Ricky Pine's Blog, page 139

Review: Zom-B Fugitive

Zom-B Fugitive by Darren Shan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For the penultimate Zom-B book, Darren Shan went and saved what might very well be the most shocking plot twist this series has yet, and probably will ever have. No, I won't spoil it here, but it's the biggest game-changer by far in this series. Every single word of Chapter 12 - all three of them - will have you doing spit-takes, or losing food from your mouth, or perhaps losing air from your lungs if you're especially unlucky.

You've bee...

Review: The Murder of an Angel

The Murder of an Angel by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was expecting a wild and insane finale for the Confessions series. Maybe it didn't exactly fit the bill, but other than the surprisingly limited action, this fourth and last book was a satisfying conclusion, if only because it finally brings the Angel family drama full circle. The sci-fi elements popping up in books 2 and 3 are toned down somewhat (even though those were what I most enjoyed about those books, it's okay that...

Review: Six of Crows

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There's a reason why this book comes with Michael Dante DiMartino's seal of approval - it's a lot like Leend of Korra in a few ways, with its primary settings being two different cities in an alternate world. One, Ketterdam, being a sort of early 20th century steampunk city. And the other, an icy city in the northern wastelands of Fjerda.

It's also got a lot of Ocean's Eleven in its DNA, being a heist story as opposed to the magical war t...

Review: The Sword of Summer

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The last line of the blurb for this book automatically made me think of one of my all-time favorite shows, Dead Like Me, and a key scene detailing the (spoiler) death of its main character. You can witness that scene for yourself here. (you might wanna turn up the volume 'cause the sound sucks)

As wonderfully well-imagined as Dead Like Me was, though, I'm a little more inclined to believe in Valhalla as depicted by Rick Riordan. And...

Review: The Tattooed Heart

The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here we have a book that continues its predecessor's use of weaponized fear and divine punishment, neither for pleasure nor profit. However, while the recipients of these divine punishments so very much deserve them (I'm really looking at Trent and Nicolet, some of the most nasty characters Michael Grant came up with who weren't the Gaiaphage or Drake), redemption is the more important theme of The Tattooed Heart. Everyone deserves...

Spidey In His First Life - A No-Budget Cosplay

Disclaimer: I'm not actually Spider-Man, nor am I Andrew Garfield. Either that, or I'm his split personality who thinks he's an American YA writer struggling to get published. XD

Lacking money or talent for designing cosplays, I went the no-budget route on this one - easy, considering Peter and I are geekboys with fairly similar wardrobes. Using this pic from TASM 2 as inspiration...



...I simply took clothes I already had and put them together in the right combination. Only one person IRL...

Review: The Rose Society

The Rose Society by Marie Lu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

***SPOILER ALERT***

Since I imagine Chloe Bennet to be Adelina, I'll start with a quote from Agents of SHIELD which I think could accurately apply to Adelina:



And apply it does after the ending of this book, which is not only Marie Lu's self-admitted darkest one yet, but also her most balls-to-the-wall insane. Respect to Ransom Riggs, but The Young Elites is quickly rising up in the ranks to become my new favorite YA series.

Most of the credit...

Review: Career of Evil

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Seeing the blurb for this book made me have this reaction:



Reading this book made me have this reaction:



In some ways, this book was less intense than the impossibly disgusting, Hannibal-level grossness of The Silkworm. On the other hand, Galbraith's third benefits from taking a look into the dark personal histories of both Strike and Robin - specifically, the fact that they both have violent crime in their pasts - because it helps us...

Starling City Storm: Metahuman Therapy Session

Right now I'm again working on my pettest of pet projects, White Shadows - but today, I spent most of my waking hours thinking about the future of Starling City Storm, because it seems, based on my most dedicated Spidey & Speedy fan's responses, that the story's getting better. And in the future of SCS is a scene where Barry and Peter finally get a chance to talk about their pasts and learn how much they have in common. Especially when it comes to certain childhood tragedie...

Review: More Happy Than Not

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So this guy Adam Silvera's an up-and-coming debut writer? If so, he's definitely one to watch out for.

Contemporary YA is usually natural anathema to geekboys like me, and like Aaron Soto. Of course, when it's a Darker and Edgier contemporary with a sci-fi twist, packed with glorious pop-culture references, that's the exception to the rule. That's this book.

But it's not all about the glorious pop-culture references, from X-Men to Ha...