Temple of Time

by Jeena R. Papaadi

Abhijeet was ten years old when his elder brother was lost, believed dead, during a college tour in the hills of Northern Kerala. Twelve years later, Abhijeet is knocked out of his dull and mundane life by an eerie dream in which his brother calls out to him. Soon afterwards, Abhijeet finds to his shock that his brother is still alive, but in a horrifying condition and on the verge of death, at the very same place he was last seen. Abhijeet is left with a curious last message that he tries to decipher, for he feels the answer to his brother's disappearance lies in it. He embarks on a journey to the past, to piece together the events that led to the fateful day years ago, seeking to discover his brother's footprints and finding himself in the process.

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2015

Reviews

[Honey & Anjali · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read the blurb I was quite intrigued by it. As mentioned in the blurb it's about a man who, years after losing his brother and father, one day wakes up to a brutal truth that he never could've imagined. His dead brother was never dead but have been alive all these years, suffering at the same place where he was last declared dead.

First of all, I think the blurb along with raising interest in the story also gives details that, if you read in the story would have impacted the reader more, away which makes the dramatic build up redundant.

The book started off really well but as it progressed the plot seemed dragged and all over the place. The book tries to be a lot of things at the same time which didn't work in the story's favor. It has family drama, science fiction, mystery but all these sub genres overlap each other making this story a mess.

The writing style is simple and yet engaging which is why I kept reading but I couldn't connect to the characters or the storylines.

The book needs editing as it has a lot of grammatical errors.

The cover isn't great either. The book had potential but sadly it wasn't impactful in any way. It was a one time read for me.

[Solitude and books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read short stories book by this author a while ago and it had quite witty way to present a story that could be interpreted by diff readers in diff ways.

This one is my second read as a work of her. This one is a full story which is not actually limited to a single genre. More of a genre to be correct .

It has science concepts that creates susoense and mystery but then again there are family ties with potryal of hearts longings and connection. It was a fine read . One time light reading . Cover is not eye catching .

Good for beginners. Lucid language . Characters were nicely developed. All in all nice trial and fine fiction .

[Kidliomag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Temple of time, title seems intresting and intriguing too but when I start reading, it is quite confusing in start because two stories running simultaneously and I felt lost in them.The story is a mixed of genre mystery, science, suspense and overall plot of the story is quite good but narrating style of author which distract me as a reader,I already read Jeena's other work before but this time it doesn't work.

[Potter_head]

THUMBS UP
*-GOOD WRITING STYLE
*-GOOD VOCAB
*-GOOD MIXTURE OF FANTASY AND REALITY WITH A TINCH OF COMEDY
*-OKAISH CHARACTERIZATION

THUMBS DOWN
*-COVER AND TITLE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
*-THE LATTER PART OF THE BOOK NEEDS A LITTLE EDITING

RATING:-3.5/5

[Dhiraj Sindhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Temple of Time is a fictional story that follows the lives of two siblings. The story discovers all the mysteries that needed to be told before it got buried with time. The story was told in two different narrations, one was first person and another was third person and that was interesting and fast-paced till the first half. The first half was really great, that told the stories of a software engineer and the college life around the trip. I was speechless when I read about the temple and scary events that took place around it. It was worth reading, it revived my fears of getting lost and sort. It was a surreal feeling. However, the second half just put all this in fire and changed the face of story. Temple of Time got faded amidst the backstory which was dragged till the end. And I lost interest.

Besides the author has addressed many important themes like, the corporate culture of Bangalore, mental disorders, parenting, relations, memories that haunt a child forever and the dangers of discovering all the secrets of the Universe. Only low point was that the second half drowned the interest and horror of the first half. I liked the concept of Karuthambalam which means Black force and in that village stood the Black Temple, Temple of Time.

[Pradeep Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story, part reality and part fantasy. It's about man's quest to find out how his brother mysteriously vanished, and equally mysteriously surfaced 12 years later.
The story line shifts between different time periods, and different places. Such plots run the risk of confusing the reader. But Jeena has done well to keep the narration simple enough, giving good clarity to multiple layers of plots.
From around the half way mark, the story begins to get quite interesting, At times, I felt, the narrative could have been a bit more gripping, though I know this isn't supposed to be a crime thriller. A good one. Enjoyed reading.

[Aditi Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot seemed very thrilling and intriguing in the beginning but ended up nothing but a simple story enriched with family drama, eeric circumstances and deep mysterious thoughts. The idea of this story is quite unique but I personally felt it needs little modifications in storytelling also.

Here, most of the problems hinge on the narrative elements of the book and the confusing characters descriptions. I genuinely think the story has a ripe potential but its subtext was somehow lost under the layer of unnecessary drama and elongation of storyline.Overall, this book is a one time read.