Smorgasbord Fantasia

Bullet Train written by bestselling author Kotaro Isaka released a while back in Japan (around 2010) and then, hit the rest of the world last year, dropping like a reverse-atom-bomb on our TBR list (Pardon the pun!) Because this book is perhaps, the most outrageous fun that I've had, in a long time with smart racy thrillers. Five assassins stuck in a bullet-train in Tokyo, who will reach the end of the line, reads the smart marketing by-line on this. Seductive enough for you, as a premise? I was taken in. And then to my pleasant surprise, the execution of the actual narrative does full justice to this explosive premise.  So the non-stop action is set on this high-speed bullet train, from Tokyo to the city of Morioka and funnily enough, on board among the rest of the passengers are five deadly assassins. Kimura, an alcoholic wants to wreck revenge on the teenage schoolboy who had pushed his own son from the rooftop of a departmental store building, hospitalising the kid now in a com...

 Going to put out some of my most anticipated titles coming up this year, week on week now - with this meme, Waiting on Wednesday .  This looks like another blockbuster year with some fabulous new debuts and sequels/continuation of some of our favourite science fiction/fantasy stories. Going to go with this crackling debut, called Manhunt by Gretchen Felker Martin for this week's feature. It sounds all types of crazy, in a good way. An electrically charged novel set in a far-removed dystopian version.  Beth and Fran spend their days traveling the ravaged New England coast, hunting feral men and harvesting their organs in a gruesome effort to ensure they'll never face the same fate.   Robbie lives by his gun and one hard-learned motto: other people aren't safe.   After a brutal accident entwines the three of them, this found family of survivors must navigate murderous TERFs, a sociopathic billionaire bunker brat, and awkward relationship dynamics―all while outr...

  The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly was one of the big misses for me, of last year. Now with Warrior Witch Duology complete (Part Two - The Seventh Queen released in Nov, I felt it safe enough to plunge into the politically explosive world of Askia, teeming with magic, rife with villains and backstabbers vying for power. The pitch was straightforward - a young queen seeks help from one of her large neighboring empires to help save her kingdom from being invaded and taken over by a witch-king. But the question is, what is the cost of this for the young woman, recently thrust into a dangerous world, discovering her own magic and that power, relationships and love - all come at a cost.  Askia, the young queen of the kingdom of Saravesh, is looking for aid in terms of an army that can help her against the impending invasion by this marauding empire of Rowen, led by witch-king Radawan. She has come to the empire of Vishir, in the South, leaving the frozen Northlands of her own king...

Dead Space by Kali Wallace was one of the few recent science fiction books based on a story set in space, that really appealed to me. A rare combination of murder mystery and science fiction, this one is excellently paced, presents a fascinating premise of the mankind's space-faring ambitions set right at the centre of a multi-layered conspiracy that unravels with a gruesome murder aboard a remote space-station in the asteroid belt between Mars and Earth.  I am watching the new Korean series on Netflix, The Silent Sea at the moment, so can appreciate the nuances and finer details that Kali Wallace effortlessly weaves into her narrative about living in space. The story unfolds in this faraway asteroid called Nimue, a lump the size of a potato in the whole universe, where Parthenope, one of the corporate bigwigs, have set up a mining operation. Our protagonist, Hester Marley is an AI scientist whose whole life got derailed when a terrorist organisation bombed the space-station they ...

 Happy New Year Folks!  So, going to make a list of my most-awaited books of 2022 across Science Fiction, Fantasy and related genres :) My reading goals are going to be constant at 55 again for this year ( been hitting and just about surpassing it consistently for the past 2 years!)  Have kept this focused on the books releasing in the first month of 2022 - So here goes. 1. The Amber Crown by Jacey Bedford The king is dead, his queen is missing. On the amber coast, the usurper king is driving Zavonia to the brink of war. A dangerous magical power is rising up in Biela Miasto, and the only people who can set things right are a failed bodyguard, a Landstrider witch, and the assassin who set off the whole sorry chain of events. Valdas, Captain of the High Guard, has not only failed in his duty to protect the king, but he's been accused of the murder, and he's on the run. He's sworn to seek justice, but his king sets him another task from beyond the grave. Valdas doesn't be...

 The first book that I finished in 2022 is a crime thriller, Razorblade Tears by S A Cosby ( author of Blacktop Wasteland , which incidentally I have bumped back to the top of my TBR) - What I have realized is that the best genre that lends itself well to the audiobook medium is crime/thriller. and SA Cosby has come to own this particular version of this genre fiction, call it literary action thrillers.  So Razorblade Tears, very much like his previous book, is set in the wildlands of Virginia and traces the lives of two hardened ex-criminals, one a booze-addled redneck living in a trailer and the other a black man, trying to eke out a respectable living by through an office selling landscaping services. Buddy Lee Jenkins and Ike Randolph are as different as two men can be, and yet so alike. Brought together by a common tragedy when both their sons, Derek and Isiah get mercilessly shot down outside an uptown restaurant where they were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Bot...

 So this last year, we've had lots of awesomeness come out from the Malayalam movie industry that keeps trying to reinvent and push the envelope of creativity. What has been consistent is the originality of the concepts, most of them being little day to day life issues, rooted and grounded in the milieu of a microculture, set in the backdrop of a small village/ town.  I have my personal favorites from among these, and these are strictly just my views on why I found them to be extraordinarily great, from that list of greatness. A couple of great movies that I haven't watched yet are The Great Indian Kitchen, Vellam and Madhuram. Hopefully I will get around to watch the same early this year.  Minnal Murali   ( Directed Basil Joseph, Starring Tovino Thomas and Guru Somasundaram)  What can I say about this movie, that I haven't before ! You need this movie in your life. like NEED it right NOW. If # are your thing then here are a few that should inspire :  #Ind...