Ricky Pine's Blog, page 88

Review: First Kill

First Kill by Zac Brewer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Coming after the high that was Twelfth Grade Kills would be difficult to top, but as the start of darkness for Joss McMillan, the leader of the great Minion Horde delivers quite the ride in the first book of The Slayer Chronicles. It's been quite some time since I read any of the books in the Vlad Tod 'verse, and I'm starting off kind of in reverse order, reading the Slayer books first - which, incidentally, is not what I recommend if you happe...

Review: Ash and Quill

Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Originally meant as the end of the Great Library series, I think, Ash and Quill is now the very middle entry, the third of a planned five books. And it kinda shows in that the plot of this book feels a little bit spread thin and repetitive, especially compared to the first two books. That said, though, this third book adds a little to the world-building by really introducing us to an alternate America run by Burners, who are basically al...

Review: The Love Interest

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the months since this book hit shelves (months in which my library took its sweet time getting ahold of copies and distributing them), my hype for this book took a few hits when I saw a surprisingly high number of bad reviews and a relatively low GR average. A lot of these reviews complained about the book having a paper-thin backstory - which, admittedly, it kinda does, but then again it's also one of those "please park your bra...

Review: Our Dark Duet

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm. Strange. I just read a Victoria Schwab book and I didn't love it like everyone else. I wasn't super-duper-hella-overwhelmed with feels. Did I read it wrong? Perhaps. Maybe in a year or so I'll read Our Dark Duet again and appreciate it more. But for now, I have to consider this one seriously hype-damaged.

Don't get me wrong, I did like the book. I just feel that there were a few certain things lacking in it. Like the world map I w...

Review: Shattered Minds: A Pacifica Novel

Shattered Minds: A Pacifica Novel by Laura Lam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like Laura Lam's books - those that I've read, anyway, because I'm still waiting for my library to get Masquerade. It's been too long. They didn't take nearly as long to get ahold of Shattered Minds, though, for which I'm grateful. It's just...strange, because this is the first time I've read a Laura Lam book and not been totally enamored with it. I mean, don't get me wrong, Lam weaves a deadly dangerous futuristic sto...

Review: Zodiac

Zodiac by Romina Russell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really more of a 3.5, but I'll be cool and round this one up to a 4. The idea of this series - a science-fantasy with an astrological bent - was too cool to pass up when I first discovered this series a couple of years ago, but at the time, I felt like its execution left a lot to be desired, and the second book didn't really cut it for me, so I kinda passed on it for a while. But now, I'm thinking maybe a sort of slow binge might be to this s...

Review: Reckoning

Reckoning by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I went into this one seeing that it was a British-themed YA dystopian, and reading it, I was able to see that I wasn't wrong. (Funny thing - I actually picked up the second book in the series by accident at first, and then I had to take it back and wait for this first one to come in after ordering it.) Basically, it's exactly what I expected - a YA dystopian that mashes up elements of all the biggest hits of the genre (Hunger Games, Di...

Review: The Retribution of Mara Dyer

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holy crap balls. This story did not let up, let me tell you. The things that Mara found out about herself and Noah and everyone else were nasty, terrifying, shocking, whatever you wanna call it.

A few standout points:

* I was really happy to see Jamie back in the game after he was so criminally underused in The Evolution. Man, did I miss him or what? And he has a new Official Most Awesome T-shirt: the word "trope" upside do...

Review: Paper and Fire

Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was warned that this second book of The Great Library was a bit of a come-down from Ink and Bone, but thankfully, Paper and Fire is only a slight case of Sophomore Slump, unlike, say, Michael Grant's Hunger or Susan Dennard's Windwitch. More like the Scorch Trials book compared to The Maze Runner (not the movie, though - the movie was a vast improvement.) The main issues I had with this book were its somewhat erratic pacing - mostly f...

Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm mostly gonna focus on the ending and my reactions to it.

My main reactions are as follows:











Even now, after reading this beast of a book all over again, I'm reliving all the old Ballpit of Denial killer feels. Literally. Even after we finally get somewhere with the secret origins of everyone's powers, it's still set up for a devastating ending, the most intense Hodkin's given us yet.

At least this time, though, I don't ha...