Smorgasbord Fantasia

 A John Gwynne book is a matter of celebration. Period.  Because with John, you know what you are getting into. Heroic Fantasy built on the back of some brilliant world building, amazing cinematic fight sequences, well-rounded characters you will love to follow unto the depths of hell, non-stop pacing and the pulse-pounding gut-wrenching action. Did I mention action ? Maybe I didn't. So let me state that clearly for you - John writes the best fantasy action sequences ever.  With the new book, The Shadow of the Gods , John has clearly outdone himself and I am so so so...much in awe of his writing. This one's the opening salvo in a trilogy named Bloodsworn - and right there, in the name itself, John has made it very clear that this one's going to be bloodier, darker and colder. Set in a Norse-mythology inspired fantasy world called Vigrid, men and women live in the shadow of Gods. Because eons ago, the Gods died in a brutal destructive war. It's the kind of war where s...

I normally wouldn't have picked up a book like Phoenix Island . Or the sequel, Devil's Pocket . These are usually the kind of books that skip my radar. Which is why the reader-feed from Netgalley is definitely a blessing. Devil's Pocket was released on Aug 4th and we're dragged headlong back into the brutal raw world of  Carl Freeman where violence is a way of life - first introduced with the phenomenally well written Phoenix Island. So I first got hold of Devil's Pocket and then the good folks at Simon and Schuster (Gallery Books imprint) were giving away Phoenix Island for a lark ($1.99 e-book sale) and I jumped for it. While the first book is the inspiration behind the CBS Show, Intelligence ( I admit I haven't seen that one), the sequel is prime material for a summer blockbuster. A darkly intelligent and ruthlessly violent version of Fight Club perhaps? Pitched as an action blast with YA crossover appeal featuring a 16-year old protagonist, Phoenix ...

Pacific Rim is a completely brainless movie that is rooted in it's corny theme and sticks through with the same throughout. It is still a good escapist fun ride packed with all the right ‘masala’ ingredients to hit it big. Alien monsters, metallic monster killing machines and All-American soldiers (though they have tried hard to make it as generic as possible! Bringing in a characters ranging from all over the world- Australian father-son, a Russian pair, a Japanese girl - sadly all molded in the usual All-American manner) – all heart, full brawn and a lot of yak and needles bravado. A typical big budget movie that seems like a lot of fun as long as you skim along the surface. But trust me, don’t even bother to dig deeper below the surface, you will be devastated at the lack of storylines, plots or even a decent believable premise tinged with logic. But yes – on the surface of things, Pacific Rim packs in a lot of heart in this movie and it serves you dollops of ac...

This one’s been on my wishlist ever since it released. Touted to be an intense high-action caper and dubbed “The Matrix” of this decade, Looper is one hell of a mind-bending ride with suspense, action and drama all folded in neat little surprise packages throughout the movie. This definitely is one my top favorites for 2012.  Rian Johnson, the writer/director for Looper proves yet again that Science Fiction can be super entertaining. In the leagues of Avatar and yet, a lot more brainier and thought-provoking venture that forces you to rethink the ethics of time travel. This movie is built on the premise of time-travel but as Bruce Willis puts it, “I don’t want to talk about the time-travel shit. If we start, we will be sitting here all day making diagrams with straws.” If we do dwell on the “what-ifs” and “how-abouts” that comes pre-loaded with the concept of time travel, we will definitely be dragging ourselves into a quicksand with no escape. So as the director p...

Movie Review: The Raid Redemption This movie came and went in the blink of an eye in the theaters ( at least here in India) but turns out this has been a top dog when it came to International movie festivals. Some tout this to be the BEST (EVUH) action movie of the last decade. One of my friends did manage to get a dekho and called it kick-ass’est ever action movie. They weren’t wrong. Raid Redemption is an over-the-top balls-to-wall adrenaline rush of flying fists, whirling kicks and high-octane action sequences that literally explodes onscreen leaving you gasping and shouting for more, if you’re a martial arts movie fan. An Indonesian martial arts movie, directed by Welsh born Gareth Evans, the Raid doesn’t make any pretense at having even a minimalist plot or character development. It’s an all-out unapologetic slug fest with blood spurting and bones crunching every five seconds. While you take a breather when short tense dialogues spoken in Indonesian dialec...