Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh

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Flood of Fire (Ibis Trilogy, #3)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Yeah seriously. I gave it only 2 stars..

Too much. too much of war details than I could digest.. The Chinese topology, being unknown to me, added to the problem of understanding the flow of the strategy.

Every time i tried to close this book, one thing that reminded me was that "Sea of Poppies" was amazing, and I had to finish this at any rate.

I think I should have stopped with the Sea of Poppies itself

The comedy Gumasta Baboo Nob Kissin, who appears to be a fool in general has performed a pivotal role in re-uniting Raju and Neel - there are no words to praise the extent to which he goes to achieve this no trifling feat .

Bloody Bastard Malum Zikri - you deserved a whore, not Paulette, definitely not her. The hero-like person venerated in the First Book was completely lost to a fully-grown deceitful womanizer!!

Mrs. Burnham - Having seen Reid in and out, having faced his treachery at the end, why did you choose to offer him Paulette? Did you know that he was the cause for the suicide of not just you, but your lover as well? Shame on your judgement.

Paulette - if I had been in your position, I would have chosen Chinnery to Zachery.

Kesri seems to live entirely in the Army. He sure knows more about Mee and his moods than his own wife and children.

Neel, was of course one respectable character in the novel.

Starting off in Bengal, and with a story that completely stays put in China, finally finishes neatly on the shores of Mauritius - with Deeti and Kalua reunited, and Serang Ali escaping along with Jodu, Neel and his little boy - Raju, with Ah Fatt dead and Paulette married to a satyr.

However, the long wars were the greatest torture in the book, and I was forced to literally skip those pages

Some positive points to note:
- I liked the care Mr. Ghosh had taken to demonstrate the Bengali and Pidgin slangs
- The polemic of selling/ not selling Opium was vividly explained from everyone's perspective - the British and the Chinese
- Its refreshing to note that before the American Dollar ruled the world of currency, it wasn't the British Sterling that was its predecessor. It as the Spanish Pieces of Eight!!

I am finally done with the book for good.


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