Smorgasbord Fantasia

Disability in Fantasy is not a very popular topic - Not many authors, least of all debut ones, would choose to portray their main protagonist as one with any form of disability. Mishell Baker is a crow left of the murder, as she goes on to break several stereotypes with her smart and sensitive portrayal of her leading protagonist in her debut, Borderline from Saga Press , the opening book in the Arcadia Project series. As someone who suffers from borderline psychotic disorder and has lost both her legs in a failed suicide attempt, I thought Millie Roper , the leading character in Mishell’s book was going down the path of darkness and maybe, this one was going to be a grim, dark read. Yeah, well, this whip-smart urban fantasy proved me wrong. Borderline is slickly plotted and filled with such wondrous characters that I found myself drawn right into this grim but gloriously realized magic-filled world straddling the 'border' between humanity and the faeries. ( In fact after I ...

Just finished the final episode of Daredevil Season 2 from Netflix . And I am in bit of a dilemma, as to whether I liked it better than the first season or not. After much deliberation with the magic of that brilliant finale fading from my memory, I decide, not. So, the Man who knows no fear, the masked vigilante who's  so in love with his city, Hell's Kitchen of New York is back cleaning up the streets at night, after having put his biggest nemesis, Wilson Fiske behind the bars in that stunning first season - that impressed the shit out of me, as a viewer. In fact, I remember I had binge-watched the same , back to back, night after night and couldn't wait for Season-2. Now, that I am finally done with it, though, I cannot say I feel the same level of breathless, frenetic enthusiasm for the franchise. This is not to say, that the Season 2 wasn't great. It was more of a see-saw for me - and the giant void left by the exit of Daredevil's biggest villain, Wils...

So I know, last month the Red Queen's War  officially came to end - with the third book in the series, The   Wheel of Oshiem having got released. And this was the one series where people were raving that put Mark Lawrence on a pedestal, higher than what he achieved with his first series, the Broken Empire. And you know, how much of a scream that kid, Jorg Ancrath was. I had grown to like him. Here's where I will let you in on a secret - I love Mark Lawrence simply because he is one of the few authors who inspires me to write better. His writing chops are top notch. Be it the razor-sharp story-telling or the brilliant characterization or the lucid narrative that is so riveting and compelling that you cannot help but be amazed and carried away in the flow - and you overlook the fact that perhaps, the story is a bit too dark and grim. With his second series, Mark's definitely taken care of that aspect, the complaints around grim-dark. Prince Jalan Kendeth , the ...

July marking the beginning of the second half of the year, is another manic month of releases - and in a way I realize, this year is going to be one of my worst years in terms of reading/reviewing. I am already at least 10 books behind schedule with respect to my goal. And to add to that, I have decided to focus and finish off this one trilogy by one of my all time favorite authors, Mark Lawrence ( The Red Queen's War ) - am so mired into that universe of the Red March and the Broken Empire, that I am forcing myself to slow down - to relish not just his beautiful writing but the amazing depths of the world that Mark has built - a sort-of post-apocalyptic world, where the Builders' artifacts turn up surprises and shocks quite a few times, lending a new twist to the storyline. But enough of Prince Jalan Kendeth and his world - Back to some of the books in July that I am looking forward to ( and I am consciously keeping this list a bit short, so to focus on my backlogs as well i...

Well, the full trailer is finally out! What do you think? [ Personally, am disappointed with the casting, a little.]  While I went absolutely nuts about the book ( I had just discovered the wonderful genius of MR Carey and was trying to find out all books written by him! ) I am bit wary about the movie. It shouldn't end up being just another zombie movie - because, hey it is NOT about the zombies. And I hope it does justice to the mind-blowing and mind-fuck-of-an-ending in a book.