Ricky Pine's Blog, page 123

Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a brick. This was a giant apocalyptic golden brick.

It took me a long time to read it, because I had to be sure to appreciate it all.

Sometimes, I had trouble remembering where everyone was, because so many plot threads were flying at once in the face of the dreaded Arrival.

But hey, more Karou and Akiva? More Zuzana and Mik? And Eliza...oh, Eliza. I always have a bit of a soft spot for people raised in freaky doomsday...

Review: Days of Blood & Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm so glad I re-read Daughter of Smoke & Bone, because I loved that one enough that I'm now happily blazing through its sequels back to back. One thousand pages and then some. My next review after this one will be for Book 3, but for now, let's focus on Book 2.

First off, maybe it's just me and my liking for the color red, but this has my favorite cover in the trilogy.

Second off, it's great that we get to split the story...

Review: Soldier

Soldier by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Julie Kagawa is dangerously good at what she does, blending fantasy and sci-fi like few other writers whose name isn't Marissa Meyer. As the Talon Saga reaches its midpoint (third of five planned books), the frenzy of action and intrigue and international conspiracies builds up to new heights. More than ever, we see the evils of both sides in this war, with Talon selling out their kind to the Order of St. George as they, like so many other so-...

Review: Dark Energy

Dark Energy by Robison Wells
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Robison Wells (and Dan Wells too) have always been relatively hit-or-miss for me. This one, I'm sorry to say, is more of a miss. The story spends most of its time moving as slow as molasses - which is exactly what you don't want in a book this short. In other words, it's like a bad episode of The X Files. The use of Native American culture and traditions as part of the whole alien backstory is welcome, though, because it calls up some bet...

Review: Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as I started reading this book, I noticed that its GR average rating looked a little low, so I was worried that as far as Alice in Wonderland retellings go, this would be a little less on the Splintered end of the quality scale, and more on the After Alice or Alice in Zombieland end.

Nope. It's definitely more on the Splintered end - and, dare I say, even better than Splintered, or at least the first two books in that trilogy (I t...

Review: Let the Wind Rise

Let the Wind Rise by Shannon Messenger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's been a painfully long wait for the conclusion to this trilogy which does for sylphs and other assorted wind spirits what Rick Riordan did for various classical pantheons.

It was very much worth the wait.

Vane and Audra take the fight to Raiden in this final adventure of theirs, and it's a long, intense fight, with everyone involved getting battered and shredded by their weaponized winds (and those of their enemies, of course....

Review: The Last Star

The Last Star by Rick Yancey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I went into this book with very low expectations because of my considerable disappointment in The Infinite Sea. After reading this book, I've concluded that this series would have been better off as a duology. The trilogy we got is two reasonably good books (hyped way too much, I think, but not bad at all) sandwiching a choppy, unfocused mess in the middle.

The good thing about The Last Star is that it's something of a return to form, focu...

Review: The Last Full Measure

The Last Full Measure by Trent Reedy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It seems that with each new book in this series, the US is getting dangerously closer and closer to fulfilling Reedy's prophecy - one that I really hope never comes to pass. It may not even be the same privacy-rights issue over federal IDs the way this trilogy presented the initial cause of its Second Civil War. It may be something else, like LGBT+ rights (an issue that went surprisingly untouched throughout this trilogy - and on th...

Review: American Assassin

American Assassin by Vince Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been meaning to try out Vince Flynn's books for a while, especially since his name is often mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Lee Child or James Rollins. It wasn't until they announced some casting choices for the planned movie adaptation of this book - namely, Michael Keaton as the elderly mentor-type, and Dylan O'Brien as the American Assassin himself - that I finally had the motivation to read this. Then I went and...

Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first tried reading this book maybe three years ago, and for whatever, found myself completely unable to get beyond page 20 or so. At the time, I put it down to the dynamic between Karou and Kaz - I somehow got it into my head that he was supposed to be the main love interest for this book, and let me tell you, I thought he was an absolute tool. As for Karou, I thought she seemed pretty bland as a character, especially given...