Ricky Pine's Blog, page 18

Review: When Among Crows

When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Veronica Roth has been on quite the kick of novellas (and shorter than average) novels these past few years, and now she's got one of her most densely packed novellas yet. Densely packed with Polish mythology - her mom's side of the family being Polish, she turned to them for more inspiration - and also borrowing on her experiences with chronic pain as she did when writing Carve the Mark, it's as meaty a story as...

Review: Colton Gentry's Third Act

Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Though he's not done with YA just yet - he's got a new collaborative novel in verse with Brittany Caravallo scheduled to come out this summer- it's interesting to see Jeff Zentner make a pivot into the adult literary fiction scene. He still has a foot in the YA door with this one, however, since it makes frequent use of flashbacks to the title character's younger days and his initial romance with high sch...

Review: Five Broken Blades

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This one, sadly, is an official DNF for me. It sounded like it could’ve been great for me, with its premise of disparate assassins forced to collaborate to kill a king who absolutely bloody deserves it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get far because of the book’s peculiar structure - it jumps from POV to POV every chapter, and the chapters are all quite short, and all the POV’s are almost indistinguishable from each oth...

Review: The Silverblood Promise

The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Take that rec from James Rollins seriously - and James Islington too, while we’re at it. James Logan makes a real great trifecta of Jameses in the modern realm of fantasy greats, with this first well crafted entry in a new series of Mediterranean inspired intrigue and trade and war games…and the disgraced young noble turned card sharp forced to investigate some uncomfortable truths in the heart of the worl...

Review: Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I was in high school, one of my favorite books was Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks, the story of a boy destined to be the greatest supervillain on the planet, except for the fact that everyone at the university for evil geniuses is so dysfunctional that they can't help but plot against each other until they're all killed off.

This book tries to take a similar premise and ra...

Review: Dragon Rider

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know a guy or two who loves some litRPG type material. I'm going to need to make sure this book is on their TBR piles, and everyone else's, because if you're not reading Taran Matharu as faithfully as I do, are you even a fantasy fan?

Here, Matharu shifts gears from the YA sphere where he spent the last decade or so into a decidedly more adult realm. Sure, protagonist Jai is still in his teens, but this book definit...

Review: Interior Chinatown

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This mind-bending satire of race in Hollywood from an Asian-American perspective has been on my radar for a while, in part because of a lot of different updates about planned movie and/or streaming adaptations. As I remember it, stars like Jimmy O. Yang, Simu Liu, and Chloe Bennet have been attached to the project at different times, and I'd really love to see how the adaptation pulls it off. It helps that much of...

Review: The Will of the Many

The Will of the Many by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Up to now, I haven't read any of James Islington's books before, but I think that'll have to change now that I've finished this one. I believe it was recommended in the Red Rising subreddit, in part because of its similar Romanesque styling and propulsive story arcs. But Vis Telimus, our protagonist here, is nowhere close to a copycat of Darrow. In fact, in some ways, he's Darrow's opposite, but also they ...

Review: A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery

A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery by Curtis Craddock
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Craddock returns to his gaslamp steampunk fantasy world with a new novel full of intrigue - and at least one cheeky little reference to one of the biggest name authors who helped bolster this book with his blurb, Brandon Sanderson, getting tuckerized into "Lord Brandon Mistwaithe." While the book does a pretty good job continuing the story from where its predecessor left off, with Jean-Claude a...

Review: Huge

Huge by Brent Butt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who would've guessed that the deadpan Canadian comedian behind Corner Gas had such a deadly good thriller in him? Well, it's the sort of book that you can almost read in Brent Butt's own distinctive voice, until it starts mutating into a uniquely demented take on the slasher genre, with a serial killer who only wants to make the world laugh with him instead of at him. If only he was actually funny, because it's not so funny any...