Ricky Pine's Blog, page 3

Review: Never Flinch

Never Flinch by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had high expectations for this one, even after I was a little less impressed than I'd been hoping for with Holly, because Holly Gibney is a fan and creator favorite for a reason. But here we have Holly's latest case - or, more accurately, cases. There's a lot going on in this book, and it's so convoluted that it proves very difficult for the whole story to coalesce cleanly, and even King himself admitted that...

Review: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I first noticed this series had blown up to the point of getting almost all the books reissued in humongous hardcovers, I thought ACE had gotten all seven that has been self published up to 2024 or so. Nope. Turns out this is as far as they’ve gotten, but the seventh book will be reissued by ACE this fall, and promises to be even bigger and bloodier than any of its predecessors. And given that thi...

Review: Faithbreaker

Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sorry to say that while this series started out strong, in the end, it kinda fizzled out for me. Not that it was an awful and unreadable book, not by a long shot. But the heavy focus on tons of POV characters in a relatively small space, it made the series increasingly slow and unfocused, bogged down with characters and ships I couldn’t get behind (although I do love how the series has always been good at including qu...

Review: Coldarius: The Betrayal

Coldarius: The Betrayal by D.L. Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first book of Coldarius was a fighter punching above its weight class for sure, but this second half of D.L. Hannah’s Platirius prequel duology really saves its most devastating moments for last. Even after reading all her previous books in quick succession this year, it was still tough to predict exactly how this book would unfold, and as I read it in one sitting, Hannah’s narrative threw every curvebal...

Review: The Survivor Wants to Die at the End

The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Silvera was starting to lose me a bit with his increasingly sprawling Infinity Cycle and its focus on too many obnoxious and unlikable characters in its ensemble, but with this return to the world of Death-Cast, he starts to un-lose me, because this book is where he starts getting right again, much of what he messed up in his other series. While this book is a great big brick of a book, just ov...

Review: The Butcher's Masquerade

The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I’ve worked my way through this series, it’s been a roller coaster for me in terms of quality. It didn’t start out as great as I expected given its massive hype (let’s not forget, Ace bought up all the books and has been reissuing them in very fast fashion in hardcover these last few months), and while it did improve for me after another book or two, we’re at a point where I’m giving it once again a 2....

Review: South of Nowhere

South of Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Colter Shaw returns for his fifth Jeffery Deaver novel in a storyline that might just be too high budget for the CBS series adaptation Tracker, unless they saved that budget for a season premiere or finale. Oh, and some of the details about Colter’s family wouldn’t be able to be incorporated into the show anyway, since the show is definitely taking its own path in that regard. Here, however, Deaver presents a bo...

Review: His Face Is the Sun

His Face Is the Sun by Michelle Jabès Corpora
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is for sure a serious candidate for my favorite book of the year, and will at least stay in the top 5 if it doesn't outright hit the number one spot. An expansive high fantasy set in a fictional kingdom inspired by ancient Egypt (the author is herself of Egyptian descent and took inspiration from stories passed down by her father and her grandparents), with four protagonists in different social c...

Review: The Gate of the Feral Gods

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Stay the fuck away from gods.”

It’s so odd how this series, for all it’s been a hit, fluctuates in quality for me from book to book. I gave the first two books 3 stars (really the first was a 2.5 rounded up), and then the third book started what I thought would be an upward trend. But now here comes the fourth book and fifth dungeon and we’re back down to three stars again. I think a huge part of it is ...

Review: The Tainted Khan

The Tainted Khan by Taran Matharu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Matharu returns to his first series of adult fantasy with Jai striking out on his own and finding his way to the Steppefolk, to whom his true people are connected, in hopes of ultimately bringing down the Sabine Empire that destroyed his family and countless others. In this sense, it’s like if Dune Part Two shed its sci fi elements to become Steppe Part One. The book noticeably dials down its predecessor’s litRPG...