Smorgasbord Fantasia

The tale of 47 Ronin is the tale of Japan (??!! So goes the starting voice-over)   Steeped in lores and histories, stapled with rich Japanese mythology, bundled up with a stellar talented international cast led by the chosen one, Keanu Reeves. But if this were feudal Japan, then I have to say that its dead boring. Sadly this movie delivered in rich multi-colour explosive riots and some American CGI Effects that wreaks havoc with the sombre mood of the movie, becomes just a leaden, dead-weight on its talented star-cast stuffed into one-dimensional characters and us viewers, yet again done in by a slick trailer. Keanu Reeves’ choice of movies has been pretty interesting. Most of them have a unique science-fictional element or fantasy tightly coupled to the movie theme. So with 47 Ronin as well – a dash of romance to enliven the clumsy proceedings of a revenge saga along with witches and dragons. All of this adding up to boring balderdash.  Plot is simple...

Brian McClellan’s debut, Promise of Blood , part # 1 of the Powder Mage trilogy is a delightful read and has all the promise to be the debut of the year. I picked up the book on amazon on sale period – after having eyed it for close to six months since it released. I had first read about Brian on Aidan’s blog – where I read about the mentor Brandon Sanderson’s influence on Brian’s writing and about his detailed magic systems. I was hooked. And now that I’ve read his first book, I am a fan! Promise of Blood is set in the world of Adro, the Kingdom of Adopest where Field Marshall Tamas has just successfully led the bloody revolution to overthrow the King and set the platform for a democracy. The age of Kings is dead…And I have killed it. Absolutely killer line to hook someone into a story. Brian chooses a wonderfully complex situation to begin and build his story. Right in the middle of a sweet chaos – an effective short fuse for conspiracies to swirl up dark and ...

Cast of Characters (In order of appearance) The Sanzas. Calo : One of Identical Twins. Galdo : The Other of Identical Twins. ( We're still figuring out who is who) The Henchman. Jean: Muscle man/One-man Protection Detail for Locke. The Star-Crossed Lovers. Locke: Con Artist Extraordinaire/Thief/Starry-Eyed Lover Boy. Sabetha: Con Artist Extraordinaire/Red Headed Vixen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strobe Lights.... <Twin#1 Enter Left> AND.....we are back from the dead! <Twin#2 Enter Right> That is right. From the stygian depths of Scott Lynch's bottomless heart. We're back. Twin1: Errr...you do him injustice. He's after all our creator and has full creative license to do as he wishes with us. Twin2: Like fuck us sideways with a ramrod and leave for dead with slit throats in Book One and bring us back in Book Three? Twin1: Gotta admit, feels good to be back. Twin2: Can...

Kaurava is the middle book of the Aryavarta Chronicles trilogy by Krishna Udayasankar . Her debut, Govinda exploded onto the Indian fiction scene sometime last year ending up as a national bestseller – I was extremely impressed by the depth and quality of this debut – having called it a gem from our rich mytho-history polished and lit up in perhaps different colors from what we are used to, but dazzling and radiant as always.  Krishna had opened the floodgates with Govinda. And now Mahabharata, the sweeping ambitious epic of all times, has become a central focus of a lot many authors. There are a lot many books out there that deal with different subjects of Mahabharata and this gargantuan epic still has room for more. But the Aryavarta Chronicles truly dazzles. It is not so much as a retelling but a soaring triumph of unfettered imagination built on pain-staking research and penned in a confident poetic prose that delights and transports you to far-away conflicted land...