The Servant Boy

Book name: The Servant Boy

Author: Reesha Goral

Genre: Young Adult- Science Fiction

Standalone/Series: Standalone

Publishing Date:  December 1st 2016

My Rating:★★★★

Goodready Summary

The Servant Boy highlights the adventures of Zayne Shah, a young man who lives through the most horrific disaster his village, Saidpur, has ever seen. An epidemic has unknowingly raged through Saidpur and is taking the lives of umpteen folk before his eyes. Zayne is determined to find a cure to the mystery, at whatever the cost may be, even if that cost is a price he cannot presently afford.
Zayne goes through a series of ups and downs as he takes you with him, embracing life through vivid details, all of which include paradoxes that anyone from any walk of life can relate to: life and death, happiness and grief, love and envy, friendship and animosity.
Although The Servant Boy is a multicultural novel, and will appeal to those that will enjoy learning about the colorful and vibrant culture of Pakistan, it will also enchant those who enjoy mystery, fantasy, adventure, friendship, and romance. There is something in the novel for everyone.

Goodreads

My Review

The story is set in a small village of Pakistan-Saidpur and all the cultural activities are so thoroughly highlighted that made me enjoy this book so much. I could relate to many things since India and Pakistan share pretty much the same traditions and spoken language.

The village was brought to life fantastically by the author and the insights to the festivals, weddings and the life style of people in Pakistan was phenomenal! It was a really good experience to see this world from their point of view.

The Characters in this book were very well portrayed and I loved their descriptions

The protagonist-Zayne Shah is a hardworking person who is a truth seeker as well. He is not perfect and has flaws like everyone else and has feelings too. He is not so afraid to express himself in front of his mother and that is something I really liked about him- ignoring the gender stereotypes.

This same quality makes Gapoori, another very important character, my favorite. She is lively, humorous, kind of bossy and I just love her!

I have mixed feelings for Asiya. I like her but not that much. She seems to me to be a feminist and some of her thoughts and actions just made me love her. I don’t know why I don’t like her as a character that much; there just wasn’t a connection with her.

On the contrary, I love Assad! He is awesome and he is humorous. He is very loyal too and he makes you love him.

So, the main character-Zayne is a mullazzim (servant) and this is basically his story from rags to riches (as is already stated in the synopsis). The life changing story of Zayne is practical and logical and can happen to anyone with hard work and luck! in his story, luck plays a great role! 

Beside from that there is really good element of mystery in this book that kept me hooked throughout, though I wish the ending was a bit better and had not come so instantly.

The book is really fast paced and it is a quick read as well. I never felt bored while reading it and it was a good page turner. It has a lot of potential and some of the messages are wonderful.

If you want to read something light or are looking for some diverse books then I will strongly recommend this book to you. It gives all the feels to a person- love, loss, friendship and most importantly a true experience of life.