Smorgasbord Fantasia

The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis , almost went under my radar. But boy, am I glad I picked it up at least now. I frankly didn't have much expectation heading into the story but the singular voice of "Elka" and the lyrical quality of the writing, not to mention, the intriguing post-apocalyptic set up of a wild frontier land, just swept me away and before I even realised, I was deep into the book - hooked into the fascinating story of survival and coming-of-age of a young girl in the cold unforgiving lands up north in a wild Wild West setting.  Elka, who grew up with her 'nana' till she was seven years, dreams of her parents who have gone 'north' searching for gold, joining the 'gold rush' up there. Even as she yearns for the love of parents she has never known, her world is shattered one day when a hurricane hits her home and she wakes up in an unfamiliar forest. That is when she meets the mysterious 'trapper' - who for some unfathomable reason, ...

The Poppy War was a book that I never knew, I was craving for. I finished, nay I gobbled up this powerful, epic coming-of-age story set amidst a disastrous war that follows the destiny of this young girl from rural south in a kingdom ravaged by war, whose every step to success is drenched in blood and suffering - all this in just a few sittings. And as I finished it, my first thought was that this....was absolute magic. Such compelling heady stuff that it is hard is believe it's the debut work of  Rebecca F Kuang . Inspired heavily by the Sino-Japanese wars of early 1930's, the epic fantasy setting is that of the sprawling Nikan Empire where young Rin, a war orphan suffering misery and servitude in rural south, has just figured out that her only way out of this cruel life is an entry into the Military Academies - and not just any academy but the highest one called Sinegard that trains the scions of the actual Warlords of the various provinces of Nikan to become Military...

I got wind of Laura Purcell through one of the blog reviews of her latest, The Poison Thread.  And so without much clue about what was on offer, I decided to take a plunge.  And boy, glad that I did. T he Silent Companions is one of the most best horror novels I have read this year. The best kind of horror are so well orchestrated so to catch you unawares. Silent Companion succeeds wildly at that - in creating a creepy, atmospheric, gothic victorian horror novel that checks all my boxes for a great chilling read. Highly recommended. So the central narrative is set in 1885 and revolves about Elsie Bainbridge, a middle-class English woman who has married into a richer family. Her means of climbing up the social ladder was to ensnare Rupert Bainbridge, an entitled English lord who owns a familial estate known as the Bridge, back in the serene countryside. However, even as the novel starts it becomes clear that Rupert is dead and its Elsie who has inherited the property ...

By now, I have become a convert at the cult of Jay Kristoff , the masterweaver of fantasy and sci-fi tales full of lyrical beauty, wickedly cool action adventures and heart-wrenching plot-twists that will keep you yearning for more, as he continues to churn out novels by the dozen [ I mean, does this guy even sleep? 'Hell no, Sleep is for the weak!'] This is my fifth book by Jay Kristoff and yes I see the repetitive patterns - young girl protagonist with a secret history behind her birth, growing up pangs like either a finishing school or the loyal friendships or hesitant first loves along with tons of ubercool world-building elements, that ever-present humor that can either have you rolling your eyes in the head or rolling on the floor in splits, cinematic action sequences unfolding in slo-mo and an unbelievable ending as tension levels mount beyond Mount Everest to erupt in a gut-wrenching reveal that will have you gasping, in disbelief and terror. LIFEL1K3 features...

Some of you probably know that Mark Lawrence had kicked off the SPFBO [Self Published Fantasy Book Standoff ] vying to unearth some of the best self-published books that begs for a much wider audience and readership and greater acclaim. Aching God by Mike Shel  came to my attention through the SPFBO. Was one of the 2018 finalist novels and came highly praised by fellow bloggers. An epic fantasy novel styled as a classic D&D quest by way of spine-chilling horror? Definitely sounds like my cup of tea. So I picked up the audio book version, which again came highly recommended, narrated by Simon Vance. (More about this at the end of this review, he's phenomenal!) Aching God is the first part of this series Iconoclasts set in a medieval European/ Anglo setting and mainly features a semi-retired adventurer named Auric Manteo and his band of adventurers on a quest within abandoned crypts and temples of a lost civilization. It has been termed as LitRPG by many but after ha...

I am surprised at the lower-than-expected levels of hype around this brilliant debut, that burst onto the scene last year - Traitor God by Cameron Johnston . Like how did this book, not make it into the Best-Of-2018 lists mushrooming around? Why didn't people read this absolute doozy of a grim-dark badassery with a bastardly wisecrack of a protagonist headlining the damaged act in a gorgeously realized, gutter-fest of a city that is seething with magic and roiling with horrors from the dark deep? Why didn't I read this earlier? Anyways - with the second act of Acts of Tyranny coming right up, it was best that I do amends for the damages sooner than later. In the first few chapters of Traitor God, it is quickly established that Edrin Walker - professional loaded-dice player, peoplemancer and an inveterate drunk, is essentially an escapist. Having escaped from his birth city of Setharis - plagued with debts and chased by daemons, Walker is not ( definitely not!)  a blas...

Ben Galley came into my notice a few years back when I got this book on improving my craft, called Shelf Help I had also bought the first two books of his series, the scarlet star trilogy ( Bloodrush)  but never got around to reading him. And then, two weeks back, his tweets on Grim Solace , the new book in this series stormed the twitter world and I felt I had to check this one out. Grim, dark and a world-building that reminds you of Michael Moorcock's Elric series, hell count me in! Chasing Graves , the first of a trilogy is set in the fascinating city of Araxes, the capital of the rift-laden Arctian empire. Also known as the City of Countless Souls where your status and richness is measured in terms of the 'shades' you own and not just the weight of silver. In Ben's beautiful prose, this bustling metropolis comes alive - beset on one side by a brutal desert, bordered by poor slum-regions known as the outsprawls which slowly lead into the city through the countle...

Trail of lightning will possibly be among my top five books of the year. Period. Navajo legends, mythical monsters, Gods and wicked men - all of this comes to life in Rebecca Roanhorse 's urban fantasy debut that will rock the socks off you, by the time you are even half-way through. For me, the experience was a double joy as this was my first audible title and the breathtaking Sixth World , ravaged by the apocalyptic floods known as the Big Water in the near future, is so wonderfully depicted by Rebecca's sprightly writing and brought to life by narrator, Tanis Paranteau's amazing rendition. Set in a completely immersive native world that begs for more exploration, headlined by a native young woman as the kickass protagonist and written by Rebecca, who herself is from the Navajo area in the US. Refreshingly original, did you say? Oh yes. Dinetah is a Navajo region surrounded by vast magical walls cut off from the rest of the world (that has seen massive economic,...

Tasha Suri ’s debut, Empire of Sand ( Book of Ambha # 1) has been on my eagerly anticipated 2018 fantasy novels for a while now. The lush, south-asian mythology inspired fantasy book is said to have been born out of Tasha’s obsession with the Mughal Empire in India and colored by her unabashed love for Bollywood. So obviously since I share both these unhealthy 'obsessions' with her, I was extremely interested in how the fantasy version of such will turn out in paper. An accomplished debut, Empire of Sand is a book about complex relationships and the interplay of power. D eep in its heart, it is a story of choices and compromise. It is the story of young Mehr , a girl who is caught between the two cultures that have shaped her life and how both come to a cataclysmic clash threatening the world itself, riding on the vested interests of people in power - abusing this notion to their own gains. Mind you, Mehr is not your 'regular' tough-as-nails ass-kicking fanta...

Book choices, are especially hard for me. With so many new books and authors coming out, it's usually a struggle. But when a Brandon Sanderson book comes out, the choices become simple. You drop everything else and just dive into it.  Skyward - is a Young Adult novel about a young girl and her starfighter. Based on Top Gun, How to Train Your Dragon and Ender's Game, as claimed by Sanderson himself. If you have been fans of these ‘originals’, then you realize that the influence of these references are pretty strong as you tear through the book. But Brandon hasn't just referenced these stories. In true mastercraft form, he's created yet another blazing masterpiece - in terms of the standout characters, the worldbuilding and the amazing plot. Be it Spensa “spin” nightshade, the rebellious young fighter pilot, or Detritus - the abandoned planet that has become the only world for the future of the humanity or that rollicking plot featuring mysterious alien ra...

Armored Saint by Myke Cole is his first foray into the world of epic fantasy - Having read his previous works, I know that Myke can spin a yarn well enough and make us care. And this being something of a dream project for him, our expectations as readers familiar with his class, were stratospheric to say the least. Does he deliver or what . No punches pulled, this turned out to be a gut-wrenching tale of reluctant heroism, forbidden love, blind faith and heady rebellion in a well realized world that I cannot wait to get back into. In Armored Saint, Myke sets his story in a quasi-medieval European world where life is hard and ruthless, men and women living in constant fear of either the devils breaking through the Veil that protects the world or of being branded as heretics by the religious order of knights, left to guard the world against evil. We encounter this world on the weary dusty roads with sixteen year old Heloise Factor , who loves her father fiercely enough to challe...

Angry Robot books are usually a safe bet, them having almost perfected the art of perhaps spotting the next big talent and getting it right a lot of times. I enjoy their books because of two reasons, exciting new talent and also the breakthrough original storylines that push the boundaries of the genre and make you think. I can sense a pattern - and so with Time's Children as well, the latest from DB Jackson ( Who is popular for the Thieftaker series writing as David B Coe) ( Those covers are absolutely gorgeous, ain't they?) A time-travel concept melded with flintlock fantasy? Wohoo, reel me in. D B Jackson wastes no time in setting us up for a complex web of time-travel ( with of course the complexities that arise with parallel time-lines), political intrigue and conspiracies galore. Things can get hairy soon with the world going topsy-turvy on parallel time-lines but the focus of Jackson's tale never wavers from the central plot. Of conspiracies being thwarted...

I first heard of Rosewater , when I read Tasha Suri 's tweet on the same. " So. ROSEWATER by @tadethompson needs to be a Netflix series. Nigerian setting, aliens, 'telepaths', zombies, fiercely weird biopunk, an intricate unfolding plot... The whole time I was reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about how I'd watch the *hell* out of it. " A science-fiction set in futuristic Nigeria? From an up and coming 'hottest' new talent, I knew I had to check this out. And my fingers were busy, requesting for a  netgalley of the same. Got lucky and now here I am, sitting dazed and awed by the vision and the execution of a future, that is weirdly compelling, bizarre and absolutely stunning. Rosewater is one of those precious new books that manages to throw off all the yokes of 'prescribed writing guidelines' for science fiction. Indeed, Tade Thompson is a refreshing new talent and a world-class one at that.  Rosewater is a town on t...

Anna Smith-Spark , the queen of grim-dark is back at it again, with this viscerally ambitious follow-up to the dark salvo, Court of Broken Knives  (that I enjoyed, ah so much!) that introduced us to the Empires of Dust and a motley crew of dark, broken damaged characters headed by Marith Altrersyr, King Ruin and his queen, Thalia. Book One was a study in violence and darkness but one that shone bright with the raw beauty of Anna's writing that was punchy, moving and just so immersive in it's unpredictable quality to enthral and shock. This one, Book Two was an emotional drain on my senses. In a good way, really. An overload of vicious no-holds-barred violence underlined by a disturbing brooding sense of darkness - Book Two in the Empires of Dust, Tower of Living and Dying is still full of those very same unforgettable characters who made book-one such a pleasure to read. They still worm and storm their way into your hearts, squirm under your skin and truly truly go thr...