Ricky Pine's Blog, page 130

Review: The Druid of Shannara

The Druid of Shannara by Terry Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe I'm just getting a little burnt-out on the Shannara books, 'cause I've been reading so many of them now that the show's come out (and I'm still praying that MTV renews it for a second season, 'cause it's a hell of about time they have something worth watching other than Teen Wolf.) But I feel like every Shannara book I read now ends up being a bit more of the same. Case in point with this book, which repeats a storytelling...

Review: Once Upon a Time: Red's Untold Tale

Once Upon a Time: Red's Untold Tale by Wendy Toliver
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thought, given that this was based on one of the best shows on TV right now, that this would be a good piece of supplementary material. Not really. It could've functioned as an okay story on its own, but its connection to Once Upon A Time raised my expectations too much for a book that proved quite mediocre, actually. It just felt a little too been-there-done-that at points, and the writing itself was quite distr...

10 Cloverfield Lane: No Spoilers

One of my most recent reads was the wild and crazy dystopian thriller Alive, which came with a special request from author Scott Sigler:

NO SPOILERS.

Because of certain similarities between Alive and my most recent movie-theater visit, 10 Cloverfield Lane, I'm going into this review with a similar policy:

NO SPOILERS.

When the original Cloverfield came out in 2008, I somehow managed to not see it for three years or so afterwards, and also somehow managed to not get spoiled for...

Review: Remnants of the Damned

Remnants of the Damned by Gavin Hetherington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of Wattpad's best undiscovered gems, this one, like Malus Domestica, owes a huge debt to the old master of horror himself, Stephen King - as well as to Twin Peaks and its many other spiritual successors about small towns with dark, dark secrets. Here we follow five young people, all with a shocking connection to some past horror in this dreadfully disturbing town, and now their past is really coming back to haunt them...

Review: Alive

Alive by Scott Sigler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

NO SPOILERS.

That's the rule for this book, so decreed by Scott Sigler himself. (And after the recent rash of Wattpad readers getting spoiled while reading Red Rain, I might have to put a similar request onto my own books...but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.)

So far, of all the books I've read this year, this one is one of the best, third (so far) only to Morning Star (and take the recommendation for Alive from Pierce Brown seriously -...

Review: Truthwitch

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After being attracted to this one largely from the Twitter hype - everyone at the YA writers' cool kids' table loved this book to death, it seemed like - I am happy to report that while it doesn't quite live up to that hype for me, Truthwitch is still quite enjoyable for a number of reasons. Chief among them - the breakneck pace throughout. Although this book ended up taking me three days to read, that was only because I had very little ti...

Child Of Chaos: A Poem Inspired By Blue Moon

So, tonight, I've been fueled by java chip ice cream to catch up on the as-yet incomplete sixth and final installment of the Marvel fanfic series Blue Moon by Wattpad's very own @yourmybeautifulsoul, aka Sierra Daniels. As usual, I've wound up leaving off on a very shattering part of the story, which is par for the course for Sierra's writing. Not for nothing is she often compared to Joss Whedon himself, Pinecones.

During my binge-read, I found a section in the book where Sierra asked her...

Review: Fury

Fury by Steven James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of my favorite TV shows ever is the gone-too-soon TNT series Perception. Although that show is, on the surface, an ordinary consultant-in-law-enforcement crime procedural with the twist that the consultant is schizophrenic, it didn't take me long to reinterpret the show as a secret example of magical realism. I honestly thought that Dr. Daniel Pierce was psychic (still do, in fact), and that the writers chose to paint him as schizophrenic but...

Review: Kinslayer

Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is somewhat longer and more sprawling than its predecessor, which isn't really a good thing. Sure, there are a few really wild and crazy action sequences, and Yukiko and Buruu really make a great team - especially when Buruu starts making philosophical questions about why human mating is so messy and involves so much tongue. (I wouldn't know.) Unfortunately, these moments of fun and high intensity are saddled with slow spots throug...

Review: Unmade

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know why it took me so long to finish this trilogy, but now that I'm done with it, I have to say, I wish it wasn't done yet. Especially for the supporting characters, who really help make this series for me. I especially like the way Kami's brothers interact with everyone else, the adorable little guys. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for annoying younger siblings sometimes. Little ankle-biters.) And, in other news, my ship manages...