Ricky Pine's Blog, page 98

Review: The Wicked Will Rise

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The sequel to Dorothy Must Die, while served in a smaller package, doesn't lose any of the creepy, disturbing darkness of the original. In fact, The Wicked Will Rise actually adds more disturbingness to the mix. Cases in point: the body horror of Pete and Ozma sharing a meat suit, the creepy Fantasms in the fog, burning of rainbows (apparently that's possible in Oz, and, probably inspired by Panic! At The Disco's Too Weird To Li...

Review: The Mirror King

The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The sequel to The Orphan Queen ups the stakes considerably, with more wraith shenanigans and more royal intrigue, but also suffers from a bit of an overlength problem, owing, I think, to Jodi Meadows' decision to end the series with this book rather than go for a trilogy. (Though, to be honest, a trilogy would have probably led to there being three drawn-out books as opposed to two.) Really, The Orphan Queen and The Mirror King aren't...

Review: Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first time I read this book, it was around the time of my 21st birthday. Three years later, in preparation for the day my library finally gets The End of Oz, I've started rereading the series - the main series, that is, because my library has a harder time getting ahold of, and keeping, the Stories collections.

I remembered nothing but the best about this book, and on this reread, I still absolutely love it. It's the longest boo...

Review: Storm of Lightning

Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Once again, I find myself reading a Michael Vey book and find it wanting. Don't get me wrong, the plot keeps moving at a pretty breakneck speed, but it gets annoying when Evans keeps throwing in POV switches and calling each one a new "part" of the book, and in less than 300 pages there are 14 or 15 "parts." Not to mention, while the plot does keep moving quickly, it's mostly unmemorable, except for a scene or two with Hatch,...

Review: Aftermath: Life Debt

Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I'm not really the biggest fan of the Aftermath trilogy thus far, but Life Debt does improve considerably on its predecessor. Not only do we get more involvement from some well-established Star Wars mainstays like Leia, Han, Chewie, and even Wedge Antilles and Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar, but the new characters Wendig created, such as Norra and Rae Sloane and Sinjir (thumbs up, too, for Sinjir being one of several Wendig orig...

Review: Battle Royale

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a huge fan of The Hunger Games, books and movies both - especially the movies. But for this very similar piece of dystopian, I spent years sleeping on it, until a Twitter mutual of mine convinced me I should try all the Battle Royale media there was - book, manga, movie. So I started with the book and, while I still enjoy The Hunger Games more, Battle Royale presents a very chilling alternate world, a dystopian Japan of the late 90...

Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first time I read this book, I have to say, I didn't really enjoy it. It felt like it didn't live up to its potential, not even close, not for a story inspired by Jack the Ripper. And it certainly didn't help that there was that "I was the girl who loved the Ripper" back-cover blurb, which actually kinda put me off. I picked up the book again, though, because now I know that its follow-up will be an even more interesti...

Review: Empire Decayed

Empire Decayed by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well, I liked the first volume of The Death And Life of Zebulon Finch well enough, but I found that this one followed a path similar to Kraus' Rotters in that it began wonderfully, only to end as a mere shadow of its former self. It certainly doesn't help that, even more so than its predecessor, Empire Decayed is a giant brick of paper and ink, a collection of smaller stories that build up to the promise of the prologue of At The Edge O...

Review: Blood of Wonderland

Blood of Wonderland by Colleen Oakes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read Queen of Hearts last summer and was really enamored with it, being that it was basically Alice in Wonderland meets Game of Thrones, but in a smaller form. While I very eagerly awaited Blood of Wonderland - and with a title like that, how could I not? - I think maybe this book got a little too GRRM-like for its own good in a way. Not because it was long - it wasn't. Not because it killed my faves off - it didn't. But more be...

Review: Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've only seen six episodes so far of the Syfy TV series based on these books, but based on that, I wasn't really expecting quite what came up in Leviathan Wakes. It's a massive, expansive (of course) piece of space-opera, a little like Red Rising in its depiction of the future of our solar system a couple hundred years from now (but not progressed to the point where it becomes an enormous space Roman Empire), and also reminding me...