It wouldn't be a good year if we didn't have a new Shrek movie, so, not surprising, we do. Shrek 4, otherwise known as Shrek Forever After, continues the story of our favorite ogre. This time Shrek has to find a way to overcome a terrible curse that apparently changed the course of history. In this this twisted alter-universe Shrek, Fiona and Donkey never met, and the guy who brought this on them is ruling Far Far Away.

Shrek Forever After will come to a theater near you on May 21 2010. You can watch the trailer below, or find it directly on YouTube.

In July last year we wrote about new Discworld movie made by Sky1 network: Going Postal. The production is well under way as the movie is scheduled to air during the Easter 2010, in the meantime though Sky1 posted few of the stills from the movie set. You can take a look at them below, or on Sky1 website.

Sky has posted this short synopsis of the movie:
Going Postal is a story of sweet romance and dark revenge set against an ongoing dispute between a traditional postal system and Discworld's equivalent of the internet. Richard Coyle (Coupling) and David Suchet (Agatha Christie's Poirot) headline an all-star cast.

In June last year I noticed a marvelous cover for a book not released yet. I liked it so much, that I posted this article: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms cover. Today, during my usual blog crawl I stumbled upon this post by Aidan.

After following Aidan's link to Jemisin's website I've found not only two sample chapters, but also first ratings (Top Pick!) for the book. Looks like one of the candidates for best books of 2010! :-)

Take a look at the synopsis below and if you want to find the sample chapters, they're here: Chapter 1, Chapter 2.

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is going to be released on February 25, 2010 . You can pre-order it today, on Amazon.

After receiving a very strong feedback on the Best Fantasy Books of the Decade list I decided to clearly specify the criteria for Best Fantasy Books of 2009. This time the choice is not based on anyone's Top/Popular/Bestseller List. Following list was compiled based on the reviews and general community reception of the books.

First two positions are books long awaited and not disappointing (the two are equally important, there were many awaited fantasy books, that turned out to be less appealing than expected). Number three is the best fantasy debut and warmest welcome for a new writer I have ever seen. That says a lot about a book. Both number four and five constantly show up on my fantasy radar when new blogger discovers them and gives his own shining review. Here it is, Fantasy Fan's top 5:

  1. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
  2. Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
  3. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
  4. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
  5. The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham

You can certainly argue the order, everyone has their own taste in reading, but each of the listed books was received very well by wide fantasy community along with becoming a bestseller (although that was not the part of the criteria). In short, you can't go wrong with those five if you're looking for quality fantasy reading. :-)

Following my review of Avatar movie I decided to put something in that theme on my desktop and went for a hunt for some good hi-res widescreen Avatar wallpapers. Here is the result of my search, seven images from the movie. Enjoy beautiful Pandora, Jake's Avatar and Na'vi princess Neytiri.

And I have to decide if it's worth going to see the movie in the cinema again or not. :-)

Ever since I heard that creator of Aliens (my all time favorite sci-fi movie) was working on another production I was excited like a kid on Christmas. Today I finally had the opportunity to see the movie and although it's by no means related to fantasy genre I had to share my thoughts on it. Here's my review of James Cameron's Avatar!

In a star system far away from Earth there is a planet more beautiful than you may dare to imagine: Pandora. It's special not only because of the breathtaking sights (and atmosphere). Pandora holds two wonders: some kind of rock, which is incredibly valuable for Earthlings and more importantly, a race of intelligent species: the Na'vi. Those blue-skinned giants are living not much unlike the native Americans, when European colonists first arrived. They live in harmony with nature and have no interest in anything civilization has to offer.

First day of the 2010 year seems like a good moment to look back at the greatest fantasy books of the past decade. As I mentioned many times before, Fantasy genre is blooming recently, conquering hearts of more and more readers. Among many series that rose and continued in the "00" decade two stand out as unquestionable leaders.

First one is Rowling's Harry Potter series, seven books about a young student wizard. The final installment of Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) sold 8.3 million copies in the USA in its first 24 hours of release, making it the fastest-selling book of all time.

Second series undeniably ruling the fantasy market was Stephanie Mayer's Twilight, a vampire-romance novel aimed not unlike Harry Potter, at Young Adults. First book in the series became an instant bestseller, debuting at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list within a month of its release and later peaking at #1.

Those two series combined have entirely taken over the "USA TODAY TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE 2000S" list. The only book outside of the genre to make it to the list is The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Take a look at the list below, or if you don't believe me (I couldn't believe it myself!), take a look at the source.

1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
2. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
4. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
6. Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
9. Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

The world doesn't revolve around Harry Potter and Twilight alone though, so stay tuned for the best fantasy books of 2009! Coming soon on Fantasy Fan. :-)

It feels like not that long ago we were all in fear of the Y2K (which turned out to be way overrated) and now it's time to say goodbye to the "00" decade. Time flies, doesn't it? 2009 was a very good year for both Fantasy and Fantasy Fan. We posted well over 300 articles, among them close to 60 reviews of various fantasy books, movies and games. This was only possible thanks to our dedicated members, so I'd like to use this opportunity to say: Thanks guys! :-)

The end of year 2009 signifies one more thing, a change in hosting for Fantasy Fan! As I mentioned before the site moved from the old hosting to a brand new, super-fast host, which should make visiting Fantasy Fan a more enjoyable experience. The move has been almost completed and went through almost without issues. If you notice any issues though, make sure to let me know!

It's time to get read for the New Year celebration, so I hope this passing year was a good one for you and the next one will be even better! I'll see you in 2010!

I don't know about you, but last few days were a little bit more crazy than I would like. It's the traditional ordeal before Christmas, the chase to get everything ready, buy the presents, prepare food, clean the house, you name it. The crazyness is almost over, Soon we'll all have the time to relax and do something we really like, read the Christmas present book or play the Christmas present game. Or something entirely different. :-)

I'll be enjoying this time of the year making plans for the next year, trying to foresee the joys and troubles my soon-to-be-born son is going to bring my wife and me. I wish you have as happy and safe Chrismas we intend to have!

Merry Christmas everyone! :-)

For the past decade, games have been sold as being open-ended. The game worlds are huge, you can explore for hours, and the graphics are always cutting-edge. In this market, full of games claiming to be bigger and better and pushing their systems to the brink, it's unusual to see successful games that go in the other direction. Trine (PC, PS3, soon XBox360) , however, breaks out of this mold. Trine is almost a throwback to the old Commodore and Atari games and it provides far more fun than one would expect with a side-scroller fantasy adventure game.