Author: A.K.Asif
Publisher: HarperCollins India
No Of Pages: 347
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Adventure
Blurb
2050, New York. In the aftermath of a gruelling spiritual cleansing quest, Ismael, a Pakistani-American student, enters into an alliance with spiritual beings who send him on a perilous journey of self-discovery. A non-believer, Ismael must return to Pakistan, now in the grip of a brutal fundamentalist government, and gain the trust of his estranged father, a prominent extremist in the Caliphate. To accomplish this, he must pose as a true believer. Will he survive long enough to infiltrate his father’s inner sanctum and complete his mission? Hell! No Saints in Paradise is both biting satire and allegory that takes urban fantasy to dizzying heights.
I thank WritersMelon for the review copy and my thoughts here are purely unbiased and honest.
Book Review
Ismael, a pakistani student who is working on the thesis about the existence of paradise and hell ,lands up on the same hell and paradise for real. Are you a believer? Well then this book is for you.
The author completely caught my heed with his distinctive writing.I was awestruck the way author managed this book not to come under the radar of muslim spiritual quest. I believe it happened because of the author’s concrete subtle narration. Being a non- muslim I took the help of google to know few terms spotted in the book.
Ismael character was absolutely lovable. He was like a boy who got lost midway to his home. He was challenging yet travelled with the reality throughout the book. His deliverance of emotions were really sarcastic and I enjoyed every bit of it.
Author intelligently glued me by involving satire portions at the initial stage of the story. Ismael journey to paradise was bit long and got back to the pace once it reached the Khalifa part. As like Ismael ,we readers too didn’t get a chance to know the plan of Khalifa till the climax. Author had the mystery plan for himself and put me to the edge of my chair.
A few abnormal and offbeat violence here and there which might make uncertain of the plot. But as the story picks up the thought just moves off. Book travelled with the self realization of Ismael throughout his journey . The best part in the book is the end , it just finished off at the same point where the quest started.
Overall this novel is an unusual yet fascinating storyline which gives the light and aspiration towards the factual existence of religion.
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