Demons of Time: Race to the 7th Sunset – Varun Sayal

★★★ ½

Out of breath, gasping for air, they dashed through the forest for their lives.

Tej and his mother barely escaped a couple of time-demons through the help of the sage, Rigu.

His mother was tortured before his very eyes and while Tej was grateful to be rescued, he cannot quench a burning desire to exact revenge.

Two hundred years ago, you wreaked havoc as the bloodthirsty princes Trilesh and Vapt, when you mercilessly incinerated ten thousand large villages and their inhabitants.

Meanwhile, one of the time-demons (Kumbh) escaped his time-prison and moves into the future. He has plans (evil plans) that involve wiping out most of humanity and make himself invincible in seven days.

Tej learns from Rigu that he is a time-traveler…and that he must go from 3077 BC to 2024 AD to save the future seven days.

Time travel is a power, a blessing, a gift, which you could have used for humanity. Instead, you have abused it to take countless lives…

All in all, I loved the concept, but the writing needed a bit of polishing.

The plot was certainly unique and exciting. The way time travel worked in Sayal’s novels felt fresh and fun.

I did have a bit of trouble getting into the story, mainly because of the pacing and the characters.

Quite a bit happened in just a few pages.

There were several aspects that were extremely interesting (i.e. how a man from 3077 BC adjusts to modern life, how he masters time travel, etc) but were skimmed over.

I think fleshing those areas out rather than providing a quick backstory and then going to the next event would have done the book wonders.

In addition, the characters were all present, unique and memorable…but they didn’t feel particularly real to me.

We are constantly being told what they are thinking and feeling…which made them feel a bit flat.

I had a hard time connecting to Tej because there was nothing to be curious about – everything was spelled out for the reader leaving nothing to mystery.

That being said, this was the author’s first long novel and I think it had a sound base. I’m excited to see where the author’s career goes next!

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interested in this one from Varun Sayal? Pick up your copy from:  Amazon