Smorgasbord Fantasia

Another find for me, a brilliant debut of this year. Nathan Ballingrud's debut weird (in a good way!) frontier novel set in Mars is a delightful mix of science-fiction, coming-of-age and the True-Grit quest for revenge and justice. Featuring a very small cast of characters, led by the ballsy fourteen-year old Belle (Anabelle Crisp), the story is narrated by Anabelle looking back at her youthful days, drenching the narrative with the tones of nostalgia. The incident, she narrates, is from 1931 when she used to run a diner along with her father on this 'official' Martian settlement called the New Galveston, a smallish frontier town, sharing the reddish landscape of Mars with other unofficial settlements like the Dig-Town and many others. This is just a few years after the momentous event referred to as 'Silence' when all communications from Earth has ceased. This is also a few years into when her mother has returned back to earth, thus leaving Anabelle and her fathe...

On Waiting on Wednesday , we featuring some of the most anticipated new releases in Science Fiction, Fantasy and everything in between.  This week, we bring you the hotly anticipated sequel, to the wonderful new space-opera by Kate Elliots Unconquerable Sun - This one's called Furious Heaven. I truly enjoyed the space-opera, the wonderfully balanced narrative that focussed on imperial princess Sun's internal growth and the large-scale space-war and the politicking in play among the Empires across the stars.  Non-stop action, space battles and intrigue abound in the second in a galactic-scale, gender-swapped space opera trilogy inspired by the life of Alexander The Great. The Republic of Chaonia fleets under the joint command of Princess Sun and her formidable mother, Queen-Marshal Eirene, have defeated and driven out an invading fleet of the Phene Empire, although not without heavy losses. But the Empire remains strong and undeterred. While Chaonia scrambles to rebuild its mil...

With  Blake Crouch , there are a few things guaranteed. The staples or elements we have come to 'expect' as normal : Surefire thrill rides, high-tech science-fictional concepts and a very humane central character stuck in the middle of all this. He excels in taking mind-bending premises and setting it within believable circumstances, crafting out bleeding edge thrillers with enough heart and he is always questioning, questioning the choices our society can take. Or will take, rather.  With  Upgrade  his latest novel, he trains his guns on the rather esoteric topic of gene-mapping and how this concept can be twisted enough in the wrong hands to lead to a catastrophe for the human race. He claims it is his love-letter to our species, even quotes Yuval Noah on his views for Homo Deus, the next gen evolution of human beings, aka Homo sapiens.  As always - Blake strikes the perfect balance with exposition of "sciency" stuff - and there's a lot to unpack here, what wi...

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 ...

Thanks for the ARC of Every Star a Song by Jay Posey from the Harper Fiction Publicity team and this in no way affects my opinion/review of the book.  Jay Posey has always been a favorite author of mine, as I have fond memories of his first series The Duskwalker series and having run interviews/giveaways for the same. His new series Ascendance has been a stunningly original one, focused on melding science fiction and fantasy elements overlaid with some deep philosophical tones and great action.  In the first book Every Sky a Grave of the critically acclaimed Ascendance series by Jay Posey , we were introduced to Elyth, a woman adept in the Deep Language, that could be used to kill 'planets' and her fateful meeting with the Eth-Ammuin, a fugitive of the law named Varen Fedic, whose beliefs convince her to actually break away from the workings of the First House and become an 'Exile' on the run. We were introduced to the political machinations of the Hezra-Ka, the de-fa...

 Multiple Award winning author Stina Leicht has been an author I have been meaning to read, for the last few years now. So when I got my hands on this "fiercely feminist" space-opera Persephone Station (Jan-2021) I was super excited to finally read her.  Persephone Station unfortunately has been a mixed bag for me. Stina throws in a lot of things in here and I am not sure all of it sticks. The setting is a frontier theme, a wild wild west in the faraway out-back planet called Persephone, it's where crime-bosses and armed corporate syndicates rule the roost on the very few human settlements. There's corporate politics. There is a poignant first-contact story (shapeshifting intelligent aliens!) And there is also the whole artificial intelligence versus humans angle as well that is prominently present throughout the narrative. All of this in the backdrop of a hostile takeover situation that involves Giant Mecha-soldiers, rogue AI's and combat veterans in an explosi...

I have never read anything by Nicky Drayden before - Her bio claims 200+ short stories and 3 full length novels to her credit and it's a shame I just discovered her map-cap of a debut 3 years late. But better late than never and I resolve to set matter straight because this hyper-imaginative author is going right to the top of my must-read authors list after this blistering, too-weird-but-oh-so-much-fun genre-bending science-fantasy debut of hers, called The Prey of Gods .  Set in the distant future, around 2160 the story is set in the town of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The narrative spools out from five different POVs all of them unique and absolutely compelling by themselves: Muzi, a young teenage on the cusp of his adulthood with his confused feelings for his best friend Elkin. Nomvula, a young girl from the village outside the town who's blessed with secrets by the Gods themselves and who's secretly enamoured by this older man Mr. Tau whom her mother claims to hav...

Mark Lawrence is a writing machine. How else do you explain this writing phenomenon who has gone on to give us a dozen books (That's FOUR completed trilogies, guys!) across fantasy and science fiction - and continues to push the envelope, when it comes to the dazzling brilliance, characteristic of his every single work? Inching higher than ever, with every single novel that has come out. Let me take a moment here to express my gratitude and awe at the sheer dedication of this Thorn Guy to his craft and the manner in which he has continued to entertain us and force us to think, throughout these last twelve books that's been excellent, excellent stuff. So now - the new book. The Girl and the Stars , the opening book in this series called T he Book of the Ice , is set in the same brutal world of Abeth, slowly succumbing to ice. Yeah - the same world. that Nona and her Sisters are trying to save. But the story of the Red Sister and the subsequent sequels were set in this na...

I frankly haven't read Paul McAuley 's previous works and so I was in for a pleasant surprise, when the premise and concept of War of the Maps , his latest novel, hooked me in easily. War of the Maps is a science fantasy concept set in a gorgeously realised sprawling artificial world, spinning around artificial suns, birthed in the aftermath of multiple galaxies colliding with each other. [ If that didn't hook you in, then I don't know what will!] The anonymous hero, referred only as the lucidor, who is an ex-lawkeeper in this nation that calls itself Free States, is on the hunt for an escaped convict. While this is the central tenet to the whole plot. this becomes wrapped up within a much larger 'doomsday' plot, where an alien species has invaded the borders of this 'settled' world and this war is threatening to go out of hand. The lucidor is on the move, tracking this mad genius psychopath known as Remfrey He, whose evil genius and ambition know...

This week on our regular Waiting on Wednesday, we are featuring Paul McAuley 's latest one, from Gollancz - War of the Maps . A very intriguing sci-fi set up of an artificial world, orbiting a set of artificial suns where a retired law keeper has broken his previous promises and has come to the forefronts of a war in search of a criminal. Exciting premise! Frankly, I haven't heard enough about this book or have tried out Paul's books before. But the premise and early reads look insanely addictive! On a giant artificial world surrounding an artificial sun, one man - a lucidor, a keeper of the peace, a policeman - is on the hunt. His target was responsible for an atrocity, but is too valuable to the government to be truly punished. Instead he has been sent to the frontlines of the war, to use his unique talents on the enemy. So the lucidor has ignored orders, deserted from his job, left his home and thrown his life away, in order to finally claim justice. Separat...

Otaku in Japanese refers to the anime/manga/video-game obsessed fans and the underground culture, who put their games ahead of real social interactions. In Chris Kluwe 's debut cyberpunk sci-fi thriller Otaku , he opts to have a young black girl named Ashley Akachi as the protagonist in a future techno-influenced post-apocalyptic world where online/VR games have become a cultural obsession among the youth, to the point of the game superstars being offered brand commissions/ fandoms treating them as demi-idols in real life. Ashley is a certified star, top of the leaderboards in this set of games called the Infinite Games, leading an all-star cast called Sun Jewel warriors. Ashley herself is the celebrated "Ashura The Terrible" who sets the tone for the book in this opening chapter that pits her against a dragon - no big deal this , just another encounter -  she proceeds to solo-decimate the dragon by throwing herself down it's gullet and slicing it up from insid...

This book, Gideon the Ninth (part of a proposed trilogy called the Locked Tombs ) from TOR about necromancers crossed with weird lesbians and stuffed to the gills with tons of swashbuckling sword-fights was a readers’ favorite world over. In fact looking at the glowing references and the reviews, this one’s a writers’ favorite too. As well as a blogger universe’s darling. It took me a good long year to land my hands on this one. Perhaps in good time , because Harrow the Ninth is all set for a bumper release in the first half of this year. So Gideon the Ninth, I can safely claim, is nothing like anything I have ever read before. Is that a good thing? Where your writing cares nought for a rat’s ass about established guard rails and thwarts preconceived notions about a mixed-genre narrative, skewering them repeatedly and by a good long measure. I say, fuck yeah! Take the snark levels of Shrek the Ogre and dial it up to a level thousand and one. Mix parts of Harry Potter,...

Trust Malayalam movies to skewer movie tropes on Robots saving the world! After having subjected us to horrors like Robot 2.0, I think  Android Kunjappan Version 5.25  (AKV5.25) comes as a refreshingly original take on the robot-myths in Indian movies. Treating AI/robotics as it should be, rather than muck around in murky waters of ethics and robo-genocides, the movie keeps it simple and straightforward. One of the best movies I have seen from 2019. Period. An odd-ball comedy of errors, AKV5.25 is set in a small village in Payannur, North Kerala. It follows the life of grouchy old man Bhaskaran Poduval (  Siraj Venjaramoodu  knocks it out of the park with his searing, heart-rending performance!) and his electronics engineer son, Subramanhiyan who's forced to give up good job prospects in cities like Bangalore and Kochi, as he is duty-bound to take care of his old father. Both their lives are turned upside down, when Subramanhiyan decides to risk it out in a Ja...

Cry Pilot came out in 2019, a debut military sci-fi novel set in a futuristic bleak version of Earth filled with threats like sentient (Ascended) AI, bio-engineering and mutant forms that arise out of a terraforming process, intended to bring back the older greener form of Mother Earth. I admit, I haven't read much of military sci-fi. In a long long time time now. So Cry Pilot was a welcome leap back into this genre for me. But I admit, it took it's own sweet time working its charm on me as a reader. For most of the first quarter of the book, I was aloof and disenchanted by Maseo Kaytu, the "cry pilot"  who headlines the act and is our single first-person POV to the narrative. I was a bit disappointed, thinking that if I don't bond well enough with our main 'hero', rest of the narrative is going to fall by the wayside. But thankfully, with an adroit handle on the pacing, I was soon cruising into the exciting and gruelling training camps that Maseo ha...

Let's get this out of the way first. Yes - it's a  Jay Kristoff  book. And that guy is right now everywhere! [  Dark Dawn  just released and it's a bestseller for all the good reasons - I am on that book right now, more on this later!] But  Illuminae  was probably an experiment. That went wildly successful. What else can you say about this beautiful beautiful book ! ( I mean literally! The physical copy of this book is a visual candy layered with all sorts of gooey goodness shots! It's an amazing piece of art!] A talented writer duo belting out a concept that bordered on insane: A space warship guiding a research ship adrift in the outer reaches of space somewhere, homeless and also hotly chased by another dreadnought hell bent on blasting them both out of existence. And well, when the future of everybody on-board depends on just these two teenagers, driven by heartbreak and longing for each other, that makes for a very thin premise indeed. Add ...