Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Age of Vice

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

36 reviews

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Age of Vice is a little different from my normal reads, a sort of Indian Godfather that showcases the inner workings of one of India’s most powerful family crime syndicates. There’s extravagant wealth, plenty of glitz and glamour, large scale corruption, lots of violence and intimidation, internal power struggles, a forbidden romance and self-serving manipulation. But apart from its fast-paced, action-packed plot the novel also features some rather compelling studies of complex and complicated characters and shines a light on some of India’s social and political problems like institutional corruption and desperate poverty. I definitely enjoyed this story and the change of pace it offered me. But unlike many readers I won’t be hanging out for the next volume in the planned trilogy, despite the cliff-hanger of an ending.

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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carolinemb's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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deagaric's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enthralling story with a wide array of characters and POVs. This is a multifaceted story about dirty money and the people behind it in the cities and backcountry of India in the 1990s and early 2000s. Very unique setting and a (mostly) fast-paced, insane plot filled with mind-numbing wealth, deception, violence, and forbidden love.

I loved the unpredictable story line and the family saga aspect of the tale. Though I strongly recommend glancing at the trigger warnings before starting this book (the continued rape and sodomy of a minor is very explicit and highly disturbing and I genuinely wish I had skipped reading those chapters), Kapoor also adds in details about the strengths of human bonds and the need for secure attachment to others even when raised around violence and neglect. Quite a few comedic moments as well, particularly from Sunny's assistant, Eli, towards the end.

I also liked learning about India's geography and spent a decent amount of time googling up the places so I can imagine the setting more clearly. The author was born and raised in northern India and I think brings a special expertise to capturing it as a backdrop to the story.

The reason I give this a 4 rather than 5 is the weird pacing; it'll be 100mph for dozens of pages, and then slow down into a school-zone pace for a 100 more. Particularly around the point of Book/Section 3 and 4, the story became a slog, and took willpower to push through to the end. I assume a lot of the seemling unnecessary backstory will become important in the second and third book of this trilogy, so keeping my eyes peeled for that!

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