August 2020
I published this review first in June 2015. You can now buy the whole series.
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| cover taken from Goodreads |
About the story:
Ruby Iyer, a young woman with a troubled past, gets thrown off a train platform. When waking up, she realizes she has survived an electric surge of a thousand volts which has tattooed a lightning tree on her back. That is not the only “gift” though: She has gained enormous strength and her so far hidden anger erupts more easily.
This leads her on a journey through her home city of Bombay, which is in danger of being destroyed by the teenage army of Dr Braganza to save her best friend. Will Vikram Roy and her be successful?
About the author:
BookTourTips says about Laxmi Hariharan: “A near life experience told Laxmi Hariharan to write. She never stopped. Laxmi is the creator of Ruby Iyer, and the Amazon bestselling, eLit Gold winner The Destiny of Shaitan (Bombay Chronicles, 1). She has been a journalist with “The Independent” and a global marketer with NBCU and MTV. Laxmi also blogs for Huffington Post, among others. London is where she writes. Bombay is what fires her imagination.
Honey Bees in the book:
“The Many Lives Of Ruby Iyer” is an action-packed story that does not get boring. You are lead through the city of Bombay experiencing its heat and claustrophobic masses of people. An exciting tale evolves before you about the end of Bombay but maybe also about the end of the world.
Ruby’s mother’s words pop up many times to remind her where she comes from and makes the reader want to find out what happened before. And you hope she will find her place in the city that she never felt belonging to
Stinging Bees in the book:
I had a hard time to get into “The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer”. You get thrown into Bombay and Ruby’s life with hints of her past, but I could not figure out precisely what lead her to be the person she is. For me, there seemed to be too many jumps from one situation to the other without a logic development in herself.
I also had trouble with the language used. It seemed to me very American and not in sync with Bombay. But I do not know an awful lot about Bombay besides it being a significant city for filmmaking and software development. It might be that a more Americanised English is used as many might have studied in the United States. Besides, it is a YA novel, and this sort of language might appeal to a younger audience.
And the mead of it all?
“The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer” is an action-packed, fast-paced story that never lets you get bored. If you like YA novels you like this one but if you prefer books that show you more of the psychological development of a character this one is probably not for you.
the-bee-writes.com 