The Dark Romance by Ankit Gussain.

• Book: The Dark Romance
• Author: Ankit Gussain
• Publication House: Leadstart Publications
• Category: Fiction
• Rating: 3.5/5

Story-in-Short:

'Dark Romance', is a story of two lovers caught up in the narrow minded attitude of village thinking. Superstition and dark spirits that the villagers' believe in add their bit in making their life a living hell. The lovers, Priyanka and Ashu, meet clandestinely and their love develops and grows for each other. Things begin to go well for them, but then things take a dark twist ... Ashu does everything in his power to get Priyanka, the love of his life, out of this darkness. But her family is out to get his blood... Will Ashu and Priyanka ever be able to get out of the clutches of the darkness and the evil that has over shadowed their lives? Will the family and the villagers' overcome their superstition, their old fashioned village thinking and allow the two lovers to find their happiness? Or will the 'dark romance' never find the light of day...

In My View:

Living in metropolitan cities, we rarely get to know things which happen in small towns, villages and totally rural areas. We claim to be developing, regardless of the fact that there are sections in the country where people are still practising superstitions, have immense faith in blind faith and possess an outlook which we label as ‘old-fashioned’. Well, life-styles have differences and so do thinking styles, but major clashes happen when rational minded people mix with irrationals, trying to change their reluctant attitude, and of course, stance. 

Ankit Gussain, through his debut novel, gets an increasingly crucial story, though fiction, but with a crucial message. Ashu and Priyanka, coincidentally, are in the same village of Uttarakhand to spend their vacation. The two are in love with each other and have an interaction almost every day, trying to hide this affair from their respective family members. Everything seems to fine, though the future would be too dark for the two. 

Unravelling the blind faith of the villagers on the vicious, mysterious and a highly suspicious Devi (a normal woman in reality), the story expands the horizons to cover the other things in the village, including the kind of complication that Ashu and Priyanka’s love affair undergoes, and the compromises and sacrifices that they have to make, before finally concluding it. 

The cover is brilliantly designed, no doubts in it. Looking at it, one can make it out that it is a love story, and a ghost towards a corner adds a spice to it. The story begins on a not-so-interesting term, looking alike many other romantic stories out there, but the one who patiently pursues it gets to the exciting and enthralling part. The plot is essentially unique and something out-of-the-box, which the readers will receive whole-heartedly. The characters are well-developed; though there are many, they don’t become a problem to deal with. 

The anecdote is gripping but there are a few things that lead to its downfall. First: the initial part, which moves ahead lackadaisically. Second: The grammatical errors which remain uncorrected destroy the mood that the story attempts to develop. Third: subtle dialogues and the use of simple sentences, which add up to the monotony. 

I think the author could have given a stunning start to this extremely unique tale, which he has failed to do. Grammatical errors are hugely disappointing because they try and lower down the pace of a reader and, at times, spoil the mood as well. Apart from that compounding or making the sentences complex would have beautified them. Had the dialogues been stronger, the story would have got enhanced. I hope the author contemplates on this during his future works. 

However, the best part of the novel, as I have aforementioned is its unique plot! Despite these errors, I must mention that readers will still feel like reading the book just to know what happens further in it. The story develops a curiosity among the readers which it does satisfy, as it concludes.

Those who wish to try out something new can go for this novel, while I am leaving it for the others to decide whether they want to go for it or not.  

Concluding the review, I would rate the book with 3.5/5. A .5 for the appreciable choice of words! Congrats to the author for his debut novel and hope he writes many more stories in the future! 

NOTE: A review copy of the book was provided by the author. 

• You can purchase the book online via: Infibeam, RediffBooks, Flipkart, Landmark, Crossword.