Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
Read chapter one HERE

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: In regards to Candice Bundy’s The Daemon Whisperer, I was alerted to its existence by Steven Montano’s blog. I am a fan of his dark fantasy-thrillers and also his picks in regards to books have been along the same lines as my interests. Plus the book blurb promised a post-apocalyptic world wherein daemons are now present and can be summoned to our plane of existence. This book seemed to be a urban fantasy version of The Warded Man/The Painted Man. Therefore I was excited to see where the author would take the story and how she would develop the world. The author provided me with a reviewer's copy based on my inquiry.

Meriwether Storm is a daemon summoner who has become one due to the death/murder of her parents at the hands of one such daemon. She however doesn’t know which daemon caused this tragedy but she will do everything she can to find out its name. Every daemon summoner gets tattooed with the daemon’s sign/sigil and there haven’t been many with the amount of script that Meri has acquired. She however is still nowhere near to finding the name of her parent’s killer. Things soon take a weird turn as a daemon cabal approaches her with a potential job offer in turn for giving her the name she so fervently desires. What happens next is what readers will have to find out by reading the book.

The best part of the story is its fast pace and slightly twisted storyline; the author does her best to write a story that manages to bridge the storyline from its post-apocalyptic roots into the thriller components of the story. However the biggest surprise for me was the higher content of paranormal romance in this storyline than I expected. The story I felt had a great chance to showcase a gritty world, which has been changed irrevocably after the apocalypse and the presence of the Daemons on our plane of existence. However the author manages to sidestep this world-building front and focuses only on the story and the interaction between the main POV characters and reveals the truth about the Liminals. The book also has a great cover done by Amber Shah.

The author does write competently and also includes a touch of wryness to the proceedings and makes this tale much lighter than I would have expected. The story however doesn’t shy away from action and in the latter half of the book we do get some terrific action-oriented proceedings that help in setting up a terrific climax. Also I’m not a fan of PNR-heavy storylines and so this turn of events was one, which I didn’t particularly enjoy. Readers who enjoy PNR stories will find this turn to be a good one and one that is handled as classily as possible. I’m not an expert on sex scenes and so take my opinion on this detail of the story with a huge grain of salt. Lastly I would have loved to see more about the post-apocalyptic world and so I will be reading the next book to see whether the author expands the world on this front.

Candice Bundy has written the story, which she had planned to write. I perhaps had different expectations based on the blurb and that curtailed my enjoyment of this book. I think this is a good urban fantasy book but that which focuses on some things that I derive very little enjoyment from. This book is more leaning towards the paranormal romance subgenre than towards the urban fantasy subgenre. So be warned before you jump in to this book. This is however a good start to an interesting series and should be a book that should be enjoyable for readers of Nalini Singh and Jeanine Frost.

Order "Red Country" HERE (UK) or (US - pre-order)

Official Joe Abercrombie Website

Read FBC Review of "The Blade Itself" HERE

Read FBC Review of "Before They Are Hanged" HERE

Read FBC Review of "Best Served Cold" HERE

Read FBC Review of "The Heroes" HERE

INTRODUCTION: "They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust . . ."

Bursting upon the epic fantasy scene with his superb First Law trilogy, Joe Abercrombie became the "perfect" representative of the "new gritty" epic fantasy for me and his books have not disappointed so far. Best Served Cold was a top 5 sff of mine in 2009 while Before They Are Hanged was my top fantasy in  2007.

So of course Red Country was a huge asap, especially when early comments leaked that Logen Ninefingers will make his return here after more than a decade since we have last seen him in the last paragraph of the First Law trilogy:

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (Mihir): I was lucky to get a copy of Red Country from Gollancz and my thanks to Jon Weir for sending it all the way across the pond. To say this book was highly anticipated would be an understatement, once it was announced that this book would be featuring the return of Logen Ninefingers. A character that has been synonymous with the term “bad-ass” along with other famous ones such as Druss, Anomander Rake, Waylander, Oberyn Martell etc. 

After reading the ending to the First Law trilogy, many readers were left stymied a bit with it. Most characters had an ending that belied their start however for one particular character the journey was a full circle. People were left wondering what exactly happened to Ninefingers and this book answers the pivotal question of his survival without divulging any particular details as to how. The following review will have some minor spoilers for the previous five books and for this one so be warned for those who haven’t read all the previous titles.

Official Author Website
Read FBC's Review of Govinda
Order Govinda HERE

Govinda  by Krishna Udayasankar was a debut that I absolutely loved. Not only was it based on the Indian epic Mahabharata (which I believe to be the greatest Mytho-historical epic ever) but the author had rewritten it to be a socio-political story thereby making the story unpredictable to a viable degree. I was very much impressed by the author's efforts in writing this book and so I was interested in knowing more about her efforts & her thoughts specifically about her debut series. So read ahead to know more about Krishna, her previous accomplishments and the effect of Star Wars on the Aryavarta Chronicles...

Q] Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic. For starters, please introduce yourself, tell us what inspired you to write and describe your journey to becoming a published author.

KU: Hello! Thanks for having me on the site, and it really is humbling to be here. I shall gush unabashedly and tell you how excited I am about this – You see, I’ve been creating imaginary worlds in my head for as long as I can remember, and fantasy has been a genre that I have read in a bid to house and nurture these alternate universes for just as long. 

I guess then, that writing – an activity I love in itself – was the next step. I used to write as a kid, but as life caught up with me, I tried to put my passion into my work, combining my interest in wordplay with ideas that I found fascinating, such as the philosophy of the complex socio-economic world around us. This probably also explains my education and career choices: I graduated from the National Law School, Bangalore, spent some time working for an NGO, then went on to study International Business at Sydney before ending up with a PhD in Strategic Management from the Nanyang Business School, Singapore. 

But at some point, it just wasn’t enough. When I look back now, I wonder how I went all these years being anything but a writer – though I also know that my work today is very much the product of life’s experiences.

Q] My next question is about the genesis of the Aryavarta Chronicles and how it occurred? How long have you been working on it? 

KU: OK, here’s a confession: When I began work on this story, almost four years ago, I intended for it to be a satirical poem. I was not looking at alternative history or even an epic novel, just a funny socio-political commentary that stuck largely to the popular version of events. And I’d even gotten into the story to a good extent when two things happened: First, I ran into characters – particularly the protagonists of the novel – who weren’t easily dealt with or dismissed. Second, I started reading up on the Epic, basically to get my facts right. And then it was like an explosion and a whirlpool at the same time. Suffice it to say that a couple of months later, I started writing The Aryavarta Chronicles. 

It took me about two and half years, including research, to send out a completed manuscript, and then, once Hachette India came onboard we’ve spent about another year or so in editing and production. 

Q] Tell us more about the world that Govinda is set in and some of the series’ major characters. 

KU: The Aryavarta Chronicles is a series set in the Epic Ages of Indian History – roughly circa 2000 BC. While stories of these times are often clouded in mystery and myth, in fact, this was a period of great political, social and technological change. In terms of the universe of the Chronicles, the land – Aryavarta - has been ravaged by a long and bloody conflict between two orders: the Firstborn under their generations of leaders known as the Vyasas and the Firewrights, who are master inventors and weapon-makers. In the socio-political aftermath of their conflict, one man is rises to do what he must to keep his people safe. That man is the protagonist, Govinda. 

I personally prefer to describe this story, neither as a retelling of mythology, nor as a reinterpretation of an epic. Rather, The Aryavarta Chronicles is an attempt to capture what could well have been history, based on systematic research into the stories that lie behind symbol and metaphors. Fundamentally, it is a story of hope, of ordinary men and women, who grow to be something more in extraordinary times. 

The characters, unlike typical Indian mythology, tend to be brave but completely human, rather than gods or super-beings. In fact, I kind of like the fact that all characters in the book tend to have nuances and shades of grey, instead of being totally good or bad. Of course, you’ll also find some sexy, snide men and women, who enjoy pithy banter and a battle of wits as much as one of swords. What can I say, there’s more than one person in the book that I wouldn’t mind sitting down for a drink and some conversation! 

Q] Your debut novel is the first volume in a series. How is the next book coming along? I’m sure the readers would appreciate any details about the sequel “Firewright”, and the outline of your plans for the series as a whole? 

KU: ‘Firewright’ – that is, Book 2 of The Aryavarta Chronicles - takes off from where ‘Govinda’ ends. Though it is a sequel, it has its own distinct storyline and plot and there are shades to the characters that one cannot anticipate from the first book. As for the third book - it is going to be a prequel. I also have in mind the plotlines for two more books in the series, but it is too soon to talk about them. My editor and I are working on Firewright right now, and we hope to have it out in the second quarter of 2013. 

Q] Your series is based on the world’s longest epic The Mahabharata however the magic & divinity is retracted from the story and presented as a socio-political saga. Could you expound on this literary decision? 

KU: Understanding the history behind what has subsequently been aggrandized into mythology and used to legitimize or justify today’s social structures and norms was, to me, an essential way of understanding the world we live in. Consequently, I wanted to explore the scriptures as the epics as tales of humanity, not divinity; as something that could have been history, even an alternate reality, but not some improbable, sacrosanct tale that defied all logic and science. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to take all fantasy or epic elements out of it – my focus was with relevance, with believable chains of events and fallible, yet likeable, characters. Removing divinity seemed essential to reveal the real heroism and sacrifice of these characters. 

But one can’t just remove the magic and not replace it with something else – there still needs to be an explanation for why things happens the way they do. The more I tried to find these explanations, the more I caught on to the idea of the epic ages as a time of socio-political revolution, and my story as one of change in the status quo. 

Q] In regards to your series, you chose to alter the names of most characters from what has been the case classically. (Syyodhan/Suryodhan, Partha, etc). Of course the names you use were alternate names but we are a little less used to hearing them. How and why did you pick these names? 

KU: The most obvious name changes, such as they seem, are actually uses of the original or birth names given to these characters – for example: Syoddhan for Duryodhan and Vasusena for Karna. 

I also went went for less common names in some instances because I hoped to make readers who might be familiar with the story pause and process these characters a little differently, instead of relying on familiar assumptions. The names used, in this case, often convey or highlight another facet of the person in question – for example, of the three natural born to Pritha (Kunti’s birth name, Kunti being a patronym and not her original name) why was Arjun more commonly known by the matronym Partha? 

Researchers find that names have been used to great effect in the epic, both in poetic and symbolic terms. Indeed, the Mahabharat has been referred to as the story of four ‘Krishnas’ – Dwaipayana Vyasa, Govinda, Panchali and Partha – all of whom share the common moniker of Krishna! 

Q] A curious thing I noticed on your website is that the third book of your series seems to be a prequel. It’s a very different pattern to write a series wouldn’t you say? 

KU: I guess that’s the Star Wars influence you see there… Just kidding!

When I started writing this story, all I had in mind was one book – which subsequently became two. By the time I had finished with that part of events, I was way too intrigued by the central characters and by the events that had shaped these characters into who they were. A prequel was but natural, especially since a lot of the themes in Books 1 and 2 – like revenge and succession - have to do with events that happen before. 

Surprisingly, and this I found out much later, as I was doing research for the prequel, the original author of the Mahabharata and its associated text, the Harivamsa, also followed the same order of setting things down: The tale goes that he was so disappointed by the end of an era that he had to go back in time and narrate a more cheerful story. 

Q] What did you think was the most challenging part about writing your debut novel? What about the easiest or most rewarding parts?

KU: The toughest part was believing that I could, and to go on, and on and on… till one day its was almost done. I don’t know how true this is, but I hear that of the many who dream of writing a book, few attempt to do so, and fewer still will end up completing a manuscript. The fear of not being able to finish what I had begun, well, simply because I didn't have it in me or was not good enough, was always there. But here’s the funny part – the fear hasn't quite gone away since the book hit the stores, but has in a weird Newtonian way, changed form. I now worry if I can do again what I've somehow managed to do once. It never ends! 

The most rewarding part was the act of writing itself. I’ve enjoyed every moment of the process – be it imagining scenes, tracing story arcs or sometimes watching characters exchanging pithy dialogues. The story has a life of its own, and writing is being a witness to that life. It’s an incredible feeling! 

Q] In a note about research methodology in the book, it’s mentioned in your research you came across the presence of alternate versions of the Mahabharata such as the Bhil and Indonesian versions. Could you mention a few things that differ drastically from the classical version conventionally known to us? 

KU: OK, let me see if I can knock your socks off with some really surprising stuff: According to the Indonesia Baratayudha, Draupadi is won in marriage not by Arjuna, but Bhima – the latter competes on behalf of his brother Yudhishtra because he is already married. In this version, Shikandi is a woman, and married to Arjuna! Another interesting love angle is that between Amba and Bhisma. Indeed, quite recently I heard a Indian Sanskrit scholar speak about how Bhisma may well have been married before he took his famous vow – a conclusion based on the very telling use of the word “Henceforth, I shall remain celibate…” 

Q] Another Project you mentioned on your blog is Immortal, it seems to be a contemporary fantasy tied to India’s mythological roots. What can you tell us about this book and any other works that you are currently writing? 

KU: Immortal is a project that was inspired by Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf. I loved how Duncan’s book was fantasy and literature at the same time, and such a far cry from the typical werewolf-vampire sagas. It set me thinking about Indian mythology, and the absence of similarly sexy creatures immortals – or so I thought! 

Before I knew it, I had begun writing a new story, about this warrior who is supposedly cursed to eternal life at the end of the Epic Mahabharata war, and so is alive today.  What I've particularly enjoyed about this book is that I've changed my style a bit to write in first person. Also, for all the demystification and rationalization that has gone into The Aryavarta Chronicles, this book admits the possibility of the super-scientific, even fantastical, in terms of this character’s immortality. Being in his head sure changes one’s world view!

Read FBC Review of Poseidon's Spear and The Long War Series to Date