Smorgasbord Fantasia

Continuing on with our regular feature on books that are highly anticipated this year, this week I would like to throw the light on the upcoming Time of Dread , by John Gwynne set in the same universe as his first series - Faithful and the Fallen. I unfortunately haven't read his first series but wish to make full amends with this one: Of Blood and Bone . Go on, spin me a yarn full of demons, angels and blood-bath! Set in the same world as the Faithful and the Fallen quartet, the first novel in John Gwynne's Of Blood and Bone series, A Time of Dread, takes place one hundred years after the end of Wrath. The Ben-Elim, a race of warrior angels, once vanquished a mighty demon horde. Now they rule the Banished lands. But their dominion is brutally enforced and their ancient enemy may not be as crushed as they thought. In the snowbound north, Drem, a trapper, finds mutilated corpses in the forests - a sign of demonic black magic. In the south, Riv, a young, tempestuous sol...

Nivin Pauly is definitely the star of today in the Kerala film industry–having cemented his place in the hearts of malayalis world over with that love-story of his that came a year back, a movie called Premam that went on to break all sorts of records. He went on to do different interesting movies post that, many of them out and out blockbuster superhits. His choice of roles have been fascinating, to say the least. And now he turns his hands to production: the man’s legacy is growing and he is determined to leave his mark on our moviedom. Njandukalude Naatil Oridavela , that literally translates to Interval in the land of crabs, is a quirky and ingenious title, in my opinion. There’s a beautiful sound to it – and Hell, it’s such an evocative term. The land of crabs? I have to watch this one, I thought. For me the trigger was just a song – I know I’ve got it wrong before going to watch a movie, purely on basis of the songs. [Jacobinte Swargarajyam had three amazing songs th...

Anna Smith Spark 's debut has been hailed as the new grimdark blockbuster - and for good reasons. The book definitely has its share of darkness, seething madness, the blood, grit and the gore aplenty. But it would be a shame - and an injustice to possibly just highlight this aspect of well narrated, epic story set in a beautifully realized vast world. And hey - it features dragons! Did that pique your curiosity? It should. Because Anna Smith has the gift of language - and of storytelling, albeit wrapped and twisted in layers of grime and shiny darkness that possibly retracts a bit from the overall heft that the story and narrative aims for. Court of Broken Knives - well, what a lyrical name. The quality of writing is far above debuts we have seen in the recent past and yet, the book is not without its flaws. The pacing falters and certain characters are under utilized but this apparently is just the opening salvo in  a series called Empires of Dust, so we will wait. Because...

Dark Tower by Stephen King still remains my all-time favorite fantasy novels that is accessible and still remains intriguing, is a running social diatribe and blends in elements of western, horror and fantasy skilfully. It’s obviously the story-telling capabilities of the master that sells the story to you – of Roland the lone Gunslinger fighting for what is left of everything good in this world – connected to the Mid-World through the Beams of power. It is a spellbinding narrative and it held me rapt for several years in my younger days – my favorite of course is, Book Four: Wizard and Glass , which take us back to Roland’s younger days. The kinship, the reckless love-story, the daring adventures – all of this crafted in King’s supremely non-parallel voice. In fact, this seven book series was one of the chief reasons I started writing, in the first place. And okay now that I’ve established how much I love love love these books, let’s talk about the movie ... that ruined i...