Ricky Pine's Blog, page 120

Review: The Rest of Us Just Live Here

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I find it very hard to believe that this book was written by the same guy who wrote The Knife of Never Letting Go. Not only because the books have totally different settings and genres - this one being set in the modern day and straddling lines between contemporary YA, magical realism, and paranormal, as opposed to Knife, but The Rest of Us proved impenetrable.

Sure, I get that it's supposed to parody YA paranormal by showin...

Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Adam Silvera's recommendations very rarely go wrong, so when he recently fanboyed about Patrick Ness blurbing his next book, I decided it was high time I read some books by Mr. Ness. So I got out three from the library recently - not the whole Chaos Walking Trilogy, but this book and two of his standalones. After reading The Knife of Never Letting Go, though, I think it's safe to say I should have picked out the rest of t...

Review: The Hidden Oracle

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rick Riordan knows what his readers want - drama worthy of the gods, action-comedy like nobody's business, a smartass narrator, and characters you've just gotta love.

This time, he's delivering something a little different - not a teenage mortal discovering their true calling as a hero, but an age-old god, brought down to normal and forced to slowly overcome his superficial tendencies as he discovers a new unearthly conspiracy to brin...

Review: Wink Poppy Midnight

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Maybe it would have helped if I didn't somehow lure myself into thinking this book was fantasy, instead of some kind of contemporary...magical realism...surrealist...thing. As it happens, however, genre-busting is not to the benefit of Wink Poppy Midnight, especially not when one of the genres the book throws in is surrealism. As a result, the book, while bite-sized, is extremely difficult to follow. The nigh-indistingu...

Review: Shades of Earth

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The final book in the Across the Universe trilogy gets into some seriously different territory. No longer are Amy, Elder, and their comrades forced to survive on a wayward spaceship. Instead, they're finally going down to Centauri-Earth and finding it every bit as lethal as you can expect, populated as it is with toxic plants and deadly pterodactyl creatures. And that's just the beginning. There's some kind of sentient creature out there...

Pitch Wars: #PimpMyBio

Hey peoples. So, as a hopeful Pitch Wars mentee, I'm going to do something I didn't do last year - the #PimpMyBio blog hop, because as much as they said it was optional, I get the feeling (insert Honey Lemon voice) it's really...not. Or I just want an excuse to write some fun stuff about myself. Something like that.

As a YA urban fantasy writer in need of publication, with over 150 queries under his belt, I'm thinking conventional routes might not cut it. Already I've got a small Wattpad fanba...

Review: A Million Suns

A Million Suns by Beth Revis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Across the Universe definitely held back a few answers to its many questions, which is only for the better as far as its sequel is concerned. A Million Suns, unlike its predecessor, doesn't take its sweet time getting started. From the get-go, we're plunged into a world of moves and countermoves that could make President Snow take notice. (Funnily enough, I'm saying this while watching a House episode guest-starring Beetee himself, Jeffre...

Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe by Beth Revis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm reading this one for the second time after giving up on it in March. The second read improved it, but not as much as I would have hoped. The first half of the book still suffers from a slow plot, seemingly full of dead ends, but then it becomes clear that there is more to this story and its weird sort-of murder mystery and the creepy-ass Season and creepy-ass Eldest. And Elder, who still creeps me out to an extent, mostly because...

Review: United as One

United as One by Pittacus Lore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's finally here.

The glorious end of the Lorien Legacies.



And holy bloodydamn goryhell, how far this series has come from its beginnings in I Am Number Four. More than any of its predecessors, United As One is dark and intense and unremitting in its pulse-pounding action. It's the Mockingjay or Deathly Hallows of this series, by which point it's all-out war, and everyone's out for blood.

Including our heroes. Including our perennial Boy...

Review: Zero Hour

Zero Hour by Pittacus Lore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Perfect timing - I got this one at the library almost at the same time that they acquired extra copies of United As One, so I was able to get myself properly prepared for the Lorien Legacies' Grand Finale.

The first story in this collection is told by Dani, one of the newly Garde-empowered humans featured in the brand-new final book, and details her initial flight from New York in the wake of the Mog attack. Then she meets John and Sam and g...