Ricky Pine's Blog, page 100
March 13, 2017
Review: Frostblood
Frostblood by Elly BlakeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
It seems like this first Elly Blake book is pretty love-it-or-hate-it because, as YA fantasy stories go, Frostblood takes a lot of inspiration from previous YA fantasies, to the point where, more than most of its contemporaries, it feels like it's copycatting at times. Especially given that its premise centers on a girl of a different type of blood, looked down on for it, and drafted into the rebellion to use her secret powers against the opp...
March 12, 2017
Kong: Skull Island - A Well-Oiled Chaos Machine
***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.***
Kong. He's been a staple of American cinema for 84 years now, from his first groundbreaking movie to the campy af '70s remake to Peter Jackson's love letter and three-hour tour from 2005. Now, in 2017, he's back on the big screen, rebooted into the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse which secretly began with 2014's Godzilla reboot, and headlining an inspired, propulsive film that's probably the best genre Vietnam War movie since J...
Kong. He's been a staple of American cinema for 84 years now, from his first groundbreaking movie to the campy af '70s remake to Peter Jackson's love letter and three-hour tour from 2005. Now, in 2017, he's back on the big screen, rebooted into the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse which secretly began with 2014's Godzilla reboot, and headlining an inspired, propulsive film that's probably the best genre Vietnam War movie since J...
Review: Caraval
Caraval by Stephanie GarberMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not unlike last year's Ruined by Amy Tintera, Stephanie Garber's debut novel Caraval is set in a Spanish-influenced fantasy world, and has a bit of a slow-paced beginning but really picks up the pace in the second half. The similarities end there, however. While Tintera's fantasy was a more action-packed piece in the vein of Throne of Glass, Garber gives us something more akin to Alice in Wonderland - and especially Splintered. But there w...
March 11, 2017
Review: The Orphan Queen
The Orphan Queen by Jodi MeadowsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've admittedly been sleeping on the works of Jodi Meadows for a while, but recently, when there erupted a furor over the cover of her upcoming series starter, Before She Ignites, I realized I might have been missing out on some good books. So I'm going to be combing through her oeuvre for a while to get a taste before BSI - which I really want to read - hits shelves.
As a first impression of Meadows' work, I probably would've found a...
March 10, 2017
Review: Teeth
Teeth by Hannah MoskowitzMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
If Andrew Smith wrote a story about merpeople, it'd probably be a little something like Hannah Moskowitz's Teeth. This book is a bite-sized piece of modern Gothic magical-realist surrealist weirdness, so literary it hurts. Parallels to The Metamorphosis, in particular, run wild - and take note that I LOATHED The Metamorphosis when I had to read that book in high school, because it was so relentlessly downbeat and impenetrable. Moskowitz's bo...
March 9, 2017
Review: The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1: At the Edge of Empire
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1: At the Edge of Empire by Daniel KrausMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In recent months, I've been working to find a good YA historical piece, often with poor results (as was the case with Salt To The Sea or Razorhurst.) This brick of a book from Daniel Kraus, with a larger-than-life title to match, fits the bill a little better, perhaps better than any YA historical I've read since The Monstrumologist. Appropriate, given that the first Kraus book I read,...
March 8, 2017
Review: Blood for Blood
Blood for Blood by Ryan GraudinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
For the sequel to Wolf By Wolf, Ryan Graudin takes the reader on another whirlwind tour of this alternate history where Hitler lives eleven years longer than he did in the real world...and the Valkyrie plan has been revived to try and effect a long-needed coup. Though Blood for Blood is no less fast-paced than its predecessor, it also suffers from a tendency to get lost in too many plot threads and too much focus on characters other th...
March 5, 2017
Review: Devil's Advocate
Devil's Advocate by Jonathan MaberryMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pairing beautifully with Kami Garcia's Fox Mulder origin story Agent of Chaos, Jonathan Maberry whips up another masterful horror-mystery in Devil's Advocate, wherein he focuses on teenage Dana Scully. Raised Catholic - or, at least, in Catholic school - Scully finds herself troubled by horrifying visions of devilish murders, and in order to get to the bottom of a rash of deaths at her new school, she needs to delve into some East...
Review: Agent of Chaos
Agent of Chaos by Kami GarciaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The first of the two X Files Origins books, this one focuses on teenage Fox Mulder, as written by Kami Garcia. I've been waiting for Garcia to really dazzle me again for a while, since I'm still waiting on continuations for the Dangerous Creatures and Legion series (there's no way those could end where they did!) But for another opportunity for Garcia to show how good she is at writing teenagers getting into paranormal creepery, this boo...
March 4, 2017
Review: Empire of Storms
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. MaasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
First off, I have to say that flaming blue-orange contrast cover with Aelin looking incredibly more beautiful and kick-ass than ever is just downright awesome.
Second off, the one and only proper reaction to that doozy of an ending:
So. Empire of Storms.
Honestly, after Queen of Shadows with its Lovecraftian horror and demonic possessions every-freaking-where, I thought Maas had peaked. Maybe she has - the books she's put out in the las...
