Smorgasbord Fantasia

 The Genius has done it again! Joe Abercrombie , a master storyteller with his pulse on the bleeding dark heart of our society, has given us yet another masterpiece in the rousing, heart-wrenching conclusion to the Age of Madness , the new trilogy series set in the same world as the First Law trilogy - with this book, The Wisdom of Crowds.   So for readers catching up new on this series, this review contains obvious spoilers of what has transpired before and I would advise, not to continue but to go pick up the whole trilogy which, in my humble opinion, is another crowning achievement in the epic fantasy genre. So, the Civil War ravages through the country and our newly appointed King Orso, has to contend with a bloody revolution in the Capital Agriont, led by the Burners. Leo and Savine, despite having suffered a humiliating defeat at that battle of Stoffenbeck, find reasons to cling to their life and scanty ambitions even as the tides turn. Back in the North, Rikke also has ...

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...

WolfHound Century is a debut that defies any genre and thus manages to be delightfully original, free of the trappings of existing fantasy sub-genres. Gollancz comes up with yet another winner in Peter Higgins who has woven a magical tale set in alternate Russia where folklores come alive, hunger and revolution is still the language the poor understand, giants live amongst humans and a totalitarian regime has plunged the state into a hopeless endless war. It’s beautiful, it’s grim and dark as the starless black of the night and yet so starkly fascinating. A noir- thriller that twists into a surreal dark horror introducing us to darker corners of the mind we never thought existed. That quote from Richard Morgan definitely captures the feel for the book. Definitely among my top reads for 2013.  The book starts off like any typical noire– introducing us to Vissarion LomMagical, an investigator down on his luck being summoned to the Capital state of Mirgorod to app...