Smorgasbord Fantasia

Kaurava is the middle book of the Aryavarta Chronicles trilogy by Krishna Udayasankar . Her debut, Govinda exploded onto the Indian fiction scene sometime last year ending up as a national bestseller – I was extremely impressed by the depth and quality of this debut – having called it a gem from our rich mytho-history polished and lit up in perhaps different colors from what we are used to, but dazzling and radiant as always.  Krishna had opened the floodgates with Govinda. And now Mahabharata, the sweeping ambitious epic of all times, has become a central focus of a lot many authors. There are a lot many books out there that deal with different subjects of Mahabharata and this gargantuan epic still has room for more. But the Aryavarta Chronicles truly dazzles. It is not so much as a retelling but a soaring triumph of unfettered imagination built on pain-staking research and penned in a confident poetic prose that delights and transports you to far-away conflicted land...

Mark Lawrence ( Broken Empire , remember that vicious sociopath the charmer, Prince Jorg, who is slowly growing up fulfill his destiny built on broken bones? interviews Bradley P Beaulieu (The acclaimed author of the russo-inspired fantasy series, Lays of Anuskaya full of political intrigue and one of the finest wrought magic systems I've read!) What is the big deal ? It pays to listen to these two gentlemen who have cut thier teeth on writing and almost perfected that art of expanding the genre fiction; not to mention, in that process, having given us two of the most fantastic trilogies ever written in today's fantasy fiction. They exchange thoughts on writing, the publishing industry, book trailers and lots more exciting stuff that any true blue speculative fiction junkie should care two hoots about. I have read the first two books of the Broken Empire and consider it to be a modern day classic. Its dark, twisted and disturbingly fearsome in some sense but its finely...

Fade to Black , is a 2013 Orbit debut by Francis Knight , first in a trilogy that features Rojan Dizon , a "Pain-Mage". Interestingly, Orbit has a back-to-back publishing schedule with this trilogy with the second in the series, Before the Fall is already out in the market while the third is poised to hit the stands in Jan 2014. Urban fantasy has never been my cup of cake. Sexy smart eighteen-year old college kids who never fit in to normal societies and then one day discover that they are in fact the last of a race and are invested with powers unimaginable and turn into hot hunky(male) or smoking hot (female) vampires toting shiny black guns caught in a war between angels and werewolves and in the process also discover that their secret crush is a member of the opposite gang ( take your pick: Faerie, Angel, Werewolf, Vampire). Does he or she save the world and also get to happily-ever-after with their heart-sworns?  < aaaaaarrrrghhhh > Happy to let you know t...

Countdown to the Avengers-II: Age of Ultron has begun. While Iron-Man leads the race as usual, this time, Marvel has rehashed the God of Thunder, Thor in a slightly more darker, grittier outing than the last avatar. Does it score? Well yes and no. Thor being the invincible God that he is has a much steeper climb as compared to say, Tony Stark, whose box-office outing clicked this time sorely because of his human, vulnerable flawed side that came to the fore. We cannot say that much for the Hammer-wielding angry crown-prince who’s got daddy-issues, doesn’t trust his brother and pretty much has a geek goddess with a penchant for always falling into trouble, to deal with. Not to mention the Dark Lord of Elves who is obsessed with – no points in guessing – destroying the universe .  Thor: The Dark World has Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman reprise their original roles of the star-crossed lovers – Thor, the crown prince of Asgard and protector of the Nine re...