New Delhi: So, Sambo, everything will finally be revealed… And the Gods will finally play.
And none the sooner since Penguin India, the publishers of Samit Basu’s third and final book in the GameWorld trilogy – The Unwaba Revelations – seemed to have forgotten about it completely.
However, finally and mercifully for readers, The Unwaba Revelations hit stores and stands late in the capital on Thursday (December 20). Rest of India will have to wait a bit longer though just in case Penguin India decides to delay the all-India release.
For the uninitiated, Basu is one of the country’s youngest literary rising stars and India’s sole claim to the world of science, fiction and fantasy (SFF) writing and a very good one at that. An interesting plot, good writing and an un-put-downable quality to his story-telling skills make the GameWorld series a fun, riveting read.
The first two books, The Simoqin Prophecies and The Manticore’s Secret have seen a steadily growing fan base for Basu. The Unwaba Revelations should definitely seal his place in many a bookshelf, and one doesn’t mean those in bookstores alone.
While the premise of the book is the same as umpteen SFF tales – the end of the world and the hero who’ll save it – the twists in the tale and the characters are what you’d call fresh-out-of-the-oven. For one, the characters are a clever mix of international and desi, from trolls to rakshashas and shape shifters to manticores and even Bollywood (!), you get all and then some.
Basu’s irreverence towards established SFF writers and long-loved characters makes for a daring, different and cheeky take. Much like the author himself, all of 28-years and all that spunk. For instance the reference to JRR Tolkien’s ‘Dark Lord’ Sauron as a “red balloon stuck on a pole” or JK Rowling’s Voldemort as a sissy villain make for recognizable spoofs and laughs.
There’s a bit of Ramayana too, recognizable amongst many things in messenger storks called Gyanasamudram who takes on the fabled Garuda. Or for that matter the to-rise dark lord Danh Gem… who could well be a take on Ramayana's Meghnad (just read that on another site, hadn’t figured it for self). However, let one make it clear that while Basu is irreverent, he is not disrespectful.
What is MOST interesting however is the take on Gods playing a game with the humans and other inhabitants of Basu’s fictional world. Given the political and other uprisings (and global warming) the world over, somewhere even in the fun and fiction, it makes one queasy…
While the first two books saw the return of the other-worldly, very powerful, beautiful and cruel Ravians; the books also marked the rise of a new Dark Lord, albeit one with a misplaced (he’s a dark lord!) sense of conscience and doing good for his people… So what if the Dark Lord’s people are killers and mercenaries. If that sounds like Narendra Modi, it’s coincidence: One’s dark lord is another’s saviour.
So with the SFF world tottering on the brink of destruction, the Gods playing their own games (and cheating), the final book should be one hell of a read. Watch out for the review of The Unwaba Revelations… unless you get your copy before yours truly.
Currently Samit Basu is working on a script with Twelve Monkeys' author Terry Gilliam, a comic book with Duran Duran for Virgin Comics and has also written a erotica (that he calls “bad porn” and blushes when mentioning) in an anthology being brought out by Random House books. Ask him if his fans will get to read more such series and Basu responds, “No, no, only a series of stand-alone books!”
Read author Samit Basu's take on fantasy writing and science-fiction in India
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