Tuesday 25 October 2016

Angelica Urbas Review:The Medusa Chronicles: A science fiction of 2016

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When it comes to naming some of the most interesting books of 2016, Angelica Urbas considers that The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxters and Alastair Reynolds will surely be within the topmost ones. In this story, at first you will meet Howard Falcon, who was nearly losing his life and it was a cybernetic surgery that saved him. However, after the surgery, Howard was changed a lot. In the post-surgery period, authors have portrayed him as something less human and more machine. In clear words, he is an ambassador between the human beings and robots. Later the authors showed that the robots are becoming more and more self-aware whereas the the human beings are becoming harder. Howard faces lots of adventurous experiences because of the changes in nature of human beings and robots.

The story starts in the year 2080 when Howard was left almost crippled by a major accident. Then the cybernetic surgery took place and he converted into something which is just between human and machines. Angelica Urbas considers that authors have described nicely how after surgery Howard was put into loneliness. At the same time, he started feeling proud for his superhuman capabilities which developed as the effects of surgery.

This book is actually an extended version of another famous novella, ‘A Meeting with Medusa’ by Arthur C. Clarke. The fact might seem surprising to you as the novella was written in 1971. But while reading the story, you will find that the journey of Howard starts after events described in novella by Arthur. Apart from this, Urbas has pointed out some some similarities with the book written by Arthur, such as- use of same keynotes and Clarke's other ideas, although the entire story is written keeping demands of modern readers. So, even if you are fond of modern science fictions, Angelica Urbas states that you too will find the book unputdownable.
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Monday 17 October 2016

Review from Angelica Urbas : Know how slavery is depicted in ‘The Underground RailRoad’

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In the current year, so far the book worms especially the fiction lovers have enjoyed a great time with several outstanding literary works. However, among them ‘The Underground RailRoad’ was highly preferred by those readers who look for stories with reflection of history. Angelica Urbas considers that this book is one of the best pieces which depict real facts of slavery in Georgia through an exciting escape story of a slave.

In this book by Colson Whitehead, the story is centered around a slave Cora who works in cotton plantation. At her teenage, for getting rid of the miserable life in Georgia, she decides to escape with her friend using the underground rail network. But, the journey was not at all smooth. While traveling to North Carolina, Cora has to confront with representatives of different levels of society, starting from- informers, lynch mobs to bounty hunters. Even Cora meets some railway workers too who are ready to help them at any cost. In addition to this, you will find another character in this book, Ridgeway, who is determined to catch Cora and destroy the whole network. Along with the exciting journey of Cora, Angelica Urbas states that there are many other things too in the book. In this book, the author, Whitehead has drawn a clear story of the lives of Black people in America before civil war. When reading the book, the readers will come to know how the slaves were kept deprived generation wise. The readers will also be amazed to see that lots of slaves attempted to escape without fearing about the brutal torture.

Not only the plot, the story telling approach of author also made this book unique. Both real facts and fable-like allegory is used in this book which is not very common. As per Angelica Urbas, the poetic voice of author to tell the story also made this book difficult to put down.
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Thursday 13 October 2016

Tips on Writing a Book Review

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Book reviews always attract many readers. This is because, people are often interested to know the opinions of other readers about a book. Thus, if you want to write a book review, you must make it detailed and give your honest views. Only then, readers are going to like the review you write. Angelica Urbas has some tips that book reviewers must follow, in order to write effective reviews.

Here, we are going to discuss some of the tips that you must follow as a book reviewer.

# Begin with a brief description of the book - At the beginning of a book review, write in short what the book is all about. However, be careful not to reveal any twists in its plot. Do not give any detail of the proceedings from the middle of the book till its end. If the book you are reviewing is a part of a series, you can mention it in the beginning. Also, you can mention other books from the series you think a reader must read before reading this one.

# Say why you liked the book - Angelica Urbas suggests that you must make it clear to your readers, why you liked a particular book. For this, you can discuss the characters and what you liked about them. You can also mention the parts that you enjoyed the most in the book. Also, add whether the story was gripping and the emotions you felt while reading it.

# Rate the book - When you review a book, add a rating. Readers love book reviews that has a rating. It shows how much you liked the book. It also helps readers to understand how good the book is.

These are some of the tips by Angelica Urbas on how to do a book review. If you want to review a book efficiently, you must follow these useful suggestions. 
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Thursday 6 October 2016

THE BOOK THIEF

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*Spoiler free book review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*

Buy it?
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