Review: Terror on the Titanic by Samit Basu

January 17, 2014
Author: Samit Basu
Publisher: Red Turtle Publications
Year: 2013
ISBN: 9788129129673
Rating: ★★½☆☆
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The world’s largest ruby, the Eye of the Empire, is in the hands of evil; and the Morningstar Agency’s spy, the young Mr. Nathaniel Brown is in charge of procuring and destroying it before it leads to dire consequences. The problem is that Mr. Brown has to defeat certain aliens who are onboard the legendary, unsinkable (or so it seemed) ship called Titanic to procure the jewel. How he manages to complete his mission is what the story is all about.

Characters

The first in the Morningstar Agency series, this book is filled with dramatic and exciting characters. Mr. Nathaniel Brown is the son of Mowgli of The Jungle Book fame. Being raised in the Jungle, he can speak, walk, laugh and even run animal style! (Similar to Mr. Bachchan’s english in Namak Halal!)  His partner in crime, Genevieve, is the daughter of a famous thief, a senior agent with a secretive background who reminds you of Rosamund Pike in The World is not enough. The mysterious Mr. Morningstar is the head of the Morningstar agency, and he is suspiciously similar to Mr. Charlie in Charlie’s Angels. Apart from them, there are also Zeke and Isobel on the Titanic (akin to Jack and Rose, only Zeke is slightly ‘different’!), the Bavarian who will not hesitate to kill to lay his hands on the jewel, shape shifting aliens called Parloks and so many more! You will not find a single dull, humdrum character in this book.

Writing

The author is fluent and conveys his story with a natural flow of language, distinctive of accomplished authors like R. L. Stine, Meg Cabot, Carolyn Keene etc. There is no shortage of action in the book, with all kinds of fights enacted between humans and aliens. The story is fast paced and with just 182 pages, makes for a quick read. A few reviews of this book had mentioned the author’s witty humor as one of the best features of this book, but somehow, the humor seems to be lost on me. At certain points, the plot might make you iffy of your choice in books. As Mr. Basu mentions in his website, this book is targeted at ‘Young Adults’ which is the age group of 14 – 21, yet the story seems to be like one that I would have enjoyed reading when I was 12 or 13.

 Verdict

This book would be a good present to an absurd-action and comic book loving teenager or an adult with similar tastes. If you are looking for a book to pass time on a dull day and are into stories that involve other-worldly monsters and super skilled agents, then you should pick this up.

Find this interesting? Read up Indian Book Reviews’ review of this book, and see what The Hindu has to say about Samit Basu! Also, check out an interview of his here.

Vanathi Parthasarathi

Vanathi Parthasarathi

Writer at IndiaBookStore
Love to read and have been reading since 5. Amatuer photographer and experimental cook! One of the best things in the world, according to me, is the smell of the pages in a book!
Vanathi Parthasarathi

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