है।

    सत्य व्यास ने डरावनी घटनाओं को हास्य के तड़के के साथ इस तरह पेश किया है कि पाठक एक साथ डरता भी है और हँसता भी है। यह एक जोखिम भरा मेल था, जिसे लेखक ने बखूबी निभाया है।

    कहानी में भूत-प्रेत और रहस्यमयी घटनाएँ हैं, लेकिन पात्रों की नोकझोंक, उनका बनारसी अंदाज़ (जो सत्य व्यास की कहानियों की पहचान है) और व्यंग्यात्मक संवाद आपको पूरे समय बाँधे रखते हैं। यह आपको हॉरर के तनाव से बचाता है और मनोरंजन को प्राथमिकता देता है। उपन्यास की भाषा सहज, संवाद चुटीले और कहानी तेज़ रफ़्तार है। यह गति सुनिश्चित करती है कि पाठक कहीं भी बोर न हो। कहानी ख़त्म होते-होते एक ऐसा हतप्रभ कर देने वाला मोड़ लेती है, जिसके लिए सत्य व्यास जाने जाते हैं। यह क्लाइमेक्स पूरे सफर को यादगार बना देता है।

    अगर आप एक हल्की-फुल्की, तेज़-तर्रार और अनोखे विषय पर आधारित हिंदी किताब ढूँढ रहे हैं, तो ‘उफ़्फ़ कोलकाता’ निश्चित रूप से आपकी पठन सूची में होनी चाहिए।

  • Book Review: Defeat Is an Orphan: How Pakistan Lost the Great South Asian War by Myra Macdonald

    Myra Macdonald’s Defeat Is an Orphan, published in 2017, is a compelling and incisive examination of the turbulent post-nuclear history of India-Pakistan relations. Long unread on my own bookshelf, I found the book to be a crucial read for understanding the current geopolitical landscape of South Asia.

    Macdonald, with her journalist’s eye for detail and a historian’s depth, masterfully traces the rollercoaster ride of conflict and diplomacy that followed the 1998 nuclear tests. The central argument is stark: Pakistan decisively lost the Great South Asian War, not because of India’s overwhelming military victory, but because of Pakistan’s own strategic miscalculations and dysfunction.

    The core of Macdonald’s analysis lies in the paradoxical impact of nuclear weapons. While they restored a certain strategic parity and shielded Pakistan from full-scale retaliation due to its smaller size, they ultimately proved to be its undoing. The book effectively dissects how the nuclear shield encouraged a reckless reliance on militant proxies (jihadis) even as those proxies began to spin out of control both internally and externally. This reliance sealed Pakistan into a cycle of militarism and denial.

    Macdonald successfully argues that while India, despite its flaws, was able to move toward economic and political consolidation, Pakistan became increasingly trapped. The book chronicles this downward spiral through key moments—from the Kargil conflict and military confrontation in the plains to the hijacking of an Indian plane and the horrific assault on Mumbai—showing how the ability to stake a serious claim to Kashmir and influence events in Afghanistan diminished rapidly.

    Defeat Is an Orphan is thought-provoking and exceptionally well-researched. It offers a nuanced perspective on South Asia’s geopolitical dynamics by focusing on the military’s dominant role in shaping Pakistan’s national policy and the country’s repeated failures to adapt.

    This is not merely a historical account; it is a critical analysis that remains remarkably relevant years after its publication. For anyone seeking to understand the roots of ongoing regional tensions and the complex interplay of nuclear deterrence, proxy warfare, and state policy in South Asia, this book is an essential reading. It powerfully makes the case that this “war… was not so much won by India as lost by Pakistan.“

  • Kurukshetra by Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’

    Kurukshetra book coverKurukshetra is a poetic description of the analysis and after effects of a war. The poet has taken the Bhishma – Yudhishthir dialogue after the Mahabharat war was over in order to explain the effects of war.

    After the war was over, Yudhishthir repents on the unjust caused by war. Yudhistir says that everybody understands the effects of war. The end result of every war is only destruction, but is it just to have enormous casualties for the selfish purpose of few.

    “युद्ध को पहचानते सब लोग हैं,
    जानते हैं, युद्ध का परिणाम अन्तिम ध्वंस है!
    सत्य ही तो, कोटि का वध पाँच के सुख के लिए!”

    Bhishm replies that nobody wants to get sick, but when the infection has already spread then their is no alternative other than treating it from root. He then explains that by itself no action is just or unjust. It is the internal feeling which makes it so.

    “रुग्ण होना चाहता कोई नहीं,
    रोग लेकिन आ गया जब पास हो,
    तिक्त ओषधि के सिवा उपचार क्या?
    शमित होगा वह नहीं मिष्टान्न से।

    है मृषा तेरे हृदय की जल्पना,
    युद्ध करना पुण्य या दुष्पाप है;
    क्योंकि कोई कर्म है ऐसा नहीं,
    जो स्वयं ही पुण्य हो या पाप हो।

    Bhishm further explains that Lord Krishna explained it very well that the feelings of the actor are more important than the action itself. And it is important for one to separate oneself from the “Karma” and still continue doing that. He explains to Yudhishthir that although the prime duty of a human being is mercy and compassion. but  when the interest of the larger society is concerned we have to forget that prime duty. He then says that pardoning only suits the powerful people.

    सत्य ही भगवान ने उस दिन कहा,
    ‘मुख्य है कर्त्ता-हृदय की भावना,
    मुख्य है यह भाव, जीवन-युद्ध में
    भिन्न हम कितना रहे निज कर्म से।’”

    “व्यक्ति का है धर्म तप, करुणा, क्षमा,
    व्यक्ति की शोभा विनय भी, त्याग भी,
    किन्तु, उठता प्रश्न जब समुदाय का,
    भूलना पड़ता हमें तप-त्याग को।

    जो अखिल कल्याणमय है व्यक्ति तेरे प्राण में,
    कौरवों के नाश पर है रो रहा केवल वही।
    किन्तु, उसके पास ही समुदायगत जो भाव हैं,
    पूछ उनसे, क्या महाभारत नहीं अनिवार्य था?”

    “क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को,
    जिसके पास गरल हो।
    उसको क्या, जो दन्तहीन,
    विषरहित, विनीत, सरल हो ?

    Finally he explained the episode from Ramayan as mentioned below –

    तीन दिवस तक पन्थ माँगते
    रघुपति सिन्धु-किनारे,
    बैठे पढते रहे छन्द
    अनुनय के प्यारे-प्यारे।

    उत्तर में जब एक नाद भी
    उठा नहीं सागर से,
    उठी अधीर धधक पौरुष की
    आग राम के शर से।

    सिन्धु देह धर ‘त्राहि-त्राहि’
    करता आ गिरा शरण में,
    चरण पूज, दासता ग्रहण की,
    बँधा मूढ बन्धन में।”

    About the Author

    Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist, patriot and academic. He is famous for his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence. He was born on 23rd September 1908 and passed away on 24th April 1974)

  • Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi

    Scion of Ikshvaku Book coverAnother historical book by Amish Tripathi. This time he has chosen the story of Ramayan (around 3400 BCE). Its re-telling of the standard Ram-Sita life-story as mentioned in various versions of Ramayan’s by various authors over a period of time. Mostly it seems it has been taken from Valmiki Ramayan as I could not find a trace of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas in it.

    The way characters are presented in this book, seems more practical to me and there is no God / Goddess like behaviour being exhibited by Ram and Sita. Their character is purely human, albeit with more mature and practical thoughts. Once again Amish has used the concept of “Nagas” (people born with deformities) to explain Hanuman, Kumbhakaran and Jatayu, which sounds more practical, rather than animals able to talk like humans. This characters of this book must not be treated like religious characters rather it will be best to imagine they just have the same names as of the Ramayan characters and then people will be able to accept this book as interesting thriller.

    Even though we all know the story, yet every page turn was worth it and the presentation wanted me to finish and see what’s in store next.

    Strong Dislikes –

    Having a rape case sounding similar to the Delhi Rape case and then pages and pages of lectures by Ram on the Law and how an underage can not be punished because there is no provision for death penalty in law for underage criminals is something which seriously could have been avoided. Were you trying to throw your ideas about the whole “Nirbhaya” issue Amish, if so, I disagree with your thoughts.

    Verdict –

    Overall, I will be waiting for the next book in the series.

    About the Author

    Amish Tripathi is an IIM graduate banker turned full time author. He is passionate about history, mythology and philosophy. “Siva Trilogy” was his first series which got immensely popular.