Smorgasbord Fantasia

Anthony Durham David is no stranger to history – Having gained fame through his historical fiction, “Pride of Carthage”. And this time around, he brings in his entire skills at historical fiction and momentous research skills into this new epic fantasy series – Acacia – beginning with the War with Mein – an wickedly fascinating fantasy tale with set in a wonderful secondary world, the scale of which I have never seen in a long time. Never have I loved a world so rich, so visceral, with back stories, histories and steeped in detailed folklores that vary from place to place within the Known World. The last I fell in love with the entire setting of a fantasy novel – was perhaps, Westeros or harking even further back, maybe the Middle Earth. The Known Worlds of Acacia comes very close. In its scope, richness and depth.  Not to say, it’s just the world-building that is master class in this book. Durham’s got it right when it comes to the complex characters, thunderous battl...

As the credits rolled past with the haunting “Batman” soundtrack developed by the inimitable genius, Hans Zimmer, playing in the backdrop – I couldn’t help feel sad. Sad that this colossal movie franchise has finally come to an end. And what a conclusion to one of my all time favorite movie trilogies! Everything that I looked for in a series conclusion.   Darker, more fantastic with the action amped up to beyond the “maximum” level, with a hero that your heart bleeds and cheers for. A massive, grim and brutal conclusion, but a satisfying one nevertheless.   What began with an eponymous low-key start in the “Batman Begins” took on spectacular mind-boggling proportions with the second installment, “the Dark Knight” that just blew the minds off people, taking the bar to an entirely new level. Nolan’s been known for his intelligent movies, movies that tickles your grey cells and of late, made on fantastic budget – huge beasts meant to boggle your minds and transport...

Australia has had numerous imports into the world of fantasy - Karen Miller, Glenda Larke ( Stormlord Series ) Rowena Cary Daniels comes from the same lineage of such illustrious authors. And this marks the debut of an ambitious series. I know I'm late to the party as this book came out a few years ago, Rowena has gone on to write some fairly explosive stuff as follow up on this one, making her a major figure in the fantays literay landscape but this definitely ain't gonna be on my A-lister. It's a solid effort no doubt and I enjoyed it to a fairly large extent. But I do have some reservations. Maybe blame the forces of Joe Abercrombie or some of the publishing houses like Night Shade Books that pack a punch with some noteworthy debuts that literally force you to drop very thing else and get sucked into them. So when recommendations on Goodreads mentioned this as a "Good Book" naturally my expectations were pretty sky high. Coming down to the book itself, ...