Ricky Pine's Blog, page 134

Review: The Eternal World: A Novel

The Eternal World: A Novel by Christopher Farnsworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been waiting for a long time for another Christopher Farnsworth book - and while this isn't the Nathaniel Cade continuation I've been really dying to read, this standalone thriller, based on the same Fountain of Youth legend that inspired the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, is a nice little piece of wild and crazy action to tide us Cade fans over. It makes all the sense in the world that the Spanish exp...

My Life In Poetry

While looking through my Google Docs for old essays I wouldn't need anymore, so I could use those files to put together the beginnings of my vomitous critical theory essay (which I need to start today, blecccch), I found this gem from two years ago - the final essay I wrote for a poetry class. That class, I took in spring 2014, a time of massive reinvention in my life. I'd just changed majors from computer science to English, I'd finally made my first real friend in God knows how long, I'd st...

Review: Glass Sword

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rise, red as the dawn.

A fair few of my friends, who have better connections than I do, were lucky enough to acquire this long-awaited Red Queen sequel in advance, but many of them confessed themselves quite disappointed. Based on this less-than-stellar reception, I was scared that I wouldn't enjoy the book either.

Well, I guess I didn't read the same book my friends did, because Glass Sword, for me, skips the Catching Fire prelude to the...

Review: This Shattered World

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a little disappointed when I learned that Tarver and Lilac wouldn't be the focus of this book, but considering the premise behind this next star-crossed couple of Jubilee and Flynn (military girl and rebel dude), I kept my hopes up. These two romantic leads are quite different from their counterparts in These Broken Stars, but certainly have a similar opposites-attract-after-so-much-tension dynamic. While the story isn't qui...

Review: Hellraisers

Hellraisers by Alexander Gordon Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a while since Alexander Gordon Smith gave us a new book, and so I went into this one with high hopes based on my previous experience with Escape From Furnace and The Fury. Maybe it's not quite as good as those books, but for what it's worth, you get exactly what you ask for going into this book - horror, action, explosions, and a creepy new mythos combining aspects of demons and djinn.

The romantic part of the story feel...

Review: The Great Zoo of China

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

And here's the unstoppable high-octane thrills I've been missing from Matthew Reilly. Ever since I got into his books a few years ago, I've been dying for the next one, and discovering firsthand just how long he can go between new releases. And then it took me a long time to even realize this book existed - which I wasn't aware of until after I'd finally read The Tournament.

This book is much more in the vein of the Schofield o...

Review: Stars Above

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been taking looks at various printings, etc. of the stories in this collection for a while - like, in paperback releases of Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, as well as on Marissa Meyer's Wattpad page. However, to finally get these stories and more in print, all together...well, it's about time!

Most of these stories are some very useful looks into the lives of characters who aren't our four heroines, or Levana. Others flesh out further det...

Review: Blood and Water

Blood and Water by Briana Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Post-apocalypse + disgusting disease + trust NO ONE + all the feels = this book.

Seriously. Thank God this book was available on Wattpad, but the real question is, why isn't it on sale in major bookstores everywhere? I know this book is bound to kill everyone who reads it. Like this:



And then, we're left all like this:



There needs to be a sequel, too. But I'm not sure if I can handle it...

Oh, and one more thing. The main character's name...

Review: Malus Domestica

Malus Domestica by S.A. Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Easily comparable to the work of Stephen King, this sizable chunk of urban-fantasy goodness boasts some downright horrifying literary set pieces. However, the best by far comes in the prologue. I remember once hearing on the radio about a little thing Netflix did to calculate how long it takes to get hooked on most shows (like, two episodes for Breaking Bad, three for The 100, that sort of thing.) With this book, if it were to be made int...

Review: Stormdancer

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like Amie Kaufman's These Broken Stars, this book from one of the co-authors of Illuminae doesn't quite live up to that lofty standard for me, but this book has no problem delivering a most unique adventure. I don't think I've seen Japanese culture and steampunk dystopian blended quite so smoothly, except maybe in Howl's Moving Castle, which, while murder on the feels at times, is a walk in the park compared to the high stakes and action K...