Book Review: Collision of Dimensions by M V Ravi Shanker

I read about the novel somewhere and the blurb sounded interesting. I wrote to Leadstart (the publisher) about 'Collision of Dimensions' and they were kind enough to send across a copy of the book for review.

This 500+ pager novel has an interesting premise and the story develops in an interesting manner. The characters, the 'Force', the events woven into the plot were decent. There is something called 'character development' which is completely missing from the novel. The character which comes into possession of the Force is supposed to undergo character development due to the Force but nothing really happens. The powers that he begins to become aware of are not really great … a bit of premonition is not really powerful enough.

Mumbai is the scene of action and I don't know why the author has got the geography of Mumbai wrong. There are several factual errors regarding locations within the city. Too much of geographical details of a place will seem irrelevant to a reader who does not know the place and for the reader who knows the place, s/he will be able to poke plenty of holes and pick out all errors. A simple google maps usage could have saved the author from making all those mistakes about locations in Mumbai and their relative placement.

I also found that the narration became disjointed at times. A character shows a response to a certain event happening in front of his eyes and the actual description of the event comes after 2 pages … all through the 2 pages you are wondering what warranted that response.

The climax had plenty of scope of be an explosive high drama suspense event but it was pretty disappointing. It lacked the punch … it lacked the collision of dimensions !!

The author, Ravi Shanker, has a great story to tell but he isn't a great story teller. His writing style is pretty ordinary and does not excite the reader although the story and the events there in are pretty exciting. After finishing the novel, I wish he or the publisher would have employed either a ghost writer or a master story teller as co-author to bring the writing style up several notches. The novel would then be a best seller material. The novel has quite a few noticeable spelling/grammar/factual errors which should have been ironed out in the editing process by the publisher if not the author. Dunno how and why those escaped scrutin.

The book has a very drab cover design. If I were to see the book in the bookshelf, I would have never picked it up to read the back cover. I am sure the publishers realize that the book cover is responsible for the book being picked up in the store and the back cover is the decision maker on buying it. The book cover looks like it was designed by a power point newbie who wasn't paid for his work. With the kind of title and story line the book has, the cover design should have been super-awesome. I wish the publishers gave the book a 'face-lift' and a fresh marketing initiative.

Overall, the author and publisher did have a raw diamond which they failed to adequately polish before releasing it for the world to see. I liked the plot and storyline but the book was not up to the mark. I wont be able to recommend this to anyone.

Considering I received the review copy from the Publisher, dunno if they will ever send me any novels to review in future after I have literally ripped this one apart and blamed the author as well as publisher!!