Ricky Pine's Blog, page 73

Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first official release of the new Rick Riordan Presents imprint gets this whole enterprise off to a speedy start. If you are a child, whether actually or at heart, pick up Aru Shah and the End of Time. If, like me, you weren't all that impressed with Roshani Chokshi's earlier YA fantasy titles (I couldn't even finish The Star-Touched Queen), pick this up anyway because it's the point where Chokshi gets to really cut...

Review: Immortal Reign

Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe it's been over a year since I read the fifth Falling Kingdoms novel, though given there was a pretty long gap between that book and this concluding sixth entry, that's no surprise. And along the way, Rhodes has given us quite a wild ride, more so than I ever would have expected. It ain't my favorite series by a long shot, but Falling Kingdoms has become the Song of Ice and Fire we'd be getting but better if only George...

Review: Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Not for nothing has Tomi Adeyemi debuted as strongly as she has, taking the YA world by storm with this instant #1-bestselling fantasy epic. Richly steeped in Nigerian culture (Orïsha, the fantasy kingdom in which Adeyemi sets her novel, being an alternate Nigeria with the cities located roughly where their real-world counterparts would be - and the world map strongly reminds me of Dhonielle Clayton's Orléans too, because of...

Review: Genesis

Genesis by Brendan Reichs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reichs returns in the middle entry of his gnarly, supernaturally deadly, seriously dangerous Nemesis trilogy. Going forward, I do have to drop major spoilers for Book 1 - or do I? I mean, the dust jacket blurb does a terrific job of not being too spoilery in case someone picks this book up by accident without having read its predecessor.

But I'm not writing dust-jacket copy. I'm writing a review for Genesis and, maybe just a little, hoping it...

Review: Pitch Dark

Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this book on the same weekend in which I got to finally see A Quiet Place, I thought they paired very well, featuring aliens that hunted by sound and some pretty gnarly body horror. There the similarities kinda end, though, because while A Quiet Place is a straight up horror show without much in the way of humor (if anything), Pitch Dark throws in significant levels of both humor and drama. And also some even stronger social com...

A Quiet Place: The Trials And Tribulations Of The Modern Family, Up To Eleven

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.***

Last year, Get Out proved just how brainy a horror movie could be, and I feel like it's helped kick-start something of a horror revival - not the kind of self-aware we got with Scream back in the nineties, the kind that turns into a bit of smarmy and sneery and self-indulgent after a while, but viscerally psychological and supremely timely. 10 Cloverfield Lane was another such great horror movie, released a little ov...

Review: Zenith

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Ehh...I was still a little hyped up for this one even when the GR rating for it totally tanked. At first, I thought it was just a bit of a bad reaction to a Booktuber getting what appeared to be an easy road to publication, or some kind of misguided punishment aimed at Harlequin Teen because other problematic books. Either way, not really justified, right?

Well, I still think judging the book as harshly as it got judged before its official publ...

Review: Blood of a Thousand Stars

Blood of a Thousand Stars by Rhoda Belleza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe how much I loved the first book.

I refuse to believe this sequel will be the last.

But apparently it is. And while this final book does provide more than enough closure to its predecessor, it's still...another duology? Really? I'm not a big fan of this particular trend.

But for this pair of books from Rhoda Belleza, she's got a couple of great stories here, loaded with engaging characters, on-point social commen...

Review: Obsidio

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



So.

It's finally happening.

The conclusion to the Illuminae Files.

First came Illuminae, next came Gemina, finally comes Obsidio.

Kaufman, Kristoff, you have taken my money. My review will come, very, very soon.

MY OFFICIAL OBSIDIO PLAYLIST:

"How long I've waited here for you
Everlong..."
-Foo Fighters

"And if I tried to change my life one more day
There would be nobody else to save
And I can't change into a person I don't wanna be..."
-Panic! At The Disc...

Review: Shadowsong

Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm...not sure what to say about this book. I mean, I didn't dislike it, but I didn't like it much either. It takes a lot of its predecessor's biggest flaws up to eleven - the gossamer-thin plot comes to mind, as does the romance, for which I feel nothing but a pervasive sense of wrongness. That being said, though, S. Jae-Jones deserves commendation for making it clear that this pair of novels is #ownvoices for bipolar disorder, and for app...