Ricky Pine's Blog, page 97

Review: American Street

American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To put this book on my "fantasy" or "supernatural" shelves is a bit misleading, but I don't exactly have a shelf for magical realism. Mostly because just about every time I read a book that claims to be that genre, it's something else entirely - and usually not in a good way. Usually some kind of screwy surrealist thing that comes at the expense of plot, characters, or both.

Ibi Zoboi's debut, however, does magical realism without those sa...

Review: Conjuror

Conjuror by John Barrowman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've heard that John Barrowman's been getting into the author game with his sister Carole, but until now I'd never picked up any of their books. As a first impression of Barrowman and Barrowman as authors, this was a pretty good one. Conjuror is short but very fast-paced and uniquely terrific, loaded with artistic-based superpowers and history-bending galore. Though I'm a little weirded out by the PG-13 levels of cussing - not that it norma...

Review: Heart of the Storm

Heart of the Storm by Michael Buckley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really loved Undertow and liked Raging Sea, but didn't love it nearly as much as its predecessor. The trilogy's conclusion, Heart of the Storm, has a quality level more in terms of Book 2 - it's got plenty of action, and plenty of frequent lampshading of the hackneyed story elements, but overall doesn't pack quite the same punch as the deadly, social-commentary-laden first book. And while the love triangle's finally resolved, L...

Review: Empress of a Thousand Skies

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I believe I promised that King's Cage would still be my favorite 2017 book by the end of the year, and while Aveyard's massive threequel still soars, Belleza's making me break my promise with this book that breaks the rules so beautifully.

The blurb says Empress of a Thousand Skies is perfect for fans of The Lunar Chronicles and Red Rising, and I gotta say, it really, really, is...but you probably wouldn't guess that from t...

Review: Aftermath: Empire's End

Aftermath: Empire's End by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first two Aftermath books weren't absolutely stellar, and neither was this one, really, but Empire's End does improve on its predecessors. Thanks to this book, not only do we get a good sense of how the Empire could keep on enduring, even for a hot minute, after Palpatine died, but also more involvement from Han and Leia (even as the latter comes close to delivering little baby Ben, the future Kylo Ren), and more insight in...

Review: The Well of Ascension

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This second novel of the original Mistborn trilogy, while compelling, was nevertheless so very long that it proved a real hassle to read. Especially because, for whatever reason, I found myself unable to set aside much time to do so. Even though it's not as long as any of George R.R. Martin's books, it took me just about as long to read, if not longer, and that was because as much as I enjoyed the characters, the storyline d...

Review: Yellow Brick War

Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank the Lord we didn't have to wait till 2017 for this one...

Back in 2015, I thought we were awaiting the end of a trilogy with Yellow Brick War. No longer is that the case - there's one more book after this one, The End of Oz. So yes, Paige does end this threequel on a cliffhanger.

It's a short book - even shorter than The Wicked Will Rise, I think. The first half or so of this book takes a different route than I expected - puttin...

Review: Incarnate

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I've finally begun this first series of Jodi Meadows', and while I can't say I enjoy it more than The Orphan Queen - hell, I think the three-year gap between this book and that one shows how much her craft improved - I still have to give it points for not only blending genres a bit better (being a blend of fantasy and implied post-apocalyptic dystopian), but also for being equally as addictive a piece of prose as The Orphan Queen. However...

Review: Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The cliffhanger from Clockwork Prince was pretty low-key compared to what the fourth and fifth Mortal Instruments books served our way, but that didn't stop it from landing in my lap with an earth-shattering, ball-bruising KABOOM. That, plus the cover art, made me unable to wait for this book when it first came out. That cover art, though...it's the best one of any Clare book yet IMHO. I love the way they show Tessa. She reminds...

Review: The Song Rising

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been plenty long enough since we've had a new book from Samantha Shannon, and as always, it's been pretty well worth the wait. While The Song Rising is a little shorter than the two previous books, it's no less jam-packed with futuristic alternate-historical paranormal thrills as it follows Paige, our new Underqueen, on a journey all across Scion-controlled England and Scotland where the goal is to stop Scion from rolling out...