Pens and Places

I don’t always pick up fantasy. I’m more of a feelings-first reader, the kind who wants something to stay after the last page, not just sparkle while I’m reading it. But this one? It quietly pulled me in, and before I realized it, I was emotionally invested in a bunch of teenagers dealing with magic… and life. All Roads Lead Here by Suchita Agarwal reads like a coming-of-age story wrapped in magic, but at its core, it’s deeply human. It follows Parth, a boy with the power of the earth element but honestly, his real struggle isn’t his magic. It’s everything else. His past. His relationships. That constant feeling of carrying something inside you that no one fully understands. And that’s where this book works. Parth’s world is filled with people who are equally layered,  Faizal, his boyfriend, where love exists but doesn’t feel simple anymore; Manvi, fierce and unapologetic; and Saurabh, quiet but carrying a presence that slowly becomes impossible to ignore. Their dynamics don’t fe...