Shantanu Rakhta Chakra (Book 1) by Devansh Kamdar – Shantanu, a book about an underworld hitman, is a lot more than just a random read. Basically, the story revolves around Shantanu, including phases from how he got into the mafia world, his work with Kshitij Bhai Bhosle, the most brutal mafia bhai in Mumbai, and his possible love interest, Mehak. It feels impossible to say how I felt about the book without giving off any spoilers so read further at your own risk. :p
If we talk about the genre, this happens to be something I have read for the first time. As you might have noticed so far, I am more of a romance reader and have not really tried much other than that but then we must sometimes try some new things, right? So, I ended up picking this thrilling read. But one thing I would like to highlight is that the thrill or the level of crime trauma this book holds is quite subtle. You can say if you are trying such a genre for the first time, it might be the perfect thing for you to start subtly and test your boundaries slowly. So, the book, Shantanu, definitely passes well in case of genre and crime subtleness.
Talk about the characters, okay, so basically the story has some major characters, of course Shantanu being the protagonist has to be the major one, but apart from him, Mehak, Kshitijbhai, Abhay, and Vasu happen to be other significant characters in the book. Shantanu is a hitman and trust me, at some point I so wanted him to be leader, I mean if you’re gonna die soon, die big, no?
Kshitij bhai happens to be his boss, who at some points did make me feel like crying when the author decides to touch his past events, the flashbacks and how life has been unfair on his part. But then, how long can you sympathise with a mafia guy, a cold-blooded killer, right? It is not like he’s someone “Tall Dark Handsome” guy. XD You can only like an old man to a limit LOL.
Then there’s Mehak! To be honest, I don’t know how to feel about her. She’s sweet, bubbly cute and everything BUT she decides to cheat on Kshitij? I mean I understand that she does not like him and there is no way she can get rid of him without having either of them dead but I don’t know, I can never happen to accept cheating as a solution. Personal opinion, nothing else. I mean, there’s always a solution to everything but cheating isn’t one of the solutions I could or would ever support, books or reality, don’t matter. To think Shantanu falling for her wasn’t either of their mistake but it still cost the lives of so many people. I really don’t wanna spoil this for you people. Read the book and you’ll know what I’m saying.
Other than these three we have 2 more people Abhay and Vasu. Honestly, I never liked Vasu and he’s not that significant even but still plays a major role. Like, it’s not easy to think that you can replace your boss that easily, is it? LOL! He literally thought he could kill Kshitij and be the boss of the mafia world. Delulu is the solulu, the only thing I could say for him. And Abhay, that guy is just heart and trust me when I say this, I just wanted to kill Kshitij when he put that bullet in Abhay, it made me feel so much worse that I don’t even want to think about it. Why do authors always have to kill the one we tend to have a liking for? It’s always that one good guy who has to pay the price for their friends. But seriously, if I had to pick one favourite from the whole book, it would have been him. Of course other than our main guy!
I am being honest when I say this, I totally enjoyed reading it. Yes, I made the mistake of picking the book during my reading slump and it was a terrible thing on my part. But it was just worth it. Each part of the book was just worth my time and I can’t stop myself from sharing some lines that I utterly loved.
“If you really love someone, a part of them always stay with you.”
“You treat love as it it’s a bad word, but you wouldn’t be feeling the pain you’re feeling now. That’s the lie. If there’s pain, there’s something underneath it. A source.”
”You’re not a bad man. You’re a good man who lives in a bad place. And we’ve all done bad things. But that doesn’t make someone incapable of love.”
“You think of love as a currency or competition. It’s not like that. You cannot fight for love. It’s either there, or it isn’t. You can only accept.”
So, buck up and find this book on your kindle or just grab the paper copy! It’s always better to have the feel of paper while reading. That makes reading so much better, honestly. Here’s the link, tap now to purchase your copies and do ping me on Instagram, once you are done reading it. I would love to hear from you guys.
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