Smorgasbord Fantasia

Hall of Smoke by HM Long has been on my most-anticipated books for 2021 first quarter for multiple reasons. A comparison to the Brian Staveley 's first series ( Unhewn Throne , one of my all time favourite debut author series!) and the fact that this one's based off the Viking Sagas was enough reason to convince me to dive into this.  After having finished this book now, I can firmly say this is a great start to my reading for this year. Hall of Smoke lives up to the hype and expectations, delivering a solid epic fantasy tale of conflicts between Gods and mortals set in a refreshingly original world, inspired by the Viking tales. Stunning world building, frenetic action and wholly unexpected thrills and twists kept me hooked onto this wonderful tale.  At the centre of the conflict is Hessa, a young warrior-priest dedicated to Goddess Eang, the Goddess of war and one of the most powerful of the faction of New Gods who have overthrown the 'Old Gods'. the tribe of Eang h...

Continuing on with our most-anticipated books series, for 2021 - this is Part-II with some of the hottest new releases in the month of Feb from some of our beloved authors and a sprinkling of new authors!   February 1. A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a scfi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at 1940s rocketry with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence in A History of What Comes Next. Always run, never fight.  Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars. Over 99 identical generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices and sacrificing countless lives. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the ...

 Hello all!  Happy New Year once again to all you lovely readers and writers out there. 2020 is something that taught us a lot of indelible lessons of life [instead of branding it as a total washout!] and so this year, let's hope we bring those learnings to life!  So let us start the year with a peekaboo at some of my most anticipated titles of 2021, shall we. And while there is no scientific process of discovery behind it, since that number might run over a significant threshold, we are trying to keep this for only the first quarter of the year. PART I is where we focus on Jan books. Sounds okay?  So let's get to it. Slay that TBR this year, my friends.  January 1. Doors of Sleep by Tim Pratt.   What would you do if you woke up and found yourself in a parallel universe under an alien sky? This is the question Zax Delatree must answer every time he closes his eyes. Every time Zax Delatree falls asleep, he travels to a new reality. He has no control over his...

It's that time of the year again, gentle friends. When we look back, at perhaps one of the longest year we've had in all our lives combined. [ Thank you for that Theory of Relativity, Mr. Einstein] For all that time spent at home, pretending to work and also working my ass off on 14-hour workdays where the lines blur, I managed to smash my reading goals for the year. Already at 58 books and looking good to hit a couple more. And amidst this 58, found a few gems - Some series endings, a series starter, a couple of mid-series bridges that I thought definitely are amongst my top books I read this year [ published this year in 2020 ]  A few call-outs, before I get onto my top 5.  1. Was the year I discovered Martha Wells and that endearing fellow called MurderBot in the first four novellas, starting with All Systems Red. while the novel-length story of the MurderBot series came out this year ( Network Effect ) I unfortunately, didn't get around to reading it this year.  2. ...

 This week we are featuring the upcoming new epic fantasy series opener from Stephen Deas , The Moonsteel Crown - from Angry Robot books. For now, while the description seems a bit sparse I will trust that Stephen Deas is a prolific writer and definitely one of the masters of the genre (Memory of Flames series) - and quite blindly take the plunge into this exciting new world he is building out.  The Emperor of Aria is dead, and three junior members of a street gang are unwittingly caught up in the ensuing struggle for the throne, in the first epic adventure in a new fantasy world from a master of the genre. The Emperor of Aria has been murdered, the Empire is in crisis, and Dead Men walk the streets... But Myla, Fings, and Seth couldn't care less. They're too busy just trying to survive in the Sulk-struck city of Varr, committing petty violence and pettier crimes to earn their keep in the Unrulys, a motley gang led by Blackhand.  When the Unrulys are commissioned to ste...

After the blood-soaked finale to the Godblind series that saw Anna Stephens firmly being entrenched on to my pantheon of go-to-authors, for any thing fantasy (grim, dark and brutal) - I never thought she could top that with anything better. After all, this was the culmination of a tale , three books in the making with rogue gods and blood-thirsty gods meddling in the human affairs, a story crafted, honed and polished over a full series ending in a wholly satisfying manner. This time, she has turned her sights onto the Central American myths and blended all of that into her own vision of a terrifying epic of clashing faiths, warring humans and monstrous blood-thirsty Gods in this new book, called The Stone Knife , first in the series,  Songs of the Drowned .  The forests of Ixachipan have been clashing with the sounds of battle, forever now. The Pecha empire wants to awaken the world-spirit by conquering the lands of Ixachipan and the only deterrent against this mighty ambitio...

The Forever Sea by Joshua Johnson is on my 2021-most-anticipated releases for several reasons. The premise sounds different, original - and this is being touted as first in an "Eco-Fantasy" series. With a fantastic cover and a brilliant premise, today we feature this debut fantasy opener in our Waiting on Wednesday meme series. ( And did we say, Pirates?!!!)  On the never-ending, miles-high expanse of prairie grasses known as the Forever Sea, Kindred Greyreach, hearthfire keeper and sailor aboard harvesting vessel The Errant, is just beginning to fit in with the crew of her new ship when she receives devastating news. Her grandmother—The Marchess, legendary captain and hearthfire keeper—has stepped from her vessel and disappeared into the sea. But the note she leaves Kindred suggests this was not an act of suicide. Something waits in the depths, and the Marchess has set out to find it. To follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, Kindred must embroil herself in conflicts bigge...