Ricky Pine's Blog, page 60
January 24, 2019
Review: Thanos: Titan Consumed
MARVEL's Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos: Titan Consumed by Barry LygaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'd say Barry Lyga's a pretty equal-opportunity fanboy. This book couldn't be any less like Lyga's Flash trilogy: not only is it Marvel, but it's a pretty epically crushing secret origin for Thanos. Following the Mad Titan from his birth onward, we get a glimpse of how great a world Titan used to be, until all that prosperous veneer came crashing down in the end, as we all knew it would.
And of course...
January 22, 2019
Review: Sherwood
Sherwood by Meagan SpoonerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wasn't as impressed with Meagan Spooner's Hunted as I was with her collaborations with Amie Kaufman, but this second solo-written retelling of Spooner's, which I read in ARC form, is somewhat of an improvement over Hunted. It's still nowhere near any of my favorite books ever, but as a Robin Hood retelling, one in which the original Robin is dead almost from the get-go and Marian has to take up the mantle, it's a pretty good one which I r...
January 21, 2019
Review: Dragon Pearl
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha LeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The third book published under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint proves to be the most different yet in the lineup, mostly because instead of being a straight-up modern fantasy just like Riordan's books were, here we get our mythological retelling (Korean, in this case) in the form of a space opera. And also very differently from previous Riordan books and Rick Riordan Presents, this one's a standalone. So far. With that open ending, there...
January 20, 2019
Review: Black Wings Beating
Black Wings Beating by Alex LondonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Trigger warnings: parental abuse, religious discrimination, racism.
I'm actually a little...disappointed...in how this book turned out for me. The first time reading a new Alex London book since Guardian, almost half a decade ago, and I wasn't super invested in it? Like...WTF happened? I mean, that's not to say the book is a total stinkbomb. It's much more readable for its characters, especially Brysen and Kylee. But especially Brysen,...
January 19, 2019
Review: The Black Coats
The Black Coats by Colleen OakesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Trigger warnings for this book: rape, sexual assault and allusions/accusations thereof, racism, death of a loved one.
Picking up this next book from Colleen Oakes in ARC form at work, I expected it to be a rewrite of her Peter Pan-themed fantasy retelling just like Queen of Hearts and sequels were rewrites of a previous self-published project. But no, instead she gives us a pretty high-stakes - and pretty accidentally relevant, since it...
January 16, 2019
Review: Red Glove
Red Glove by Holly BlackMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm...starting to remember what it is about Holly Black's books that I tend not to like. It's always been some kind of undefinable something missing, and that's still undefinable, but after the first book made a good impression, this sequel kinda left me a bit cold. For a follow-up to a real masterpiece of world-building and prescient political commentary, this second book feels like it adds little to nothing new to the table. I mean, it has...
January 13, 2019
Review: The Music of What Happens
The Music of What Happens by Bill KonigsbergMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Trigger warnings for this book: rape, PTSD, abusive parents, mental health issues.
This one's a bit of a tough book for me to rate. I've spent a day after finishing up reading the ARC to let my thoughts collect well enough, and I think I'm going to give it a 3.5 and round up to a 4. I can see why it gets a lot of comparisons to Ari and Dante - the Southwestern setting, a certain retro vibe to it (though it's set in the presen...
January 10, 2019
Review: The Edge of Everything
The Edge of Everything by Jeff GilesMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This one's kind of a 3.5, which I'll round down to a 3 mostly because I remember more of the annoying parts of this book better. Namely, Dallas and his job at the House of Huns, which feels more than a little bit culturally appropriative. And the fact that most of the characters tend to be surprisingly forgettable, and the narrative has a way of going around in some kind of anachronic order that makes it strangely hard to follow....
January 8, 2019
Review: The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi LeeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The sequel to The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue already has a surprise or two up its sleeve from the word go. I went into it lowkey thinking that we'd start off with Monty and Percy still in Greece after the end of Book 1, even if Felicity was on her way back to Britain - and then, surprise, the boys are rooming together in London and Felicity escapes from a hapless would-be suitor in Edinburgh to come se...
January 7, 2019
Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny HanMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Normally, I'm not into this kind of contemporary YA - it's almost always a hit or miss for me, usually a miss unless there's some aspect about it that really connects with me in some way. I'm sorry to say that I didn't connect with this one super well, but I can see why it's as popular as it is. It's not a complete 100% fluff-fest with no exceptions, but it's overall very light and airy and easy to devour. I guess it's j...
