The Man who Never was

East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman My rating: 4 of 5 stars As far as media based on alternate history goes, I’d think that East of West, by Jonathan Hickman has one of the more unique points of divergence. Rather than reusing the tired troupe of ‘What if X faction won the world war/ cold war’, the story this time around starts much earlier; during the American civil war. A prolonged civil war, followed by a comet fall in the middle of the continent, resulted in an Armistice, with each faction carving out their own portion of the land for themselves. This new entity is called the seven nations of america. Over a century and half has passed, and the impasse continues. Technology has progressed, new armies have risen, and the factions remain baring their teeth at one another, barely held back by the accord of the Armistice. Away from all this, arise the four horsemen of the apocalypse, sans one, who have through subsequent iteratio...

China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy by Peter Martin My rating: 4 of 5 stars Apologies for the unstructured stream of thought that you’re about to read. Hope you get something useful out of it It is important to really focus on the title of the book before you start reading it. The title of this book is ‘china’s civilian army: Making of the wolf warrior diplomacy’. Making of . Here I was, starting to read all excited thinking I’ll get a breakdown to the current belligerent attitude of diplomacy which the ccp mouthpieces have been prone to. You do get that; sort of. But the actual phenomenon of ultranationalistic wolf warrior diplomacy, which found fertile ground after Emperor Xi took to the throne, is mentioned tangentially. It’s not the focus. Rather, through several well researched, clearly written, and engaging chapters, we’re given a brief rundown, as to how the international diplomacy of a communist regime like th...

ഗുരുസാഗരം | Gurusagaram by O.V. Vijayan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Synopsis: The story follows the lonely life of a retired soldier Kunjunni, currently working as a newspaper reporter. The last scion of a family of a distinguished family, now marred by decline, there are very few things which prompts Kunjunni to continue loving. Chief among them, is the love for his daughter Kalyani, living in Calcutta with his ex-wife Shivani. Another, is the friendship of his former colleague and best friend Balakrishnan. Balan, as he is affectionately called, suffered a great personal tragedy, losing both his wife and child. In his final years, he found solace in meeting his spiritual guru, who then consecrated him to be an ascetic, rechristening him as ‘Nirmalananda’. He now spends his time in meditation and peace, in his farmlands. Kunjunni visits him from time to time, partly to seek his counsel, but mostly for companionship. Other than his friend, the only co...

Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time by James Gurney My rating: 4 of 5 stars It must've been when I was maybe 10. Back in those days when globalization was still in its infancy, copyright regulations were, not really a thing. So, you would often find content creators for regional publications outright lifting popular books, titles and media from western publications. Then using them to pad their pages and subscription count. In one such local children's publication, I came across excerpts from this story about a world where humans and dinosaurs coexisted. A more poignant version of the Flintstones. The concept was intriguing, and the art was stellar, breathtaking. Unfortunately, outside of the brief synopsis of the story, there was nothing much to go on. And very few avenues for a 10 year old to go about purchasing the book. How time flows, close to 20 years had passed before I came across the title again. This time, thanks to the beauty of the ...

Warden of the Blade by David Annandale My rating: 4 of 5 stars Grey Knights are not the most beloved of the factions among the 40K fandom. One can understand why; being the super-secret special errand boys of the inquisition that are veritable Gary sues. But, seeing as how they’re the imperium’s preeminent daemon hunters, there are some perks when it comes to following their exploits. Not to mention the sheer level of brutality and casualties put on display during your typical grey knights' missions. Just take this into consideration. At any given time, the imperium is waging war, against half a dozen major enemy factions, over battlefields in hundreds of thousands of worlds. The imperial guard regiments who fight the majority of these wars, are legion, and constantly cycle from one battlefront to the next, if they don’t get annihilated. Having said that, the IG are quite good at their job and manage to win wars in most of their engagements. Usua...