River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

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River of Smoke (Ibis Trilogy #2)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was less of a sequel than is expected of a sequel..

Well, the first half of the book was very boring. I could not bring myself to read much. I had put away the book so often, that i was very sure that I wouldn't finish it. But, the second half of the book took me by storm.

The story of characters introduced in the first book : "Sea of Poppies", was mostly lost - but for Neel, and a little bit of Paulette. I felt totally let down. To find a new protagonist in Bahram Moddie was totally unacceptable.

Hovever, as the pages rolled by, I became more forgiving, seemlessly entering into the world of Canton and the Thirteen Hong Street - Ah Neel/ Anil Kumar Munshi and Robin Chinnery.

The arrogence of the Englishmen was eloquently expressed. The author's descriptive and literary skills have not let me down either.

A compelled finish: The last chapter forcibly introduces Kesri to provide a premise for the third book.

But for a few glaring flaws from an immaculate researcher of history, the book was breathtaking!


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