The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi | Book Review

The perks of being a book lover includes getting exposed to the foreign talents also. In one such interaction we came to know about Luca Rossi. It was a long ago he shared the review copy of his book The Branches of Time.

The belongs to one of our favorite genre, Fantasy Fiction.

Exploring this book took us to a whole new fictional world. The world has good and bad people. And, what happened at the end is something expected. But, the way the author has created the branches of time and weaved the things around them is interesting.

Book Cover:

If you are a regular reader of ThinkerViews, you are familiar with our feelings for the cover page of the book. No matter how many times we say “Never judge a book from its cover” but we tend to do the same. We love beauty and attractive cover page attracts (that is why it is attractive :)) towards the media it is associated with it, and there can be no denial for that fact.

As you can see, the cover page shows polished images of two young ladies. By reading the book, you will know who they are. As their faces are shown and nothing else, the designer brilliantly avoided adding the look and feel of the clothing and attire from the fictional timelines.

The round locket like device shown in the middle and the black-blue background adds the attribute desired for a Science fiction.

A well thought cover page that may grab your attention.

Book Plot:

It all starts when a tragic incident happened. On the island of Turios, the inhabitants were ready to attend a wedding. A wedding is intended to be a joyful event, right? However, things went upside down here. Because, something unexpected happened. Call it black magic or a catastrophe or heavenly deed, something unexpected showered from the sky and almost the entire population met with its death. Only Miril, the priestess, and husband and wife, Bashinoir and Lil; lived to see the remaining. They took the shelter in the Church.

Determined to give their loved ones a worthy burial, the three soon discover that the corpses have disappeared! How?

Then we come to know the back story, the incidents happened roughly two thousand years ago.
Beanor was ruling the Northern islands those days. He was a cruel and cunning king whose sexual appetite was beyond imagination. No doubt, the lives of common-folks was devastated under his regime. Like every such ruler, he was also expansionist. But, some magical forces kept preventing him from expanding beyond certain lands. And, he was willing to conquer it anyhow.

Is there a connection between these two branches of time? Are there any other branches of time affecting these chains of incident?

Views and Reviews:

As the book is short, we will also keep our review short, and as much spoiler free as much as possible.

The author is so good at creating fantasies, his exploration of different timelines will fascinate you. It often delves into the Sci-Fi genre.

The in-depth exploration of characters, especially their psyche is commendable. Be it the protagonists or the antagonists, be it the characters with special abilities and powers, or mere humans; they all are explored nicely. It is not easy to give justice to each one of the characters, when they cover a spectrum. The characters of Bashinoir, Lil, Anodil, Aldin Wizard, King Beanor, Tuirl (advisor), Obolil (old wizard), Ilis (apprentice) and others makes their mark in your memory.

The book has some simple lines like:

The next few days are going to be very long indeed.

A book is incomplete without sarcasm, right? Well, this book doesn’t disappoint you. There are lines like:

It wouldn’t kill these soldiers to use a little soap every once in a while.

At places, you will find some nice wordplays as well:

The ship seemed to fly across the waves.

Desolation ripped through his soul like a flooding river.

The book has some effective one-liners like:

Fear prevents you from advancing.

Just be a shadow and a voice in his mind: that’s all you need to drive a man mad, anyway.

With every level of consciousness, you will learn new concepts.

Life gives us gifts and brings us pain when we least expect it.

Everything in the past has already happened. Nobody and nothing can do anything about it.

Yes, it’s right for her to move forward with her new life. Actually, it’s necessary.

Some of the characters are humane, and they want to believe:

Maybe he really is impressed but doesn’t want me to know that.

Even, a king’s dilemma is explored as:

For the love of the gods! Why does everything always work against me? I’m the king! Can’t people just do what I tell them to do.

The author has mastered the artof conveying deeply meaningful lines through simple conversations like:

The reality we experience is in the now. What happened, for better or worse, has led to this moment. It’s now up to us to do our best, every moment of our lives.

And, the following line is everyone’s favorite 🙂 .

Tomorrow…tomorrow I’ll do my best. Tomorrow I’ll get to work, this time for sure

Right?!

The above mentioned quotes must have given you a fair idea about what to expect from the book and it’s writing qualities.

The book has one downside, the graphical exploration of adult scenes. You should keep this book away from young fellows. If these scenes were edited out, it could have join the group of Harry Potter, and other such book series. For the Indian market, the price for paperback version is pretty high.

Summary:

A nicely written and well explored science fiction that talks about magic. It has adult content that prevents it from being recommended to young adults.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 6.5 to 7 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi - Kindle EBook - Amazon US

Over To You:

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