Six Degrees

by Various (Editor), Anmol Rawat, Preethi Venugopala

As part of their #CelebrateBlogging initiative, BlogAdda.com, ran the first edition of Game of Blogs in September 2014. Five characters and their descriptions were provided. The objective was to write a fictional story revolving around these characters. Bloggers came together as teams and after three rounds filled with its own set of twists and turns, three stories made it to the end.

The three stories in this book are a fascinating example of how one set of characters can have interesting lives with completely different dimensions. Six Degrees is a result of how collaboration can truly breed creativity in the modern day world of connected living.

422 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Raksha Bhat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six Degrees-Game of Blogs brought back a flood of memories for me. Having been a part of this activity in one of the teams and having made an awesome bunch of blogger friends, reading this book reminded me of the eagerness with which we had participated in this activity. It was a great learning experience and I completely understand how challenging it must have been for the rest of the teams to coordinate across different time zones with fellow bloggers of different tenets.

This book consists of three stories by three teams of bloggers who were randomly grouped for the activity; mind you each story is a collaborative work with the story being written in a couple of days with twists and turns being provided by Blogadda in between. There is a reason why I cite this here, since the characters and a large part of the skeleton of the story was already provided, the teams had to build a story based on it. We did have our limitations.

The stories published in this book are:

1. The Awakening- Team By Lines
2. Entangled Lives- Team Potliwale Baba
3. Missing- A Journey Within- Team Tete-A-Ten


I have an admittance to make here, if this book was not written through this interesting activity I wouldn’t have picked it up to read. All through the activity I had a strong opinion on the various stories that we as teams were weaving up, all of them never felt anything beyond the 'contemporary-below average-Indian-fiction'. Since there was no forum to express this opinion, and we bloggers were busy with our own stories working on the plot and dealing with the tight deadlines I brought this up here. One of the stories in this book in fact rightly cites the pun” Write your college love story and become a bestselling author” well that’s how Indian authors are nowadays. I write this with great trepidation on how this review will be taken.

While ‘The Awakening’ primarily feels like a science fiction, the highlight for me was the amount of research and imagination that has gone into it. Kudos to the team on that, all the inventiveness with the alien world and interesting trivia was the only reason I thought this story was the best among the three.

The second story ‘Entangled Lives’ left me as a reader entangled too, supposedly this was a murder mystery. And of course there had to be a medical disorder to spice it up. What bogged me down was the entire tone of the story, the usage of some words and the bloopers in the plot. All I wanted to know was who killed and why, nothing out of the ordinary!

The third one ‘Missing- A Journey Within’ has everything missing by the way. I still am thinking about the duodenal atresia that two of the characters have, what did this medical condition do to them to make them go missing. I wish there was more research and relevance here. One noticeable fact is the strength that has been added to some characters, especially by bringing up some important social issues like homosexuality and rape. I wish this was dealt with more refinement.

The stories are not by seasoned authors, the stories are not an individual effort and the stories had their boundaries. I think that explains why the book deserves three stars, probably two point five will do.

[Aishwarya Mohan Gahrana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Name of 5 characters are same. Descriptions of these 5 characters are same. They are characters of 3 different stories, not written by 3 different fiction writers but by 3 different teams of bloggers. Location of these stories is one – Mumbai. Is it case of plagiarism? Oh no! All this is in one book, yes one book.

“6 Degrees – Game of Blogs” is a collection of 3 fictions written by three teams and have 3 different dimension of fiction writing. All three stories have suspense and thrill. Each story has about 30,000 words spanning more than 120 pages.

Bloggers participated in a blogging event called “Game of Blogs” organised by BlogAdda. Descriptions of Five character and a few other details were shared. The bloggers were put into teams of 8-10, and each team must come up with a story. 10 days to come up with 10 episodes. The best teams move forward to the next round. 3 rounds of this game of blogs were not a simple fun but a hard competition. 300 bloggers from 30 locations participated. One this is most common – the collaborative spirit. After 3 rounds, 3 teams emerged as winners and those stories were published into a book – 6 Degrees – Game of Blogs.

The Awakening

This is a science fiction where mythology is used to carry fiction forward. This makes approach different but lovable mix of myths, science, family, and thrill – for we Indians. A closely knit family of three was living a happy life in Mumbai. Two guests appear from nowhere. Page by page new mysteries reveals themselves. Humanity came into danger and need urgent intervention from some sort of superpower. Though, readers assume the climax well before, how events turn up is real fun.

Entangled Lives

This is a murder mystery with lot of drama and doubts. A loosely knit happy family of three with one maid suddenly face murder in the house in presence of two strangers. No one knows the criminal. Police investigations legally ended up with a confession which creates doubt in mind of investigating officer. But, mystery never solved legally. This is strongly built and best story in the book.

Missing – a journey within

A daughter of happy family goes missing. A son of another happy family leaved the hope and home. Fortune bring them to same point of time and place to make them friend. This story has well knitted stories of different characters.

This book is a nice collection of collaborative spirit of creative minds to develop same idea into different direction into well knitted, well crafted, well-developed, well written, well-edited, well presented fictions. Language is easy English with few local terms from Mumbai and Delhi. Stories has good and steady pace with required melodrama and suspense.

[Chittajit Mitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a commendable effort of BlogAdda, the judges & most importantly the bloggers who were determined to write that too with given characters which made their job even more difficult. Since the stories are an outcome from common bloggers like us the language is simple & quite relatable, each story gives a different taste to the book & hence makes it even more interesting. I liked the cover & I hope BlogAdda team keeps on coming with such innovative initiatives. This book surely be widely read by Indian readers to inspire & learn from this work of fellow Indians.

Full review here,
http://itsgoingtobeobvious.blogspot.i...

[Dhwani Swadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a part of BlogAdda’s celebrate blogging initiative wherein a group of bloggers would get together and post one chapter each on their blogs, out of all those groups, three of them were selected. I also took part in this, check out my post here. So for me, this was more to see how I could improve my writing skills. To see where I lacked and how could I be better.

So, basically, each of the groups were given names of the main characters along with a brief of their relationship and you have to weave a story from there. So all the three stories had the same characters but had different storyline. It was so impressive to view how each of them came up with a whole new angle for the same set of characters. Although each story is written by a group of people, it is so well written that you feel there is just one voice.

I loved the book cover as well as the name. It truly showcased what the book was all about in a subtle way. Loved those caricatured faces.

So the three sets of stories are called: The Awakening, Entangled Lives and Missing – A journey within. Of which my favorite was The Awakening mainly because it had too many mysterious elements.

So basically all three stories have a nuclear family of three. A husband (Shekhar), his wife (Tara) and their daughter (Roohi). We also have Aryan, their neighbor, Jennifer, a photographer and Cyrus, a law student.

The first story is a sci-fi where Shekhar and Jennifer are involved in some kind of a cult that believes in aliens. So basically we are told that there are three kinds of aliens: the bad ones who want to take over the Earth, the good ones who stay on earth in human forms and the meh-ones who really just don't care. The repercussions of these two’s beliefs casts a shadow on every other character. What I liked the most about this was that initially it started as a nice little family drama..suddenly you have a flash of mystery and you get intrigued as to what would be going on..and it is just a flash..then it goes on to be the normal family drama. So you are on your hooks. I also liked all of a sudden the story’s focus is shifted to the man in the shadows. It adds the mystirious element to the sci-fi.

[Reema D'Souza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though these three stories revolved around the same characters, each story was so different that I never mixed up the characters at all. Each story provides a different dimension to the characters that each story is wonderful read. The narration is simple but wonderful. Each of the teams has done a wonderful job researching about the facts, bringing all the ideas together and piecing it together so brilliantly! Indeed, collaboration can work wonders. Each of the stories has a message or two in store for each one of us.
The book is not perfect. There are some grammatical errors and some typos. But what is worth noting is that these stories are not written by seasoned writers, yet the content, the stories, the narration are praiseworthy!
Read my full review at : http://reemadsouza.blogspot.in/2016/0...

[Cifar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collaboration of different bloggers give you three different genre of stories with same characters in a single book which makes it a nice reading experience. It has its flaws also but you better read it to enjoy it. My full review of the book Book Review - Six Degrees

[Parwati Singari]

Book Review
Game of Blogs at Blogadda, published by Leadstart Publishing.
This was an interesting experiment by BlogAdda, I was supposed to participate as a blogger but procrastination pervaded.
Lets come to the six Degrees the game of Blogs, like a said is an experiment by Blogadda, six stock characters were given,
Shekhar Dutta a work from home writer.
Tara Dutta his wife, who has a corporate job.
Roohi Dutta the couple’s nine year old daughter.
Cyrus Daruwalla a Law student from Delhi.
Jenifer Joseph a photo-journalist from Kerala.
Arya Ahuja a neighbour.
Can you imagine300 odd people, working as 30 different teams and creating stories round these characters. The rule was a blog a day, the teams, had discuss, plan, connect and coordinate. Yes the team that I was to be part off, did not make, poor guys I handicapped them.
This was then judged by Ashwin Sanghi, Kiran Manral, Meghana pant, Natasha Badhwar, Raksha Bharadia, and Ravi Subramanian.
The first team to present their version was, Team By Lines, with the title The Awakening. Their story on a science fiction fantasy plane, I could not connect to the narration, I actually put the book away for two days.
Two days later I read The Entangled Lives which was really good, I was rather disappointed that they stopped where did, I hope someday Team Potliwale Baba you will give us a full novel, tying the loose ends just as intriguingly as you did it here, the suspense maintained right to the end, each character given their fair share of importance. Additional charecters like Naina, and inspector Jawa added without distracting anyone.
The story revolved round the murder of Naina the domestic help of Shekhar a work from home dad, and his corporate journalist wife Tara. The murder is discovered by their daughter nine year old daughter Roohi, Cyrus who rescues Roohi from a scrap, and Jennifer who was stalking Tara for a Photo-shoot assignment are also on the suspect list. Then there is wheel chair bound Arya Ahuja who gets his thrill peeking into the neighbours windows. There is a guest appearance by Rohini IForgetWho, who happens to be Roohi’s school counsellor.
The bloggers lulled us to “caught you” only to jerk the rug. The sinister poetry added to the flavour. The team definitely gave us a peek into what they could create with more words, the use of dialogues, and narration was comfortable.
The domestic help slipping into multiple roles within the family, the career focused parent slowly loosing connect with family, the home bound parent developing resentment that could manifest as caustic comments, and yes, I did empathize with what anyone working from home has to put up with, ”But you are not answerable to anybody, so your time schedule is juggle-able.”
Finally Missing –A journey within, by team Tete-A- Ten was okay, the story focused on Cyrus, with the Dutta family being relegated as back drop. The introduction of Sneha Phadnis and her intriguing connect with Arya Ahuja.
Cyrus a law student goes missing, his partner Fanus Mistry, and doctor Sneha Phadnis go looking for him, as he says he is going to Bombay the mayanagari. The story is rather lost, and does not keep the promise it makes in foreword, yet is does flow charmingly. The characters are saccharined of course twice in the book the murkier side of human nature peeks, but it is quickly sterilized. The story is dominated by Sneha Phadnis, and Fanus Mistry with Cyrus becoming the muse.
What was interesting for me was the way three teams presented the characters.
Shekhar Dutta came across as a lanky nerd in the first two, while in the third, i would cast Anoop Johnson from Indiblogger as Shekhar Dutta. Tara Dutta emerged as a idealist in the first, hard and focused executive in the second and insipid and whinny in the third.
Cyrus, I could not picture him in the first, in the second I would visualize a curly haired, again Anoop Johnson look alike, while in the third was imagining a stocky bespectacled, owlish young man.
Jennifer in the first well I could not visualize, in the third she was too miniscule for me to bother with a visual while in the entangled lives she reminded me of travel writer Yana, from Terrascope.
It was great to see how each team wove a different story, different genre. As for why six degrees, my take, it is double the pain of a third degree to plan, coordinate and execute a project that involves 300 bloggers, into 30 teams and keep to a timeline.

[Varma Ila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six Degrees Six Degrees Game of Blogs I received the complimentary copy of Six Degrees, Game of Blog from Blogadda under the book review program and it gave me an opportunity to present my honest opinion about the collaboration of authors from different streams.
In the beginning, when I came to know that about 300 bloggers have helped to strew these three stories, I was a bit reluctant. But once I started, there was no looking back till I finished.
The book Six Degrees, Game of Blog by Blogadda is quite unique and innovative way to bring authors from different stride to stand and unite to unravel three unique stories. The teamwork is praiseworthy and I love the efforts of Blogadda.
So, in one book, you get an opportunity to read the three components and it leaves you thrilled. There are few flaws but it can be overlooked seeing the passion of the contributors of the blogging world, who have made Six Degrees, Game of Blog, a successful read.
The most commendable thing about this book is that throughout the three different stories series, the five characters are the same and the basic characters holds the same characteristics in all the three stories.
I believe you must be interested to know about the portrayed characters and its worth to get introduced to them.

Shekhar Dutta is a stay at home Dad and a freelancer writer.

Tara Dutta is the breadwinner of the family, the dashing, ambitious and busy media personnel whose priority is her job and family and she is doing well in job.

Roohi Dutta is a nine year old daughter of the Dutta's and quite smart and amicable unlike her age.

Cyrus is a law student who joins Dutta family in Mumbai and his character is on rapid change in each story.

Jennifer is a photographer and she continues with her character in all three stories.

Dr. Aryan Ahuja is a neighbour of Dutta and his personality is on change in each of the stories.

The three stories are:
The Awakening is a science fiction. It deals with powerful alien who desires to preserve the Earth which is losing its sheen due to negativity around in all spheres. The characters are quite strong and they deliver well. I don't wish to go into the details rather I would request the people to take time out and do read for yourself. You will be mesmerized with the descriptions and would appreciate my choice'I am pretty sure.

Entangled Lives is a murder & mystery which goes unsolved till the end. It is quite intriguing and I liked the strong character portrayed of Police officer Jawa who takes on his power to solve and leaves no stone unturned to solve the murder of the support staff of Tara, who is more like a family member. As name suggests, it entangles the lives of all characters and the way of expression of the author's team sends a thrill to the readers. The conclusion of the story is abrupt but still it is quite interesting'It's my take'Do buy and read for yourself.

3. Missing- A Journey is a thriller and it revokes the sentiments of different characters. The main characters of this story is Roohi Dutta & Cyrus. The missing of Roohi bridges the gap of the Dutta couple. Cyrus is a gay and it deals with his life, how people scorn at him, even his family takes a back seat and the saddest part of this story is the rape of Cyrus by his college mates and his sufferings. The bruises on the body goes off with time but the bruised soul remains with him always. The ending is happy but it stirs the readers.
My take: It is a wonderful read and it's beyond belief that a collaboration of huge number of passionate bloggers can produce such a masterpiece for the audience. Tit bits of errors are there which can be easily rectified by the roving eyes of the Editor.For sure, grab the book and enjoy reading.

[Aryan Sarath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six Degrees is a collection of 3 stories being penned down by 30 bloggers which works out at 10 blogger per story.I got to lay my hands on this amazing book. When I started reading it, I could not believe that it is the efforts put down by so many bloggers because no where in the story, I felt the disconnect. It is my great privilege to review this book of my fellow bloggers.

Story #1: The Awakening

This story is a science fiction. If you love them, then this is just for you. I being an avid sci-fi fan and has watched the movies since my childhood could not hold my rejoice when I found it was one.

The story begins with lead characters Tara, Shekhar and Roohi - a small family of Dad,Mom and a Kid and when they get a visitor Cyrus after being referred by Tara's old friend and Professor, things starts to change.

Shekhar who was researching on alien life bumps into a blog post, the creator of whom has been in regular conversation with one Mr.Aryan Ahuja. Shekhar finds out that Aryan was hi neighbour and in the meanwhile he was joined by Jennifer, his friend.

The scenes gets changed in such a fast phase that even if I reveal a little bit more than this, it would be like revealing the whole story as it was closely knit and each and every page/incident is linked. I would recommend you to buy this book to try and find out who were the aliens and what had happened to them in the end....


Story #2: Entangled Lives

Same characters as mentioned above and this is no less compared to the first one. Infact I liked the way this story was weaved. Tara,Shekhar and Roohi were the family and one fine day Roohi meets Cyrus who helps her when she fell down from a tree trying to save kitten and gets introduced to the Dutta's family.

In the meanwhile Tara meets Jennifer who wanted to pursue her career in photography. When Jennifer who was earlier in love with Cyrus come to Dutta's residence, Cyrus was also present. Around the same time, a murder happens.

Who did the murder was the story all about. This leads to introduction of Jawalkar, the cop who preferred to called himself as Java. He investgates in lot of angles and when he finally confronts Cyrus, Jennifer accepts that she committed the murder.

Did Jennifer really commit the murder?

If yes, why?

If she did not commit the murder, then who did?

Read the story by buying theis book and you will be really shoced to find the person who was behind the murder and the reason for it.

A part of the story has been weaved by my good friend Ms. Srilakshmi Indrasenan and I am really glad to see her name in the book :-)

Story #3: Missing - a journey within

This is a different story altogether. The same characters are present in this story too. Shekhar Dutta, Tara Dutta and their kid Roohi Dutta were having a peaceful life. Roohi was diagnosed with a rare disease when she was born and being operated by Dr Aryan Ahuja, she started to lead a normal life when she grew up.

One fine day Roohi Dutta goes missing from her school and Tara who was always busy with her editing work gets the shock of her life. They tried to frantically search by posting in all social media channels. In the meanwhile Jennifer who comes to Mumbai clicked lot of pics and one of them was that of Roohi's and when she found out that Roohi was missing, she immediately alerts Shekhar and Tara.

The search ends in a fruitful way as the Duttas find Roohi in the safe hands of Cyrus. Was Roohi abducted by Cyrus? If yes, why?

The story takes real twists and turns here and in the meanwhile Jennifer finds something fishy about Dr Aryan Ahuja as he was constantly commenting on Cyrus's blog post.

Does Dr Ahuja knows Cyrus? If yes, is he aware of his intentions? Grab the book to find out more :-)

[Salma · Rating 4 out of 5]

SIX DEGREES?

I was, at first sight, intrigued by the title and was pondering over the title how this came to be called so. Another interesting challenge the book had to offer was the quest to find why its named SIX DEGREES. And I might have found the reason and it is upto you guys to get the book, read it and then send your prediction to the email address mentioned. And I'm going to do this right away. I found this so interesting that it kept me committed to the book.

How is this book different? You may ask.

BlogAdda.com, for the first time as a part of #CelebrateBlogging, initiated a totally new-fangled and motivating concept called Game of Blogs. As you might have noticed, I haven’t mentioned the author’s name in the beginning or even now. That’s because, there is no 1, but 30 authors involved in compilation of this book.

Initially, there were 30 teams of 10 bloggers competing for the Game of Blogs ‘throne’. They started of their stories with a set of pre-defined characters and plots specified to them, periodically. This was then blogged on among the team members’ blogsites each day. The team members had to co-ordinate the order and structure of these and finally weaved in as seamless stories and each had their own spice and tier to it.

And not to mention, a lot of effort was put into it to make this happen. The team members might not have been from the same place, so they had to make conference calls, email, plan discuss and finally this came into existence.. 30 such stories were presented.

These 30 stories, in turn, was filtered by a panel of 6 Judges namely, Ashwin Sanghi, Kiran Manral, Meghna Pant, Natasha Badhwar, Raksha Bharadia and Ravi Subramanian. They, of the 30 stories, selected 3 and this masterpiece of 3 different stories, the effort of 30 different bloggers – is what Six Degrees is all about.

The teams and their blog crafted stories:

The Awakening - By Team By Lines
A short sci-fi tale told with background on the question that, are we alone in this universe? Author was able to capture the concept of family & was able give a twist to the relations that we are having in the earth. Not spoiling much & Is my favorite in the books.

Entangled lives - By Team Potliwale Baba
A murder mystery short story with gripping questions who? Why? And how? With interesting riddle like poetry on the motive and unanticipated meetings of the past. Entangled lives makes a believable approach in which all the characters are suspects & the killer is one among them. A cold murder and a hard cold killer the mystery unveiled with a gripping tension . Good attempt on keeping the readers on the edge. Loved the character connections and leaves us with a twist at the end.

Missing – A journey within - By Team Tete-a-Ten
The author takes on the kidnapping and how a modern age nuclear family are affecting a child’s attachment to the parents and how relationships takes turn on occurring incidents and how a single photograph and blog leads to solving all this.

I really felt something missing from Missing and could have added a little more detail to it. Entangled lives like a total Bollywood spiced movie and The awakening to have a dash of Hollywood scenes attached.

On the whole, I felt the time worth it, since this is a one-of-a-kind book and a collaborative effort by 30 bloggers and a new take on how the same five set of characters can have their own different stories. If you want to spend time reading and enjoying the monsoon grab yourself this book, a hot cup of coffee and some spicy snacks; and especially if you are a blogger too; in turn supporting these amazing bloggers and their book. And don’t forget to complete the quest, do share your idea on why this book is called so.

[ANTONY · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Sixdegrees" consists of three stories each written by ten different bloggers and it is a great achievement on the part of Blogadda.com to compile these stories into one book. It is very interesting to read the stories as they have common five characters as follows;

1. Shekar the protagonist is a freelance writer.

2. Tara wife of Shekar working in a big corporate company

3. Roohi 9 year old daughter of Shekar student

4. Jennifer a journalist

5. Cyrus a law student

The greatness of the authors is displayed in the portrayal of incidents going around these people.They have different perception level and their wavelength need not be the same. The flow of the story is very much normal and coherence is maintained at all the chapters. Apart from the above characters one more person is projected prominently and thereby the "Sixdegrees" name represents six different personalities .

Plot

"The awakening " deals with the dangerous position our Mother Earth has encountered due to our greediness and negligence. There are wars between planets. There is the introduction of aliens . The story starts since missing of all the materials prepared by Shekar. It reveals some facts which lead to twisting and turning points in the life of the above characters. Finally, Mother Earth is in danger and everyone is trying to safeguard the same. In between Kundali is discussed. UFO is analyzed. Galladium is talked about. Challenges ,adventures and sufferings are depicted very well .

"Entangled lives" speaks about the murder of a servant maid at Shekar's house. The Java super cop meets everyone he suspects whoever are present in the crime scene and probe the possibility of finding the murderer. In this drama the incidents are woven in such a manner to make the reader anxious . Till the culprits found out it is lot of guessing and inducing tension. It is handled well and the readers can not take for granted at any moment.Suspense is maintained till the end . The climax is unexpected.

"Missing a journey within" is a very good story and it involves kidnapping as the main topic. The social media Facebook is utilised in a nice manner to find out the victim. This is discussed in a nice manner. Also, it has touched Homosexuality. It gives so much information to the readers. It is very interesting to read the story.


The important quotes are as follows.

A man should never leave his work for the worldly charms that might deviate him from his righteous path.

It is often said that you don't really realize the value of a person in your life until you have really lost them.

A jealousy woman's mind is devil's workshop.


The negative point of the book is that it has errors and mistakes.They are grammatical and typographical . There are some spelling mistakes .For example, the word "IS" is misspelt as "ISS" Otherwise the book has come out very nice.


In between the narration of events there are some poems giving the thoughts of the main character which are lovely and fantastic. Sometimes the dearth of ideas for developing the story is reflected . For example one whole chapter is devoted to a dream .


On the whole the Blogadda team has done a wonderful job in bringing out the book in a grand manner .

My rating for this nice book is 3.5 out of 5

6 Degrees is India's first book published through collaborative blogging, written completely by bloggers for the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda. Know more about Game of Blogs here. You can buy 6 Degrees: Game of Blogs

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine 5 people. Now just for a moment, believe in the idea of parallel universes or rather multiverses.

Wouldn't they lead different lives in all these universes? How different could it possibly be?

Very.

And that idea is perhaps the inception of the book and its stories.

BlogAdda came up with this amazing idea to give 5 characters and their descriptions to the authors and challenged them to come up with an interesting story. Well, not one but three stories.

And they did.

Each story takes a different view point.

While the first touches a little of sci-fi, the second touches mystery and the third one goes with an interesting viewpoint of how everything is not what it seems.

Here, let me give a detailed synopsis of all three stories and my views on it.

1. The Awakening

You must've heard of the movie with the same name. No?
Well, I found the plot a little similar to the movie "Hancock".

What I mean is the basic idea and not the whole plot.

Family of three. A guest. Spooky Neighbor. Enthusiastic Family Friend.
and

An Alien Invasion sorts.

The story doesn't lack creativity but I did feel that it got a little boring at some point.
All in all, It was a good read.

2. Entangled Lives

Entangled Lives is a murder mystery. And this one was my favorite!
It is really gripping and while it gets a little too obvious, the end makes up for it ;)

This was a treat.

There's a murder in the house. Everyone seems to have a motive but is it strong enough to kill someone?

And then you realize that anything can put one off and the human mind breeds demons too.

To be frank, I have never been a fan of murder mysteries; always sounded generic to me. This one, stands out.

I loved the poetry. It was sinister and eerie and beautiful!

3. Missing - A Journey Within

A school girl goes missing. A photographer clicks a photo that could be vital clue. Everything ends well.

This story was too good to be true.
Some very bizarre coincidences and Bollywood vibes.

Have you seen the movie "Ugly"?
This was probably the opposite of the movie.

Or so I think.

There were a few interesting facts but I feel it could have been written better. But then again, with the characters predefined; it couldn't have been easy.

All in all, it was a good read.

Though frankly, Had it not been for the second story; I won't have continued reading it.

Why read it?

This is the first book which is a result of collaborations of different people. The transition from the first story to second and from second to third is not that easy as you still have some predefined notions about a character. Read it for the second story :D
If you are a blogger, do read it. This is an example of how successful collaborations are.

Why not?

Well, it could get a little boring. I think it is a little overpriced.

Characters:

Shekhar Dutta - Freelance Author, Work-from-home Dad.
Tara Dutta - Wife of Shekhar, works in a company.
Cyrus Daruwala - Law Student residing in Delhi, visiting Mumbai for a reason.
Aryan Ahuja - Neighbor of the Duttas.
Jennifer Joseph - Photographer by profession.

[Preeti Chauhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three teams comprising of 10 bloggers were given the following characters- Tara Dutta and Shekhar Dutta a stay at home writer ,Roohi Dutta ,Cyrus Daruwala a law student ,Jennifer Joseph a photographer and Arun Ahuja , the Dutta's next door neighbor .

Team “By Lines ”– The Awakening - Tara Dutta has a successful career in print media ,Shekhar Dutta ,is a stay at home Dad cum writer and Roohi Dutta is their 9 year old daughter .This one is a science fiction based story with an interesting alien invasion concept. It cleverly points out the evils of carbon emissions and greenhouse effects too.

I liked the graphic descriptions of the aliens and their super powers and the story stays sharp till the end but the writing style had lot of Deja vu to it.

The best thing -- our earth was saved in the end!


Team Potli Wale Baba – Entangled Lives -Here again the characters of Tara Dutta and Shekhar Dutta have similar job profiles. Cyrus is a law student, who also happens to be the illegitimate child of Shekhar Dutta .His love interest is Jennifer Joseph; fiery young Wildlife photographer .The story becomes interesting when the maid of the Dutta household is murdered brutally. Inspector 'Java “then sets off to unravel the murder mystery.

This one has a great narrative, the characters are all believable and well etched .It is funny at places and fast paced too and keeps you glued to the book till the end. I will not spoil the fun by telling who the murderer was.

Find out the murderer for yourself !


Team Tete-a-Ten –Missing – A Journey Within - Here Shekhar Dutta was supposed to pick up his daughter Roohi from school because his wife Tara had an important meeting ,but Shekhar was late and Roohi goes missing .They post Roohi's pictures on WhatsApp and Facebook in a desperate attempt to trace her .Jennifer ,a photographer happens to click Roohi inadvertently while completing an assignment and later through social media realizes that Roohi is a missing child .Roohi was clicked in the company of Cyrus Daruwala .Why was Roohi with cyrus ?What would happen next ? Did Roohi get united with her parents?

These are some of the questions that will be answered when you read the story by Team “Tete-a –ten”.

FINAL VERDICT – Besides the fact that this was a team effort of a completely novel style , I find the stories to be very original and captivating .Sure , “The Awakening “ being a Sci-Fi thriller , was a little unbelievable and as an adult I do not enjoy such stories much however well written .
I loved the “Entangled lives “ for the fast pace and the characters came out beautifully .It was an absolute page turner for me .

All in all , a great book, definitely worth reading .

[curleduptoes]

Blogadda came out with a very noteworthy approach with 6 Degrees- Game of Blogs. Its a compendium of 3 exciting stories that have different plots, but same characters and a jus the perfect twists that hold them all together. The stories are written by 30 bloggers, who were chosen after a series of rounds and who then came together to spin these beautiful yarns.

There are three stories which complete the book. They are:

The Awakening – A science fiction
Entangled Life – A murder mystery
Missing – A Journey Within – A thriller

I would not reveal much about the stories as I suppose the genre says a lot as to what the tales are all about.

The characters remain the same throughout the book. They comprise of:

Shekhar Dutta – Stay at home dad and freelance writer

Tara Dutta – Shekhar’s wife and works in media company

Roohi Dutta – Shekhar and Tara’s daughter

Jennifer – A laid back person who loves to click pictures

Cyrus – Law student

Aryan Ahuja – Shekhar and Tara’s neighbour

Location of all the stories : Mumbai and Delhi

As far as my opinion is concerned, I loved the book. The characters don’t mix up at all. Out of all the stories, the first one became my favorite, which was a marvelous blend of mythology and science fiction, even though sci-fi is not something that I usually read. This tale was very gripping and interesting.

The second story is murder mystery which remains unsolved till the end, but its plot is very strong and all the untold action makes Mr.Java work like hell

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed Review on Life as Freya
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

Many months ago BlogAdda ran an activity called Game of Blogs. Teams of Bloggers were created and all teams was given the same set of characters and rules to create a story. These are the best three stories selected by a panel of judges.

All three plots were new to me and, so different from each other, they took me by surprise. One a sci-fi, second a murder mystery and the third a thriller-romance with LGBT characters! ❤️

The character set is the same for all three stories, but in each story the characters are also different and it's was fascinating to see the same characters being different in each story.

The writing style keeps changing through the book, between stories and in each story (expected with a large team of writers), the glue holds and it held my attention through out.

Each of the stories is written well but my favourite was the first because the plot was unexpected, the writing crisp and there were no sappy scenes.

All said and done, this book is a keeper for multiple reasons. As a blogger, it's a matter of pride at the work of other bloggers. Then there's the collaboration of over 30 people in the writing of this book. And lastly the fact that the stories themselves are a good read.

[Dr.Manoj Dubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

6 Degrees, game of Blogs is not just any ordinary book. It is a collaborative work of thirty bloggers. Yes you heard it right. All the participants were divided into ten teams having ten bloggers in each team. All the bloggers were given five characters with a description. Each team had to weave a story revolving around those characters. The top three stories have been published in this book game of Blogs. Hence 6 degrees is a compendium of three absolutely different story lines, with the same set of characters. Isn't it too intriguing already?
Now the stories one by one.

The Awakening:
A science fiction which you could never have imagined the way it would! The seemingly perfect mortals turn out to be aliens! Whoa! However the story has a Hollywood kind of ending. I mean it does not conclude on the same lines as you would have expected it to be!

Entangled Lives:
Oh I do love murder mysteries. In fact who does not? This story has such a twisted plot that you think that you just know the culprit but proven otherwise every time you try to confirm your instincts.

Missing: The Journey within
This is quite an unexpected story with two so perceived 'Taboo' topics. This however ends in a Bollywood style note i.e ' And they lived happily ever after!

At 349 INR, this 400 plus pages paperback, it is much more than every penny! I thoroughly enjoyed the read and is looking for more collaborations like this!

[Vyomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

India’s leading blogging website Blogadda as a part of their #Celebrate Blogging initiative in 2014 ran a unique contest called the ‘Game of Blogs’. Bloggers were given 5 different and intriguing characters and through the course of the contest had to weave stories judged by an eminent panel of top authors comprising of Ashwin Sanghi, Kiran Manral, Meghna Pant, Natasha Badhwar, Raksha Bharadi and Ravi Subramanian.

300 bloggers from all over the country working as 30 teams joined forces in a collaborative effort to create magic with their words writing a blog post a day with a riveting story. Only 3 top teams made the cut and their stories were selected and published in what is a first in Indian publishing history- ‘6 Degrees- Game of Blogs’. This contest and its outcome is path breaking in many ways apart from testing the perseverance, creativity and teamwork of bloggers.

Each of the judges have written glowing words of praise for this book in the forward and their thoughts while judging the contest are a testament to the uniqueness of the concept and the fabulous writing behind this page turner that you are not going to be able to put down unless you reach the end.

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a part of the blogadda book reviews program. This is totally an honest review and not a paid one. Six Degrees is a baby of a unique idea done by Blogadda. Around 30 teams with 10 bloggers each battled out in a blogging event called Game of Blogs and three teams emerged as winners. Each battling team were handed over five same characters with the same backgrounds and they had to weave a unique story using these characters. I loved reading this book. I will rate this book 4 out of 5. Personally, I feel, the title of the book could have been different because the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the title is, maybe something about blogging tips and how to’s. The stories are wonderfully written and characters are well defined in each story. I would recommend it to others. A good book for a quick read. You can read my complete review here https://confusedmango.wordpress.com/2...

[Natasha Borah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The backdrop city is Mumbai. A common quote, "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." The 5 common characters:

Shekhar Dutta-- An unsuccessful/out-of-work writer, stay-at-home husband/father
Tara Dutta-- Shekhar's wife, a successful career woman
Roohi Dutta-- Shekhar and Tara's 9 year old daughter
Aryan Ahuja-- Neighbour of the Dutta's
Cyrus Daruwala-- A law student from Delhi, comes to Mumbai and enters the lives of the Dutta's with a purpose
Jennifer Joseph-- A professional photographer, a young and beautiful Malayali girl, who gets connected to the story of the Dutta's

Read full review at Natasha'z Words

[Purba Chakraborty · Rating 4 out of 5]

6 Degrees Game of Blogs is a very different book. It is written by 3 blogger teams : ByLines, Potliwale Baba and Tete-a-Ten.
The first story of the book is The Awakening written by team ByLines. It is a science fiction that deals with aliens and how they change the lives of the main characters of the book.
The second story is Entangled Lives which is a Murder Mystery written by Team Potliwale Baba. It is beautifully weaved and carries the suspense element throughout the story.
The third story is Missing-A journey within which is a tale of a person gone missing.
The 3 stories are very different from one another. I really liked the 1st 2 stories, but the 3rd story disappointed me.
Overall, it's a very interesting book! I give it a 3 and a half stars.

[Abhishek Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, simply loved the flow of the story. 3 different themes. This book is a full package of love, Mystery, thrill and off course fiction. My thought of taking fiction books as tough to read has been changed. So glad to have read this book. This has changed the meaning of fiction novels as it is. Would like to congratulate the Indian bloggers who put up such a wonderful content which makes it very worth to read. Congrats to Blogadda.com too

[Debleena Biswas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating-3.75

I thought that all the stories were completely different from one another though all of them had the same characters. It was so refreshing to read such a innovative book.

The first story was really making me question about numerous things which we though was normal. Had the Bermuda Triangle been created by aliens a long time ago? The science fiction component was so beautifully spun around the normal day to day life of a family was really something i enjoyed as a reader.The story opens to a loving family who gets a request from a friend to keep a law student in their house.Then one day their neighbour sees an alien entity in front of their house. The law student takes a special interest in Tara,the mother. What will happen to the family? And what is the fate of this crumbling Earth? The story unfurls and creates this magical and adventurous tale of aliens and outer space.

The second story was my personal favourite. The story starts with a loving family where the mother is very busy. The little girl Roohi falls down from a tree one day and Cyrus brings her back to her house. Tara at the same time meets Jennifer while in a cafe and hearing her daughter Roohi is injured comes rushing back. They all meet in the house. The light suddenly goes off and comes back in a second. But what happens after that is unimaginable. The maid servant Naina is found dead which a knife on her back and in a pool of blood. Who murdered her? It was so eerie and creepy it felt like Halloween to me. By the very end of the story I felt it resembled the horror movies.The story had many twists and turns that kept me up on my toes. The poems in this story gave a lyrical touch to the story and the part that scared me the most were the poems from the murderer's perspective. Among all the drama and the suspense there bits and pieces of comical relieve. The police Mr.Java was really funny. That kept me from going haywire while reading all the blood curdling feeling that i was getting while reading this story.

The third story is of two missing persons whose life intertwine and separate. The little girl Roohi is missing and her parent are thrown in a fit. They frantically search for their little daughter. This story showed many emotions and feelings. It talked about sexual orientation and how it is not accepted so easily. It deals with mental illness and how two people deal with it in two different ways. It also talks about rape and how it affects a person so deeply and in a frightening way. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the story of the individual characters but it felt a little weak when it intertwined between the two characters who were missing. The ending was beautiful and i was happy with the ending.

Overall i really enjoyed this book. I got more than what i had expected. I can surely recommend this book to everyone who want to read something fresh and innovative.
And i also love this cover very much.

[Kavipriya Moorthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

6 Degrees - Game of Blogs: Book Review
I adore bloggers turned writers; I follow many a bloggers and adore a few. When I first heard about Blogadda and their #CelebrateBlogging campaign, I was thrilled. To know that Blogadda throws a few characters to them asking to knit a story as a team, judges being dignitaries like Ravi Subramanian Sir and Ashwin Sanghi, and to add more spice a few participants are bloggers whom I follow religiously quickened my interest to read this book. And, when Blogadda posted a call for reviews; I grabbed the opportunity. Click here to read about the birth of the concept.
I don’t want to compare the 3 stories, so am reviewing each one by one.
1. The Awakening – A sci-fi fiction in a matter of 150 pages. The opening scene was normal, nothing different from usual fiction but the end of the chapter is a good twist which makes you want to read more. At the end of each chapter there is a plot twist knit, and it was interesting. Good characters and detailed motivation behind each. Overall a good story! I follow Preethi Venugopala and she is one of the team members, so my expectations wrt The quality of writing, language, and diction are on par and commendable

Frown factors: The novel “Shows” than “Tell” – very descriptive. The pacing was not levelled; the chapters are slow from the beginning and at the end it picks speed, could have been done better types. The hype that the end of each chapter created didn’t justify the end of the novel.

2. Entangled Lives – An exotic murder mystery. Very well-done! One of the best reads this year as I love mystery thrillers. The investigation part was handled properly without amiss. Interesting plot twists, one after the other. A real page-turner indeed. Loved the experience of reading this work. Kudos to the team! Am a fan of Srilakshmi’s lovebytes and I follow Sneha, good job! A fast paced novella with fleshy character traits and motivation. One cannot skim through this story; it has a lot of details in every line.
Frown factors: The world-building was a bit confusing in the middle.
3. Missing – A journey within – The blurb talks about a child gone missing, I was afraid if that would fall under the lines of many thrillers I’ve read so far, surprisingly, it is not. A beautiful tale around LGBT and a man getting raped. The emotions are handled well, a very nice story around the plot with good conflicts knit throughout. Kudos to the team for working on this theme.

Frown factors: The guy’s interest towards another guy, and discovering his sexual orientation was not dealt properly.

[Jaideep Khanduja · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://pebbleinthestillwaters.com/6-d...

6 Degrees Game of Blogs by Blogadda: Book Review

6 Degrees Game of Blogs has been published by Leadstart and produced by Blogadda.com. It has been an innovative concept. The concept has created a publishing history. It is something happened for the first time. The concept is based on collaborative authoring. It worked like a project following project management methodology. There were 30 teams with around 10 members per team. The same set of characters were given to each team. Each team drove the characters and story in their own way, in a collaborative manner. The whole exercise has created a new paradigm in publishing.

Almost 300 Indian bloggers were engaged in this marathon of creating 30 different stories. The whole idea was to create a blogger sourced book with the help of collaborative blogging. And that is why it has been named as Game of Blogs. Judges for the game included prominent Indian Authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Ravi Subramanian, Raksha Bharadia, Meghna Pant, Natasha Badhwar, and Kiran Manral.

As far as name 6 Degrees Game of Blogs is concerned, it is probably a mystery. What I could think is that it has a relation with the 6 judges. Otherwise, the name has no connection with the stories or the concept, in my opinion.

Whenever I read a story or a novel, I think about a connection among the story, author, and characters of the story. Who drives whom? This is a mystery for me. It appears as if characters once come into shape start pushing the author in a particular direction. Does it impact on the story? Does it change the direction of the story? Or is it the story that forces the author to mold characters accordingly?

The common set of characters given were as below:

Shekhar Dutta is a stay-at-home freelance writer, Roohi's father, and Tara's husband. Tara Dutta is a Media Professional. Roohi Dutta is a 9-year-old girl. Jennifer Joseph is a photographer in Kochi. And Cyrus Daruwala is a law student in Delhi.

The final three stories have given birth to this book. I would rate it 4 on a scale of 5. Here is the video review of this book: https://youtu.be/Gpr9kn1Xan8

[Svati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Team ByLines, Team Potliwale Baba and Team Tete-e-ten

for Six Degrees Game of Blog

Beyond Expectation :Narration , Situational Drama and Dialogues

Loved : Roohi ’s friendship with Shekhar and Cyrus .

I have no words to express for the book which blogadda has come out with .I tried to find out some flaws but alas I could find any .It was a pleasurable read for me .

All the emotions of Tara , Shekhar , Roohi , Cyrus , Jeniffer , Dr. Aryan Ahuja, Dr. Sneha Phadnis and others are penned in way that it will not allow your eyes tear away from reading Six Degrees Game of Blogs .

One small request to the guys at blogadda please give reviewers 3 weeks reading time . Within 7 days it becomes hard for us to read an awesome book like Six Degrees .

A 5 star rating for this book .

[Megha786rana · Rating 4 out of 5]

About the Book:

The book is written with the collaboration of 30 Indian Bloggers spread across 3 teams resulting into three unique stories filled with a variety of emotions.

As part of their #CelebrateBlogging initiative, BlogAdda.com, ran the first edition of Game of Blogs in September 2014 where five characters and their descriptions were provided to the bloggers. The objective was to write a fictional story revolving around these characters. Bloggers came together as teams and after three rounds filled with its own set of twists and turns, three stories made it to the end.
Well known Indian Authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Ravi Subramanian, Raksha Bharadia, Meghna Pant, Natasha Badhwar, and Kiran Manral were in the panel of Judges. The three stories in this book are a fascinating example of how one set of characters can have interesting lives with completely different dimensions.

My Review:

The book contains three stories each revolving around the lives of six different characters. Shekhar Dutta is a freelance writer and a stay at home husband. Tara Dutta, wife of Shekhar Dutta, is a successful media professional and Roohi Dutta is a nine year old daughter of the duo. Cyrus Daruwala, a law student; Jennifer, a photographer; and Aryan Ahuja, a neighbor of Tara and Shekhar Dutta, are the other characters of the story.

Story 1 – The Awakening by the Team Bylines

The story is a sci-fi fiction involving aliens who are living on earth as human beings. The marital life of Tara and Shekhar is going like a smooth sailing until Shekhar starts penning his most important project. Around that time Cyrus Daruwala comes to their house to stay for a few days as a guest. Jennifer, who is a childhood friend of Shekhar and stays in US, also happens to visit Mumbai at the same time. The four of them brought under the same roof at the same time- Was it just a co-incidence or a game of destiny? A strange turn of events takes place in the Dutta house which leaves everyone bedazzled and confused. But Cyrus is unfazed despite of an air of confusion around him. Infact, Roohi feels drawn to him the very moment he enters Dutta house. Is Cyrus the only key to unrevealed secrets or is there more beneath the unaware brain layers of Duttas?
The story takes you to the territories of spiritual science, mythology and telepathy. All in all, it is a good and engaging read.

Story 2 – Entangled lives by the Team Potliwale Baba

The story is a murder mystery, which involves the murder of maid of the Dutta household, Naina. This has been my personal favorite among all stories. When Tara gets mired in her career aspirations; differences start surfacing in the couple’s relationship. Cyrus is a law student based in Delhi, who lives with her mother. Is there any secret his mother is withholding from him? Why, after the death of his mother, Cyrus shifts to Mumbai? Why Jennifer ends up at the Dutta house at the time of murder? The story has been brilliantly told with an air of mystery and suspense, which makes the reader curious enough to flip through the pages to untangle the entangled lives.

Story 3 – Missing-A Journey within by the Team Tete-a-ten

The story starts with Roohi going missing. Shekhar and Tara put in their best efforts to hunt for their beloved daughter including putting up posts on facebook. That is how they encounter Jennifer. The story also touches the subject of homo-sexuality. However, the characters were not really well integrated into one single story and there were rather too many parallel stories. As a result, the story seemed a little scattered to me.


All in all Six Degrees was a good read with a chance to explore thirty different minds in one single book. Collaborative writing is definitely an interesting thing to do. I would love to see more collaborative writing initiatives by BlogAdda in future and I would make sure I do not miss it. :)

[Deepika · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK REVIEW: SIX DEGREES – GAME OF BLOGS
6 Degrees – Game of Blogs is a unique book. The same people, the same location – just three entirely different stories!
Ask me why?
The Game Of Blogs activity got bloggers acquainted with some very different and intriguing characters and they had to weave stories around them, and add some of their own characters. This ‘method to madness’ is what gave rise to myriad stories, all revolving around Shekhar, Tara, Roohi, Cyrus and Jennifer and their intertwining lives. The bloggers were told to form team of around ten members each and spin a story around the same characters living in the same city – Mumbai.

Know the characters -
Shekhar is a house husband who loves his wife and daughter, breaks the barriers of the general women-stays-at-home and man-earns-bread and is a writer
Tara who is Shekhar’s wife ,a highly successful professional in a media house who is trying to maintain a balance
Roohi- Shekhar and Tara’s 9 year old girl, bubbly, charming – everything a 9 year old should be
Jennifer – a happy hippie with a camera in hand and lot of mysteries in her heart
Cyrus – A bright eyed law student
Aryan Ahuja - Shekhar and Tara’s neighbor
So what happened next -
After many rounds, three teams were selected as winners by renowned authors and 6 Degrees was published. The stories which made to the final entry into the book are:
The Awakening – a science fiction
Entangled Life – a murder mystery
Missing – A Journey Within – a thriller
My review – 3.5 out of 5
This book is a mystery package. The same character but imaginations running wild. Right from aliens to murders, love to break up – you name it and you have it. I will not go into the details of the book, as that would not do justice to the hard work the bloggers have put in. But here’s is what you need to know – The book is an easy read, written to impress. The stories give beautiful descriptions and when you move from one story to another, you think how beautifully the authors have made the same person play three very different roles.

The Awakening is a science fiction revolving around aliens – good and bad, saving the world, ozone depletion. So if you are into that stuff, you’ll like reading it. It is a story you can also read out to kids.

Entangled life is the story I liked the best. Every character shouts out the loud, no matter how small or insignificant the role. Be it JAVA – the typical-police-man who is trying to solve the murder case or Aryan – the ever concerned neighbor, the story takes you through a whirlwind of emotions. Read the story to find out who is the killer! The poems penned down are good.

Missing – A journey within is a thriller. It has twists which I wouldn’t have otherwise imagined for the same set of characters. The story seems a bit far – stretched, but at the same time stands out for the message it gives on love.

Go ahead, grab the book. A huge round of applause for the authors!!
http://dipisblog.blogspot.in/2016/08/...

[Aaliya Thahseen · Rating 4 out of 5]

6 degrees – Game of Blogs is the collaborative brainchild of a band of exceptional bloggers. Blogadda’s finest conception which brought together bloggers from all over India to contribute to this amazing activity called Game of Blogs as a part of their #CelebrateBlogging campaign! 300 bloggers split into 30 teams (A team of ten) partook in this blogathon and only 3 teams came out to be victors.
This book is a compilation of three stories revolving around five characters, namely:
• Shekhar Dutta – A freelance writer and a stay-at-home dad
• Tara Dutta – Shekhar’s wife and a media big-shot.
• Roohi Duta – Their nine-year-old and the three of them stay as an interwoven family in Mumbai.
• Jennifer Joseph – A Kochi-based photographer
• Cyrus Daruwala – A Law student from Delhi
With which the bloggers create a feeling of shifting from one alternate universe to another. This exquisite piece of work has branded itself as the epitome of publishing history. Each tale boasts of gripping genres from science-fiction to murder mystery, they’ve got it all and nailed it pretty damn well.
The Awakening by Team By Lines
The Awakening revolves around Tara Dutta, Shekhar Dutta and their nine-year-old daughter, Roohi. Their normal lives will never be the same after a friend of Shekhar – Jennifer brings in tall order of nothing but disaster. This sci-fi tale that puts the impenetrable family in a whirlwind of aliens, UFOs and much more. Each day they encounter new challenges and prophecies are to unfold sooner than they can think. Overall, it wraps up pretty quickly and has a clichéd but riveting ending.
The next story on the platter is ‘Entangled Lives’ by Team Potiwala Baba (gotta love the name), this piece remains unparalleled - hands down. It heats up with a murder in the Dutta mansion and series of unfortunate events befalls the family of three – Shekhar, Tara, and Roohi. Two strangers, Cyrus and Jennifer also get “entangled” in the ruckus. The investigation took longer than I would have imagined, but the writing was piercing and did justice to the storyline. Without giving away any spoilers, I think I can say that the ending packs quite a punch and you won’t even see it coming, then again you probably might! Also, watch out for the cryptic poems that will leave you flabbergasted.
Lastly, Missing (by Team Tete A Ten) is an intriguing tale of Roohi, a girl of nine years lost in a city full of dreams, life, passion, crime, and vengeance. I felt like it rapidly concluded but it was quick paced and enthralling. They intertwine many lives within the piece and frankly, they go a bit off-track in between, but jump back in the wagon all too soon.
In conclusion, this book is basically three for the price of one and I suggest you give it try. My ratings for this book is 4/5. Check out my review on Amazon, Flipkart and Goodreads as well. Cheerio.

[Adv. Vandana Choudhary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six degrees is the first blogger sourced book by BlogAdda.com and a product of collaborative blogging. BlogAdda.com ran the first edition of Game of Blogs in September 2014. Five characters and their descriptions were provided to bloggers. Bloggers came together as teams and after three rounds, three stories made it to the end. The three stories in the book are a fascinating example of how one set of characters can have interestinng lives with completely different dimensions. The three stories, The Awakening, Entangles Lives and Missing-A Journey Within. All these three stories are engaging, fun and revelatory. The main characters in all three stories were Shekhar Dutta, who is a stay at Home Father and Freelance Writer, Tara Dutta who is a media professional and their Daughter Roohi who is 9 year old. The other two characters were Cyrus, a law student and Jennifer, an aspiring Photographer. The Awakening, which is the first story in the book, is written by the team BY LINES and it is a Sci-fi story. I enjoyed reading the second story which is Entangled Lives. This story is written by the team THE POTLIWALEY BABA It was about a murder mystery at Dutta's mansion. Third story is Missing-The Journey Within is written by team Tete-e-ten. In this story the Roohi goes missing and the dutta family in searching for us.


Merged review:

Six degrees is the first blogger sourced book by BlogAdda.com and a product of collaborative blogging. BlogAdda.com ran the first edition of Game of Blogs in September 2014. Five characters and their descriptions were provided to bloggers. Bloggers came together as teams and after three rounds, three stories made it to the end. The three stories in the book are a fascinating example of how one set of characters can have interesting lives with completely different dimensions. The three stories, The Awakening, Entangles Lives and Missing-A Journey Within. All these three stories are engaging, fun and revelatory. The main characters in all three stories were Shekhar Dutta, who is a stay at Home Father and Freelance Writer, Tara Dutta who is a media professional and their Daughter Roohi who is 9 year old. The other two characters were Cyrus, a law student and Jennifer, an aspiring Photographer. The Awakening, which is the first story in the book, is written by the team BY LINES and it is a Sci-fi story. I enjoyed reading the second story which is Entangled Lives. This story is written by the team THE POTLIWALEY BABA It was about a murder mystery at Dutta's mansion. Third story is Missing-The Journey Within is written by team Tete-e-ten. In this story the Roohi goes missing and the dutta family in searching for it.

[Karan Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like I say to know a book you need to read it. This book as the names suggest is an initiative of BlogAAdda and a team of talented bloggers . The story telling that has been done is superb and you as a reader flow with it .

Idea

30 teams with 10 bloggers each battled out in a blogging event called Game of Blogs and three teams emerged as winners. Each battling team were handed over five same characters with the same backgrounds and they had to weave a unique story using these characters. The characters were:-

Shekhar Dutta is a stay at home dad who also happens to be a freelance writer staying in Mumbai. Tara Dutta is Shekhar’s wife who is a media professional. Roohi Dutta is Shekhar and Tara’s 9 years old daughter.Jennifer Joseph is a Christian photographer who stays in Kochi and Cyrus Daruwala is a law student staying in Delhi.

The stories were judged by some of the bestselling authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Natasha Badhwar, Ravi Subramanian, Kiran Manral, Meghna Pant and Raksha Bharadia.

Rules :

The rules were simple. Each team had to weave a story around the given five characters. They were given around ten days and had to write one episode each day by contacting each other through phone or in any way possible. Three teams won and they received the honour of having their story published.

The three stories ( ina nut-shell ) :

The Awakening

A rare combination of science and mythology which touches the topic of alien invasion and the depleting ozone layer. The start and the journey till the end hold your thoughts and is an interesting read.

Entangled Lives

Murder mystery and what else can you ask for . The story is written by the Team “Potli Wale Baba.” Fast paced , interesting characters , at time nerve cracking and solving the missing pieces - all this packed into a high action thriller of sorts.

Missing – A Journey Within

The third and the last story are named Missing and is written by the Team Tete-a-Ten. I liked this one as its full of emotions , the story of a girl / daughter and the story also touches the issues / topic on homosexuality and the troubles homosexuals face.