A good fantasy book has the ability to teleport you to a different realm with much ease. One such book that I came across was In the realm of demons by Imran Kureshi. The book is a refreshing read and is published by Juggernaut.

The book follows the story of Mehran, an aristocrat whose family is under the spell of a curse. As per the curse a powerful Djinn beheads every heir of the family. An amulet can save the heir but post partition, Mehran, who becomes the heir of the estate, is left with no protection. The curse is upon him. His soulmate and cousin, Koyel, who disappeared ten years ago, comes to Mehran in his dreams to pre-warn him about the curse. This dream gives desolate Mehran a purpose to embark on a quest. This quest takes him into the depths of the dark hidden world of Asuras and to Hasthpur, where it all started. Will Mehran be reunited with his soulmate, forms the rest of the story.

Now, that was one complicated plot to simplify! But I have realized the more the complicated a plot is, the better the reading experience is. The plot of this story is linear. Mehran, the protagonist narrates this story. And while there is nothing unique about the narration yet the writing style of the author has an ease which effortlessly gets the readers involved in the story. I was 20 pages in into this book and I was hooked. The plot gets complicated because of the unforeseen and smart twists the author adds to punctuate the story. You just can’t predict what will hit you next and that’s a factor which makes this book a page turner.

I am never keen on reading horror stories but I was taken by surprise when a chill ran down my spine as I read about the djinn encounters. It was one amazing experience. There was never a dull moment throughout the book.

Coming to the characters in the novel, I felt that there were too many characters in the novel – The nawab, his sons, his wives, the ancestors etc – and that kind of complicates things from a reader’s perspective. Also the names of the characters sounded a tad similar which again added to the confusion. I would have loved if the author had given a character chart at the beginning or towards the end.

Talking about the fantastic beasts, this book hosts some amazing otherworldly creatures – Yatuviras, dhakanas, bhasakalas etc- of which I hadn’t heard about before. And then there were some familiar beasts like the djinns, demons and nagins.

Overall, this book makes for a delightful read and if you love horror or fantasy fiction then make sure to pick it up.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 (4.5 stars)
Publisher: Juggernaut Publication

To buy the book, pls click https://amzn.to/32FuQ6G