Seyha MJ MJ itibaren Aithole, Telangana, Hindistan itibaren Aithole, Telangana, Hindistan

The story started off with enthrallment: a young Italian scholar’s ship is captured by Ottomans in the 17th century. He is then taken as a slave by a scholar called Hoja, who demands that he teaches him everything he knows and all that has been taught by “them” (them being the Western scholars). In time, the Sultan begins to take interest in Hoja’s astrological predictions, and appoints him as the Imperial Astrologer. The Sultan asks them to build a giant weapon, which they will later attempt to use in a war to claim The White Castle. However, as the two work together throughout the years, Hoja begins to wonder why a person is who they are, and how he and his slave are who they are. He begins to wonder if they were to exchange knowledge of each others' history and secrets, could they actually exchange identities? Although filled with a mysterious and philosophical air, the book was quite disappointing coming from a Noble Prize winner. After the introduction of the plot, the story kept drifting in and out. There was no proper sense of time. It kept jumping in to the far future without connecting the mid-events. In the last third, it became repetitive and boring. The ending was interesting enough, but it could’ve been written in a more satisfying way. Overall it was an interesting story. I would recommend it if you like psychological mind games.