Igraine The Brave

Let me just start by saying that I loved every page of this medieval tale. So if I seem effusive in my praise, you.have.been.warned.

Igraine is the twelve year old daughter of the great Magicians : The Fair Melisande and Sir Lamorak, The Wily. She has a magically inclined, know-it-all brother : Albert. The family of four live in a magical albeit small castle which houses the legendary ‘Singing Books of Magic’. The castle is magically protected by ferocious stone lions, cannonball swallowing gargoyles and a moat swarming with endearing water snakes. Despite the above mentioned overdose of magic all around her, young Igraine has no wish to follow in the enchanting ways of her kin. Magic for her is an unnecessary but undeniable facet of her life. Magic is something that she just has to grit her teeth and bare with.

Her aspirations lie in a totally different arena.

Igraine wants to be a Knight; a full-on, armour-clanking, lance-hurling, dragon-fighting Knight. She wants to emulate her great-grandfather Pelleas and have her day of glory in a battlefield. And sooner than she ever imagined, her dreams come true, in a rather uncomfortable way.

For the castle is soon in danger of an attack by the vile Osmund also called Osmund The Greedy. Osmund is a practitioner of Dark Magic and wants to lay his hands on ‘Singing Books of Magic’. He believes that their possession will soon make him the greatest magician and the master of all he surveys.

Handling Osmund would have been embarrassingly easy for Igraine’s parents, but unfortunately the powerful magicians had a spell go awry which converted them into talking but wholly non-magical pigs!

It is now up to Igraine to save the day. She must return her parents to their natural form, assist her brother in protecting the castle and generally have her much longed for (but now truly terrifying) wish to be a brave knight come true.

The tale is tight, packed with sharp plotlines and endearing characters. Magic is used in enchanting and unpredictable ways. I liked the unexpected twists that occurred at regular intervals. It’s heartening to not be blasé about where the story is heading. Igraine is a wonderful heroine, a charming mix of kind-heartedness and spunky fervour. The illustrations by Funke enhance her narration and make the book a joy to possess. The best bit for me was that while I loved The Inkheart series, my main grouse was the unnecessary rambling that swallowed up so many pages. This defect was heartily absent in Igraine The Brave. Cornelia Funke was precise and engrossing in ever line.

An enchanting tale of a girl-knight embroidered with magic, cleverness and sheer gutsiness.

Battle for Bittora

Anuja Chauhan follows the success of ' The Zoya Factor' with yet another desi firecracker. Battle for Bittora is all good, tried-and-tested Bollywood clichés parcelled into one enticing masala-read.

Jinni Pandey is a happy-go-lucky animator drawing award-winning ‘kitaanus’ (germs/bacteria) for Harpic and other noteworthy brands. She’s young, spunky and has a carelessly-on purpose dishevelled half-rosebud haircut that she's mighty proud of.

But Jinni is also, infact Sarojini Pande, granddaughter of the fearsome political matriarch Pushpa Pande. The Pande clan is an illustrious (albeit with a dubious background) political dynasty. For a long time, they have contested the Lok Sabha elections through their hometown Bittora. Sometimes they have had resounding victories and at other times, embarrassing losses but it’s always been a full-on tamasha.

And now in true-blue unbendable grandmother/ conniving politician mode, the great Pushpa Pande has manoeuvered the clueless Jinni into contesting the upcoming elections from Bittora. Soon Jinni finds herself togged up in starched sarees and matronly blouses. She’s thrown headlong into a world of kleptomaniac Election agents; Crack teams who will “do anything” to help ‘didi’; hormonal pet dogs; frenemies; stalwart ladies who don’t visit parlours but bite off their underarm hair with their teeth (a very disturbing exaggeration, that); manipulators; back-stabbers; gropers and the entire rigmarole that is our grand Indian Politics.

Standing on the tip of this fast dissolving Gola, is Jinni's opponent : The idealistic (also, chiselled), intellectual (yes, his tan is honey colored) and universally loved (well, with that build-up....he obviously has to be lustworthy!) Zain Altaf Khan. Maruti Zain (as Jinni had mockingly nicknamed him) and Jinni share a rich past. They were childhood friends who were almost lovers before the great Pushpaji brought their raging "haarmoans" under control.

As the two youngest ever Lok Sabha candidates battle out the elections in grimy Bittora; kid gloves are shed, dirty politics lunge forth in full force and the trusty ol’ “haarmoans” make a predictable reappearance.

Anuja Chauhan strikes gold yet again. I am thoroughly chuffed to say that I have a favourite Indian author who doesn’t play the displaced NRI/ skanky urban cougar/ Indian travelogue card. Her dialogue is a delightful blend of propah English with a spicy tadka of local dialects. She captures the dusty contours of rural India, jazzes it up with a host of laugh-out-loud caricatures and gives you a stellar lead pair who make you root for them.

Kudos to Chauhan for plumbing her political lineage (her mother-in-law is Margaret Alva) and employing it with insouciance. I loved the book and would strongly recommend it for all who are still searching for that elusive "must-read Indian Author".

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)

Whenever I visit my lovely (albeit a tad lonely) ancestral home, I instantly associate with Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. I have the mysterious house with a few empty rooms...the boredom of being stuck-in that makes me rattle around like a disgruntled pea-in-a-pod......and......I even have an unused wardrobe. Sadly, to my abject disappointment, the wardrobe doesn’t open into Narnia or even a respectable secret passageway. (I checked). But since reading The Narnia Chronicles and having to make regular visits to my hometown; I more often than not always carry along my copy of ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’.

There’s something truly delightful of hiding in a fur coat laden wardrobe and coming out into a parallel world replete with a winter wonderland, a nasty Snow-Queen, troubled mythical creatures, and the truly splendid character of ASLAN.

ASLAN

C.S.Lewis gave a very apt description in his introduction of Aslan. It goes thus:

The Beaver said, “They say Aslan is on the move – perhaps has already landed”

And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something that you don’t understand but in the dream it feels as if it has some enormous meaning ¬– either a terrifying one that turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each child felt something jump in it’s inside. Edmund felt a sense of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delicious strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.

This has always been my favourite passage. It’s sheer simplicity and accuracy pens the exact emotions which we have all experienced at the onset of something life-changing (nice/nasty, depending upon our perspectives and personal demons) .Aslan is a memorable character and the tale, according to me, the best of the Narnia Chronicles. It’s believable, doesn’t drag or preach unnecessarily and is a delightful treat for fantasy-lovers like me.

I usually tend to read the book first and follow it up with the movie viewing. I love both versions and ‘The Battle Tune of Narnia’ is on my perpetual Playlist. It’s almost my own personal ‘defeat-your-demons’ tune.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the Grand Poobah of fantasy reads (Lord of The Rings, notwithstanding) and I would strongly recommend it for all wide-eyed children with a longing for magic to drive away the monotony of everyday life. If I could, I would also insist on scornful adults to capture a bit of their young wonderment and escape into The Land of Narnia.

C.S.Lewis in his dedication to his goddaughter, aptly summed it up:

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy-tales again”

KANE CHRONICLES : The Throne of Fire (Book #2)

*TEAM A*

~ The Egyptian deification of Darkness and Chaos, Apophis (who also takes the form of a sincerely scary humungous snake)

~ The third most powerful (and evil) magician in the world; Menshikov also fondly termed as ‘Vlad, The Inhaler’. He dresses like an ice-cream salesman but pretty much wants the world to end in chaos, in like four days time.

~ Host of minor Gods ranging from Nekhbet (Goddess of Vultures) to Babi (God of Baboons). I.kid.you.not

*TEAM B*

~ Brother-Sister teen Magician team of Carter and Sadie Kane

~ A griffin with a personality disorder that goes ‘FRE-EEEK’ in response to most calamities.

~ A team of fledgling magicians still undergoing training.

~ BES, the God of Dwarves who scares people by appearing in nothing more than a Speedo.

Yep, a fairly unequal battle there.

The Kane siblings had just won a gruesome round with Set in The Red Pyramid.....only to discover that more evil lurks around the corner. Evil, that makes Set look like a wilful kid who doesn’t want to eat his broccoli. Apophis is soon going to break free from his centuries-old prison. If he succeeds, he will swallow the sun and plunge the world into Chaos. Ergo, *Doomsday*.

Sadie and Carter have a fighting chance only if they can find Ra, the ancient and powerful Pharoah of The Gods. Legend has it that only Ra, The Sun God who battled Apophis on a nightly basis has the ability to vanquish the latter. To recall Ra from his retirement, Sadie and Carter need to lay their hands on The Book of Ra( three separate scrolls, hidden in three different, unknown and obviously dangerous locations ).

And so begins the....yes....I’m going to say it.....rollercoaster ride! (Thank God for tried and traumatised clichés)

The tale is splendid. Choc-a-bloc with action, adventure, mythology and devious and dastardly plots. All the above elements are welded together with Riordan’s trademark wit. As usual, he makes the ancient Gods approachable and infuses them with foibles and flaws. Obscure myths are woven into an urban fantasy that keeps you turning the pages with growing anxiety. Sadie and Carter are a delightful, snarky brother-sister duo. They are extremely likeable and foolhardy enough to carry the story forward.

As usual, I do what I always do after reading a Riordan book. I go into full-on Wiki-Mode and read up on the ancient Gods. I cannot stress enough as to how the author deserves credit for dusting off forgotten stories and repackaging them in a way that retains the essence while giving them a contemporary edge.

Kudos, Mr.Riordan.

Ella Enchanted

*Beware of delusional fairies bearing gifts*

This is the main premise of Ella Enchanted.

Ella, as a child was given the dubious gift of “OBEDIENCE” by the smarmy fairy, Lucinda. Since then, Ella.Must.Obey. She is forced to obey every single command directed at her. And commands range from the perfectly innocuous ‘Ella, stand up’ to the highly dangerous ‘Ella, chop off your head’. So Ella, her mother and their devoted cook, Mandy had decided that this gift (read : curse) should be kept a secret. If the knowledge fell into the wrong hands, Ella would be in grave danger.

But the big, bad world awaits and Ella cannot be cushioned from the nastiness of conniving minds. As she loses her mother, she gains a host of problems. She now has to deal with her scheming father, gold-digging stepmother, obnoxious pair of stepsisters and the new friend she makes: Prince Charmont (or Char, as he likes to be called by friends ). In order to right-the-wrongs in her life, Ella knows that she must seek out the elusive Lucinda and request her to take back the gift.The book follows Ella’s adventures, her fledgling romance and her struggle to obtain a free will.

Ella Enchanted is one of the best fairy tales that I have read and I loved Ella’s character. She is spunky, loaded with the right attitude and is utterly humane in her faults and choices. She’s a far cry from the doe-eyed, self-sacrificing, snivelling-near-the-fireplace, worried-about-their-spun-sugar-hair heroines. You root for her, gnash your teeth at the injustices meted out to her and earnestly hope for her *happily-ever-after*.

Gail Carson Levine is the fairy tale-smith who weaves an ancient tale with alacrity. She also displays an endearing fondness for Tolkien by introducing alternate languages like Elven and Ogreish and a handful of other enchanting gobbledygook.

In all, a perfect fairytale.

The Dragonfly Pool

Eva Ibbotson’s books do two things for you:

a) They transport you to a place, time and ambience that is redolent with olde-worlde charm and mystique.

b) They make your cynical soul believe that there are people (and especially children) who want to make this world a nicer place to live in.

Ibbotson’s books have always been comfort-food for my soul. She’s another author who finds a place in my travel-bag. You may be in a paradise (or personal purgatory, as the case may be), but dip into her stories and you are immediately hooked.

‘The Dragonfly Pool’ is no different.

It tells the tale of a much-loved and surprisingly unspoilt little girl called Tally. Tally lives in London with her widowed father, Dr.Hamilton and a pair of maiden aunts. Despite her idyllic existence, the shadow of impending war looms heavily over their heads. Hitler is at his despotic worst and The Second World War is imminent.

Around this time, Dr.Hamilton receives an unexpected scholarship for Tally at a boarding school called Delderton. Delderton is located in South Devon countryside and safely ensconced from the dangers of war. After many protestations and misgivings, Tally is parcelled off to Delderton and there she discovers a whole new world…

For Delderton is a progressive school. There are no rules, the students look like a bunch of happy savages, the principal judges people by their reactions to the ancient Cedar tree that stands tall in the school garden, the school cook is a beautiful ex-model and biology lessons could start at four in the morning without any prior warning whatsoever.

And then there is the enigmatic Matteo von Tarlenheim; biology teacher by profession but bandit in appearance. Much loved by the students for cutting a dashing figure and respected for his infinite understanding of the fauna and flora that surrounds them, Matteo is the most popular teacher in school. But Matteo has mysterious foreign roots and his past is soon entwined with Tally and her adventures.

In course of time, Tally and her quickly formed friends are off to Bergania to take part in a folk-dance festival. Bergania is a tiny country in Europe ruled by just king, Johannes who has stoutly refused to assist Hitler. And Johannes has a young son, Karil, who lives the life of a poor little rich boy.In Bergania, adventure raises it’s tantalising head and soon the fates of Tally and Karil and irrevocably entwined.

The story is a splendid blend of nature ramblings, wry humour, touches of darkness and the quintessential overriding message of *being true to oneself*. Ibbotson’s characters are well-etched, be it the Aragorn-like Matteo or the stubbornly optimistic Tally. The palette of supporting characters keep you engaged with their quirks and individual strengths of character. The surroundings vary from a naturalist’s utopia to the despondency of a war-weary landscape. Ibbotson holds the reigns of both worlds deftly and keeps you enchanted till the very end.

Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides

A handful of gibbering Anthropoids and the odd cachinnating Cockatoo are of the opinion that the fourth instalment in the Pirates of The Caribbean (POC) franchise is not a patch on the first. Well, d-oh...there’s a reason it’s called an "original"!

As for me, I will always be a fan of the scraggly, irreverent, semi-sozzled, kohl-eyed Captain Jack Sparrow. You don’t need to be a prepubescent tween or a snarky, think-I’ve-seen-it-all teenager or even a high-on-testosterone adult male to enjoy the mad trip. For an armchair traveller like me, Captain Sparrow is the best tour guide. EVER.

So what do we have in this offering?

King George II (Potter fans will recognize a Mr.Dursley under the additional layers of quivering blubber) has forced Capt.Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to guide an expedition to ‘The Fountain of Youth’. Good ol’Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) has (allegedly) cleaned up his act and is now a well-shod privateer who will head aforementioned expedition. Barbossa has lost his leg and Jack's beloved ship, The Black Pearl. Angered by the loss of the latter, Jack escapes...only to fall into the clutches of the vile and villainous Blackbeard (Ian McShane): scourge of the high-seas, dabbler in dark-arts and father to the luscious Angelica (Penelope Cruz, being delightfully Spanish and shrewish). What ensues is a riotous trip loaded with fang-bearing mermaids, missionaries with six-packs, painfully pierced and tattooed zombies and ol’reliably-unreliable : Captain Jack Sparrow.

The plot may drag in places. The characters may have stilted moments. Old favourite may be absent. New entrants may lack the chutzpah of the veterans. But the Good Pirate holds the movie together with his eccentricities. He cuts a swash buckling, albeit grimy figure as he battles over tumbling barrels....leads doomed mutinies......romances the conniving Angelica....matches wits with the ever reliable Barbossa....and deals with the cool menace of BlackBeard.

In all, not a great flick but a watchable summer one, nevertheless.

The Children at Green Meadows

In and around my building, we now have a golden Labrador with a heart-of-gold, a snappy l’il Poodle, a goose that honks like a Disney villain, an assortment of cats, a Doberman with a mother-fixation, an overweight Pug that manages to project an air of abject hunger, a blink-and-you-miss-it bunch of fat sparrows, hungry crows who always know when it’s lunchtime and an ever graceful soaring eagle. And this is not even counting the regular menagerie I run into when I head off for an evening walk.

I love animals. The above scenario makes me happy. Noah–recruiting-for-his-ark happy. And it reminded me of a childhood book that I used to love and want to live in: The Children at Green Meadows.

I dug it out. The front cover had vanished (which made me a little mad since I really loved the artwork), the pages were dog-eared and it brought back memories of summer holidays and pepper chips.

I could never critique this book. I love it.

A family living in a sprawling house called Green Meadows. A family that has a handicapped ex-army man for a father, a granny that jingles along angrily, a mother whose work never seems to end and a trio of children trying to be patient and wiser beyond their years. A family that loves animals but can’t afford to keep any.

So what happens when the children: Francis, Clare and Sam find themselves looking after the pets of people who can’t look after them for a variety of reasons?

The transformation of moods, surroundings and fate is a beautiful tale for children who love animals. It’s a simplistic story with heart. It doesn’t claim to change your life but it does leave you with a knot in your throat.

I repeat. I love it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid : The Last Straw

Every once in a while you need a break from wizard boys, sparkling vampires, conspiracy theories, go-nowhere love stories, end-of-the-world page turners and the never ending stream of parallel worlds.

Every once in a while you need to forget that you are a full-blown adult whose literary tastes are mature and discerning and who, to put it mildly is a bit up-yourself.

Every once in a while, you need to escape into the world of a Wimpy middle-school Kid who is high on smarts and low on luck.

It’s time to hold your breath over the unwashed clothes and dodge the well-meaning parents and stumble over the boogers as you venture into the world of Greg Heffley.

Greg Heffley’s astounding schemes and equally mind-boggling failures continue. His chief bête noire in this book is his long-suffering dad. Greg’s father wants to make a man out of his dandelion-blowing son. To achieve this admirable goal, he is intent on sending Greg off to a military academy. This doesn’t sit well with Mr.Wimpy, who was looking forward to a summer of playing video-games and sleeping....snarfing down junk-food and sleeping....hooking up with the pretty Holly Hills and yep, catching up on some more sleep.

The Wimpy Kid series may be considered juvenile and trite. But it’s entertaining and you read it with a constant smile playing on your lips. Sometimes you even snort with glee (well, I did). I say, regardless of your age....pick it up for some instant laughs, dry humour and a cast of characters that is so unbelievably well put together that you can’t help but stay hooked.

Five Flavors of DUMB

An obscure school-band wins the local *Battle-of-the-Bands* and struts about like it’s the next great thing since sliced bread. An equally obscure but diligent student disses the band’s shenanigans in front of it’s groupies and finds herself at the receiving end of an unexpected challenge : Get the band a paying gig within a month and she’ll be it’s official manager with a sizeable share in the band’s future profits.

How does a complete musical-heathen manage a band that’s a worrying mix of:

1) A manipulative, self-absorbed lead singer.

2) A completely gorgeous but utterly talentless piece of eye-candy.

3) An angry girl-rocker with spiky green hair and a barbed wire attitude.

4) A silent guitarist who hides from the world and possibly the other band members too, behind the curtains of his overlong hair.

5) A nerd-boy drummer who plays like a dream but doesn’t fit the hard rock image.

More importantly, how does the aforementioned musical-heathen manage a musical group when she’s DEAF?

THAT single, sole premise had me ordering the book in a flash. Tons of repetitive YA Lit with the same tired, clichéd plot lines later....this book resonated with originality.

Piper Vaughn makes an endearing main lead. She’s deaf but never down. Through a blend of sign-language and efficient lip-reading she gets by just fine. But managing a rock band seems like an improbable challenge. How does an eighteen year old (burdened with enough baggage of her own) pull together a bursting-at-the-seams band and make it work?

The book could have gone wrong in so many ways. It could have been preachy or self-deprecating. It could have started off on a promising note and then ended up in the YA Lit pit of teen angst, unrequited love and peer pressure.

Thankfully, the author stuck to his guns. Sure there’s angst. There’s love. And betrayal. And parents who don’t understand. But the author never veers from the main subject. It’s about a girl. A girl with a condition that she doesn’t consider as a disability. And said girl has to manage a band. CASE CLOSED.

Five Flavours of Dumb holds equal appeal for the ones who know their discerning genres of rock as well as for those who wouldn’t blink an eyelid if Cobain materialized before their eyes.

A minty fresh idea handled with humour, sparkling dialogue and the ability to give you food for thought.