The Patriots Legacy: Forbidden Treasure by Apurva Bhuta (Book Review: 3.5*/5) !!!

10^th Book of 2020!

Finally, I have completed 10^th book this year and it has never taken me this long the way 2020 has made me wait. Thanks to this isolation period that I am getting chance to pick all those books I had kept aside considering their complexity and subjects and wanted to read them all at one go on a  ong leave. One such book that I had kept aside which I am done reading today is “Forbidden Treasure” which is 1^st book in the series of “The Patriot’s Legacy” written by the 1^st time author- Apurva Bhuta. The book is self-published by the author in around 300 pages and belongs to the fantasy fiction genre.

The book is about the team of 7 people out on search of a treasure kept in a secret place by the Patriots 400 years ago. The search is not easy because the clues of the treasure is kept in countries lying in different parts of the world which can be found out only when gone in the series one after another. One more challenge out here is that the adventure is sponsored and initiated by the Secret Society hence this has to be executed without the world noticing it. And finally comes the twist in the book when the Underworld gets involved in this and demands the treasure from this gang of Patriots. Now, the group has two difficult tasks in hand- to find out the treasure by applying their logic and genius through the clues and be safe from the Underworld gang who is two steps ahead than them.

The writing style of the author is captivating and keeps you hooked. The story is written in a very intelligent manner which tells you the amount of effort the author has put in drafting this. Similarly, as the book involves mention of many real location and spots in the world – the research work gone into the same by the author is commendable. There are several historical and cultural mentions too which makes it an interesting read. Author has nicely included history, geography, mythology, science, fiction together with lots of other elements. There are too many characters in the book which author has been able to give equal attention throughout the story without missing out on anyone.

I liked how the background of few characters are also connected with this search of treasure. The last 70-80 pages of the book are just mind-blowing and keeps you thrilled. The book makes you imagine a lot of things and thus, navigates you to a world of yourself. The climax is very well-done and even though the end is open for 2^nd part of the series, there is no incomplete feeling in you as a reader and you are satisfied on completing this 300-pages book.

Now talking about the drawbacks- The book starts with mention of all the characters at once which makes it very difficult for you as a reader to keep everyone’s personality in mind. What author does later i.e. giving description of each one’s background should have been done initially itself by slowly taking us through each character. The 1^st half of the book is very slow and there are too much of conversations involved which brings the matter to any conclusion only after 4-5 pages of it which irritates you as it goes nowhere. The book could have been easily kept under 250 pages. The cover page of the book needed more efforts for readers to pick it up attracted by it.

Overall, this book is thrilling, high on imagination, exploratory, well-researched and a nice adventurous story. The 2^nd book in this series shall be filled with more excitement as now, all the characters are made friendly with the readers. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA