Reviews

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

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ttnnllrr's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was a trip. We follow three main characters: Rich Kid Sunny Wadia, son of India’s most notorious crime lord, his personal servant, Ajay, and a journalist who finds herself mixed up in the mess via unexpected relationship, Neda.

The book begins with a tragedy. Five homeless people are heartlessly run over in the middle of the night in the heart of Delhi. The police find Ajay drunk at the wheel of the car and he is immediately brought to jail.

Then, slowly, we are shown the lives of these three characters leading up to this exact moment. As we gain the story and perspective of each character, we see how things progress, we fill in missing pieces, we learn how the tragedy came to be.

The reader begins to understand just how much reach the Wadia family truly has and begins to see the ripple that cascades through India after each action and decision.

This book was intense, dark, and engaging. Kapoor’s writing is so interesting. The structure and style of the story itself was just as entertaining as the subject matter. It was a very long family drama, and I may not have understood each and every aspect, but I did really enjoy it.

Also I was rooting for Ajay the entire time, he was by far my favourite character (though I did also have a soft spot for Eli), and I wanted him to get out of jail and be able to see his sister again! That being said, I know he was tricked at the end of the book into thinking the girl in the picture wasn’t his sister and to abandon his ties to the Wadia family, I just really hope it was the right choice! I hope the girl wasn’t actually his sister and I REALLY hope that they aren’t able to hunt him down and kill him, though of course that wouldn’t be surprising…

toreadistovoyage's review against another edition

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4.25

What a sprawling epic. Full of richly developed characters, layered storylines, intricate histories. The last 1/5 or 1/6 seemed…rushed? less focused? chaotic? Whatever the case may be, it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of this book.

imalwayswrite's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

hotgirlliterature's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kjurewicz's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Did not finish. I gave this book my best effort and got to page 400, but I was just not invested enough in the characters or their story to continue. The book was long and tedious, with a lot of extra details that often weren’t necessary. The only character I somewhat cared about was Ajay, but his portion of the story was entirely overshadowed by the subplot with Prem (which was honestly very hard to read). Maybe if I had more background knowledge of Indian culture, I may have found it more interesting, but in the end I just couldn’t get through it.

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