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A review by shorshewitch
Lorkum's Quest by A.R. Sara
3.0
(3.5/5) - Imaginative and Entertaining
I read A. R. Sara's blogs regularly. I might not always comment on them but I do read and wonder how beautifully she weaves her stories around mundane observations. A cat and a dog. A crow. A sparrow. The language and the sequences are imaginative most of the times and they make for a very entertaining read. I downloaded a few of her Kindle books and loved a story called "A Crooked Crow" in it. She has written it in a sing-song pattern and has told the entire story through verses. It is intriguing how she managed to bring it all so wonderfully out without once leaving the rhymes. I did not get time to write a review then. But then after a long stretch, I finished reading another of her self-published books "Lorkum's quest" yesterday. And boy, the woman keeps pushing her boundaries, or what?
Just a little background.
A few days back I had come across an article about classroom teaching. (You can check it out here if you'd like. Its a long one but very interesting- https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=312066622595879&id=100013776300605).
It spoke about how we as a species of humans, in the guise of our 'intelligence' and love for technology, have destroyed the wildness of our children. How we sample them in 'normal' and 'abnormal' and some go to normal schools and others in different schools and how both these schools do nothing to preserve the wildness! 'In Wildness is the preservation of the world. The revolution will not take place in a classroom'.
Which is why, as I come to make my point here, the world, and in particular our country might suffer if we don't bring our story-tellers to the fore. We need story-tellers. Now. More than ever before. We need stories of exploration and quests and life and world outside and imagination and dreams and wilderness and witches and wizards and goblins. We need them set here in our surroundings where our children can relate and become curiouser than ever. We NEED them to be curious to push their own boundaries, so that they don't forever sit in a box.
And that is precisely why I liked Lorkum and his quest. It is a story of exploration set inside a school classroom. It has adventure and quiz and friendship. It is a lovely story about finding our own niche.
Aakash and his friends study in a 'different' school and the day the story begins is just like any other normal day in their lives. Until their teacher gives them an assignment of imagining a weird monster for one of their school projects and just when they finish brainstorming and coming up with the description of the weirdest monster ever, a girl from the classroom, Sia, shouts out, "I wish to see such a monster come alive". Just as she utters it, dramatically, a shooting star is seen falling from the sky. Thus, starts a series of events that will test the resilience and knowledge of Aakash and his friends.
Who is Lorkum? Why is he doing what he is doing? Will Aakash and his friends emerge stronger from whatever they are going to be subjected to? This is all that the further story is made up of.
I loved the plot. It is nicely gripping and entertaining. It leaves a lot of scope of discussion and guessing games and more quizzes. The story can also serve as a discussion starter around 'differences' between each other and mild bullying. It can also take a form of some more bedtime quests and twists. It has tremendous potential. And considering that this is the author's first book, I think it is amazing in terms of imagination and execution of the plot-line.
The one grouse that I have is the dialogue-writing. For eg. In a passage it is told to us that Aakash stammers when he gets anxious. But the dialogue that follows doesn't portray that stammering as effectively as it should. I believe that each character's dialog delivery should be as per its personality. That is how one develops it. (Though I am no expert. Just an observer and a reader. So just a humble opinion)
Leaving aside the above, as a whole package this little book is worth your time. It is a fun idea to impart some exploring abilities in kids. And I cannot emphasize enough on the significance of that. About the cover of the book, I have similar views as those expressed by Urja in her review here (https://m.facebook.com/groups/834431299937795?view=permalink&id=1397230733657846) and I do hope that a publisher takes note. There is a lot of potential in there.
Thank you for writing the book A. R. Sara and I hope you continue delighting us with your stories.
I read A. R. Sara's blogs regularly. I might not always comment on them but I do read and wonder how beautifully she weaves her stories around mundane observations. A cat and a dog. A crow. A sparrow. The language and the sequences are imaginative most of the times and they make for a very entertaining read. I downloaded a few of her Kindle books and loved a story called "A Crooked Crow" in it. She has written it in a sing-song pattern and has told the entire story through verses. It is intriguing how she managed to bring it all so wonderfully out without once leaving the rhymes. I did not get time to write a review then. But then after a long stretch, I finished reading another of her self-published books "Lorkum's quest" yesterday. And boy, the woman keeps pushing her boundaries, or what?
Just a little background.
A few days back I had come across an article about classroom teaching. (You can check it out here if you'd like. Its a long one but very interesting- https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=312066622595879&id=100013776300605).
It spoke about how we as a species of humans, in the guise of our 'intelligence' and love for technology, have destroyed the wildness of our children. How we sample them in 'normal' and 'abnormal' and some go to normal schools and others in different schools and how both these schools do nothing to preserve the wildness! 'In Wildness is the preservation of the world. The revolution will not take place in a classroom'.
Which is why, as I come to make my point here, the world, and in particular our country might suffer if we don't bring our story-tellers to the fore. We need story-tellers. Now. More than ever before. We need stories of exploration and quests and life and world outside and imagination and dreams and wilderness and witches and wizards and goblins. We need them set here in our surroundings where our children can relate and become curiouser than ever. We NEED them to be curious to push their own boundaries, so that they don't forever sit in a box.
And that is precisely why I liked Lorkum and his quest. It is a story of exploration set inside a school classroom. It has adventure and quiz and friendship. It is a lovely story about finding our own niche.
Aakash and his friends study in a 'different' school and the day the story begins is just like any other normal day in their lives. Until their teacher gives them an assignment of imagining a weird monster for one of their school projects and just when they finish brainstorming and coming up with the description of the weirdest monster ever, a girl from the classroom, Sia, shouts out, "I wish to see such a monster come alive". Just as she utters it, dramatically, a shooting star is seen falling from the sky. Thus, starts a series of events that will test the resilience and knowledge of Aakash and his friends.
Who is Lorkum? Why is he doing what he is doing? Will Aakash and his friends emerge stronger from whatever they are going to be subjected to? This is all that the further story is made up of.
I loved the plot. It is nicely gripping and entertaining. It leaves a lot of scope of discussion and guessing games and more quizzes. The story can also serve as a discussion starter around 'differences' between each other and mild bullying. It can also take a form of some more bedtime quests and twists. It has tremendous potential. And considering that this is the author's first book, I think it is amazing in terms of imagination and execution of the plot-line.
The one grouse that I have is the dialogue-writing. For eg. In a passage it is told to us that Aakash stammers when he gets anxious. But the dialogue that follows doesn't portray that stammering as effectively as it should. I believe that each character's dialog delivery should be as per its personality. That is how one develops it. (Though I am no expert. Just an observer and a reader. So just a humble opinion)
Leaving aside the above, as a whole package this little book is worth your time. It is a fun idea to impart some exploring abilities in kids. And I cannot emphasize enough on the significance of that. About the cover of the book, I have similar views as those expressed by Urja in her review here (https://m.facebook.com/groups/834431299937795?view=permalink&id=1397230733657846) and I do hope that a publisher takes note. There is a lot of potential in there.
Thank you for writing the book A. R. Sara and I hope you continue delighting us with your stories.