TELECOM FANTASY IN THE AMAZING WORLD OF ELECTON

Book Review: "Rhythm Roger – The Secrets Of Electon" by Himanshu Rai

Sci-fi, Time Travel, Fantasy Fiction! These are words that we mostly associate with foreign authors. However, Indian authors have also been foraying into amazing sci-fi writing recently. The author Himanshu Rai, who has previously delved into the genres of Romance and Fiction, has forayed into the sci-fi genre with the book “Rhythm Roger: The Secrets Of Electon”. The book has been touted as probably the world’s first telecom fantasy novel.

The author is a telecom professional himself, and has blended science fiction with Telecommunications and aspects of technological evolution in the narrative. The story has evolved and has been inspired from bedtime stories that the author narrated to his son Rhythm.

In this book, readers come to know about the world of Electon. The book’s protagonist is Rhythm, a network design engineer. All of a sudden, he meets a stranger named Markboo from another world (Electon). Rhythm then goes on to explore the world of Electon. The storyline then follows Rhythm in his adventures in this science fiction world.

The book describes that Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, who invented the unit of frequency and discovered electromagnetic waves, also created a world of electromagnetic waves, virtually. The Virtual world, which is always around humans but cannot be seen or felt, is the world of unknown powers, and is known as Electon. "World is not only what we see." When Rhythm enters Electon, it's the readers’s turn to take that path and know about the secrets of the Electon World.

The imaginative spin on this virtual world, and the twists and turns in the story make this a riveting read. The author has manoeuvred the storyline and the characters deftly. The characters have been explored in depth, with credible back stories. Rhythm and Markboo are particularly endearing and the readers will root for them. The writing style is lucid. However, there are a few editing and formatting glitches.

Fans have also been comparing the book with the Harry Potter series, which is a largely benevolent proposition. But this is mostly because this book has characters which are reminiscent of the magic-powered characters of the Harry Potter series, and the fictional universe that the author has created in this book also leads readers into spells of nostalgia when they as children gobbled up the Harry Potter books, and still do so. Even this book can be read by both children and adults alike.

This is a book that should be read for its flourishing narrative, a charming protagonist and unique concept. The brilliant insights and the perspicacious concepts of Science, Physics and Electromagnetics have been melded into the fictional premise of the book very well. Moreover, readers who have not studied the subject of Physics in their higher classes can still grasp these concepts, as the author has described them in simple terms.

The fans of the Electon world would certainly want this book to be made into a series, and will be eagerly waiting for a sequel. Until that happens and readers get to know about additional secrets of Electon, pick up this book to read a telecom fantasy plot, and relish the new, breezy and interesting narrative, while letting your imagination run wild. With an amazingly concocted sci-fi universe, and a thrilling narrative, this book is highly recommended.