Ricky Pine's Blog, page 59
February 16, 2019
Review: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben PhilippeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This one's a strange one to rate. It took me a long time to read, and it had a lot of good points, but also a lot of negative aspects too. All in all, I'll give it a perfectly middling rating, but I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the whole "Field Guide" aspect going on, it lent a pretty snarky style to the whole story. Unfortunately, that snark was somewhat undercut by the fact...
February 15, 2019
Review: Oathbringer
Oathbringer by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The third book of Sanderson's magnum opus - yes, I officially consider The Stormlight Archive to be Sanderson's magnum opus simply based on its sheer scale so far outclassing everything else he's ever written - is one of the biggest and most jam-packed books I've ever read. So big, in fact, I heard that Tor had to contract a whole different bindery to get it made. But all 1200+ pages of this brick are worth the read, because it feels...
February 10, 2019
Review: Crucible
Crucible by James RollinsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Last year, James Rollins hit another high-water mark with the thirteenth Sigma Force novel, The Demon Crown - an apt title for a scary-as-hell thriller. Could he, with the fourteenth in the series, come close to matching that scare factor? Why yes, he could, and he has. Crucible is set at Christmastime, but has the chills of an entire October's worth of Halloween movie marathons on AMC. It brings us a dreadful group of extremists who prove t...
Four Years Of Blogging, Etc.
This Feb. 10th marks the fourth anniversary of this blog, and I'm almost not sure I'm going to do another one of these blog posts. I mean, I'm typing this one up, and putting it up for all the world to see, to celebrate the day I founded Reader, Writer, Fanboy. Aka the day when Sony booted Andrew Garfield's prettyboy ass to the curb, a day I only look back on because it inspired me to rant at length about why that was a terrible idea. Naturally, Tom Holland's taken the mantle and run wit...
February 3, 2019
Review: Runebreaker
Runebreaker by Alex R. KahlerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Well, at least Kahler's author's note at the end of the book directly addresses one thing that bothered me about reading this one: how bloody unlikable our protagonist Aidan is. Nowhere near as emotionally open as Tenn, or as loving, Aidan - likely because he's open to Fire instead of Water - is self-absorbed, destructive, and manages to be even more susceptible to the sinister machinations of a certain incubus. And he has a way of basic...
February 2, 2019
Review: A Place For Wolves
A Place For Wolves by Kosoko JacksonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This one took me a little time to read, even for a book as short and punchy and fast-paced as it was. But it's absolutely a good book that's well-deserving of a place on the bestseller list when it finally hits shelves in a couple months' time. Two months from today, no less, unless I'm seeing the release date printed wrong on the spine of this ARC.
In his debut, Kosoko Jackson gives us a double level of #ownvoices, writing a gay Bla...
January 30, 2019
Review: The Kingdom of Copper
The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. ChakrabortyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've been waiting for this follow-up to the unbelievably amazing City of Brass for a little over a year now, so when it came out at work, I had to grab a copy right away! So after a week or so of reading the book on my breaks at work, I've finally gotten through all 600 pages and...I have to say, I'm mildly disappointed in this one, because it's just long and slow enough to have unfortunately suffered some Sophomore Slump.
Don't...
January 29, 2019
Review: Verses for the Dead
Verses for the Dead by Douglas PrestonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The latest Pendergast novel still doesn't quite match the world-class thrills of Fever Dream to Crimson Shore-era Pendergast, but it does get the nice bump up to a four-star book (I really give it a 3.5 tbh) for the ways it shakes up the usual Pendergast formula. Namely, Miami as its primary setting, and giving Pendergast a new official FBI partner in Agent Coldmoon, an enigmatic and magnetic Lakota Native American (with an Ital...
January 28, 2019
Review: The Three Secret Cities
The Three Secret Cities by Matthew ReillyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Just as Matthew Reilly hinted at after the two-part adventure that was Books 2 and 3 in this series, it's pretty clear that the rest of the countdown in the titles is a big old four-part adventure in the making. Building on the plot threads set up in The Four Legendary Kingdoms, we go from that book's premise of Matthew Reilly doing The Hunger Games to this book's premise of Matthew Reilly doing Catching Fire. The games are m...
January 26, 2019
Review: Broken Lands
Broken Lands by Jonathan MaberryMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Maberry's back to his old world of YA zompocalypse action, and more than ever, we get to see just how screwed up the world got After The End. No longer simply focusing on Benny Imura and his crew, we also get to follow the POV of a new survivor: Gabriella "Gutsy" Gomez, a bi Mexican girl with more than a passing resemblance to Chloe Bennet according to that stunning cover art - and hell, in text it's stated that likely due to her Nati...
