Smorgasbord Fantasia

The Red Threads of Fortune is the companion novel to The   Black Tides of Heaven, that introduces us to the world of Tensorate - and the lives of Mokoya and Akheya, the twins born to the Supreme Protector of this world.  A different story set four years ago after the events of Red Threads, this one has Mokoya as the chief protagonist and is a book that focuses on how she deals with grief. While Black tides happens over a course of several years and is a coming-of-age story mainly focused on Akheya, the twin and his tight bond with his sister - this story is shorter, more direct and is fairly propulsive in its pacing.  The Mokoya's deal with grief is a story that's tightly wound around a Naga hunt. Mokoya, unable to deal with the loss of her daughter, has fled from the protection of the Monastery into the deserts on the fringes of the Protectorate. Here, she has taken up a suicidal mission - to help hunt down dangerous animals, like the Nagas. And the latest one that is ...

Ship Breaker is Paolo Bacigalupi's follow up to the multi-award winning breakout novel, Windup Girl . I know I am a decade and more late to this master's genius works, but better late than never. After having finally finished that stunning, towering mind bending piece of science-fantasy, I know I would have to climb down from the highs of the visionary piece of fiction, that was Windup Girl. But even with Ship Breaker, you get the similar dystopian world, that has gone 'under' - a drowned world, where oil is scarce and values like humanity or loyalty even scarcer. You could even argue that while Windup happens in the Southeast Asia, or what's left of it. A version of Bangkok where genetics and rising waters pose the greatest threat. While Ship Breaker happens in the very different corner of the world - the west. Or more precisely, the previous parts of the Southern Coasts, near New Orleans or what's left of it.  We are introduced to the forlorn beaches of this c...