The Science Redemption - Santhosh R

This is one such book which deceives you by it’s cover. Yes, I haven’t seen anything worser than this book’s cover and I am sure had not it been a review copy, I wouldn't have dared to pick this book as my weekend read. Now, that’s something completely within the author’s control, so lets get into the book.

The Science Redemption, as the name suggests is a thriller where the age old science vs God plot is worked on, in a refreshing way. The book has two parts — The Destiny Drive and Redemption : The Chosen One. Both these happens to be part of a book written by the protagonist of the latter one — Dipti.

The Destiny Drive is an extended introduction for the actual story which is narrated in a fast paced and convincing manner in the second part. The characters are introduced and developed in a slow pace and the time frame spans from the time of their births and even earlier in a couple of cases, to the stage where they settle in life with a respectable profession and loving family. A lot of characters come and go in between while the six characters namely Aditya, Pallavi, Sidharth, Sneha, Vivek, Priyanka grow from infants to adolescents, then teenagers and finally matured individuals. There might not be a better reason than the author himself being in medical profession, for him taking this complex plot as the subject for his debut novel. It’s complicated and demands the readers patience while getting into the details of genetics and Big Bang Theory.

The second part, Redemption : The Chosen One sets up the pace and much of the story unveils here. A simple tale of love and friendship narrated in the first part becomes as complicated as it can with our myths, a religious cult, NASA and what not getting involved within a time frame of less than two days shifting from University of Hyderabad to Dwarka and then to Dhanushkodi and ending up at Hyderabad again. Anything more written beyond this would be nothing but a spoiler.

The existence of God has been a matter of debate ever since the concept of scientific thinking came into existence. Man had tried and succeeded in finding the science and logic behind everything that happens around him except on God and the formation of this universe. Many theories have been put forward from time to time, with the Big Bang Theory being the widely popular and accepted one. At the same time, any theory that questioned the hand of God in creating this universe has been subjected to criticism from religious organizations world wide. The book, in a way, reiterates Shakespeare’s famous quote “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;” with a small addition of the script written by none other than God. Many of the protagonists born and brought up as God fearing ones, turns atheists, thanks to the mis happenings in their lives and author with an unexpected and not so convincing climax, makes them believe in God once again.

The author without doubt needs accolades for taking up this complex subject as the plot for his debut novel and the extensive research done in this field. The plot and its complexity draws parallel with the likes of Dan Brown which is really great. This is indeed a promising start and he is definitely a guy to watch out for in the coming days.

Every work has its own flaws and this book is no exception. The biggest let down as mentioned above is the cover design. The book has loads of information on astrophysics and genetics which makes it difficult to digest for young readers. I definitely cannot recommend this one to my teenage cousins who without doubt will demand an explanation for the scientific facts presented in the book, which I myself am mostly unaware of. The plot demands complexity, however the scientific terms and explanations could have been done in a simpler, easy to understand way, which I am sure is easy to say than to actually get it done. The length of the book, especially the first part, could have been trimmed down a little, which I feel wouldn't have done any damage to the overall plot. 

Thanks to my hectic academic schedule, I couldn’t finish the book in a single stretch and often required to re read a few chapters if not from the beginning. The reading without doubt was a hectic process with required me to scribble down facts and later seek Google’s help in getting a better picture. Overall, this is a decent attempt, well beyond my expectations, thanks to the cover design. I would recommend this not to all as it’s strictly not a time pass read but to serious readers who admire writers like Dan Brown. Go for it guys, you won’t be disappointed.

Buy this book online from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.in/Science-Redemption-R-Santosh/dp/9352015533/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458465288&sr=1