Ricky Pine's Blog, page 84

Review: The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've seen Patrick Rothfuss' name floating around the internet and book blurbs for quite a while, and it's only now, after his books came highly recommended by one of my Stanford Bookstore managers, that I've finally picked up The Name of the Wind. This book, it starts out pretty slowly, but when we finally get into Kvothe's POV and he starts really telling his own story, that's when the book really begins to shine. Kvothe's st...

Review: Never Never

Never Never by Brianna Shrum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second Peter Pan retelling I've read in the last year or so, I think this one, I enjoyed a lot more because of how uniquely it centered James Hook and his rise from a Lost Boy to a feared pirate captain. Though I've spent months, if not years (well, I've only been on Twitter for two anyway) being mutuals with Brianna Shrum, it wasn't until very recently that I found out my library happened to have this book of hers, and I'm very glad...

Review: The Final Spark

The Final Spark by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As its title implies, The Final Spark is the conclusion of the Michael Vey series, and yet after the epic cliffhanger of its predecessor, it's really not much of a Michael Vey book at all. Michael himself is missing, presumed dead (I mean, nobody could've survived that big-ass lightning strike, right? Right?) And so this book, over its 300 or so pages, is mostly devoted to a ton of jumping between a variety of smaller-scale POVs,...

Review: Wonder Woman: Warbringer

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

DC's answer to Marvel's loose string of original YA novels (like Corinne Duyvis' Guardians book, Jason Reynolds' Miles Morales, and Margaret Stohl's underappreciated Black Widow series) begins here with the first of the DC Icons, and thank all the gods they started with Leigh Bardugo's terrific take on a slightly younger Wonder Woman in the modern day.

On the one hand, it's a little strange, knowing that Bardugo's giving us a...

Review: The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've seen a fair few people on Book Twitter raving about this here book, and now that I've read it, I can totally see why. The Epic Crush of Genie Lo is a relatively short story, but no less action-packed and richly written for it, not to mention steeped in Chinese legends (especially that of the Monkey King) with modern twists. Every character from our heroes on down pops off the page, and the Bay Area setting, though cleverly...

Review: Leia, Princess of Alderaan

Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yeah, I think it's official - Claudia Gray writes the best Star Wars novels of them all. I loved her take on a pre-Force Awakens Leia in Bloodline, and now, her return to YA with a teenage Leia proves to be a wonderful, and very thought-provoking, prequel to A New Hope, while also featuring some clues about The Last Jedi - most prominently the world of Crait, which I'm pretty sure is the land of salt and red sand featured in...

Review: Tower of Dawn

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These days, it's hard to find anyone who genuinely enjoys Sarah J. Maas' books anymore - she's kinda done a lot of her readers dirty with her recent forays into erotica and general lack of diversity, but more recently, she's been working to correct some of the flaws that have turned so many readers against her. Tower of Dawn, I have to say, is her best effort in that department yet, not only because it helps make up for Chaol's total ab...

Review: My Best Friend's Exorcism

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seeing the paperback of this book on the shelves at the Stanford bookstore - a lovely design meant to evoke 80s VHS tapes - I had no choice but to order this one ASAP. It being virtually unavailable at any Bay Area library, I had to order it special from Sacramento instead. Now that I've read the whole thing - mostly during my break times at work, one of those accompanied with a Dark Mocha Frappuccino - I've found My Best Fr...

Review: Written in Red

Written in Red by Anne Bishop
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had to pick up this book after seeing some of its sequels on the shelves at work (though the store only carries the two most recent books) and finding it peculiarly interesting. Reading it, I've found that it's not quite what I expected. I think I expected a contemporary fantasy, but this book blends that with urban fantasy, alternate history, and paranormal romance. Think True Blood meets The Dresden Files meets Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour...

Review: The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you know anything about N.K. Jemisin from following her on Twitter or anywhere else, you know she's a whip-smart lady, and that she's got quite a few award-winning books out there. So for my first Jemisin book, I figured I'd try the beginning of her Broken Earth Trilogy and see how it played out. Well, I can see for sure why she's an award winner, even though the book wasn't quite 100% to my taste. The book's narrative styles, whil...