Smorgasbord Fantasia

Nettle & Bone that released last year, is my first book by T Kingfisher. And I am so thrilled to have discovered her amongst the many other new authors, I am slowly discovering. [ On an aside, having made a conscious decision to make sure I go back and pick up acclaimed books that I missed out on from last two years, I can claim this has turned out to be such a liberating and happy coincidence for me!]  There are at least 2 more T Kingfisher books in my back-burner list that I am immediately bumping to the top of my TBR, after the marvellous find that Nettle & Bone turned out to be. This turned out to be an epic fantasy that mixed up dark fairy tale with your typical hero quest, albeit with a nice twist. Nettle & Bone is an adult dark fantasy book I never knew I wanted.  Told from the first person point of view of Marra, an unassuming thirty-year old who has spent the majority of her formative years in a monastery, away from the politicking mess that is her own mi...

 Hello! Giving you a glimpse of some of the most-sought after titles releasing later this year, on this week's Waiting for Wednesday blog meme, we feature this book from Orbit books - For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten  - an up and coming twist on one of our favorite fairy tales (Red Riding Hood)  The first daughter is for the Throne. The second daughter is for the Wolf. For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again. But the legend...

Christina Henry has of late shifted her focus onto darker retelling of fairy tales - Alice and Red Queen, The Mermaid - and we love the decidedly un-disney like interpretations of the fairy tales. Grim tales steeped in dark atmospheric settings that will have your heart palpably beating real-fast as the narrative chugs on with manic speed towards that thrilling finale. And so when I got the invite to review The Girl in Red , posed as a different spin on the red riding hood and the wolf story, I jumped for it. But as I read the initial few chapters, I realized that as usual, Christina has taken an axe to our preconceptions about how this story of the girl in the woods who meets the wolf, will turn out to be. Red , birth name Cordelia, is a twenty-something young girl on a long hike through the woods and abandoned forests somewhere in the US, trudging through to get to her grandmother's house (Yup: A cabin in the woods, that remains true!) after the whole world has been des...

Christina Henry 's darker take on the fairy tales has been nothing short of riveting. I personally was a huge fan of Alice and this summer, Christina ups the ante, with The Girl in Red - a terrifying post-apocalyptic take on Little Red Riding Hood. Check out the amazingly gorgeous cover: Here's the official blurb: From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a post-apocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood"...about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems. It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she gr...

The Singular and Extraordinary tale of Mirror and Goliath with the intriguing tag-line: The peculiar Adventures of John Loveheart, ESQ - from Angry Robot is Ishbelle Bee ’s spectacular debut in the speculative fiction world. Just like the peculiar title, the novel itself is a riotous splash of many a familiar fairy tale liberally wrangled with a dash of macabre horror, set during the fag-end of the Victorian Era – An 1880’s London rife with the East-end murders, missing children and magic like blood-red poppies floating in the air. It’s a sort of the author’s love paean to this genre: Bee, the author who loves Victorian Top Hats and Cake Tents incorporates both these elements and a lot more from her favourite era into the novel- beautifully entwining them into a tight little fairy tale of her own. By parts lyrical and scary, it’s a gem of a novel that stands apart from other titles in today’s world. Kudos to Angry Robot for having backed up and brought out this game-changer to...

We’ve all been enthralled by the beautiful story of Snow-white and the Seven Dwarfs and Prince Charming – when we were growing up . Only fitting that we get Snow-white and the Huntsman – a grown up version of the same story – albeit in a much darker vein – a stunning visual treat. Fantastic cinematography that will steal your heart and transport you to fairy land. That is the rich impression you take away when the end credits roll. And of course, there is the gorgeous Charlize Theron. We can’t get enough of her in this movie – she truly takes the cake. The best costume (oh remember that sheer jaw-dropping black oozing gown melting and flowing on the floor while she’s writhing in pain? Oh wait, am getting ahead of myself here J ), the best lines and of course some of the best camera shots and special effects. A good villain always makes the hero ( in this case, heroine!) look good. Remember Joker? Here Charlize Theron as the evil queen wins the applause – she’s pure evi...