Ricky Pine's Blog, page 42
April 14, 2021
Review: Red Tigress
Red Tigress by Amélie Wen ZhaoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Would it really surprise you to know that in this terrible time of increased anti-Asian racism, of #StopAsianHate trending online, that this book, sequel to one its author wrote in response to widespread issues within Asia itself (in particular human trafficking), is authored by the one Asian author YA Twitter would rather pretend was cancelled? Or, more accurately, that as soon as it became clear she was a victim of ra...
April 2, 2021
Review: The Iron Raven
The Iron Raven by Julie KagawaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
To think it's easily been over five years since the last time Julie Kagawa's career was built so immediately on the strength of her uniquely scientifically fantastic Iron Fey series. But now, she's back to that world with the start of the new Evenfall series, now centering on a wonderfully engaging - and interestingly conflicted - protagonist in Puck. I admit, I still look back at Puck as another example of me shipping ...
March 31, 2021
Review: Court of Lions
Court of Lions by Somaiya DaudMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think when Somaiya Daud came out with her debut novel in 2018, it was meant as the start of a lovely, lush, beautiful new trilogy of YA SFF like none we'd ever seen before. But now I think that, given the two year gap between this book and its sequel and how little attention it seems to have attracted across the community (despite much-deserved love from Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Roth, among others), Daud might have r...
Review: Lore
Lore by Alexandra BrackenMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
Okay...so a lot of the time I pick up an Alexandra Bracken book after months, if not years, of looking forward to it and I find it interesting to start off. But her narratives historically tend to sacrifice a lot of action for dead air and bloat to pump up the page count, and I'm sorry to say that her latest was no exception. Though promising an action-packed sort of Hunger Games starring the Greek gods - in modern-day New Y...
March 26, 2021
Review: A Court of Silver Flames
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. MaasMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Well I'll be honest. By rights, this isn't a four star book. A 3.5 really, and if not for the fact that Nesta and Cassian are fast becoming major comfort characters for me, it'd really just be a straight 3. But to see that this is where Maas is taking the world of ACOTAR next - in addition to her freshly announced TV adaptation with the team behind Outlander - with a fresh new trilogy focused on Nesta and Ca...
March 20, 2021
Review: Chain of Iron
Chain of Iron by Cassandra ClareMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
600 pages and a beautiful, beautiful cover? OMGGGGGGGG YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
As is normal when I see something new from Cassandra Clare.
Now, though...here we are at a point where I've completed a full reread of Clare's work to date, topped off with her latest, and here I am wondering...when will we actually get her upcoming trilogy conclusions? We don't have covers, let alone release dates, for The Black Volume of the Dead ...
March 16, 2021
Review: Super Powereds: Year 1
Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew HayesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Literally the first book I read in Oregon...well, no, but my roomie Justin is a big, big fan, and he played the audiobook on much of the back half of our all-day drive from the Bay Area to Hood River last month. Starting in Eugene or so, and only stopping once we got to Portland and it really started to snow...but in all that time, the amount of book we were able to cover was barely a seventh of it, according to ...
March 14, 2021
Review: Infinity Reaper
Infinity Reaper by Adam SilveraMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think, like with the first book of Silvera's first official series - thankfully not another duology, though he sure as hell took his sweet time announcing the upcoming third and final novel - Infinity Reaper will get a 3.5 star rating, rounded up to a 4. Though the world-building feels a little more solid than the first book's rather nebulous, not-super-explained effort (having a full list of characters and biographi...
March 11, 2021
Review: Wings of Ebony
Wings of Ebony by J. ElleMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Having heard about J. Elle and her debut while watching the virtual launch of Sabaa Tahir's A Sky Beyond the Storm, I'm glad I was able to get ahold of this book from my library - and then, once I finally opened it, it proved pretty unputdownable, demanding to be read in one sitting. Neatly bridging the gap between its imagined island of the gods (somewhere off the southern tip of Africa, though the geographic description ...
