Ricky Pine's Blog, page 32

Review: Cursed

Cursed by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’d been hoping last year that when I read Gilded that it would prove to just be so much Prolonged Prologue, but this duology conclusion instead just comes across as…plain old Prolonged. I’ve said it many times that I really don’t understand why duologies are such a thing, and they’ve been so absurdly common in YA SFF especially the last five years or so. Credit to Meyer for following g that trend, though, while also sticking ...

Review: The Lost Metal

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was late to the party with all the previous Mistborn novels of both eras for a variety of reasons, but I do still appreciate that it was a particularly long wait for this conclusion to Era Two, Wax & Wayne (and Marasi too!) A particularly long wait by any standard, but especially Sanderson’s, given his incredibly prolific nature. But now, as Mistborn reaches its tentative halfway point and we await Era Three to p...

Review: Dead Man's Hand

Dead Man's Hand by James J. Butcher
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I hate to come almost to the end of the year with a terrible review, but I feel like I have no choice with this one. The first in a new urban fantasy series from the son of one of the genre’s most successful authors, this book makes it clear that sadly, James J. Butcher doesn’t come close to shining beyond his father’s shadow. There’s a glimmer of Jim Butcher-style humor and worldbuilding in this book, to ge fair, ...

Review: Mistborn: Secret History

Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this story a while back as part of Arcanum Unbounded, but rereading it now while I'm waiting for The Lost Metal at the library, it's become clear to me that I'm seriously overdue for a complete reread of this section of the Cosmere, right from the beginning. I'm very glad Sanderson got to give this book its own binding, though, because it's got so many key concepts of not only Mistborn to go over, ...

Review: The Kingdom of Liars

The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this one on the basis of Brandon Sanderson’s recommendation, and especially after seeing Martell himself getting his own table at this year’s Dragonsteel convention in Utah. Mad jelly I am of Mr. Martell getting to go there, and I really, really hope I could get a table of my own there in a future year. Maybe in 2024 or whichever year happens to be the year of Stormlight 5…but I digress.

As for this book, th...

Review: The Ballad of Never After

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was under the impression at first that Stephanie Garber was going to write her debut series Caraval as a duology, and then it turned into a trilogy. So it goes again with the second series of Garber’s fantasy realm, which I was expecting to be a duology conclusion last year, but it’s pretty clear with the ending of this book (a particularly mind bending cliffhanger) that we’re getting another trilogy. I...

Review: The Luminaries

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While we await the long-developing conclusion to Dennard's signature work in The Witchlands, here she brings us readers a smaller piece of more modern fantasy, based on the "Sooz Your Own Adventure" (as she called it) games she entertained readers with on Twitter a few years back. It's not an exact match to how the story went based on Twitter polls, but then again, I barely remember most of what went down in those poll...

Review: The Sunbearer Trials

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aiden Thomas returns to the style of their debut novel Cemetery Boys in the start of their first official series, a duology said to be a Percy Jackson and Hunger Games hybrid in a world inspired by Mexican cultures (particularly the old legends of the Aztec and Maya) and very modern in its sensibilities. Naturally, Thomas writes a great number of LGBTQ+ characters, including trans protagonist Teo, who, while still...

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Don't Ever Say Marvel Has No Heart. Ever. Again.

 **NO SPOILERS FOR WAKANDA FOREVER, BUT SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS MCU MOVIES AND SHOWS ABOUND WITHIN. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.***

T'Challa is dead.

Long live the king.

You know you're in for a vibranium spear to the feels when this movie opens with Shuri scrambling in her lab to synthesize the heart-shaped herb, lost when Killmonger burned the whole crop in the first Black Panther movie almost a full five years ago, in a last-ditch attempt to save her ailing brother T'Challa. Not unlike Chadwick Boseman in ...

Review: Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman

Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alan Rickman…may he rest in peace. I was surprised to learn that one of the most iconic actors of this generation was a prolific diarist, and even more so that they were going to be published. Chronicling his life and career from 1993 through 2015, ending mere weeks before his death, we get to know a man of sharp wit, strong opinions, and terrific devotion to his craft and his friends. Freque...