Ricky Pine's Blog, page 134

Review: UnBound

UnBound by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

And I thought this little Dystology was over and done with - but nope. Shusterman's got a few more surprises in store for us as he (and a team of co-writers) explore, in greater detail, the horrors of the Unwind world. In addition to showing some downright nasty stuff involving the deadly Burmese Dah Zey parts pirates, we also learn some of the backstories of characters like Risa (whose unwind order, we discover, was not an accident), and R...

Review: The Pharaoh's Secret

The Pharaoh's Secret by Clive Cussler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of Cussler's best books in quite a long time, for many reasons. Chief among them, for me at least, is the inclusion of Malta as a primary setting for what might be the first time ever in a Cussler book. And then there's the downright nasty threat from a freaky, freaky ancient Egyptian weapon that's designed to put its victims into seemingly incurable comas...don't ask. Those ancient Egyptians meddled in things that really oug...

Review: Every Crooked Path

Every Crooked Path by Steven James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The original Bowers Files series may have ended with Checkmate, but now, Mr. James is giving us a new series of prequels set between Opening Moves and The Pawn. And what a way to start this promised "new chapter" - with SVU-level suspense and disturbing storytelling. It's supposed to be in the past, and yet much of the technology involved appears to still be in use today, giving this new Bowers book an oddly timeless feel. And on a...

Review: Byron : A Zombie Tale (Part 1)

Byron : A Zombie Tale (Part 1) by Scott Wieczorek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was told this book would be a zombie tale in the vein of Warm Bodies or iZombie. Maybe not so much the former (although the movie is closer in tone to this book than the original Isaac Marion book), but the latter? A little more right on the money. Right from the get-go, the book gets into some gloriously grossgusting territory that also easily invites comparisons to that holy grail of zombie-based awesomeness, Zomb...

Review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You

Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For whatever reason, the first book didn't impress me too much. This book, however, is quite an improvement. Just when you think the multiple universes Gray's created have given up all the secrets they have to offer, along comes another serious - and seriously wild - plot twist to upend the whole thing and force the reader to question all their assumptions about this story world.

And of course the ending demands that I fini...

Review: The Eternity Key

The Eternity Key by Bree Despain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's a bit of a come-down in quality from its predecessor, actually. But like many a good sequel, the cliffhanger ending is what saves the book in the end. I mean, seriously, the way this book ends is messed-up, even by Greek mythology standards. I'm talking Mark of Athena messed-up, if that gives you any idea.

Book 3...where are you? And why don't we have a title yet, even?


View all my reviews

Just The First Step - The Authentic Artist

As part of A.L. Woodson's recent #WattpadBooksAreRealBooksToo campaign, I've contributed a short article to her Authentic Artist blog. Since Wordpress doesn't allow me to just hit a button and share the article to Blogger, I'll just present you guys with a direct link to that post instead:

https://theauthenticartist.wordpress.com/2016/01/26/just-the-first-step/

Read and enjoy!

Review: The Bureau of Time

The Bureau of Time by Brett Michael Orr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is how you can tell a young male millennial YA writer a la Taran Matharu - he's got a story jam-packed with elements borrowed from just about every other story you can think of, but thrown together in a way that still feels fresh and hyper-awesome.

Brett Michael Orr and his Bureau of Time are no exception.

First and foremost on my list of "Hey, This Sounds Like X!" comparison titles, Bureau of Time edition: Fringe. This book...

Review: Rogue

Rogue by Mark Frost
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a while since the second book came out, but despite the long wait, it was pretty easy to get back into the final entry in this trilogy. Not many people are reading these books, as far as I'm aware, but they're very good for light entertainment. And, while the story often progressed a little too fast and made it incomprehensible at times without at least two re-reads of a page or three at a time, at least Frost doesn't fall into the same...

Review: Untamed

Untamed by A.G. Howard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We've been waiting for this little supplement to the weird and wonderful world of the Splintered Trilogy for a little while, and it's great to see it finally here. Three stories this compilation's got. The first one focuses on Alyssa's mom and her own Wonderland misadventures. The second, I believe, was previously published between the first two books, which might explain why it made me remember how much I used to really dislike Morpheus back i...