To Farewells and a new address – A Greek Odyssey – Part 1

Well its been over 6 years since there’s been an update on this blog. Obviously parts of it has been the lack of time but it also comes from a combination of laziness and writer’s block. So here’s another attempt at restarting writing hopefully on a regular basis. Old time readers of this blog (yes, all the 2 of you) – thank for the support. I pretty much hope to write on similar things as I did before with maybe a few more newer things to cover

First in list, is a travelogue on a recent trip to Greek – https://vinayvasan.substack.com/p/a-greek-odyssey-part-1

I will try to post links here as well but you can subscribe at the substack as well – Cheers and happy reading

A Greek Odyssey -Part 2

Here’s part 2 of the fantastic Grecian trip that we had – Featuring Athens, Mykonos and Santorini……

https://vinayvasan.substack.com/p/a-greek-odyssey-part-2

Best of 2016 Movies – The Blockbuster version

As always just before the Oscars get underway, it’s time to recognize those movies that usually don’t get such love but fundamentally serve the purpose of entertaining. The big spectacle, the joy of watching things blow up on screen, the action set pieces – all make up for a heady cocktail to justify paying the price of a ticket and hopefully the entertainment. With that in mind, if there was one word to really describe 2016 movies – the word would really have to be middling

 

Disappointing would be too strong a word but it’s something approaching that when one takes a look at the list. Movies content to coast by, resting on the success of their predecessors thinking that itself might bring the crowds in. Narrative coherence was the other aspect of it as well. So much so that by the end of the year if a filmmaker could weave 20 mins of a coherent story, the movie stood up pretty well. It was also a year where mommy issues dominated the 2 biggest releases of the year – be it “Martha” or “He killed my mother”. Studio interference ruled the biggest franchises leading to muddled visions on screen and more criminally, betraying customer trust as movies on screen completely were different from what was shown in the trailers – a trend likely to continue in 2017 as well.

 

Without much ado, (there really isn’t much anyways), the best of 2017

 

Captain America: Civil War – Or how even the best cowboys have mommy issues

 

Billed as Avengers 2.5, this was in more ways than one a defining movie for Marvel. Adapted in spirit (if nothing else) from the comic book event of the same name, Marvel had to break the bank in more ways than one to get this off ground, Robert Downey’s contract as well as the wrangling with Sony to get Spiderman in. A packed movie based on the fundamental question on who provides oversight to the superheroes, the movie spent probably even less time on it than the comics while continuing the Winter Soldier storyline, while introducing Black Panther and Spiderman to this world as well, while staying true to the vision that it was a Captain America movie and not Avengers. A fairly heavy plate that was balanced in the true Marvel style employing humor, sarcasm, witty one-liners and a terrific mid movie airport sequence that gets all players a moment to shine. Chris Evans truly does shine in the role while a moody RDJ plays a different role compared to his usual self. Chadwick Bosemen proves to be a phenomenal fit as the Black Panther, all quiet menace, barely concealed anger and immense gravitas while Tom Holland as Spidey is quite charming, gawky and a motor mouth. While the Marvel formula is often derided for being well formulaetic, it’s difficult to be that critical when things work as well as they do here. The House of Ideas keeps marching on

 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them or hey, you know what America needs right now,  a story on how illegal aliens cause a whole lot of trouble

 

Let’s get a few things out of the way first. I really haven’t liked any of the Harry Potter movies – found their representation of screen very bad. I also don’t like Eddie Redmayne – except for his unhinged, campy, whispery villainous turn in Jupiter Ascending. So FBAWTFT had a whole lot going against it and it still worked. Redmayne’s slightly absent-minded quirky role turned out to be really charming and the novelty of America as the setting worked completely for it even as the special effects on this were truly outstanding. The expansion of the story to cover the Dumbeldore- Grindelwald conflict definitely makes this intriguing as is Redmayne’s connection with the Lestranges.

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story or how hindsight is always 20/20

 

For a movie plagued by reshooting troubles, this shaped up really well. In a way, we know what the end point of this movie was going to be. But the very effort of ensuring that it led right up to the opening moments of A New Hope was truly among the goosebumpy moments of the year. It also answers the baffling question on how a truly complicated and deadly weapon like the Death Star would have such a stupid weakness. A diverse cast, impressive location jumping and a fabulous turn by Ben Mendelsohn makes this war movie an engaging one. The Disney strategy of having anthologies along with the Star War sequels was a risky one and Rogue One especially risky given the lack of star names (due apologies to Felicity Jones) but given how successful this turned out to be and with a movie on Han Solo the next one, the force is strongly with them

 

Other notable movies:

1. Batman v Superman: My thoughts here. Also hampered by the theatrical release. The uncut almost 3 hr movie was way better
2. Deadpool: Truly R rated and outstanding. Hampered by the fact that Indian censors lacked a sense of humor
3. Doctor Strange: Iron Man Redux with magic and an American accent spouting Cumberbatch with the RDJ quirks, attitudes and facial hair
4. Central Intelligence – Fascinating pair of Kevin Hart & Dwayne Johnson – so well done and playing off each other quite well
5. Star Trek Beyond – A solid entry post the overhyped Wrath of Khan reboot. But whoever came up with the idea of hiding the menace of Idris Elba behind layers of makeup needs an entry pass to Arkham

 

Speculative Fiction: A Year in Review – Best of 2016

Year in Numbers:

100 books!!!!, yes finally hit the elusive 100 books on the last day of the year, spanning over 36K pages and an average rating of 3.8

80 authors for the year with 49 new authors amongst them

25% of books read, written by women (getting there, getting there, slowly and steadily)

7 books abandoned, 5 books pushed out. Overall success rate – 89%

 

In Detail:

2016 turned out to be quite the year for some really good books. With the absence of some of the heavy hitters turning out their stuff, it also turned to be a year where a lot of stuff which would have normally gotten hidden in the shadows, shone brightly. Personally, this was a year where I read a lot more science fiction than what I have done so far. I still cannot get myself to read the older SF stuff but to be fair, that’s an issue for most of my reads in other genres. I hardly made a dent in my significant backlog list (or Mount TBR) with over 80% of my reads for the year being 2016 publications. Even in those 20%, a good chunk was read since the sequels/ spinoffs/ sidequels (word of the year following seqoot from last year) were printed in 2016. Continuing with the theme from last year, my Goodreads shelves got incredibly organized with a 2016-tbr and a 2016-read shelf as well.(Something that is quite likely to shock people who know me).

 

As said before, 2016 turned out to be really good for books and my best-of-the year shelf just kept on stacking up right from the start of the year. Given that, it’s just an impossible task to reduce it to 10 books (the holy number) and it just made a whole lot of sense to showcase the 18 books that really stood out for various reasons. As with most lists, it’s highly subjective and personal, and beware as you proceed in deep. In no particular order, barring the 1^st one

 

1. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) – BOOK OF THE YEAR – Pierce Brown:

Read this if you love: fast-paced operatic tales of revenge, heartbreak, bitter-bitter-bitter-sweetness and class struggles

(Review)

 

2. Behind the Throne (The Indranan War #1) – KB Wagers:

Read this if you always wondered how an actual kid of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher RIP) and Han Solo would turn out to be (not that whiny petulant Kylo Ren); For a kickass female lead who shoots first, ask questions later, if you wanted elements of Indian mythology and culture to figure in space operas

(Review)

 

3. City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) – Robert Jackson Bennet:

Read this if you want a sense of magic, mystery and majesty in your stories, if you believe in a rich tapestry of broken dreams

(Review)

 

4. A Closed & Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) – Becky Chambers:

Read this if you want a rich, positive, hopeful, uplifting experience based on love, longing, loss, identity and redemption

(Review)

 

5. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) – Leigh Bardugo:

Read this if you want a gritty, bloody adventure, plotting and counter plotting and a collection of rogues

(Review)

 

6. Dragon Hunters (The Chronicles of the Exile #2) – Marc Turner:

Read this if you like the Malazan series, large set of characters, back-stabbings and betrayals and dysfunctional families

(Review)

 

7. The Everything Box (Another Coop Heist #1) – Richard Kadrey:

Read this if you love fast-paced heists, Locke Lamora without the grittiness, and smart wordplay

(Review)

 

8. Fellside – MR Carey:

Read this for an exploration of unresolved guilt, redemption and if Arkham was populated by non-super-villains

(Review)

 

9. Fool’s Gold (The Dragon Lords #1) – Jon Hollins:

Read this if you want to have a rollicking good time with a supremely crazy team, insanely humorous chapter titles and as the book says “Guardians of the Galaxy meets the Hobbit”

(Review)

 

10. Hell Divers (Hell Divers Trilogy #1) – Nicholas Sansbury Smith:

Read this if you love post-apocalyptic tales of human survival, broken characters pushing for honor and duty, Snow Piercer and Reign of Fire

(Review)

 

11. Hope & Red (Empire of Storms #1) – Jon Skovron:

Read this for a rousing tale of gritty revenge, and mismatched duos with reversal of gender tropes

(Review)

 

12. The Immortals (Olympus Bound #1) – Jordanna Max Brodsky:

Read this if you like American Gods, Greek & Roman mythology and the duality of Gods & Men with a bit of a classic whodunit

(Review)

 

13. The Last Mortal Bond (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #3) – Brian Staveley:

Read this if you love to read about dysfunctional siblings jockeying for power and epic harsh and gritty endings

(Review)

 

14. Mechanical Failure (Epic Failure #1) – Joe Zieja:

Read this if you love the absurdities in Catch-22, military bureaucratic stupidity, selfish characters turned heroic selfish characters, homicidal robotic barbers and malfunctioning profanity communicators

(Review)

 

15. No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers #3) – Rachel Aaron:

Read this if you think democracy is a bad idea, love an abundance of scheming family members, and distrust dealing with the devil

(Review)

 

16. Poison City (London Tau #1) – Paul Crilley:

Read this if you love South Africa, urban legends, world weary, broken yet driven detective and wise-cracking, snarky, sherry swilling dogs

(Review)

 

17. Saint’s Blood (Greatcoats #3) – Sebastian De Castell:

Read this for swashbuckling swordplay and a love for 3 musketeers, fascinating team dynamics and willingness to dive headlong into suicidal rescue acts

(Review)

 

18. The Wheel of Osheim (The Red Queen’s War #3) – Mark Lawrence:

Almost the book of the year as well, Read this if you love complex characters who are unlike any character you have read so far, black humor, non-linear storytelling and insane reactions to escape from hell

(Review)

 

 

Other Honorable mentions (in no particular order)

1. Stiletto (The Checquy Files #2) – Daniel O’Malley: Read if you are a fan of Deliberate plotting, Brit sense of humor, slightly icky creepy events (Review)
2. This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) – Victoria Schwab: Read if you want to read Romeo & Juliet without the romance and with monsters (Review)
3. Burned (Alex Verus #7) – Benedict Jacka: Read for London based time magic done right and for a thrilling on-the-run book (Review)
4. Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1) – Jay Kristoff: Read if you wish Hogwarts had a bunch of sociopathic teenagers training to be assassins (Review)
5. Time Siege (Time Salvager #2) – Wesley Chu: Read for the consequences of breaking the rules of time travel and broken characters (Review)
6. A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) – VE Schwab: Read for portal travel among multiple Londons and a kick-ass piratical female lead who breaks convention at every turn (Review)
7. The Rise of Io – Wesley Chu: Read if you like voices in your head, plucky characters punching way above their weight and for tales based in the Indian sub-continent (Review)

 

 

A Detached Sense of Profound Sadness

It’s taken a while to get to this. A while hoping that I would be able to get my thoughts in order to offer a structured incisive analysis but hey, who am I kidding? The events of last week just adds on to some of these similarly disquieting events over the past few months and all I have to offer are pop culture references and some bad jokes. If the post sounds even more incoherent and rambling than usual, we blame it all on Thanos

 

The detached sense is really from being an outsider. Not my country, not my problem right? But then, is that really true. The look on Obama’s face as he addressed the country the next day was the one that will truly stand out. A decent man looking at a shattered legacy. A man looking at his country that had let him down. Obama’s term has been marked by his powerlessness at times with opposition for the sake of opposition and he now foresees the corpse of his vision and achievement trampled under the gilded feet of a country and society that instead of looking to the future wants to relive the past

 

When it truly begins to sink in…..

 

But I really think the greater sense of sadness is how the vision of a world that is interconnected, global, open, tolerant and all the good things that we read about in books just seems to belong right there. Between Brexit and this election, one thing that clearly comes out is we are increasingly set for a world that is going to be inward looking to a greater extent. Isolationalism is pretty much going to be the core message and with elections due next year in Germany and France where the inward looking parties now emboldened by the success of bluster, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies, can afford to dream of similar such results.

 

Of course, what everyone really failed to consider is the feelings of those people who voted for Brexit and Trump. These are people who have seen their way of life not improving much or even being bypassed by the nature of things around them and even worse, finding themselves being ridiculed and ignored. Their cause being driven by anger, their votes being their weapons, their voice has been found and it’s proven to be deafening

 

The importance of tech and growing automation is going to make this scenario repeat globally. Low skill jobs are vanishing, there is no stopping progress. To correct what I said, the value of low skill jobs is going down. There will always be someone to do it at a lower cost than what the job is actually worth but to that person, even that lower cost represents something more valuable when they have very little until technology reduces that cost even further. What however is undeniable is, people have to evolve and get more skilled. How does that work unless you get trained or study further. But college education is expensive, the debts are crippling and it’s hard. Why would anyone want to do that? Wouldn’t one rather have the government place a premium on ensuring that it’s citizens are well educated and subsidize education? But no, that requires for a courage to change the status quo, seeks consensus, build bridges and a lot of political will. Hence, the easier route is taken, pander to the lower common denominator since it’s easy and a decision that can be passed on the next generation

 

But as Dr. Ian Malcolm says in Jurassic Park – “the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, I’m simply saying that life, uh… finds a way”. I would like to think that he meant that from a societal evolution as well. We will face bumps on the way, we may even appear to go backward but hopefully we will progress.

 

 

With regards to Trump, I would like to present one of my favorite comic book panels of all time where a comic book was used to make an in-joke on George W Bush

 

The most politically meta comic panel of all time

Speculative Fiction: A Year in Review – Best of 2015

Wow, that’s quite a delayed post innit. Almost half of 2016 gone and this post comes up now. Well, between travel, a couple of personal changes and time to settle in, and of course, the reading for 2016 and also laziness (never forget that), the last few months have pretty much been a blur, leaving hardly any time to write.

 

There is this phrase being used called Peak TV. Basically there is so much television to watch across so many channels (the medium), that its insanely impossible to catch up with all the great television being produced. In a way that is true for genre fiction as well. There are just so many, so many books out there, no matter how much you read, you can barely put a dent in your TBR (To-Be-Read) Mountain. My personal tally was 90 books for 2015, no mean tally (in all modesty :P) and yet, there are books left by the roadside that possibly I will get to someday. On a side note, my TBR shelf has gotten so unmanageable, that I have had to create a subfolder called Priority Backlist to prioritize within TBR itself. The other side effect of having so many releases to catch up per week has forced me to be organized for the first time in my life. I started creating yearly lists to read and also to capture what has been read (My 2016 TBR Shelf, 2016 Read Shelf). As I have mentioned in my posts in previous years (here and here), my reading habits have become extremely contemporary, with almost 90% of what I read being something that is released in the current year. Only in cases where a later book in a series I do want to catch up comes out, do I go back in time to read.

 

Physical books seem to be making a comeback according to quite a few reports. If that happens, that’s quite the reversal when the death of physical books was shouted from everywhere once ebooks starts gaining prominence and relevance. It may be a temporary fightback since the future is pretty much going to be digital. From my side, I barely read 3 physical books. Else, it has all been ebooks. As I never get tired of saying, the sheer convenience of able to read a book anywhere using a device that is with you the most (the phone) and the ability to seamlessly sync across devices, makes ebooks a winner.

 

2015 saw an amazing number of fantastic releases on paper and to a great extent, they lived up to it. What I have below is my curated, supremely subjective, extremely unscientific list of the best 2015 had to offer. While I do have the books in no particular order below, some books in this list will remain very close to my heart and for various reasons that I will detail below.

 

1. Red Rising/ Golden Son – Pierce Brown : Read this: If you love fast-paced operatic tales of revenge , class struggle and brutal twists

Easily, the best read of the year. My review description for the book read as follows, “If Lord of the Flies, Ender’s Game and the Hunger Games had a ménage a trios (with a helping hand from The Count of Monte Cristo) and produced an offspring, that would be this book” and I see no reason to change the description. Both books are brutal. Fundamentally trying to engineer a revolution, the class struggle led by the hidden agent, the chief protagonist Darrow, is a brutal read. Pierce Brown crafts an absolutely fascinating world and an eternal timeless struggle. With an absolutely unputdownable pace, compelling storytelling and bloody brutal violent twists, The Red Rising series is well on its way to be rated as an absolutely brilliant modern great

 

 

2. The Liar’s Key (The Red Queen’s War #2) – Mark Lawrence – Read this: If you love complex characters who you love to hate but can’t. Also, for black humor-based one-liners

 

Mark Lawrence has yet to write a bad book and it’s amazing how he manages to craft a compelling lead out of the dregs that humanity has to offer and humanizes then. Jorg was an easy character to hate and yet root for. But Jalan (the lead character here) is different. He is a coward, a womanizer, selfish, capricious, a lush and yet Lawrence adds layer on layer to him, making what on paper seems an uni-dimensional character, greater. That is not to say Jalan becomes a hero, fair from it but there is something underneath that is shaped by circumstances past and present. Humor is never far away but the undertone is always gallow.

 

 

3. Fool’s Quest (The Fitz and The Fool #2) – Robin Hobb – Read this: If you love reading highly emotional, beautiful writing and deeply flawed, human and complex characters

 

This book is truly wonderfully special as it has THAT Fitz moment we have waited, 8 books and (since I read the Farseer trilogy in 2005) 10 years for. But with that moment comes the dread, as you know any moment of high for Fitz pretty much leads to a debilitating low and that’s pretty much what happens. Robin Hobb remains one of those authors who will use 10 words when 1 would suffice and that hardly matters. You could have her write down a shopping list and I would read it. Exquisitely beautiful.

 

 

4. Escape from Baghdad – Saad Hossain – Read this: If you love Catch-22 and Three Kings, and want a slightly more accessible, relatable book detailing a war from our times

 

The best stand-alone book of the year, Escape from Baghdad is a fantastic book that almost brings to the life the absurdity, the hidden political allegory and anger of the movie, 3 Kings and Brian K Vaughan’s The Pride of Baghdad. You don’t need to be a genre fiction fan to pick this up. The book combines black gallows humor with a dose of slapstick and buffoonery associated with the inept, bumbling characters and war profiteering and chicanery in the simmering cauldron of Baghdad. The city’s history and mythology serves as a fantastic supporting character in this fabulous madcap tale

 

 

5. Nice Dragons Finish Last/ One Good Dragon Deserves Another (Heartstrikers series) – Rachel Aaron – Read this: If you love dragons, fast paced stories and underdogs. Also, if you love dysfunctional families

 

Rachel Aaron crafts a fantastic and fascinating world where dragons exist and can take human form. In this world, she introduces Julius Heartstriker, the youngest of the clan, a lazy, cowardly dragon locked in human form by the Heartstriker matriarch as a punishment for being totally useless. What follows is a breathtaking journey of politics and betrayal amidst intricate world building. With a no-hold-barred plotting, selfish and mad matriarchs, madder seers, there is hardly a dull moment in this action packed, humorous tale

 

 

6. The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2) – Brian Staveley – Read this: If you love dysfunctional families and old-fashioned epic fantasy

 

Who doesn’t love dysfunctional siblings trying to kill, for a throne, manipulated by outside interests? Staveley’s debut novel was pretty much old wine in a new bottle. What Staveley does right is to address the justified criticism of the 1^st book where the female lead got the short shrift. Here, Adare gets an equal role to her brothers as she learns what it means to be a politician and a ruler. The overarching stakes are revealed even as the invisible puppet masters reveal themselves slowly.  Staveley has got an easy pace and style of writing. This is truly epic fantasy done right and in the new age style

 

 

7. The Aeronaut’s Windlass – Jim Butcher – Read this: If you love air battles, new magic systems, non-stop action and cats!!!

 

Butcher writes for the fans in all of us and he doesn’t disappoint with his new series. Set in a steampunk setting in a world built on spires, the non-stop thrill a minute entertainer hits the ground running (bad pun given we have air ships here). He introduces a motley bunch, juggles the POVs well and even has time to indulge in cat dramatics. As always, packed with humor and thrills, this looks like another winner and a series to stay

 

 

8. The Autumn Republic (Powder Mage #3) – Brian McClellan – Read this: If you love Brandon Sanderson style of storytelling and bitter-sweet endings

 

An epic conclusion to the Powder Mage trilogy, the final book does not disappoint. The pace is as frenetic as ever but not at the expense of character development. The body count is high, the action is exhilarating and exhausting and the end is typically epic and satisfying. Gut wrenching and moving, even if you see the end coming from when the 1^st book started. A tale that encompasses gods, mortals and privileged, the battle scenes are top notch and the politicking is clever.

 

 

9. The Prophecy Con/ The Paladin Caper (Rogues of the Republic series) – Patrick Weekes – Read this: If you love Ocean’s 11, Lies of Locke Lamora, large and non-homogenous cast, witty asides and sarcastic retorts

 

Clever, wonderful, cute and entertaining, this is one of those books that you pick up and read when you are alone. Because if you read it in a public space, you cannot stop laughing out loud and thereby earning quite a few concerned glances directed towards you. The cast is really juggled immensely well and everyone gets a chance to shine. The pacing is breathtaking (literally as well) and the series ends quite neatly as well

 

 

10. Knight’s Shadow (Greatcoats #2) – Sebastian de Castell – Read this: If you love 3 Musketeers, swashbuckling swordplay, first person narrative and humor

 

Knight’s Shadow forced me to think up a new genre – the grindark. There is just enough humor packed in the narrative to hide the darkness that permeates through the book. Continuing in vein of book 1, our intrepid band of Greatcoats try to fulfill their dead king’s wishes even as the country rebel against them and pretty much tries to go up in flames. The action sequences are details and fantastic. The swordplay sequences are quite intimate and in your face and fast. The character dynamics are supremely awesome and each character has such a unique voice. The betrayals are hard and deadly and make this an entirely compelling read

 

 

Almost in top 10 (in no particular order)

 

1. Gemini Cell – Myke Cole :Read this: if you like military fantasy, unique magic systems and conspiracies

 

2. The Rebirths of Tao (Tao #3) – Wesley Chu:Read this: if you are a desk-bound internet warrior who dreams of saving the world and if you like voices in your head

 

3. Generation V/ Iron Night/ Tainted Blood/ Dark Ascension (Generation V) – ML Brennan:Read this: if you like non-Twilighty Vampires, The Godfather and dysfunctional families

 

4. Dark Run – Mike Brooks :Read this: if you like Firefly, space operas and awesome fun team dynamics

 

5. Wake of Vultures (The Shadow #1) – Lila Bowen:Read this: if you like the wild, wild and weird westerns and kick-ass non-conformist female leads

My Goodreads shelf for 2015

 

Batman v Superman: Snyder’s vision is suitably operatic, epic and a mess

TL:DR – Gorgeous production values, superb set pieces, throbbing thumping background score and isolated moments of goosebumpy brilliance cannot make up for a muddled script that ultimately makes up for a inconsistent and frustrating movie. Oh and Batfleck is actually pretty decent in the role

 

 

Full Review

 

“It begins as a whisper… a promise… the lightest of breezes dances above the death cries of 300 men. That breeze became a wind. A wind of freedom… a wind of justice… a wind of vengeance”… This is how the sequel to 300 begins and words that particularly pertinent to BvS. 300 was the movie that made Zack Snyder his name so as to speak and quite literally landed him the keys to the DC Kingdom

 

The whisper, the promise was the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the set of interconnected yet standalone movies that would prove to be a perpetual money spinner. The wind being the others, Sony attempted to do a Spiderman Connected Universe, Fox wanted to do one with the X-men and Fantastic Four, both Sony and Fox with their Marvel properties and then not to be left behind, Warner Brothers with their whole library of DC characters

 

Man of Steel (MoS) was the Superman re-launch vehicle and it was never considered to be set up the DC Universe but things did fall propitiously into place. MoS was in tone a different beast from the MCU. Grim, somber, you could call it realistic and the ensuring carnage when Superman and Zod, 2 beings possessing superhuman strength reducing downtown Metropolis to rubble earned a lot of critical disdain but definitely helped set up BvS (Yes, I am aware of the irony of talking about realistic given the context of super humans dueling in midair and leveling cities)

 

BvS starts off with the obligatory death of Bruce Wayne’s parents and then moves to the climax of the Superman vs Zod slugfest with Bruce Wayne catching the fag end of it as the 2 duelling superhuman reduce a Wayne office building to rubble fueling Bruce Wayne’s (and hence, Batman’s) hate for Superman. Superman does not approve of the increasingly violent Batman who brands and marks criminals and Lex Luthor plays the neurotic puppeteer orchestrating the gladiatorial death match advertised in the title.

 

I admit I did love MoS. Snyder has a reputation of being a style over substance director and MoS was a nice break from that reputation. The movie did go over what it meant to be Superman in this age of cynicism and selfishness and until the obligatory requirements of action set pieces befitting a summer superhero blockbuster movie intervened, an examination into the choices a conflicted super-being had

 

BvS falls into the same category. It is grim and dark. But where it really suffers from is a lack of identity. The movie has to serve as a sequel to MoS, introduce Batman to this universe and act as a set up for the Justice League movie. Even with these spinning parts, the movie tries to touch on Superman’s identity in a world that maybe does not need him, the broader political ramifications of the actions Superman takes, who is he answerable to, why is Batman so bitter, what is Wonder Woman searching for, who are the other meta humans, coupled with (k)nightmare/ dream sequences that our heroes faces. A whole lot of balls up in the air and predictably the movie crumbling under the weight of all the moving parts, fails

 

But what a failure. What a glorious failure. This is a failure that reeks of ambition. A simple competent script that really doesn’t do much plot wise, moves it along using Maguffins, snappy repartees, a bit of nostalgia and longing (ala Avenger/ The Force Awakens) would have definitely worked better but would not have distinguished it from the increasingly saturated and almost uniformly sanitized superhero releases in the market

 

Coming to the performances itself, Ben Affleck is a surprise. The outcry when he was announced to be Batman was shrilly negative to put it mildly and his turn as the brooding, dark, gritty, grizzled and violent Batman is great. He also gets a great combat sequence that beats any from previous Batman movies. Cavill as Superman continues his good work and his confusion and internal conflict on the role Superman has in society is well etched. However, he does kind of get second billing, not just in title or credits but also in terms of his impact in the movie (except for the climax). For someone who barely has 16 lines in the movie, Gal Gadot steals the show whenever she appears on screen. While the trailers definitely spoiled the moment of the movie before hand, it still is a massive moment when Wonder Woman enters the fray accompanied by a frantic tribal background score.

 

 

On the flip side, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor just did not work out. While I understand the direction DC wants to take, there are certain canonical things you don’t mess around with. You don’t make Lex Luthor a combination of Lex, Joker and the Riddler. With this usual tics and nervous energy hammed upto 11, this was a rather painful Lex Luthor. Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons and Holly Hunter get to play significant cameos in the movie with Irons proving to be a total delight as Alfred

 

The titular Batman vs Superman fight is bloody awesome and worth the hype. It would have definitely helped if the Doomsday reveal hadn’t happened in the trailer but that conflict is also quite awesome and things really perk up once Wonder Woman gets into the action. The Justice League set up/ introduction takes a leaf from the Marvel movie and definitely as clumsily shoehorned into the plot

 

Critics have shredded the movie and I don’t blame them, but it definitely is not as bad as it is made out to be. Yes, there is a sense of disappointment and frustration given the hype, the expectation and the almost unbelievable sense of buildup for the last 30 odd months (ever since the announcement at San Diego Comic Con) but given this is the dawn of Justice League, one cant help but still be excited and hopefully, now that this bogeyman is off the back. Bring on the Suicide Squad, up next!!!

 

PS: Lex’s warning/ premonition on the big bad coming and the (k)nightmare with the Omega symbol and parademon could pretty much only mean Darkseid na.. Dang, that is awesome…

 

PPS: Flash coming back in time to warn Batman again is as much a DC lore as it can get

 

PPPS: Cool callout to the Wonder Woman movie. Given Gadot’s limited screen time and yet great impact, we are properly primed for that movie. Oh and Chris Pine 🙂

 

PPPPS (last one I promise): First thing I did coming home was to grab Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns to go through the epic Batman vs Superman fight and Batman’s majestically epic takedown dialog to Superman

 

 

Best of 2015 Movies – The Blockbuster version

With 2015 coming to an end and 2016 starting off without a break, it’s time to take a look back. As inevitable as someone cracking the “See you next year” line on New Year’s Eve, what this pretty much entails is building a list, a list of anything that one can kind of think of and do justice to the whole bunch of movies put out this year. To a great extent, a list of the top movies is pretty much an exercise in subjectivity, bias and as far moved away from a scientific approach as possible which is pretty much how this particular list below has also been generated apart from incorporating a few basic parameters like fun had, re-watchability, quality etc

 

This blog has never been shy about its love for the spectacle, joy and entertainment that a blockbuster movie brings to the screen (well, hence the title for this post) and paying tribute to the best blockbuster movies of the year is usually more about wondering which movie to leave out. The expectations for 2015 blockbuster movie were quite high given how quite wonderful 2014 had turned out to be and the slate of movies 2015 had in schedule – sequels to prior awesome movies, reboots of previously successful and beloved (in some cases) franchises, original property from acclaimed directors amongst them. In a way, those expectations were met and exceeded. Box office numbers from these movies were the highest ever and new opening week records were set and reset through the course of the year. But that isn’t really the true judge of the quality of a movie and the list below indicates pretty much that.

 

 

Mad Max: Fury Road spent quite some time in development hell and production dungeon before the sheer insane driving force and stubborn vision of George Miller brought it to life and is easily the movie of the year. The title pretty much conveys the mad and furious nature of what is essentially a chase movie but a chase done with so much style, unrelenting fierceness and with surprising amount of substance in its subtext, that it was viewed multiple time on the big screen. Make no mistake, this is edge of the seat, nerve wracking, pulse throbbing action packed visceral ride backed by some absolutely crazy stunt work and vehicular homicide set to a pretty kickass music score and creative imagery. Who can forget the Doof Warrior setting the tone for the chase playing a flaming guitar in a red onesie surrounded by gigantic heavy duty speaker systems? Lest it feels that the actors in the movie are just superfluous, banish the thought. Charlize Theron gets to play an awesomely strong lead character while Tom Hardy, relegated to a support character despite being the titular lead, conveys a fair amount of desperation and horror at the situation he finds himself in and how the world turned out to be

 

Speaking of horror, Crimson Peak by Guillermo Del Toro is less a horror movie as advertised and more a creepy movie but built and designed through all the love GDT can lavish on, through arresting visuals and fantastic set design. This is a slow burn movie that in the first half does spend a fair amount of time focusing on the Tom Hiddlestone , an aura of charm, mystery and tragedy around him, who is front and center until the second half where Jessica Chastain comes into prominence. Mia Wasikowska brings in the right amount of vulnerability and naivety to the role. Deeply atmospheric, this is a moody film that takes its own sweet time and pace until rushes to the climax

 

 

The opposite of atmospheric is the delightful romp, The Man from UNCLE – a movie that is all style but not so much substance. With the typical Guy Ritchie touches and flourishes, the movie is a fun ride with the cast playing perfectly off each other. Henry Cavill as the charismatic American agent Solo, Arnie Hammer as the dour upright Ilya and the delightful Alicia Vikander playing the supposed damsel in distress display fantastic chemistry and antagonism even as they try to work together towards common goals which each pursues their own agenda as they try to work each other out

 

 

Movies often deal with managing the feeling towards an external party but it takes a Pixar special to help us understand how feelings work internally and why even the so-called negative feelings are important. A strong contender for the best animated movie Oscar, Inside Out visualizes and gives shape to each feeling, and how these feelings are responsible for the development of personality in a human being. Shaping it like an adventure, this movie for kids and not for kids truly a wonderful, subtle and innovative piece of movie making

 

 

Subtlety is not usually a feature associated with the Fast and Furious franchise and with the untimely death of Paul Walker, there were fears indeed on how badly that would play out. However, Furious 7 assuages those fears and gives Paul Walker a truly emotional and heartfelt send-off that is just perfect and in no way feels crass. The rest of the movie is suitably loud with over the top stunts and wafer thin plot keeping in line with the rest of the series. There is a sever sense of foreboding but James Wan takes it in a different direction than expected. Kurt Russell pops in as a secret government agent but really hams it up having a lot of fun while Jason Statham plays the bad guy proving to be quite a physical match to Vin Diesel

 

 

Physicality and combat skills are what we expect from Jason Statham but displaying a vein of comedy hitherto never seen before, his extended cameo almost steals the limelight from a perfectly cast Melissa McCarthy in Spy. An action comedy thriller from Paul Feig, with a storyline that zips through the kind of global locations a James Bond movie would use, McCarthy plays the relegated desk agent who gets into the field with refreshing candor and allows her to naturally evolve from her timid self to the profane, cursing, headstrong Melissa McCarthy that we are familiar with. For all the comedy in the movie, the action is perfectly balanced and often searing humorous dialogs are deadpanned, mostly by the indestructible Jason Statham. Jude Law has a ball as well playing the suave James Bond kind of agent

 

 

There is a moment in the delightful movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service, where the stiff upper lipped Michael Caine superciliously tries to guess what Eggsy’s dog’s name JB stands for. He goes for the usual James Bond/ Jason Bourne only to be told that it stands for Jack Bauer, slyly indicating that this ain’t that kind of movie; A movie that hides its penchant for violence and spilling blood under a stylish veneer of genteel British manners, accent and gentlemen clothing. Who would have thought Colin Firth would make such a fantastic action hero or Samuel Jackson as a limp wimpy villain except for the super talented Matthew Vaughn. The movie is ridiculously fast paced and entertaining while being playful at the same time and boldly R-rated violent, one of the best comic book movies of the year

 

 

One of the best books of last year was written to be made into a movie and with Ridley Scott behind the megaphone and with the pitch perfect casting of Matt Damon, The Martian turned out to be a fantastic movie. The key challenge in converting the book to the movie was in condensing the numerous monologues that Mark Watney, the stranded astronaut has with himself and that has been handled adroitly through video logs. Martian is a nifty piece of film making and more than anything is a feel good movie. The pace hardly every sags and Damon acts the sh*t out of it, never despondent and displaying the right amount of cockiness, resilience and spunk to make you root for him. The supporting cast is great as well even if they do have a fairly limited role in this Man vs Space contest

 

 

Space: The Final frontier – that’s how Star Trek begins. But this is not about Star Trek but about the other not-so-small Star movie that was released a few days back (and also a reason why this post didn’t come out immediately after the blockbuster season). In what can only be politely described as a seqoot (sequel + reboot), JJ Abrams manages the expectation of possibly the biggest and the most rabid fanbase in delivering a Star Wars movie, that is indeed a Star Wars movie. Star Wars: The Force Awakens brings in the old and the new in a tried and tested formula that repeats the beats of A New Hope but offers just that enough amount of divergence to make it stand on its own. Right from the goosebumpy John Williams score on the opening scroll to the appearance of the Millennium Falcon to the climatic set piece, the movie is a blast. What Abrams does well enough is to provide just that right amount of twist to set up exciting possibilities that will allow future sequels to run in a different direction and he is helped in this by the new cast. Daisy Ridley, an unknown face pretty much becomes the face of this new set of movies while John Boyega carries off his role with aplomb.

 

These 8 movies were the best that the blockbuster season had to offer. While this season was commercially more successful than the previous one, last year had a larger number of movies that were pretty good. 2016 is likely to be interesting with a slate of superhero properties guaranteed to make a lot of money scheduled to be released. Batman vs Superman, Civil War, Rogue One are ones that could definitely come close to breaking some of the records set this year and one really does hope that these movies turn out to be good as well

 

PS: For those wondering about the Avengers sized omission to the blockbuster list, Age of Ultron was a movie struggling under the weight of having to do too many things – serve as a worthy successor to Avengers, Set up Infinity War, Set up Civil War, Set up Thor: Ragnarok while introducing new characters we could get behind. It definitely wasn’t a surprise that the movie while remaining good in parts never came together as a cohesive whole. The moments where the team come together, share quieter moments are the best parts of the movie and in true Whedon style, the bantering, the quips and the humor are tremendously engaging.

 

PPS: Jurassic World was the other significant omission from this list. Well, the movie was oddly disjointed except for when the dinos come up on screen. Chris Pratt is quite engaging but I am not sure if the rough and tough hard guy role really suits him

 

PPPS: Other movies that were good but not great – MI5 and Ant-Man. MI5 had quite its share of thrills and the movie really gave us an awesomely fascinating female lead who could go toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise in Rebecca Ferguson. Paul Rudd is great as Ant-Man with just the right balance between humor and action but given this is an origin movie, it pretty much goes through the checklist approach. To be fair, the climatic fight is actually good and inventive and features Thomas the Tank Engine as well

Best of 2014 – The Anti-Oscar version (aka the Wheres my Popcorn version)

A truly remarkable year, the 2014 blockbuster season turned out to be. The usual summer blockbuster season throws up at most 2 or 3 movies that truly can be considered in a best of the year list but this year proved to be a remarkable outlier necessitating a split in my usual best of the year list. A gobsmacking medley of dragons, future tech and dystopian sci-fi combined with what was a strong year for comic book movies (read Marvel) and unconventional indie directors bringing their A-game for big budget movies elevated this year and in the process, sets up quite an unfair expectation for 2015. (Age of Ultron & Star Wars, please don’t suck please don’t suck)

This is indeed an anti-establishment list. A recognition of movies that inevitably are the ones folks wish to flock to and enjoyed on the big screen. This also serves as a recognition for movies that quite do not harbor pretentions of grandeur to quite attempt to make it to an Oscar list as well. While of course this is not meant as an attempt to belittle the movies that aim for the Oscars but the fundamental underlying truth about movies are they are meant to entertain.

In no particular order,

1. The Lego Movie – How does a movie which came out through the very concept of big culture, franchise and money (read Hasbro) turn out to be the very anti-thesis of it. Supremely witty, cool and espousing individuality, the movie is anchored by some truly cool voice acting, an engaging plot and some truly astounding cameos. Gorgeously shot, the wit and humor in the movie adds luster to what is indeed a heartwarming story. And one cannot watch the movie and not hum Everything is Awesome J. Lego Batman has to the character of the year. Lord & Miller direct what is indeed one of the most self-aware, tongue-in-cheek animated comedies of all times

2. Snowpiercer – Snowpiercer is one half of the answer to the question if one can truly make smart science fiction movies. Set in a future frozen earth where the only survivors are on a train that runs around the world perpetually, this is a class warfare movie where the rich stay close to the engine and get to enjoy all the luxuries while the poor stay towards the end of the train in cramped horrendous quarters, subject to random examinations and torture whilst waiting for their next meal to be delivered to them. Led by comic book star Chris Evans (the number of non-superhero comic book moves that the guy has done is simply amazing. A true genre star) and supported by Tilda Swinton (unrecognizable), Jamie Bell and the ever awesome Ed Harris, this is a no-holds-barred movie that has deeper philosophical ruminations and fantastic action set pieces even if downright brutal and bloody. The backstories, the betrayals and the twists keep on coming in what is a hugely ambitious, not an easy to follow movie

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Turning a character who was kind of a running joke in Avengers into a more relevant rounded character is probably the greatest achievement of the movie. A tense suave political thriller that deals with the concept of security and freedom, the title is the weakest link of the movie (along with a saggy mid portion). More of a cop buddy team up of Captain America, Black Widow and the Falcon, the movie rockets in what is now a Marvel Studio template with not too many dull moments and unexpected humorous moments along with great action set pieces. The titular character of Winter Soldier is bit of a blank slate while it’s awesome to see Robert Redford display his usual brand of authority and charm and regal elegance in what is effectively a genre movie. A shout out to the terrific background score from Henry Jackman

4. Godzilla: Gareth Edwards’ Monsters was a supremely under-rated movie that pretty much told a love story in midst of an alien invasion where the focus was on the story and gimmicks of the monster kept to a minimum. Thankfully the same technique is applied here where the focus on the monster, Godzilla, is kept to a minimum until the right moment wherein Gojira is shown in his full glory. Gareth Edwards tries to craft a human story amidst the carnage which works well when Bryan Cranston is on screen but less successfully with Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Ensuring that one forgets the debacle of the previous Godzilla movie, this is a movie with some cool shots. The HALO jump against the silhouette of the Godzilla is among the shots of the year and there is a great money shot of Godzilla which renders the prior shrouding seem like a minor irritant. Clearly, less is more for Gareth Edwards

5. X-Men: Days of the Future Past – Retroactive continuity changes done well is such a treat and X-Men DOFP needed one such retcon to wash away the stink of X-Men: Last Stand. Adapting the seminal Chris Claremont’s Days of Future Past, and ensuring that Logan (the face of the franchise) makes the trip back in time, this is a wonderful adaptation. With 2 timelines in play, albeit the past playing a bigger role, there is nary a dull moment and the character interactions are fantastically wonderful, be it the simmering anger between James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender or the comfortable familiarity of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart or the palpable tension between Hugh Jackman and Fassbender or any interaction of McAvoy or Fassbender with Jennifer Lawrence. In midst of all the lead character interactions, Peter Dinklage admittedly gets a raw deal. But the movie makes up with one of the coolest action sequences of the year with the Magneto jailbreak

6. The Raid 2 – How do you top what is the greatest action movie of this decade? By going bigger and being more ambitious. If the Raid was the Godfather of action movie, the Raid 2 is verily the Godfather 2. The action sequences are even more inventive, brutal and violent. This is no-holds barred, take no prisoner level evisceration of the highest order. There is actually an attempt to build a Godfather level storyline which merely serves as moments to catch your breath before the next breathless inventive action set piece is unleashed. Hammers, baseball, and cleaning implements are verily the new weapons of mass destruction.

7. Edge of Tomorrow – Originally supremely kick-assedly titled All You Need is Kill, the movie weaves the Gorundhog day concept into a kick-ass action movie that runs through the aid of a tight screenplay, nifty editing and terrific moments of humor. Tom Cruise while looking all his age, still has the requisite charisma and everyman bumbling to make the character work while Emily Blunt has that no-nonsense look and attitude down to the T, making you wonder why she hasn’t been tapped to play any of the upcoming female superheroes. While the ending is a bit of a wimp out, that cannot be extended to the rest of the movie. One of the big disappointments remains on how it was such a box office clunker.

8. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – I repeat what I have been saying for a few years now. Someone just create a new category for Motion capture and give Andy Serkis the award, although Toby Kebbell runs him pretty close. A worthy follow up to what was a surprise hit in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this takes the confrontation between what is a clearly decimated human group and apes to a new level. With fringe elements causing damage at both ends, this is a nuanced thriller.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy – Admittedly the riskiest of the Marvel gambles especially given the unfamiliarity of the characters, this turned out to be easily the movie that provided the most awesome fun of the year. James Gunn has to be given all the credit for doing what it took for movies preceding the Avengers to do, establishing the characters and team dynamics in just over 2 hours and making us care of the characters. Chris Pratt proved to be a surprisingly cool lead with genre actress Zoe Saldana further burnishing her creds in this space. Rocket Raccoon was a surprisingly tragic character for a homicidal trigger happy bounty hunter, Groot, for his 3 words, delivered so much with his voice inflection and Drax with his ability to take words literally, make for a supremely entertaining team up. With music playing such a fascinating role in the movie, its really no surprise that this movie ranks among my favorite movies of the year, with the sore point being the fairly one note underdeveloped villain (waste of a role for Lee Pace sadly). The world building is remarkable for a movie that starts fresh and in true Marvel vein, the humor element make it’s a wonderfully engaging movie

10. John Wick – A Keanu Reeves movie that is undeniably solid fun. The last movie I saw with so much gun kata or gun-fu and body count was the Christian Bale starred Equilibrium. This is a movie that is all style and no substance but what glorious style. The movie makes maximum use of the limited expressions Keanu Reeves is capable of and doesn’t waste too much of the audience’s time in making him try to act. Though to be fair, Keanu Reeves’ façade cracks just enough to express grief before he gets on with his act of reducing the world’s population of mobsters. The charm of the movie also lies in the cameos of notable characters as well as the exclusive neutral grounds territory of a hotel where all the baddies stay.

Movies that almost made the list – How to train your dragon 2, Big Hero 6

Speculative Fiction: A Year in Review – Best of 2014

Welcome to the 2^nd edition of the review of the best Speculative Fiction books of the year. And this turned out to be one hell of a year to be a reader. A whole bunch of awesome boundary pushing books, promising debuts, and the Grim Dark getting grimmer and darker.

In 2014, I completed 91 books mostly from the fantasy genre with a smattering of sci-fi, other fiction genres, non-fiction ending the year trawling the last 3 years of DC verse of Batman, Justice League and the Big Events. This huge jump in reading was primarily attributable to 2 interlinked reasons, the sheer increase of domestic travel and the increasing comfort of reading books on the mobile. In fact, of the 80 odd books (removing the graphic novels), I potentially would have read atleast 50% of them on the mobile phone. With phone batteries being what they are, the most useful acquisition of the year happened to the portable charger. Such a life saver it turned out to be.

Creating a best of list for the year turned out to be such a big pain. While ratings were captured diligently at Goodreads (the biggest change from last year, where I was on Shelfari), ratings sometimes are not true reflectors of what you really feel for the book and sometimes, it requires you to revisit a book again to really get a sense of what you missed in between the numerous flights and travel tensions

While the top 10 books are in no particular order, 2 books stand out among them for books of the year and make it nigh high impossible to select the first among equals. Without much ado, the top 10 below

1) The Martian by Andy Weir (Joint Best of the Year)

Synopsis

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he’s stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive–and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills–and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit–he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

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A brilliantly narrated book all the way through with such an awesome voice. In the hands of any other writer, this would have come as whiny but Andy Weir infuses Mark Watney with such a fantastic attitude and spunk, the book never ever feels wrong. A bit technical but easily followable (and even if not, just go with the flow), this is one hell of a tale. Easily among the most accessible books of the year, this is a book for all ages and one of the books that can be recommended without any fear to anyone (My personal stats on this one is 33 recommendations and barring one who has not completed the book, not a single dissenting voice). While it’s set on Mars, this is not really sci-fi. It’s just pure escapist thriller

 

 

2) Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (Joint Best of the Year)

Synopsis

Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house at Withywoods with his beloved wife Molly these many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.

But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more…

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz’s violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe

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Why does a book where nothing really happens for 80% of the book figure as the top book of the year? For the simple reason that its written by Robin Hobb and features FitzChivalry Farseer. Actually, by this time Hobb could just have Fitz writing down a shopping list and I would buy that. Hobb’s writing is emotional. Period. There is a sense of loss, nostalgia and simple happiness permeating right through the book. That in reality is the magic and among the reasons why we read books. Absolutely lovely

 

3) Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, Book 2)

Synopsis

Six years ago, the Assassin in White, a hireling of the inscrutable Parshendi, assassinated the Alethi king on the very night a treaty between men and Parshendi was being celebrated. So began the Vengeance Pact among the highprinces of Alethkar and the War of Reckoning against the Parshendi.

Now the Assassin is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status “darkeyes.” Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.

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Putting the epic in epic fantasy, book 2 of the Stormlight Archive is a massive tome. In fact, as Sanderson calls it, the book is a trilogy in itself. Packing in tons of epic moments and action set pieces, Sanderson does a fantastic job in crafting what is likely to be his magnum opus. While Way of Kings had to spend a fair bit of time in context setting and exposition, Words of Radiance fairly breezes through even if there is the whiny angst of Kaladin to contend with before he embraces his heroic nature to save the day. Brandon Sanderson answers a whole bunch of questions this early in the series while serving up a lot more. Terrific

 

4) Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence

Synopsis

The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire dread her like no other. For all her reign, she has fought the long war, contested in secret, against the powers that stand behind nations, for higher stakes than land or gold. Her greatest weapon is The Silent Sister—unseen by most and unspoken of by all.

The Red Queen’s grandson, Prince Jalan Kendeth—drinker, gambler, seducer of women—is one who can see The Silent Sister. Tenth in line for the throne and content with his role as a minor royal, he pretends that the hideous crone is not there. But war is coming. Witnesses claim an undead army is on the march, and the Red Queen has called on her family to defend the realm. Jal thinks it’s all a rumor—nothing that will affect him—but he is wrong.

After escaping a death trap set by the Silent Sister, Jal finds his fate magically intertwined with a fierce Norse warrior. As the two undertake a journey across the Empire to undo the spell, encountering grave dangers, willing women, and an upstart prince named Jorg Ancrath along the way, Jalan gradually catches a glimmer of the truth: he and the Norseman are but pieces in a game, part of a series of moves in the long war—and the Red Queen controls the board

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Mark Lawrence’s debut trilogy was a hit or miss. You either loved it or hated it based on how you liked Jorg Ancranth, who can be mildly described as a psychopathic hero (I Loved it). Set in the same world, Mark Lawrence debuts his next series this time featuring a coward, womanizer and a liar as the lead. Prince Jallan (Jal for short) is unlike any lead you would have encountered. Paired with a strapping northman (Viking) Snorri who is his exact opposite, this makes for one hell of a buddy pairing as the pair travel north bound to each other by a curse. This is the kind of book where the one liners just keep on coming but the general grimness never seems to ease. A worthy addition to the Broken Empire series, this seems decidedly a better book compared to Prince of Thorns. Prince of Thorns had the shock value of Jorg while this one is just so well written more than anything

 

5) Breach Zone by Myke Cole

Synopsis

The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent,” developing terrifying powers—summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touch ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…

In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.

In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind.

When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In order to redeem himself with the military, Harlequin will be forced to face off with this havoc-wreaking woman from his past, warped by her power into something evil…

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A delicious action packed romp, Myke Cole concludes the Shadow Ops trilogy in grand style. Mixing the mile a minute action with quieter moments that build up the supporting cast from previous book who take center stage here, what follows is a rival-the-Avengers-style attack on Manhattan that is in parts exhilarating and in parts terrifying. The book handles the military side of the conflict supremely well even if the political resolution seems a bit hurried. But this is a world that bears revisiting and here’s hoping for more books in the same universe from Myke Cole

 

6) City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Synopsis

Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city’s proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power.

Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Divani. Officially, the quiet mousy woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country’s most accomplished spymasters-dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian.

As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem-and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well

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City of Stairs is Robert Bennett’s first foray into epic fantasy and what a book this turns out to be. City of Stairs turns out to be richly majestic. A book that starts out as a murder mystery morphs into a spy thriller featuring dead gods, miracles, spies among others. The central character here is the city of Bulikov which cedes its secrets very reluctantly. With an awesome female lead character and a Viking like prince as her support, the tropes are neatly turned. The book takes sometime going but once it starts, there is no way it can be kept down. Also among the few books I rated 5 stars for the year

 

7) The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone

Synopsis

THREE PARTS DEAD (Book 1)

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.

When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs

TWO SERPENTS RISE (Book 2)

Shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc — casual gambler and professional risk manager — to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex. At the scene of the crime, Caleb finds an alluring and clever cliff runner, crazy Mal, who easily outpaces him.

But Caleb has more than the demon infestation, Mal, or job security to worry about when he discovers that his father — the last priest of the old gods and leader of the True Quechal terrorists — has broken into his home and is wanted in connection to the attacks on the water supply.

From the beginning, Caleb and Mal are bound by lust, Craft, and chance, as both play a dangerous game where gods and people are pawns. They sleep on water, they dance in fire… and all the while the Twin Serpents slumbering beneath the earth are stirring, and they are hungry

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A bit of cheat here since this one features the 1^st 2 books in the series, Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise. This is one damn inventive innovative piece of work. The sheer brilliance in world building carries both the books. Three Parts Dead has quite the characters and interactions, while Two Serpents Rise suffers a bit from having not so great a chemistry between the lead pair. While we do not follow the same characters in both the books, the world shared is the same and it’s a testament to Gladstone’s skills that he has crafted (all pun intended) a very vibrant different world in each book

 

8) The Widow’s House by Daniel Abraham

Synopsis

THE RISE OF THE DRAGON AND THE FALL OF KINGS

Lord Regent Geder Palliako’s war has led his nation and the priests of the spider goddess to victory after victory. No power has withstood him, except for the heart of the one woman he desires. As the violence builds and the cracks in his rule begin to show, he will risk everything to gain her love or else her destruction.

Clara Kalliam, the loyal traitor, is torn between the woman she once was and the woman she has become. With her sons on all sides of the conflict, her house cannot stand, but there is a power in choosing when and how to fall.

And in Porte Oliva, banker Cithrin bel Sarcour and Captain Marcus Wester learn the terrible truth that links this war to the fall of the dragons millennia before, and that to save the world, Cithrin must conquer it

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If there is a series that has gotten progressively awesome, The Dagger and Coin series has to be top of that list. There has been no middle book syndrome, no treading water even as characters push towards endgame. Instead, Daniel Abraham has introduced his own take on traditional fantasy, nudging the standard tropes just enough to make characters and situations extremely compelling. There is no greater example that the supposed villain of the series, Geder Pallaiko. Each character has his own view of him from a tyrannical despot to a sniveling coward to a lost and genuinely confused kid. Finance and Politics make for awesome if untrustworthy bedmates and that is played out in full in the best traditions of GRRM and Raymond Feist

 

9) The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan

Synopsis

‘The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions’

Tamas’s invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy’s best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god.

In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly.

With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir’s advancing army. Tamas’s generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose ground every day beneath the Kez onslaught, and Kresimir wants the head of the man who shot him in the eye

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Possibly the book with the highest body count, this flintlock fantasy (gunpowder magic) from Brian McClellan packs an explosive punch. Terrific pacing and big action set pieces interspersed with quiet character moments and relationship building make this a book that avoids the middle book syndrome of treading water very efficiently. There is an almost Sanderson-esque approach to storytelling combined with a Hannibal level predilection for blood, bodies and bullets. With three central characters, this is a tale of revenge, identity and survival for one and all the characters. (plus it had an impressive cover)

 

10) The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

Synopsis

The most powerful man in the republic framed her, threw her in prison, and stole a priceless elven manuscript from her family.

With the help of a crack team that includes an illusionist, a unicorn, a death priestess, a talking warhammer, and a lad with a prophetic birthmark, Loch must find a way into the floating fortress of Heaven’s Spire–and get past the magic-hunting golems and infernal sorcerers standing between her and the vault that holds her family’s treasure.

It’d be tricky enough without the military coup and unfolding of an ancient evil prophecy–but now the determined and honourable Justicar Pyvic has been assigned to take her in.

But hey, every plan has a few hitches

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Think Ocean’s Eleven (the good parts) mixed with Locke Lamora (without the darker portions) in a fantastic world featuring among others a talking Warhammer and an Unicorn, this book is the glimmer of sunlight in the GrimDark world. Absolutely fun and wickedly funny, this is a book of witty one-liners, snappy rejoinders and tremendous camaraderie. A fast paced heist thriller, there is hardly a dull moment and to an extent, the book is positive and joyous. Easily the most entertaining book of the year and one likely to have weird stares thrown your way in a crowded airport when you suddenly guffaw out loud or are trying to unsuccessfully hold back a bout of giggles. Optimistic is the word you conjure up once you read this book. Insane giddy fun

 

 

PS: An interesting trend is the number of books that have female leads, 5 (50%). Not bad at all. Quite a change from the usual male lead dominated books.