The software professional turned author Amol Batra’s “Time Guard: The Awakening” is a remarkable and beautifully written story set in different time zones and it has salient features of its own. Unlike the mainstream fiction writing, the novel seems an amalgam of science-fiction and fantasy.  It has elements of mystey, suspense, thrill and imagination. He manages to club different styles of writing together and create an altogether different kind of writing of his own. The fact that it is based on time travel and teleporting makes it a science-fiction text and the mode the author has expressed to make time travel possible is what comprises the fantasy element.

At the same time the author has cleverly explored other themes and subjects side by side. These subjects include human relationships, workplace issues, stress, worries, anxieties, importance and love for and towards family.

The way the author has begun the novel is intriguing and holds the attention of the reader by introducing the element of mystery. Very artistically, he unravels the mystery at the right time and hence not testing the reader’s patience too much. This indicates that Batra is knowledgeable about the reader’s psychology and patience.

Since the author has experience of corporate life, it is vividly reflected in the initial stages of the book which gives a glimpse of corporate life to an outsider from the perspective of a female. Also, he has successfully portrayed and described life in the capital city. What is remarkable is that he has gone beyond the dimension of his experience and explored and narrated aspects of time travel which only a person with a fertile imagination can do. Also, the author has skillfully used images here and there throughout the book to demonstrate what he had been saying all along and attempts to ignite the reader’s imagination. So, even the readers who have a bit difficulty in understanding the author’s idea, the images serve the purpose. It can also be said that the usage of images concretizes whatever the reader had imagined on the basis of the author’s words. The character depiction and development by the author is also a salient feature of the book. He has individually built up life-like characters who appear to have targets, issues and problems of their own in their respective lives. He has taken up building characters from both the genders and none of them appear flat infront of the other. They are strong, emotional and dynamic which makes them look like all the more living and breathing.

From the cover of the book, the reader begins making wild guesses of the subject and plotline of the book. The reader does manage to reach the point but still not exactly clear what the book is going to be about. It seems like a man who is looking at the city from a height which makes him seem like a superhero. He holds his fist in the air which implies that he is on a mission or has a specific purpose in mind or has to do something and is keeping himself focused on that.

The blurb of the book gives quite an idea of the plotline and the manner in which the events are to unfold but still the author manages to keep the mysterious element and keep the main plot under wraps for some time. 

With all this, he also explores subjects like international politics, terrorism, smuggling of drugs and the people who do that. A noticeable feature of the book is the timeline the author has created to write the book. The reader keeps going back to the dates the author has mentioned to connect the events as he narrates which makes it become a page-Turner for everyone. This is a commendable talent of the author. By the usage of this timeline technique, the author simultaneously explores different plots which go parallel and progress. 

For science fiction lovers, the book serves as a treat. For the ones who are fascinated by the idea of time travel, the book is worth a read. For the ones who simply want to read a new story with different ideas, the book will fulfill the purpose. So for almost all age groups and for all categories of readers, reading the book can be a good experience.

In his first book, the author has emerged as a master of plotline as he manages to balance a diverse category of points and features and all keeps the plotline as tight as needed. The book could have been written at the proportions of an epic but the fact that it is short becomes the biggest asset of the book. This can give a hint to anyone of the potential the author has and also and idea of the promising writer he can turn out to be in the future. 

Ratings: 3.5/5

Author Name:  Anmol Batra
Book Title: “Time Guard: The Awakening”
Publisher: Independently Published; 1 edition (19 June 2018)          Buy Book: Amazon                                                                Reviewed by Neel Preet at theliteraturetoday