Episode on RUV on The Book of Guardians Trilogy: Sept 2018
Það er ekki oft sem indverskir rithöfundar ákveða að setjast að á Íslandi og skrifa sögur sem byggðar eru á íslenskum þjóðsögum.
Giti Chandra er indverskur fræðimaður sem starfar við Háskóla Sameinuðu þjóðanna í Reykjavík, fyrrum dósent í enskum bókmenntum við Stephen‘s College í Delí á Indlandi. Hún hefur gefið út eina fræðibók, Narratives of Violence and the Construction of Collective Identities, um frásagnir af ofbeldi og sköpun þjóðarímynda og nú vinnur hún að tveimur fræðibókum til, önnur er um ofbeldi í frásögnum frá Indlandi og Afríku á tímum nýlendustefnunnar og hin ritrýnt greinasafn um #MeToo byltinguna.
Giti er einnig barnabókahöfundur. Hún hefur gefið út The Fang of Summoning og The Bones of Stars, fyrstu tvær bækurnar í þríleik sem segir frá baráttu Chandra fjölskyldunnar við Edasich, snákaguðinn ógurlega stefnir að tortímingu jarðarinnar.
Eitt af því sem einkennir bækur Giti er að söguhetjurnar sem bjarga heiminum eru afar fjölbreyttar. Það er alltof oft sem við lesum fantasíur sem gerast í furðuheimum þar sem allar persónur eru skjannahvítar og þegar þær eru kvikmyndaðar tala persónurnar af einhverjum ástæðum alltaf með breskum hreim. En söguhetjur Giti eru persónur sem koma alls staðar að úr heiminum og aðalsöguhetjurnar eru indverskar, brúnar og sterkar.
Sagan af Chandra fjölskyldunni er sögð af frásagnargleði, frásögnin er á köflum bráðfyndin, húmorinn fráleitur og stundum súrrealískur. Giti heimsótti Útvarpshúsið og ræddi um bækur sínar og furðusögur á Indlandi, í bókmenntaþættinum Orð*um bækur.
Orð*um bækur var á dagskrá 22. september 2018. Umsjónarmaður var Brynhildur Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir og lesari með henni var Jóhannes Ólafsson.
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“It is not surprising, then, that the first two published books from Giti Chandra’s sophisticated young adult ‘Book of Guardians’ series make an appeal to a unified approach to the whole business of fantasy myth-making. In fact, she goes one step further. Not only does Chandra undertake world-building with the enthusiasm of a quasi-astro biologist, but she also brings together mythologies as diverse geographically as old Icelandic and ancient Indian on the premise that they share enough resonance to feed into the same ocean of legend.”
‘The Fang of Summoning’ is a tale that knits together vivid descriptions, skilfully sequenced battles, and mind-boggling twists and turns.
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“When Chandra writes about the Chandler Wobble—a deviation in the Earth’s rotation around its axis—and about the Yellowstone Park super volcano, she is truly able to meld the stranger-than-fiction science with the plot. The science is not in any way incidental, and reading the books makes you think back to what you know about these phenomena and to google them to learn more—and all this without killing the enjoyment of reading.”
“It’s refreshing to come across a fantasy series which doesn’t really depend on the Otherness of western mythologies. In Giti Chandra’s Book of Guardians series, the backbone of the plot is an age-old story in Indian mythology – that of Raja Harish Chandra, the legendarily truthful king. As with most modern fantasy novels, the magic is derived from a smart juxtaposition of modern settings with ancient concepts. For Chandra’s super-powered children (it would be the ultimate crossover, for them to grow up into the X-Men, or the characters from Heroes), this means that they get to show off their battle chops in a diplomatic enclave — giggle-worthy, if you live in Delhi. (Of course, this is not a problem once the action shifts to Yellowstone Park.) But these are minor quibbles. Chandra is a quietly efficient writer, whose science fiction leanings are very visible. There are even breaks in the book, full of links to background reading, to help you understand the plot better. To get away with that without spoiling the flow is just one of Chandra’s achievements.”
Aditya Mani Jha, Sunday Guardian
“This book is very, very, good. Giti Chandra, conjures to mind
such vibrant word pictures that one is transported from the bleak and icy
wilderness of Iceland to the hustle and bustle of Gurgaon in an instant. The
characters, from Grandpa Harish Chandra, to little Noor Ragnarsdottir are
all well formed, and feel like real people, that you could just know. There
is a certain underbite, a menace, to the whole tone of the book, which is not
out of place at all, considering the story. The narrative, however, may be
confusing for younger readers, especially in the beginning, as they may have
a little difficulty in keeping up with the story. But the rest of the book flows
smoothly.
This book does very much lives up to its expectations, and is intensely
gripping. My compliments to the author!”
Reviewed by teenagers! at readdicts
Giti Chandra 