Smorgasbord Fantasia

Retellings of classics have the potential to be spectacular or disastrous. Alice in Wonderland has been tried before - though I confess I haven't read the written form of such retelling but having watched a few adaptations on TV I came away sorely disappointed. Like the big screen never could justify that mad gleam in the Hatter's eyes - as matched perhaps by the twisty imagination of one such as Lewis Caroll. And with this book, Alice - Christina Henry takes a swan dive into that deep dark rabbit-hole and definitely emerges a winner! A book that is dark as sin and racy as hell on jet-fire, Alice is a masterful and disturbing retelling of the classic laced over with many layers of darkness and intrigue. Magic is unexplained as in a fairy tale - but one for kids, this is not. It's a fairy tale gone horribly wrong - more a fantastical thriller set in a madman's darkest nightmarish setting called the Old City, a far cry from the Wonderland. The story starts in a ...

Dawnbreaker , the third book in the Legends of the Duskwalker series by Jay Posey  from Angry Robot was a much awaited book, personally at least. Marking an end to this intense and satisfying series where the world is quivering in the shadow of an unknown apocalypse, reduced to broken buildings and grey concrete ash and pockets of humanity huddled in fear of the dark. I was blown away by the imaginative and new world that Jay (Posey) had built up in Three – a desolate landscape scarred by some unseen apocalypse where people live on the edge of danger on a daily basis, huddled within modest cityscapes surrounded by concrete desert-lands and hunted at night by cyborg-zombies. Jay draws up an exceptionally well thought out digital communication systems in place and then goes on populate this barren world with some hard-hitting realistic protagonists, flawed and vulnerable to a fault and living truly on the edge. The underlying human emotions that drive the characters to...

September looks to be dishy month in terms of some great books coming out in SFF Genre. I've listed a few on my most-wanted list, top of the TBR pile. Twelve Kings of Sharakhai by Bradley P Beaulieu   Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings—cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite company of Blade Maidens, and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule. Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings’ laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings’ mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iro...

Had recently run a giveaway contest courtesy the wonderful people at Angry Robot for the entire bundle of 3 books in the Legends of the Duskwalker series!! And the two lucky winners are: 1. Adam Selby-Martin from United Kingdom 2. Sanju Puthiyandil from India Congratulations to the winners! Your books will soon be on its way - and Many thanks for all the participants!!

I normally wouldn't have picked up a book like Phoenix Island . Or the sequel, Devil's Pocket . These are usually the kind of books that skip my radar. Which is why the reader-feed from Netgalley is definitely a blessing. Devil's Pocket was released on Aug 4th and we're dragged headlong back into the brutal raw world of  Carl Freeman where violence is a way of life - first introduced with the phenomenally well written Phoenix Island. So I first got hold of Devil's Pocket and then the good folks at Simon and Schuster (Gallery Books imprint) were giving away Phoenix Island for a lark ($1.99 e-book sale) and I jumped for it. While the first book is the inspiration behind the CBS Show, Intelligence ( I admit I haven't seen that one), the sequel is prime material for a summer blockbuster. A darkly intelligent and ruthlessly violent version of Fight Club perhaps? Pitched as an action blast with YA crossover appeal featuring a 16-year old protagonist, Phoenix ...

Angry Robot recently came out with the Dawnbreaker , the last book in the Legends of the Duskwalker series by Jay Posey. I LOVED Three - and while Morningside Fall was a bit of a let-down, I am so looking forward to finish this exciting series - with the Dawnbreaker. The review is up next - but in the meanwhile, we got chatting with Jay about the inspiration behind the series, his favorite characters and the books that influenced him. Hi Jay! Welcome to Smorgasbord Fantasia. Thank you for taking time out to connect with me and my readers. [Jay P.] Hi, and thanks so much for having me! Jumping straight into the Q&A: 1.Legends of the Duskwalker finally comes to an end, huh? Congratulations! How do you feel now that this series is completed? a.[ JP ] Thanks very much! I feel very tired.Actually ... well, no, that’s very much true, but I also have a strange mix of emotion having finished the Duskwalker trilogy. It’s the culmination of about five years worth of work, so it...

Jay Posey 's concluding book in the acclaimed trilogy   Legends of the Duskwalker ,   Dawnbreaker   was released on Aug 4th by Angry Robot. Now Jay Posey's debut,   Three   was a crack read and a massive hit among the readers when it launched in 2013 - this was followed by   Morningside Fall , a slightly lesser intense follow-up to the tall act of the first book. Nevertheless, the whole series has this most amazing world-building going on for it - Add to it some really slick writing featuring enigmatic heroes, colossal conflicts and stunning action set-pieces, it is definitely a must-read!  And the really cool folks at Angry Robot are doing a massive giveaway to celebrate the much-awaited conclusion to Jay's series:  Two bundles of the entire series ( Three, Morningside Fall, Dawnbreaker - Legends of the Duskwalker series) open to all International Participants! If that ain't the coolest thing ever. Here be the rules: 1. ...

The Shattered Seas trilogy that began with the ill-fated journey for Yarvi in Half a King - who then in  Half the World  travels to the ends of the world until the First of the Cities, with the youngsters Thorn and Brand , now comes around a full circle with Half a War - the shadows of Mother War has finally spread across the sea and land - And a war that is fought with not just the swords but with wit and wisdom and large dollops of backstabbing treachery. The trilogy ends with a flourish - neatly tying the strings of the story - with enough and more nooks and crannies in this beautifully developed world to be explored perhaps in the future. The end was gratifying enough for me, having stuck through the grand designs of Father Yarvi right from book-one when he swore a sun-oath and a moon-oath to be avenged on the killers of his father - till this grand war. And yet, somewhere something about the ending doesn't feel fully right - the final outing is a little less powerful t...

Hostile Takeover - Shane Kuhn 's boisterous follow-up to the wildly popular The Intern's Handbook - apes the first book, a first class replica in every sense. Replete with Hollywood action movie cliches and snarky tongue-in-cheek references, our favorite intern John Lago is back to doing what he's best at. Shooting his way through any situation - this time though, he's blazing his way out from a matrimony. And he just might have met his match in his wife, Alice . Back from the dead after that hyper-violent climactic fallout at the climax of the last book ( and their last encounter!), she's a female Lago in every sense - out-thinking and outfoxing our hero in every Machiavellian schemes he draws up. So is Hostile Takeover any good? The concepts are the same old - ripening like pungent French cheese and smelling just as bad. Play the intern to get up close and personal to the top dog and then smoke him/her.  "Our specialty was our cover: the inte...