The Mountain Shadow

Last year, I came across Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and fell headlong into a world of gangster and slum clinics in Bombay. It's taken me nearly a year to get round to reading the sizable sequel, but The Mountain Shadow turned out to be just as compelling and strangely poetic as the first book.

In this one, Lin is trying to navigate changing leadership in the criminal gang he is a part of, while also attempting to figure out whether or not he has a future with Karla, the love of his life.

I found myself immersed in Lin's Bombay world almost immediately - it's vividly portrayed and populated with a huge cast of very memorable characters. The writing is gritty and lyrical by turns - and the subject matter meant the poetry of it took my by surprise every time, even though it occurred multiple times per chapter.

I really disliked one of the new main characters and some of the philosophy sections dragged a bit. It was also quite repetitive in places and certain plot threads got tied up perhaps a bit too neatly just before the end.

But those issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this world through the eyes of this complex and fascinating narrator.