Author
Ravi Subramanian
Publisher
Penguin
Date
January 1, 2007
Final Verdict
3/5

About the Author

Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, has spent two decades working his way up the ladder of power in the amazingly exciting and adrenaline-pumping world of global banks in India. It is but natural that his stories are set against the backdrop of the financial services industry. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Dharini and daughter, Anusha. In 2008, his debut novel, If God Was a Banker, won the Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award. The Incredible Banker won him the Economist Crossword Book Award in 2012.
Other Works By Ravi Subramanian
I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari (2008)
Devil in Pinstripes (2010)
The Incredible Banker (2011)
The Bankster (2012)
Bankerupt (2013)
God is a Gamer (2014)
The Bestseller She Wrote (2015)
In the Name of God (2017)
Don’t tell the Governor (2018)

God Is A Gamer

Well Looks like I am on a streak of reading new authors, they dominate my To Be Read list.  So God Is A Gamer by Ravi Subramanian is again the first book I am reading by the author, which made for an exciting and quick-paced read on the whole.

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PLOT:  Seemingly unconnected events happening all around the world, with no common ground at all, are the basis of the story of God Is A Gamer. That and Bitcoins, which happens to be the new fast gaining virtual means of making anonymous transactions. As the story unravels, over countries and across continents, it reveals a very sinister “game” of plots, scams, lies, betrayals and most importantly Revenge.

CHARACTERS: The book is character driven (according to me), so they needed to be the biggest assets of the book. What we have is a mixed bag, characters like Varun though predictable (at least to me) are quite memorable. But at the same time Tanya, who should have created an impact is a dud (again totally my personal opinion). While some characters leave a good impression others are not so great. While, having said that I must say the motivations of each character to do what they did, is very clearly brought out.

WHAT I LIKED: The Story is fast paced and makes you think in so many directions at once. If you are anything like me you would be playing the “who done it” game while reading, and this book leaves you guessing. On moment you think this has to be it, and the next moment you are thrown off in another direction. The end will definitely leave you thinking about the how and why of the story and leave you surprised on that front.

The world of gaming and the financial aspects of gaming have been explained very well. Also the dangers of the virtual world and Virtual banking and things like virtual cash and workings of networks that let you remain anonymous have been explained well, like giving gyaan without sounding preachy.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: The end was kind of a letdown for me in the “who” aspect. Then again there is a minor element of surprise in that. Or maybe the pace and the excitement of the story till the final few chapters raised my expectation bar high for the end.  The pace of the book also slowed down towards the end, while there were so many things happening at once in the beginning, it got crawly towards the end.

Another thing I noticed is the repetition of details, it throws you off when you read the same thing twice, especially when that happens on the same page.

FINAL VERDICT: A book that began with a lot of promise, fading out slowly. Luckily it did not die out completely before it got to the end. Would I read the other books by the author – most definitely, I liked the style and the manner of writing. This book would make a nice one-time read for lovers of the genre.

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Jaibala Rao

Jaibala Rao

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