Smorgasbord Fantasia

Mark Lawrence took the Fantasy world by storm with his shit-kicker of a debut, Prince of Thorns that completely polarized the community into either ardent die-hard fans of this fourteen-year old sociopath or foaming-at-the-mouth haters of this blasphemous portrayal of a child killer. I belong right on the front ranks of the former. Charming Jorg of Ancrath is a character I would follow to the depths of Hell and back. ( because I am sure that sly bastard will definitely come back alive!) it’s been such a delight to be inside that pscyhopath’s complex mind and discover niches and depths that was never before, thought to exist. Borrowing from my previous review, an incredibly compelling narrator who swings between genius and insane, forming the backbone of the entire book. It was a bold gamble and now Mark is ready to step it up a notch.  King of Thorns follows Jorg four years later – a little more mature, questionably so, perhaps a little less “trigger-happy” bu...

This book turned out to be a complete surprise package. I seem to have this weird habit of buying #Horror books from undiscovered alleys of Beach towns. Last time I did this, was in Gokarna – where I wandered into a run-down second hand bookstore and discovered The Passage, Justin Cronin. I did it again on this vacation – in one of Goa’s busiest alley, I found a book store and look what gem I uncovered – The Keeper. A debut novel that came out in 2006 by Sarah Langan!!  The Keeper is a horror novel – often described as the intelligent, literary horror book that brings forth new hope for the genre. Sarah has been hailed by the brightest new light in this dark genre that desperately needs some re-inventing. Set in a rain-lashed suburbia town of New England (Funny how most American horror stories are set in New England? Blame Mr.King huh?) where a single girl haunts everybody’s dreams and nightmares with prophetic visions of blood and destruction, the keeper is an ...

The Dire-Earth cycle series by Jason M Hough is touted to be the best thing to have happened to the almost dying genre of Science Fiction today. I would agree to a certain extent, but with a degree of caution.  Best thing? Questionable. A good thing? Most emphatically yes. It’s pumped the interest back in to Science Fiction stories but it is nowhere enough to trump the amount of foaming-at-the-mouth raving attention that Fantasy has generated ( thanks to HBO Original Series of Game of Thrones??) But we’re digressing here. Let’s get back to the series and the book in general. What is attractive about the book is the SF-nal premise of the whole book with alien contact and it’s very accessible nature. Instead of being hard-ass high-flying sci-fi (which trust me, turns off a lot of people wanting to wade into the SF territory), Jason keeps this book easy enough to be liked. Big guns, alien technology, futuristic earth with a touch of dystopian horror. Check. Jaso...