Two YA fiction books explore world of fantasies, mysteries

New Delhi, November 28

Two books written for the young adult readers explore the world of fantasies, adventure and mysteries.

Apeksha Rao has authored young adult spy fiction "Along Came A Spyder" and Rajesh Talwar has come out with "Fabulous Four Battle Zoozoo the Wizard".

Rao's book takes readers to the world of 17-year-old Samira Joshi, whose family of RAW agents wants her to be a doctor but her detective instincts want her to be part of a secret sisterhood of teen spies - The Spyders.

According to Rao, it was but natural for her to write spy fiction as she used to dream of being an undercover covert operative when she was a teenager.

In Talwar's book, an evil wizard kidnaps Princess Samara's parents - the king and queen of Nonamia. The princess journeys to the far corners of the world to meet and befriend three young people who help her to plan and carry out a rescue of her parents.

"As a child I grew up listening to many fantasy tales told me by my aunts and elder sisters. I wanted to reproduce a sense of what those stories were about but in a modern and more relatable avatar," says Talwar.

"Any fantasy is never pure fantasy. My book too has echoes of the world we know," he adds.

Rao feels that the Indian young adult scene is quite rich, with a wide variety of books being written for Indian teens.

"But I would love to read many more adventures and thrillers set in India. We grew up on a steady diet of 'Nancy Drew' and 'The Hardy Boys', and similar books in an Indian setting would be wonderful," she says.

Talwar is of the opinion that there aren't sufficient home grown content that is modern at the same time.

"So, on the one hand, we need more creative Indian writers who can work on stories that are rooted in Indian culture but are at the same time modern. Such stories will appeal not only to Indian but to global audiences. We also need courageous publishers willing to experiment and take risks and it is only then that the young adult writing scene in India can really take off," he suggests. PTI 

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