Title: Tales of Zygorra
Author: Aditya Shukla
Publisher: Leadstart publishing
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: Tales of Zygorra by Aditya Shukla
A group of 10 teenagers from New York City are mysteriously teleported from their summer camp to the alternate dimension of Zygorra. They discover the Zygorrans possess supernatural powers stemming from a previous scientific misadventure on planet Earth.
The teenagers start developing their own powers. But they also learn uncomfortable truths about themselves, which they must come to terms with. Kiba believes he is the best candidate to lead the group, while Firuza craves to be taken seriously. Diana wishes to exert control, while Luis and Hannah struggle to separate the past from the present. Thao and Banko want to make peace, while young Ganiru searches for security. James relives his past trauma, and Rafan believes it is his moment to shine.
Can this eclectic mix of characters and personalities work together to achieve a common goal – finding their way back home?
Book Review: Tales of Zygorra by Aditya Shukla
Once upon a time they were normal kids. The next minute? They were slurped up and magically transported inside a fantasy world of Zygorra. In Tales of Zygorra, Aditya Shukla uses the old technique of taking a person belonging to the ‘regular’ world and throwing them into the midst of a fantastical reality, using the protagonist as our eyes into this new world. Imagine the characters from ‘Lord of the Flies‘ into the setting of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or “The Wizard of Oz”, and you’ll know how interesting ‘Tales of Zygorra’ will be.
During a summer camp in New York City, a group of 10 teenagers are suddenly teleported to another dimension called Zygorra. They discover that the Zygorrans possess supernatural powers. A previous scientific mishap on Earth explains how the Zygorrans acquire their supernatural abilities. After entering the world of Zygorra, they were trying to understand the reality of this new fantasy world. And then author unexpectedly change the course of the entire story when these teenagers developed their own super powers. However, they also learn things about themselves, and they must deal with it.
These teens support each other to survive at the fantastical world of Zygorra, dealing with too many things in their young age, personal issues, past traumas, secrets, boiling anger against the unfairness and injustice. Things turned bad when there’s a power struggle between the group, worsened by their personal dilemma and past trauma.
Tales of Zygorra gives you a possible world scenario, a bunch of very human characters and then it shows you want might happen when they are thrown into a terrible situation. What Aditya Shukla shows us is that we are not so far from our primal nature, from our so called killer instincts, and all it takes is a little push out of the standard world we live in for us to embrace our darker side.
After all, haven’t we all at some point asked a question about what is the meaning of all that we are doing? Haven’t we always wondered whether is there any place where we may be better suited? Haven’t we wanted to escape somewhere, to some different place? Isn’t that some of the reasons we want to immerse ourselves into worlds of fantasy at least for a short while? Usually, however, the point is to return home, enriched by out-worldly experiences, and, of course, gain some appreciation for the life we used to take for granted before. Because, of course, no matter how much we want to, we will never escape the real life.
Aditya Shukla really understands fantasy. He understands that fantasy is a reflection of reality, but fantastic. It isn’t an alternate reality, but reality through the lens of imagination, and possibly some mind altering substances. Not only does he capture the essence of fantasy perfectly, but he does so with the trickiness and charming language. He is an expert at world-building that’s clever but not overwhelming. The reader is thrown into his world in the same way the characters are – no info-dump, no exposition. The world-building here is quite entertaining, and a series of plot reveals and developed characters help the book gain a sense of true authenticity.
Tales of Zygorra has just the right amount of wild imagination, a healthy dose of supernatural powers and strangeness, remarkably colorful larger-than-life characters, unforgettable setting that is more of a character than a simple backdrop, and, of course, sufficient amount of lovely humor. The world of Zygorra is volatile and vivid combination and the author perfectly worked with this concoction and created a fast reading, powerful, captivating, interesting story with well-crafted and realistic characterization and thought-provoking story-telling. Zygorra is a place worth visiting. I recommend it to anyone looking for a compelling and entertaining fantasy adventure novel.
