Ricky Pine's Blog, page 127

Review: 15th Affair

15th Affair by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The murder that kick-starts this book is just the first taste of the real shock - which comes in the form of an incident eerily reminiscent of the infamous Asiana Air crash a few years back at SFO, but even worse. Patterson's plane crash is brought about by terrorists, and not only that, it impacts onto a high school campus - which happens to be the same one that my cousins have all attended in real life, where the youngest of them stil...

Review: The Blood Between Us

The Blood Between Us by Zac Brewer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've never read a book by Uncle Zac that I didn't like, and The Blood Between Us is no exception. It's a dark and raw book, and very matter-of-fact and honest about what it is. In coffee terms, it's a cup of espresso - a tiny but potent shot or two right to the veins. It reminded me a lot of James Patterson's Confessions of a Murder Suspect, especially with the familial bad blood (insert the Bastille song here) and the mysteriously...

Review: Alight

Alight by Scott Sigler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just like with the first book in this trilogy, my review for this one will be short, sweet, and spoiler-free. Let's just say that if you thought things couldn't get any less Aztec-like in their bloody, ancient-civilization-influenced sci-fi horror, you thought wrong. Life on this strange, desolate, faraway planet is far from a secure thing, especially with the threats constantly rising from within the jungle, within our heroes' camp, etc. etc.

E...

Review: Shadowplay

Shadowplay by Laura Lam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For some reason, while my local library has a pretty extensive collection, they seem oddly lacking in books from smaller publishers and books from Bay Area writers - of which the second Micah Grey novel qualifies as both. Thankfully, Berkeley Public Library had a copy which I could special order.

Micah and Drystan spend this book in the company of magicians - similar ilk to Pantomime's circus performers, so it's not too different from the first...

Review: The Magician's Land

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The thing about this trilogy is that it starts out with a decidedly dim view of its many worlds, and gets even darker from there. Finally, in the end, there's a glimmer of hope, but that end comes after a long, difficult, and often repetitive read. Grossman's books may be inspired by modern fantasy, but he goes so hard for genre deconstruction that it becomes a grimdark, gritty slog - something that, I think, the Syfy series is doi...

Review: Curtsies & Conspiracies

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Okay, I guess this series just isn't for me after all. Interesting though it appears, for some reason it absolutely defies all attempts for me to really, truly enjoy it like I should. Maybe I'm just a little confused by the way Carriger just throws a bunch of fantasy and steampunk elements into a blender and hits "chop." It worked for Cassie Clare, but for this author, not so much, for some reason. I'm not getting the jokes, t...

Best And Worst Of The 2015-16 TV Season

This TV season may not be quite over yet (the party don't end till The Flash walks out, and even then there's still gonna be quite a few stragglers still keeping on going!) But now, in the wake of a truly epic season finale for one of my favorite shows, I think it's high time I put my thoughts out there on the shows I loved the most this season - and those that didn't impress me so much, for whatever reason.

So, let's get my Five Worst out of the way first.

5. Castle

Well, it pains me to st...

Review: Bitterblue

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was a bit reluctant to read this book given that I wasn't quite so impressed with Fire, so I ended up taking a very long time before I got around to it. Sadly, it was not worth the wait for me, because Bitterblue proved to be overlong and meandering and dull for most of its length. The central mystery takes far too long to come forth, and while there's a bit of good intrigue (especially with the cryptography element, which was unexpect...

Review: The Talismans of Shannara

The Talismans of Shannara by Terry Brooks
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

At this point, I think I might be done with the Shannara books. Not the MTV series, not by a long shot - and certainly not after that cliffhanger! But as for the books, I think I either need to give up now or just take a long break, because they're burning me out at this point. I feel like they're just too more-of-the-same, and they're really not bringing anything new to the table, not like the ways the show gets a little mor...

Review: A Dream of Ice

A Dream of Ice by Gillian Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can see where this book gets its frequent Preston and Child comparisons, being a nice little fun-sized piece of epic sci-fi. Still, I can't quite shake the feeling that this book's a little been-there-done-that-got-the-T-shirt-and-kooky-hat (to quote a reader's comment on one of my fanfics), like one of P&C's lesser (and less Pendergast-y) efforts. Still, though, for its faults, this second Earthend book knows how to deliver t...