Ricky Pine's Blog, page 118
August 22, 2016
Review: Unteachable
Unteachable by Leah RaederMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Going into Unteachable, I knew this book would be a risk for me, because the subject matter of a teacher-student relationship really makes it hard to enjoy the read. That said, though, Elliot Wake does have a serious way with words, and the prose, like with Black Iris, helps make this YA/NA fence-straddler so compulsively readable. That, and the supporting cast, because while Maise (not unlike Laney) tends to rub me the wrong way (which goe...
August 21, 2016
Review: This Savage Song
This Savage Song by Victoria SchwabMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Although The Archived series remains my Schwab favorite, This Savage Song is a pretty close second, I think.
You always gotta love a bit of fantasy dystopian, and this book, perhaps the closest thing to a Black City spiritual successor there's been since that trilogy came to an end, is no exception. Schwab expertly blends zombies, vampires, and demons (the closest analogues I can think of to this world's three classes of monster) in...
August 19, 2016
Review: Salt to the Sea
Salt to the Sea by Ruta SepetysMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
The internet's been hyping this book so much lately that I couldn't help but pick it up at the library recently. Unfortunately, it absolutely fails to live up to the hype for me - and makes me wonder if I've got a problem with historical fiction, and especially YA historical fiction (I recently gave a bad review to Razorhurst, for example.) The real problem with this book is that it's written in no less than four different POVs, which...
Review: Darkest Night
Darkest Night by Will HillMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I first got into Department 19 a few years back, only the first three books were available, and I read those in pretty quick succession. I remember going into Book 3 and wondering when the series was going to come to an end, because at the time I didn't really see an end in sight.
Now that I've finally gotten as far as Darkest Night, that question has been answered - in 700-plus pages of supernatural horror action, a sort of YA analogue...
August 17, 2016
Review: Transfer of Power
Transfer of Power by Vince FlynnMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Now I can finally read the first published Mitch Rapp book after reading the two prequels Flynn published before his death...and I have to say, it's striking how much the plot of this book has in common with the movies Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. It's a pretty standard post-9/11 thriller...except it was released before 9/11, even before 24 and Jack Bauer took the world by storm.
Unlike the two prequel novels, this one was...
August 14, 2016
Suicide Squad: Damaged...By Hype
***MINOR SPOILERS***
Let me just preface this review by saying, despite the title I came up with for it, I did actually like Suicide Squad. It's not exactly up to Marvel standards, but it delivers as a psychotically colorful action movie about the Worst. Heroes. Ever.
I wouldn't pick that 'shroom if I were you.
Those Worst Heroes Ever are, at the very least, excellently portrayed on screen by a talented cast. What really hurts the movie, however, is its writing, which, combined with the sto...
Let me just preface this review by saying, despite the title I came up with for it, I did actually like Suicide Squad. It's not exactly up to Marvel standards, but it delivers as a psychotically colorful action movie about the Worst. Heroes. Ever.
I wouldn't pick that 'shroom if I were you.Those Worst Heroes Ever are, at the very least, excellently portrayed on screen by a talented cast. What really hurts the movie, however, is its writing, which, combined with the sto...
Review: Black Iris
Black Iris by Leah RaederMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I took my first creative writing class (spring 2014), there was quite a variation in genres for all the manuscripts and/or short stories me and my classmates were working on. They ranged from a pretty standard Fincher-like cop-chases-serial-killer thriller with an obvious twist to a somewhat Chandler-esque crime story set in the desert Southwest. They ranged from my best friend's fantasy world way beyond human comprehension (spoiler ale...
August 13, 2016
Review: The Serpent King
The Serpent King by Jeff ZentnerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
OFFICIAL THE SERPENT KING PLAYLIST:
"Sometimes the only payoff for having any faith
Is when it's tested again and again every day!"
-Fall Out Boy, "Immortals"
"Love will tear us apart...again."
-Joy Division
"It's just a reflection of a reflection...
Will I see you on the other side?
We've all got things to hide..."
-Arcade Fire, "Reflektor"
"All you sinners stand up, sing hallelujah!
Show praise with your body, stand up, sing hallelujah!
And if...
August 11, 2016
Review: Razorhurst
Razorhurst by Justine LarbalestierMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I've been following Justine Larbalestier for a while on Twitter, and she's got a lot to say on the craft of writing - and also about how to write (and how not to write) diverse books. Her books, however, are a little hard to find at the library, so it's taken me a while to get ahold of one. And while I'm hoping that some of her other stories are a better indicator of the talent behind her tweets, this book, I'm sorry to say, fails t...
August 10, 2016
Review: The Ask and the Answer
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick NessMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Picking up roughly where The Knife of Never Letting Go left off, The Ask and the Answer gets into some seriously warped mind games as Todd and Viola are forced to negotiate a new, and increasingly dangerous, landscape. (Without Manchee. Boo. Or, more accurately, "poo.")
Power plays are the word of the day, every day, in this book. Torture, of humans and Spackle alike, forms huge chunks of the pages here, and in the end, it's just...
