Book Review: Hexagon (Ishaan Lalit)

Book: Hexagon

Author: Ishaan Lalit

ISBN: 8183520200

No. of Pages: 232

Mr. Ishaan Lalit is from a multi-cultured background. He is a gemologist, a pilot and an adventurer. After authoring, ‘The Bracelet’, he's all set with ‘Hexagon’, with good intentions of redefining Indian Sci-fi writing. This is the first time I'm reading a Science Fiction novel by an Indian author; it's a sad truth that they are too far and few in between. Will Hexagon be able to register its presence in a mostly rom-com loving youth?  Let’s find out.

Hexagon is racy, fast moving and a thrilling tale about Rahul Oberoi, an art thief whose great achievement was that he had never been caught.

All that changed when he along with his girlfriend and partner Ria are aprehended during a heist. They are then taken to a top secret underground government facility where Rahul's grandfather worked. In the middle of this facility is an ancient device made of stone adorned with mysterious carvings. It is a gateway to six parallel dimensions and six different earths. They are then embroiled in a war waged by a violent race called the moths and the fate of the six earths depends on the outcome of this war.

The design of the cover is spectacular. Flashy color combinations, and weird graphics look good. However, it doesn’t tell much about the story except it’s different from other regular stories.Without revealing much about the story, the blurb gives an abstract idea of what it is about.

Hexagon is the story of Rahul Oberoi, an art thief and grandson of an archaeologist, Kamal Oberoi.

Kamal Oberoi dies in an expedition to meet the gods of another earth and calls out for Rahul. When Rahul is brought to see his grandfather, he comes to know about things that are beyond his imagination. Then suddenly, this good-for-nothing Rahul becomes the savior of humanity.

The narration of the book is racy, fast-moving and thrilling, as promised by the author. There is not one monotonous moment. The pace is maintained throughout all the chapters. Every chapter is well thought out and well written. Mr. Lalit’s language is simple, and without many complexities. The descriptions of  the six different Earths is done really well and the writing lets us visualize every situation.

The protagonist's over-confidence and over-smartness is all over the book, which I found quite out of place. There is always a clear difference between stupidity and brevity, and Rahul’s activities are centered more towards stupidity. It’s really hard to digest that the world is about to end and the only person who can save it is cracking jokes or giving sarcastic comments every now and then.

I always talk about “spelling and grammatical errors" and I am forced to talk about them again. Hexagon has very little spelling errors and minor syntactical errors, but they are at places where one really can’t ignore them.  And apart from minor glitches, there are few blunders too,

1. At page 23, when Rahul asks about the unit’s location, Khaled says, “Around Eight kilometers”, But on page 216, it suddenly becomes eighty kilometers.

2.  On page 90, “…..Aneesh who was still in sound sleep on his bed snoring loudly. Aneesh looked at Don and asked "Did you drug him too?” And in the next line, the conversation is resumed with Rahul.

3.  Chapter 28 and 29 are identical with different page numbering!!

There are few more such mistakes such as Ria being called Riya, Rahul being called Kamal's son instead of grandson and so on.

These blunders break the flow of a story, not to mention, confuse the reader. A few small mistakes are acceptable, but these many mistakes on that large a scale aren't.

To conclude the review, I’d like to congratulate Mr. Ishaan Lalit for writing in a non-conventional genre and delivering a well thought out novel. A little better proofreading and editing would have eliminated the glitches I pointed out. The book is easy on reading and the plot is not very complex. The writing has enthralling flow. I won’t think twice before recommending it to any of  sci-fi freak.  Even if you are not much into reading, this one wont bore you.

Happy Reading.

AnSh :)

****

Reviewed via- Vault of Book.

Link to Original Review: http://vaultofbooks.com/bplus/review-hexagon