Fantazi Best ov d Best - 2012. u najavi

Prethodna godina je bila relativno plodonosna što se fantazija tiče. Čisto podsećanja radi, Martin je konačno završio A Dance with Dragons; Rotfus je završio skoro jednako dugo iščekivani Wise Man’s Fear; Aberkrombi je čitalaštvu predstavio Heroes, roman za koji mnogi kažu da je njegovo najbolje delo do sada; Stiven Erikson je završio glavni serijal Malazana, a Džim Bučer konačno otkrio šta se desilo sa Harijem Drezdenom nakon što je popio metak.

Imali smo i nekoliko debitanata, koji su se pokazali veoma zanimljivim i perspektivnim: Denijel Polanski sa romanom Low Town, Mark Lorens sa Prince of Thorns i Daglas Halik sa Among Thieves izdvajaju se iz mase derivativne fantastike koju industrija svake godine izbljuje na police.

Na osnovu onoga što je tokom prvih meseci ove godine koje smo najavljeno, može se reći da će i tekuća godina biti krajnje zanimljiva za poklonike fantazije u raznim oblicim, od epske pa nadalje.

Najpre, već je objavljen možda najzanimljiviji debitantski roman ove godine. Reč je o Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole. Roman mi je opisan kao Black Hawk Down Meets the X-Men, pa samim tim obećava da će odskočiti od standardne ponude urbane fantastike. Na kraju krajeva, ovaj podžanr je već duže vremena gotovo pa isključivo na plećima Džima Bučera i njegovog serijala o Drezdenu.

Shadow Ops: Control Point je već pohranjen u moj tablet, pa ću vrlo brzo dati sud o njegovoj kakvoći. Za sada, evo sižea:

For a millennium, magic has been Latent in the world. Now, with the Great Reawakening, people are “coming up Latent,” manifesting dangerous magical abilities they often cannot control. In response, the military establishes the Supernatural Operations Corps (SOC), a deadly band of sorcerers dedicated to hunting down “Selfers” who use magic outside government control. When army officer Oscar Britton comes up Latent with a rare and prohibited power, his life turns upside down. Transformed overnight from government agent to public enemy number one, his attempt to stay alive and evade his former friends drives him into a shadow world he never knew lurked just below the surface of the one he’s always lived in. He’s about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he’s ever known, and that his life isn’t the only thing he’s fighting for. 

Naredni roman koji se izdvaja iz mase najavljenih za narednu godinu svakako je Sworn in Steel: A Tale of the Kin by Douglas Hulick. Za Among Thieves, Halikov prvenac, nemam dovoljno reči hvale. Halik je majstor pripovedanja iz prvog lica, koje retko kome polazi za rukom kada je o fantaziji reč. Naravno, Halikov serijal spada u podžanr mača i magije, koji je sam po sebi sklon ovakvom pripovedanju. 

It’s been three months since Drothe killed a legend, burned down a portion of the imperial capital, and unexpectedly elevated himself into the ranks of the criminal elite. Now, as the newest Gray Prince in the underworld, he’s learning just how good he used to have it.
With barely the beginnings of an organization to his name, Drothe is already being called out by other Gray Princes. And to make matters worse, when one dies, all signs point to Drothe as wielding the knife. As members of the Kin begin choosing sides – mostly against him – for what looks to be another impending war, Drothe is approached by a man who not only has the solution to Drothe’s most pressing problem, but an offer of redemption. The only problem is the offer isn’t for him.
Now Drothe finds himself on the way to the Despotate of Djan, the empire’s long-standing enemy, with an offer to make and a price on his head. And the grains of sand in the hour glass are running out, fast…

Naredni roman koji se izdvaja takođe je nastavak prošlogodišnjeg debitanta. Veoma maštovit pisac, na tragu Džoa Aberkrombija, Mark Lorens je uspeo u onome što je daleko boljem Kenu Šolsu promaklo da ostvari - zagolicao je oguglale poklonike postapokaliptičnog sajens fentezija i skrenuo pažnju internetskog kolektivnog svesnog na svoj rad.

Evo sižea:

The Broken Empire burns with the fires of a hundred battles as lords and petty kings battle for the all-throne. The long road to avenge the slaughter of his mother and brother has shown Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath the hidden hands behind this endless war. He saw the game and vowed to sweep the board. First though he must gather his own pieces, learn the rules of play, and discover how to break them.
A six nation army, twenty thousand strong, marches toward Jorg’s gates, led by a champion beloved of the people. Every decent man prays this shining hero will unite the empire and heal its wounds. Every omen says he will. Every good king knows to bend the knee in the face of overwhelming odds, if only to save their people and their lands. But King Jorg is not a good king.
Faced by an enemy many times his strength Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight. But playing fair was never part of Jorg’s game plan.

Stivena Eriksona nije potrebno posebno predstavljati. Ove godine očekuje nas prvi roman u njegovom serijalu koji predhodi "Malaškoj knjizi Palih".

Erikson’s new book is set several hundred thousand years before the events of the main Malazan sequence and expands on the Tiste Andii and events in the city of Kharkanas (which appears, in a deserted state, in the main series novels). Anomander Rake is expected to feature heavily.

Naravno, očekuje nas i završnica Džordanovog "Točka vremena", o kojoj i nema šta da se kaže a da je nepoznato, stoga ću preći na Čajnu Mjevila.

Mjevil u ovom romanu parafrazira "Mobi Dika", pa meni i nije posebno zanimljiv. Doduše, jeste zanimljiva mogućnost da bude objavljen u Srbiji.

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory. But no matter how spectacular it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than traveling the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-colored mole she’s been chasing since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it’s a welcome distraction. But what Sham finds in the derelict—a kind of treasure map indicating a mythical place untouched by iron rails—leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters, and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

Here is a novel for readers of all ages, a gripping and brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick that confirms China Miéville’s status as “the most original and talented voice to appear in several years” (Science Fiction Chronicle).

Tu je i Red Country Džoa Aberkrombija, koji meni liči na fantazi vestern:

Shy South comes home to her farm to find a blackened shell, her brother and sister stolen, and knows she'll have to go back to bad old ways if she's ever to see them again. She sets off in pursuit with only her cowardly old step-father Lamb for company. But it turns out he's hiding a bloody past of his own. None bloodier.

Their journey will take them across the lawless plains, to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feuds, duels, and massacres, high into unmapped mountains to a reckoning with ancient enemies, and force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, a man no one should ever have to trust . .

I na kraju roman kojem se možda najviše radujem, nastavak priče o Hariju Drezdenu, koji obećava potpuno novi pristup serijalu (pošto je pisac u prethodna dva romana potpuno razbucao i setting i protagoniste, ali na krajnje zabavan i dobro osmišljen način).

Četrnaesti roman u serijalu nosi naslov Cold Days i očekuje se u aprilu. To je sve što se za sada zna.