My Rating - 1 out of 5 stars
Publisher - BlurbGenre - Science Fiction
Publishing year - 2021
Language - English
ISBN - 978-0-64-503682-4
Pages - 470
Book Review -
It took me four months to finish Return of the Yggdrasil by M.K. Nadall, and many times this book puts me into the reading slump. Fortunately, I finished this today and can't wait to share my thoughts with you all.
When I picked this book, I thought it was a blend of fantasy and sci-fi with mythological touch, but this one turned out to be a satire on our lifestyle, including aliens called Yggdrasil. The extra-terrestrials beings hijacked a reality television show, thinking that the so-called celebrities could change the world's view of plants because the aliens are plant creatures and wanted the world to stop eating them or doing the things influencing their longevity.
Now, the world is in chaos; the celebrities think of it as a marketing gimmick, including the audience, but when the alien killed two stars, the shit got real. Soon, they allied, and the campaign started for what to eat, what not to eat, what to wear, things to avoid, how to grow your food, how it affects nature, and here the author took inspiration from Jainism.
I'm a Jain, and my religion is Jainism; I must say that the author took me by surprise because it is hard for Indian people to understand Jainism while being an Australian; he actually wrote a lot about it. But whenever we tried to introduce something new to ignorant people, they just didn't get it, and the same thing happened with the characters.
Although, the book did confuse me with so many characters and information that it was hard to keep up. I didn't enjoy the narrative and storyline because it was filled with unnecessary erudition. At times, I like the humor, but at the same time, my mind goes like, what is going on?
On the one hand, the earthly being tried to make friends with Yggdrasil and show them that they could change, while on another, they were making a weapon to kill them. It is ironic. The characters are self-centered, egoist, and shallow; none of them stand out for me. I appreciate M.K. Nadall's efforts, but this book didn't work for me.
I hope he avoids using unnecessary jargon in the future and makes the characters more intriguing with an impeccable storyline. This book didn't work for me, but you can try this one if you want to read speculative fiction where the relationship between plants and humans is portrayed, with veganism as the central theme.
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