Smorgasbord Fantasia

So Tom Holland is back - that delightful little package of non-stop chatter, action and goofy jokes now heads to Europe(?). A wonderful teaser and we can't wait for him to come back ( from the dead!)

So James A Moore continues to smash all the rule-books of "how to write epic fantasy" with this lush, absolutely mad, terrifying conclusion to the series, Tides of War - with this third book, Gates of the Dead.



If you been following me or the series, then you should know James' new series has been a raging favorite with me over the past two years, 2017 & 2018 - with first two books in the series being absolutely bonkers and so much fun to read. James gleefully takes an axe to the norms of writing by skewering conventional tropes - I mean, where else would you find the protagonist surging in and killing the followers of a set of blood-thirsty capricious gods' - for having kidnapped & sacrificed his family, right in the beginning of the first book of the series! This in itself, would be fodder enough for a good three book series. But no, James blows your conventional expectations away to kingdom come - and churns out this mad tale of vengeance that spans acros…

Ok, so we admit it. We went to watch Aquaman purely because of Jason Drogho Momoa. (And well,  the redhead, you gotta love'em, eh)



But how much of beefy brawn surf humour and undulating wavy underwater hair-wigs can you tolerate, when you really just walked in hoping for a super hero origin story right? Well, seems like you can take almost three stinking hours of it.

So Aquaman, the latest salvo from the sinking DC ship just about has enough ballast to keep the ship afloat a bit more, I guess. It's filled with mind blowing action set pieces, crazy CGI and ...yawn...ennui-inducing plot lines. Don't get me wrong, It's not a bad movie but I clearly was hard-pressed to find that soul buried deep under all that recklessly inventive CGI effects ( Octopoid drummers, Shark rides, Killer Sea Horses the list is endless!) and the boring politicking of the Atlantean princes that just didn't end. Towards the sozzled climax full of colourful water-gun plasma explosions and teet…

So 2018 was a satisfying year for me - in terms of reading goals, I crept back to a yearly target of 40 + that I had missed last couple of years in a row. So this year, maybe I will up my target to 50 books.

And looking at the amazing spread ahead of me, I cannot resist myself! It's going to be another wonderful year with some fantastic titles coming out, some series-ending, some middle books, a few new series starters by ever-favorite authors and quite a few stand-alone books that promises the sun, moon and stars. Here's a few that I picked out, which I personally am quite kicked about.

Gates of the Dead by James A Moore.

This swirling chaotic and yet spellbinding tale of Man vs God ( vs Demons vs Zombies and lots more!) that is Tides of War, is heading off the cliff in this third installment and I am getting ring-side tickets to watch this madness. Brogan McTyre is a man on a mission, to slay the Gods. He doesn't really have a choice because the fickle capricious angry G…

It's that time of the year! Yup. When we look back and choose from among the pile of books that you have ploughed through to pick up the very best.

Again - this year, I think two stellar debuts feature on my list. And a debutant author from 2017, whose books I read back to back, features here with her second in the series. Some usual suspects. And hey possibly the first year when I read a Brandon Sanderson which didn't turn up on the list. [ Skyward was all sorts of fun, a definite 5-star book but there were other heavy-hitters who deserved more!]

Without much ado, then. In no particular order!

The Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence

Nona continues to enthral us in this explosive trilogy (Book of the Ancestor) - spinning the larger conspiracy wheels even faster. A masterful exploration of detailed magical systems, strained friendships and shifting loyalties, Mark Lawrence's genius is at full display in this intellectually thematic YA story - full of top notch action, breathtaking…

Trail of lightning will possibly be among my top five books of the year. Period.

Navajo legends, mythical monsters, Gods and wicked men - all of this comes to life in Rebecca Roanhorse's urban fantasy debut that will rock the socks off you, by the time you are even half-way through. For me, the experience was a double joy as this was my first audible title and the breathtaking Sixth World, ravaged by the apocalyptic floods known as the Big Water in the near future, is so wonderfully depicted by Rebecca's sprightly writing and brought to life by narrator, Tanis Paranteau's amazing rendition. Set in a completely immersive native world that begs for more exploration, headlined by a native young woman as the kickass protagonist and written by Rebecca, who herself is from the Navajo area in the US. Refreshingly original, did you say? Oh yes.



Dinetah is a Navajo region surrounded by vast magical walls cut off from the rest of the world (that has seen massive economic, environment…