Ricky Pine's Blog, page 92
June 14, 2017
Review: Flame in the Mist
Flame in the Mist by Renee AhdiehMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I liked Ahdieh's first duology and its unique take on the Arabian Nights, but this book wasn't nearly as enjoyable. Rather than the lush, romantic fantasy she gifted us with before, Ahdieh's story of a young Japanese noblewoman forced to hide out with the group that tried to kill her (calling it a Mulan retelling is highly inaccurate, especially given the Japanese setting as opposed to Chinese, but other reviewers have covered that i...
June 12, 2017
Review: Girl Out of Water
Girl Out of Water by Laura SilvermanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
If not for this book getting flooded with trolls a few months back, I probably wouldn't have heard of it, nor ordered it from the library as soon as I did. On the surface, it really doesn't seem my style. And yet, reading this book, I found it pleasantly surprising how good it was. Though the story does lose considerable steam in the final act, which builds up to an ending so open I feel like it doesn't wrap anything up at all, I...
June 11, 2017
Review: The Alloy of Law
The Alloy of Law by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The original Mistborn trilogy gives way to this, the first book in a new series of at least four planned novels. It's set about 300 years after the original trilogy, meaning that it takes the old magic-metal system and updates it with the tech and aesthetics of steampunk and westerns. Perhaps our new heroes aren't quite as memorable as those Sanderson gave us before, and the story takes its time to get going because the early cha...
Review: Fall of Hades
Fall of Hades by Richard Paul EvansMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The fifth book in this series felt like so much filler and I wasn't sure the series would pick up in quality again after that. I'm happy to say, though, that Fall of Hades not only improves on the lousy Storm of Lightning, but also boasts some of the most high-intensity action yet in this series, enough to really make it clear just why James Dashner gives this series good blurb. Although the story suffers from some poorly-applied r...
June 10, 2017
Review: The Upside of Unrequited
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky AlbertalliMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I hate to be the next person who goes and says that their rating of a book is something-point-five stars because for some reason, those never sit well with me. But really, my assessment of this book is a 3.5, because I really can't decide whether it merits three or four more. But because I'm a nice guy, I'll round up to four.
I think my expectations for this book were a little lower than for most other readers because I nev...
June 9, 2017
Review: Red Rain
Red Rain by R.L. StineMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
So, after five years, I'm finally reading this book, apparently R.L. Stine's first for adults, and not to be confused with my own someday-to-be-published YA science-fantasy mystery of the same name...and I confess myself disappointed. Well, I'm not surprised, given how shockingly abysmal the GR average for this book is - I don't think I've seen any other book (notwithstanding the outright garbage fires that are legendary here for all the wrong...
June 8, 2017
Review: Heat Storm
Heat Storm by Richard CastleMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Given that Castle hasn't aired a new episode in over a year, this'll probably be the last we see of any of Richard Castle's novels, whether they feature Nikki Heat or Derrick Storm. But at least they got to combine forces, if only just this once, and at least this story managed to tie up a few of the lingering storylines from both Wild Storm and High Heat with neat little bows, relatively speaking. Oh, and getting Derrick's politically in...
June 7, 2017
Review: The Dark Prophecy
The Dark Prophecy by Rick RiordanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I gotta admit, I was just a tad bit disappointed in Riordan's latest madcap mythological adventure. Sure, it's fun to keep going in the POV of an assbuttish god who's still being brought down all the pegs and is none too happy about it, and I'm overjoyed that Leo's back (even though Calypso comes with him and doesn't do as much as I'd like, but still, Leo!) and hasn't lost a bit of his personality.
But the book, while it does evolve...
June 6, 2017
Review: The Battlemage
The Battlemage by Taran MatharuMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
According to that (new) cover, it's welcome to Mars, I guess...with Fletcher looking very, very dangerous. And of course, Ignatius in the background, having evolved...sorry, metamorphosed from a cute little Salamander to a bigger, be-winged, and now, more Toothless-like than ever, Drake.
So at last we come to the end of the Summoner series...or is it? Not with this level of high action, and highly relevant social commentary as the previ...
June 5, 2017
Review: The Traveler
The Traveler by David Lynn GolemonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I guess in the last year or so, Golemon's hit a bit of a slump. This might be because he went and wrote two books in that time instead of one, with one being a surprisingly not-so-fun horror story that felt like a knockoff of AHS: Roanoke, and the other being this Event Group book - and thank God for that! But while the book had all the action that comes with Event Group territory, and the history-bending, I felt that the central co...
