The real rating is 3.5/5 actuallt. Godoreads doesn't give a way to give partial rating -_-
It was an interesting read.
Things I liked (without getting into spoilers):
The background and character development of Arjun Bhatia is good. too good actually. Same with Nayantara. The flashback style of story telling was also something I loved. Would have liked to see a little bit more before Bengali got killed, so that readers get a little more idea on why it's not just another impassionate kill for Arjun. You don't realize that until later in the book, which might just be intended, though by the author. RP was a predictable twist in the plot, but very well executed. And the narrative paints a vivid picture of the whole family to the reader.
What I had qualms with:
When you read a good story, with as good character development as Sultan Of Delhi, you start building images of the characters in your head. Start playing the story as motion picture in your head. Sadly for Sultan of Delhi I did create these characters but never could give them identity as all I could think was of Sarkar, Guru, God Father etc. The plot really is not new. Even though it was very interesting read for me, it was a very predictable one. Almost all the twists in the plot was predictable. Including Nayantara, RP and specially towards the end with Mohan and Sudhir.
Riti and Arijit's character had injustice done to them. It felt like the author had big ideas for them and then one day the publisher arrived in his doorstep with a deadline and he just cut short their story. Those two characters specially with their background developed so meticulously deserved more than their abrupt ending (it doesn't even make much sense for Arijit).
Same for the whole story. After everything Arjun's decision comes as a disappointing surprise (agreed that is the only twist which was not predictable for me). The whole book portrays him as two step ahead, never compromising and that last decision is exact opposite to what he stands for in the whole book.
Understanding the ploy and even then just roll over and die by dividing his empire?
I really was expecting an Empire strikes back moment.
But overall I enjoyed reading the book. Would recommend this for light read. And would urge the author to make it available in Kindle Unlimited scheme. I think it's a better fit for that catagorya nd also should get much more readers.
Arnab Ray Book 73 week 38
Sultan of Delhi: Ascension by Arnab Ray
I've been a fan of Arnab Ray. I was mesmerized by his Mine and Yatrik was very imaginative too.
Thus, it was as obvious I was looking forward to reading his latest book. It started off well and I was excited. But soon.. I started becoming disappointed.
This book is a desi Godfather style thriller, about a man who comes from Lahore during the partition and starts his life with nothing and rises through life. He dabbles with crime and bureaucracy, indulging in everything from smuggling to lobbying. But life isn't rosy, and there are enemies brewing, unrest in family and his past comes to bite his ass.
Sounds interesting no? Unfortunately the shallow characters, the cringeworthy language and writing style, the over dramatic and exaggerated happenings and total lack of thrills make this one of the worst books I've read this year.
I am quite disappointed in Ray. I expected much better. Please avoid this book like the plague. I was hoping it would redeem itself towards the end but the book was nothing but a colossal waste of my time.
Rating 1/5 Arnab Ray I like things that are new and different. This one does.
The author, Arnab Ray, is a blogger that I used to visit often. Ray is the man behind greatbong.net. His musings on movies (Hindi and mainstream) and Indian politics are pretty entertaining. He has written several books prior to this one, but I only have access to this one because it's recent and a friend shipped the book all the way from Delhi to where I live (where the online bookshop just doesn't ship).
Ray's story focused on the life of Arjun Bhatia. This dilli ka gunda (Delhi's goon) is a gunrunner, sharpshooter, and has only one way in life: survival at any cost. I like the boldness, twists, and rawness of the story. However, past the second part, I feel that Ray is trying to say too many things at the same time. I like the beginning of the book, not so much how it unravels towards the end at a pretty fast pace. This book is an outline that holds a lot of promise for two-three volumes of books with the same unexpected twists, laid out in a slower pace, and wrote in a style that shows more than tells. But in its concise version, it's a movie-script ready kinda read.
Had the characters were fleshed out more, some plot-twists received more pages for readers to grasp the story better, and the Hindi passages were translated into English as footnotes or endnotes, the messages that the book is trying to present would reach more minds.
Pretty Bollywood-y with all the charms, culture, and politics.
(and I'm looking for its sequel, BTW). Arnab Ray Sultan of Delhi has taken the Internet by rage. In the recent past not many books have managed to create buzz in the manner Sultan of Delhi has. The credit for this goes to its writer Arnab Ray who is a well-known blogger and who goes by the sobriquet Greatbong.
Before Sultan of Delhi hit the bookshelves Arnab Ray has a successful track record of writing back to back best selling books starting from May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, The Mine and Yatrik. Arnab Ray is someone who knows the importance of marketing his books well. By now he has understood what kind of readers love to read his books and months before Sultan of Delhi arrived in book stores, he was relentlessly promoting Sultan of Delhi on social media. Needless to say when the book was finally available, it went on to hit the bull’s eye.
Sultan of Delhi is a racy read. The dialogue reminds you of the Hindi films of seventies and eighties in which villains like Prem Chopra and Pran had carved a niche for themselves as quintessential baddies who got to mouth equally meaty lines along with the leading men. Sultan of Delhi begins when Pakistan came into existence. Arnab has masterfully narrated the chaos, the bloodbath, the loss of lives and what people owned and the mental and physical trauma that unlucky generation underwent at the time of creation of Pakistan. The manner in which a child named Arjun Bhatia – the main protagonist of Sultan of Delhi – surives the blood soaked streets of Lahore and arrives in Delhi along with his penniless father sets the tone of this marvellous read. From the first page the novelist has his readers’ attention. What follows next is the growing up of Arjun Bhatia who wants to win at all costs and becomes the Sultan of Delhi. In the bargain he doesn’t mind doing away with his close friend Bengali who is survived by a beautiful wife and son.
Sultan of Delhi is a fast paced novel that demands readers’ undivided attention. It is thickly populated with protagonists who pursue their respective goals with élan. There are no good guys and no bad guys in Sultan of Delhi. People react to the circumstances around them and play their cards accordingly since survival is at stake all the time. This novel doesn’t pretend to be classy. Arnab Ray knows the kind of language young generation loves to use and he makes use of this knowledge to the hilt. For example, he uses the often used Hindi swear words without bothering to translate them into English and that is a sure shot winner. For you need courage to use expressions like milk tankers and dicks that spring to attention at the sound of gunshots. You’ll be chuckling to yourself right through Sultan of Delhi. And if you are a fan of Kishore Kumar, don’t think twice before picking up Sultan of Delhi.
Another remarkable aspect of Sultan of Delhi is its strong female protagonists. Arjun Bhatia is a tough guy – albeit with a heart of gold - who doesn’t mind violence to get things done. At the same time the women with whom he deals are equally strong and they believe in giving back as good as they get be it his once time friend turned foe Bengali’s wife or his daughter. The leading ladies in Sultan of Delhi are fearless and they do what they think is right. Arjun Bhatia’s sons and daughter come of age fast and then the book deals with how they try to impress their dad to inherit his legacy and that makes for both interesting and complicated read. There are open revolts within the family with detractors of Arjun Bhatia exploiting the fault lines to settle scores.
Amidst galaxy of popular writers like Chetan Bhagats and Twinkle Khannas whose books have arrived simultaneously in the books stores, Sultan of Delhi deserves a chance because Arnab Ray has written it from his heart and knowing his underdog status he has been earnestly urging his fans to review and rate Sultan of Delhi. This is indeed a heart touching gesture. Go for Sultan of Delhi it deserves five stars as it has the potential to make your weekend memorable. Arnab Ray I love Arnab Ray’s writing. The Mine’s killer plot twist was amazing and the heart-breaking tale of Anustup Chatterjee in Yatrik made me a little misty-eyed. In Sultan of Delhi: Ascension, he describes everything so perfectly, the characters and their motives, sex, violence, conspiracies, Delhi. You will hate Arjun Bhatia, the protagonist but at the same time marvel at the way he uses his brains to win over his opponents and defeat his enemies, which shows that sometimes you can win a battle without violence. The badass dialogues are so very desi, and I chuckled at a few of these! SoD: Ascension is an excellent crime saga and should be made into a movie. Can’t wait for the sequel. Arnab Ray
Read & download Sultan of Delhi: Ascension
When a path is forged in blood, it is hard to find peace.
The son of a penniless refugee from Lahore, Arjun Bhatia has worked his way up from being an arms smuggler in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh to the most influential power-broker in Delhi.
But when the shadows of the past, of a friend he has lost forever and of a woman he can never be with, finally catch up to him, Arjun finds himself fighting the biggest battle of his life. For at stake is not just his iron hold over the government, but something even bigger---- his family...and his soul.
Spanning five decades and two generations, Sultan of Delhi: Ascension is an explosive saga of ambition, greed, love and passion Sultan of Delhi: Ascension
3.5/5 This was a fast-paced thriller and was reminded of Sidney Sheldon. Wish the author decides to publish the sequel to this and realises that his fans/readers matter more than those who may have unfairly vilified him. Arnab Ray Sultan of Delhi is a good story. A bit filmy but well written with characters well drawn out. Arnab Ray The author has given a very good background and a very interesting story and progression to the character of Arjun Bhatia. I was really planning to give it a 5 star, but the last few pages ended in a very standard split and handover the empire way. I was disappointed with that. Apart from that it is a good read. Arnab Ray “I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.”
----George R.R. Martin
Arnab Ray, an Indian author, pens a gripping action packed urban noir, The Sultan of Delhi that revolves around a self made man from the scratches with a business of gun supplying to high-end clients along with his partner, but following his partner's death and the affair with his wife in the past now threatens to rip apart his family of two sons, one daughter and his wife along with his stand in the society. But the skeletons from his past haunts him and no matter what, he needs to protect his family from those.
Synopsis:
When a path is forged in blood, it is hard to find peace.
The son of a penniless refugee from Lahore, Arjun Bhatia has worked his way up from being an arms smuggler in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh to the most influential power-broker in Delhi.
But when the shadows of the past, of a friend he has lost forever and of a woman he can never be with, finally catch up to him, Arjun finds himself fighting the biggest battle of his life. For at stake is not just his iron hold over the government, but something even bigger---- his family...and his soul.
Spanning five decades and two generations, Sultan of Delhi: Ascension is an explosive saga of ambition, greed, love and passion.
Arjun Bhatia, the young boy who ran from Lahore to UP with his father losing everything in the hands of the Muslims rioting against the Hindus, made himself up into a smart and clever businessman by smuggling guns to high end clients from politicians to rich businessmen to government officials. Today he and his family has a reputation in the society as his sons run the import -export business and some garment business and his daughter pursues fancy degree in American college. But the past skeletons like his friend-cum-business-partner's death and the affair with that friend's wife is threatening him as well as his family too. But Arjun has forever been protective, maybe a little too overprotective towards his family. And if it requires, he would get his hands dirty at any cost to protect the security of his family members. When the past is closing in on him and his family, can he somehow find closure without increasing the body count?
Its better not to spill any more beans for this story as that would mar the charm of those mind-boggling twists and turns, that the author has meticulously incorporated into the story line. The story is addictive as well as arresting from the get-go itself and it will get latched to the minds of the readers in such a way, that it will be difficult for them to turn away their heads from this book even for a single second. This is the first time that I read any books by this author, but after reading this book, I'm looking forward to read the other books by the same author.
With a coherent writing style of the author, it will make it easy for the readers to contemplate with the story line. The story is laced with packed and tensed action scenes that will leave the readers anticipating for the next turn. Moreover, I was sweating hard to find out whether Arjun could protect his family, although in the middle of the story, it felt a bit dull as there weren't much happening events occurring thereby slowing down the pace of the book. The narrative is highly engaging and interesting enough and the author has used some hard-core native (Hindi) language to spice up the tale and to increase the tension among the readers. The pacing is often fast enough that will keep the readers glued to the pages of this book till the very end.
The author has depicted post-independent India during the 60s extremely vividly, that will make the readers feel like hopping on a time machine to experience the then India. The backdrop too is brightly painted by the author, that syncs well with the theme of the story line. The scenes are penned with utmost details that will help the readers to visually imagine those scenes right before their eyes.
The characters from this book are projected with realism, honesty and flaws to make them look believable in the eyes of the readers. The main protagonist, Arjun, is really well crafted out and his demeanor reflects as someone with a sad and tragic past, yet that makes him strong enough to rise from the ashes and make himself almost invincible in the eyes of the law and his enemies. At times, Arjun might make the readers angry because of his actions but the readers will find it easy to comprehend with his fight for survival. The rest of the supporting characters are also quite interesting and holds the power to leave a lasting impression with their small but powerful demeanor.
In a nutshell, this is a must read story for all Indian contemporary fiction readers who love to enjoy a story with handful of twists and layers and where the characters evolve throughout the entire length of the novel.
Verdict: A compelling and action packed drama about love, family, friendships and desire.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Hachette India for providing me with a copy of this book for the blog tour. Arnab Ray 3.5/5
An entertaining read. The ending felt abrupt otherwise i would have given it 4 stars.
Recommended.
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Sultan of Delhi Arnab Ray