Book Review: Silver Hair Sins By Saumick Pal (Visual-Fiction)

It has been a very long time since I reviewed a Book, I was longing to do one but every time something else came up and I found myself caught in between. Finally I broke the habit and here I am with a new book review. I have read several books in the meantime but never got time to write a detailed review, things kept going the same until one day, I found an email which was sent to me by the Author Saumick Pal. If you don't know Saumick Pal, he is the author of book Silver Hair Sins, an extraordinary visual-fiction thriller with more than half of the scenes narrated via cinematic photographs. Saumick Pal offered me a copy of his book Silver Hair Sins and asked me to share my honest review, I had heard about the book through some of my friends earlier and the idea of the visual-fiction thriller seemed interesting to me, so I immediately agreed to this opportunity.

Mr. Saumick Pal was kind enough to send me a specially signed copy of his book Silver Hair Sins, and the day I received the book, I began reading it. I took my time in finishing the book and once I was done with it, I started penning this review. Before I share my experience, I would like to inform you that this is a totally unbiased & honest review as per my experience reading the book. I was not paid to write this review, whatever you read is totally my opinion & what I felt after reading it. So let's begin now.

Book Name: Silver Hair Sins

Author: Saumick Pal

Publisher: The Write Place

No. of Pages: 180

Genre: Visual-Fiction, Sci-Fi Thriller

ISBN No: 978-8193854037

My Rating out of 5: ★★★

About the Book

Have you ever wondered what will happen if all the religions of the world were merged as One AI? Well its you lucky day, Silver Hair Sins is the key to your imagination. The book by Saumick Pal is said to be among India's first visual-fiction books - It means that more than half of the book is narrated using cinematic photographs which will help you paint a picture in your head and visualize the thriller as it unfolds. 

The scene is set in the future, between 2088 AD - 2205 AD to be exact, at a time when religio-politico divide reaches its tipping point and technology steps into the picture to save humanity from extinction. All Religions are merged into one by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create ONE GOD AI. In today's world where aspects of religion are being selectively chosen by political and religious leaders, only to create and then exploit our differences, Silver Hair Sins comes out as an excuse to flare an unsensational debate on Fanaticism, Intolerance, Apathy, Patriarchy and Hypocrisy. Silver Hair Sins is a story of a family - Mary, Azad and their daughter Aasma, as they grapple to survive the dystopian world of murder, manipulation, sacrifice and love. 

My Review

The review might contain spoilers so proceed carefully.

To begin with, I had mixed feelings after reading the book but I was sure of one thing that this was a unique experience. Based in the future, the book does provoke thoughts and raise questions on morality, free will, truth, religion & politics, and how these views can be exploited using our beliefs as a weapon by the leaders. The book starts off as a Sci-Fi thriller but as it proceeds towards the end, it turns out to be a commentary on how the the society functions and how leaders take advantage of the people by creating divide & by using our beliefs against us, I loved that aspect about this book. 

Silver Hair Sins gives us a glimpse in a future world were now things are done differently but its still no different than what it was in the past, of course its more controlled now, thanks to the silver biometric chip but the crimes, rapes and other disgusting vices are still committed on the name of sacrifice and the victim is rewarded for her services being a victim. The whole point of a Silver free W 16-23 camp was quite fascinating at first but soon the ugly side of it came out to haunt. But to be honest, reading Silver free W 16-23 camp again and again was quite annoying, I mean the author could've picked up some other name which was easy on the reader. Also the words Silver, One, AI, God, Bald elders, Balds etc. were excessively repeated and were annoying because at some point I was confused whether being Silver is good or bad.

Conclusion

Overall Silver Hair Sins was an interesting read, I loved the unique aspect, there were some things which I did not find that good, the story for example. Also the book left a lot of unanswered questions and seemed quite hurried. The pictures used gave a good idea about the things being talked about but also interrupted the flow of the reader and seemed annoying than helpful. Most of the pictures are just posters, references and abstract building designs, honestly I would've loved to use my imagination to paint the picture rather than it being fed to me forcefully. In the end, I'll say just give it a try, Silver Hair Sins was a bit of  bumpy ride for me but it definitely provoked thoughts about the future. I would recommend the book to my readers, especially for the points it raised & for the unique experience it gave me. 

Purchase Links
Silver Hair Sins by Saumick Pal | Buy from Amazon | Flipkart.