In The Realm of Demons-Imran Kureshi

Book: In The Realm of Demons

Author: Imran Kureshi

Publisher: Juggernaut India

We all have heard about stories of haunting of places around us right? Many a times we have visited a fort or a derelict place only to hear a terrible story behind the ruins?

In The Realm of Demons by Imran Kureshi is a horror story which begins in the pre-partition India. The story begins in the Royal Palace of Hashtpur. Our protagonist Mehran, or Meeru, lives in the palace with his widowed mother. Apart from Meeru and his mother, the other occupants of the palace are his uncle, the Nawab, his second wife, and Meeru’s cousin Koyel. The family has a curse on them which has becomes active on the night when the moon becomes red. On such a fateful day, the heir of Hashtpur gets beheaded. With ample historical events, the family believes the curse to be true and when the moon turns red this time, fear starts coursing through the family. Tragedy occurs when on one such red moon night, Koyel gets taken by the curse.

What happens next takes us through a ride through the world of demons, monsters and nagins. Mehran is determined to find Koyel and he takes up the adventure that takes him from Pakistan to Tibet and then back to Hashtpur where we see our protagonist face his fears.

I generally do not opt for horror as a genre, but this book did compel me to take this ride. Designed beautifully, the cover is an instant attraction for everyone who loves a wonderful book.

Talking about the characters, most of the book deals with Mehran who is our protagonist. Multiple incidents paint a picture of Meeru as a character. Faced with supernatural entities on the way of finding his soulmate, he takes each step with bravado and is quick in making decisions. He is a family man and decides to move his family out of harm’s way before he begins his quest. In Tibet, he is faced with unimaginable horrors but again perseveres in the face of hardship. Imran has patiently introduced all the antagonists that we encounter throughout the story. The halfling that follows Mehran is described vividly and his powers even more so. His cohorts are also described in detail and we can imagine the scenes as they play out. Other demons that we encounter include the Air-demon who is a major plot twist in the story, a friendly demon and some weird demons. All in all, it is a hero-wins-all story with the protagonist jumping hoops to finally cross the finish line.

The plot of the book is good with some wonderful plot points and unexpected turns. The book turns a bit boring for a bit in the middle but the last couple of chapters make up for it. The Climax is beautifully done, though expected, the execution is interesting. A bit more of context to the curse could have been a value addition to the plot but that is just an additional thing that could have come up.

For me, the book scores a 3.8/5.