The Simoqin Prophecies II

I'm reading The Simoqin Prophecies again. Parts of it really crack me up. Sampler:

"You must remember that he's a very new Death"
"A new Death?"
"The old Death died"
"The old Death died?"
"He was a very old Death"

:). Also read "Keep the Aspidistra flying" by George Orwell. A book about a young poet who declares war on the Money God. Pretty good.

The Simoqin Prohecies

An SFF novel from the 23-year old Samit Basu, the Simoqin Prophecies is extremely witty and engaging. The book is about Asvin -a hero who is chosen to defeat the rakshas Danh-Gem if and when he rises from the dead, Maya - a really smart spellbinder, Kirin -the only ravian left on Earth, and Spikes - Kirin's pashan bodyguard. The book is full of cheeky references to practically every action fantasy- Robin Hood, Ramayan, the Mahabharat, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.

The best feature of this book is the blurring of lines between good and evil, quite unlike traditional SFFs like the LOTR. I cant wait for the sequel to be published.

Van Helsing

Finally managed to see Van Helsing this weekend. A singularly bad movie. Even the extremely sexy Hugh Jackman in a loin cloth cannot save this movie. Count Dracula looks, and acts, like a big joke. And as for the script and dialogue, the lesser said the better. Van Helsing? Give me Anthony Hopkins any day! If Jackman wants to live up to the hype that he's been generating, he'd better start choosing his movies with more care.