Turbulence

By Samit Basu

HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU ACTUALLY GOT WHAT YOU WANTED? AND WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULD REALLY CHANGE THE WORLD? Aman Sen is smart, young, ambitious and going nowhere. But then he gets off a plane from London to Delhi and discovers that he has turned into a communications demigod. Indeed, everyone on Aman's flight now has extraordinary abilities Aman wants to heal the planet but with each step he takes, he finds helping some means harming others. will it all end, as eighty years of superhero fiction suggest, in a meaningless, explosive slugfest?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Release date: Jul 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781781161210

Samit Basu

Samit Basu is an Indian novelist. His previous novel, The City Inside, was named one of the best sci-fi/fantasy novels of 2022 by The Washington Post and Book Riot and was short-listed for the JCB Prize. He’s published several novels in a range of speculative genres, all critically acclaimed and bestselling in India, beginning with The Simoqin Prophecies (2003). He also works as a director-screenwriter, a comics writer, and a columnist. He lives in Delhi, Kolkata, and on the internet. Website: samitbasu.com Twitter: @samitbasu Instagram: @samitbasu

Reviews for Turbulence

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After an Indian Airlines flight is exposed to something strange, everyone on board starts to develop powers. A really intriguing exploration of what superhero powers would look like from a different national perspective, albeit one heavily influenced by American pop culture via movies. There are some clear bad guys, but Basu presents the good guys as mostly well-motivated but not too clear on what “the right thing” is, which I liked.

[gregandlarry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun read.

[alexdraven · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do, indeed, want a sequel! Superheroes in India (and unexpected London) - fast paced, interesting characters, and some good thoughts about how superpowers would work in the real world. (Plus, the final scene between Aman and Uzma is heartbreakingly romantic in a totally not sappy way, unique to those characters and their experience.)