Ricky Pine's Blog, page 117

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall 2016 TBR

Once again, Joey of Thoughts and Afterthoughts has given us an interesting "Top Ten Tuesday" post: his fall 2016 TBR top picks. Now I've just gotta share mine - including a few books that came out BEFORE this fall, but which I still haven't had a chance to read because my library's so slow to get any copies in...but oh well.

10. Rick Riordan - The Hammer of Thor

I don't think I'll ever leave the world Uncle Rick began with Percy Jackson.

Hope he's worthy.
9. Lynne Matson - Nil on Fire

I'm sta...

Review: Jerkbait

Jerkbait by Mia Siegert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Ten thousand people look my way
But they can't see the way that I feel
Nobody even cares to try..."
-Styx, "Man In The Wilderness"

"Is there anybody out there who
Is lost and hurt and lonely too?"
-Coldplay, "Square One"

Thanks to the Wattpad4 bringing Mia Siegert in for an interview a few weeks back, I was inspired to try this book out after learning what it has in common with my very own Red Rain - the lead characters are twin boys, with one (Tris...

Review: Falling Kingdoms

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been seeing this series on store and library shelves for a while, and after years of not touching it (and a few months of serious Sarah J. Maas withdrawal while I'm painfully waiting for Empire of Storms), I've finally read this first book.

It does remind me a bit of A Song of Ice and Fire in terms of the surprisingly high violence level and focus on in-universe politics, with a touch of magic thrown in for texture. The book foll...

Review: Chorus

Chorus by Emma Trevayne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This series...I dunno. It's got a cool twist on the dystopian genre as its premise, one that's actually had its own secret influence on my own writing with the concept of addictive music tracks. (Although my books, rather than try and emulate the idea of big business attempting to force musical drivel on the world for mind control - "Everything Is Awesome!"-style - simply make musical addiction a mental condition.) Unfortunately, I just can't...

Review: Furies of Calderon

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a while since I've read Codex Alera, so now that I'm also re-reading The Dresden Files, I figured it was high time I started re-reading Butcher's other big fantasy series as well. I forgot how exciting these books were, with all their elemental furycrafting fun and the pseudo-Roman politics at play. Everyone calls this the logical offspring of Avatar: The Last Airbender and A Song of Ice and Fire (even though the latter cam...

Review: The Siege

The Siege by Mark Alpert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The sequel to The Six no longer has The Six, but even with fewer team members, it's still every bit as white-knuckle a book as its predecessor. The sheer inventiveness of this bite-sized piece of awesome never stops, especially given that the enemy is such a dangerous AI always going all-out to tear our heroes apart by any means necessary.

After a couple of less-than-stellar other reads, I'm happy to say I've finally found another five-star st...

Review: The King Slayer

The King Slayer by Virginia Boecker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked the first book in this series, but this sequel left a lot to be desired. Other than a few isolated snippets of action off and on throughout the story, nothing much appears to be happening, and it was extremely hard to follow without needing to go back and see, "Wait, when did that happen again? Or was it in the first book? And why don't I remember that?"

Such a shame - this looks like such a unique series, like The Bone Seas...

Review: The Third Option

The Third Option by Vince Flynn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Okay, so I really enjoyed the two prequel novels, but in comparison, the first two Mitch Rapp books that Vince Flynn wrote are long, sluggish, and seriously lacking in the action department. This book, in particular, has so little of Rapp, and so much of all the other, less interesting characters, that it might as well not even be a Rapp book. Honestly, I'm on the point of giving up on the series entirely, but knowing that Flynn's craf...

Coming Soon: Hurts Like Heaven

Sam Ayers, better known by her Wattpad name of @Whisperingwater, has done it again. She's designed me a new cover for the sequel to my ongoing SuperFlash KareBear (and Superman/Wonder Woman too!) fanfic, Adventure Of A Lifetime. That sequel goes by the name of Hurts Like Heaven.

Behold the two covers, side by side!


Why yes, they're both named for Coldplay songs. And why not? Coldplay's a great, great band, and don't let anyone tell you any different!

Plot details for HLH will remain under w...

Review: The Warrior

The Warrior by Victoria Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dante Walker's story comes to a completely wild and crazy - and endlessly twisty - ending. I do mean "endlessly twisty," too, especially in the second half or so when everyone and their mother starts betraying and backstabbing to get ahead in this little supernatural war.

One thing I loved about this series overall is its occasional similarities to my own books - particularly the tendency to bring the dead back to life with supernatural p...