‘A Flight of Broken Wings’ by Nupur Chowdhury

This review has been long due! With things coming up in my life this year, my reading has seriously slowed down, but I’m slowly conquering my huge TBR pile.

‘A Flight of the Broken Wings’ is the first book in ‘The Aeriel Chronicles’ series (and so far the only one published), which is a fantasy thriller kind of story, and something I’ve been very interested in, though unfortunately it took an unhealthily long time to get to it.

And what have I missed before!

---

I got this book directly from the author and this is my honest and unbiased opinion about it.

(Goodreads/Amazon)

---

Discovery:

The first time I read about this book was on Shalini’s blog. She wrote a very flattering and enthusiastic review that immediately made me want to read the book, but after I decided to add it to my TBR, I had other things to do and read, so I basically forgot about it. Then, a bit (a couple of days, probably weeks) later I noticed an email in my inbox from a very nice-sounding author who asked if I would read and review her book that sounded very familiar. After thinking about it a bit, I realized where I heard about it before, read that review again (thanks, Shalini! 😉 ) and agreed to review the book myself.

Well, that’s the beautiful part of the story. Then comes the dark period when I absolutely ignored this book and read a lot others, and wrote a lot of other reviews, and lived my life…so, didn’t start it. At all. For months. Sorry for that.

Seriously, Nupur Chowdhury deserves better than me. She indeed was very nice, and very polite and understanding. She also sounds fun. (Check out her blog here, if you don’t believe me. Or if you do.) Writes poems, too. And seems like she’s about my age. (Hey girl, sounds like we could be friends!) Anyways, the point is that I should’ve read her book ages ago.

Well, better late than never! I’ve read and loved it now.

Brainstorm:

This is a very unique book and a good one! I knew I had very little chance to unlike it: it’s a cross between two genres that are close to my heart: fantasy and thriller. Yet I was actually surprised by how much I loved it!

There’s an investigation, a mystery to solve, which is something I’ve loved ever since I was a kid, and there’s also action. The fantasy element could be boring and stereotypical, since it’s yet another antropomorphic creature looking way to good to be true having a war against humanity… yet it is everything but boring and stereotypical. The use of the author’s own culture (I guess, at least), the fact that Aeriels come from another realm from the sky, like another planet (which gave the otherwise completely fantasy story a bit of a science-fiction-y vibe), the alternate history plot made the story unique and exciting. I loved that it’s set today, but with a different historical background: things like Jack Sparrow and selfies and Need for Speed exist, but what happened to humanity in the past is something completely else: a centuries-old war on Aeriels.

The characters are likable, they’re human, and many of them have their own personal struggles. I’d love to read more about them! Sometimes the pacing seemed a bit off, but that didn’t bother me much, since the world-building and the story in general was so right on spot.

Let’s Give It A Grade!

1. Story: 5/5
2. Characters: 4/5
3. Style: 4/5
4. The Subjective Factor: 5/5

• GPA: 4.5

Uniqueness:

As I said, it’s the mixed vibe of good-old-fashioned fantasy, elements of Indian culture, sci-fi, and an action-packed mystery/thriller. It works awesome together!

Recommend to:

Fans of both fantasy and thrillers, especially those who’d like to mix it up a little, and not have that usual western-rooted type of fantasy that all have the same creatures and legends and elements (even if they’re good interpretations).

Drink tip:

Ginger tea

Music room:

I can’t really explain it, but it was immediately Iron Maiden that came to my mind.

Future:

Yes, more of this, please!

---

What was the last book you’ve read that you immediately felt like you should’ve already read ages ago? Have you read this one? If yes, what did you think?

I certainly hope that one day a sequel to this really will come.

Have a great day!

Hugs 🙂

Advertisement