Ricky Pine's Blog, page 69
July 9, 2018
Review: Love Scene, Take Two
Love Scene, Take Two by Alex EvansleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was lucky enough to read this book in its original form, Between Takes, on Wattpad. I enjoyed it so much because it read kinda like an old fantasy of mine from my earliest writing days, in which my books got made into a movie with Chloe Bennet as the leading lady, and I got to date her. The difference being that Teddy Sharpe and Bennett Caldwell are more like Dylan O'Brien and Alex Evansley, but that's okay. The point is, even...
July 8, 2018
Review: Exo
Exo by Fonda LeeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I admit, when I first heard about this book, I had to smile because the author's name, Fonda Lee, so strongly resembles that of a character I created for my own books - Fionna Lee. Enough that I'm going to write in a few references to my own characters picking up this book just because of that name similarity. But I digress. Exo here is a pretty kickass book, loaded with action and thought-provoking sci-fi scenarios reminiscent, very strongly, of the...
July 7, 2018
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Mind. Bent.
***NO SPOILERS FOR ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, BUT SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS MCU FILMS WILL APPEAR WITHIN. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.***
The first Ant-Man movie, three years ago, was refreshingly different from most of the rest of the MCU, being centered on the West Coast instead of the East and also, to a degree not shown in any previous MCU movie up to that point besides Guardians of the Galaxy, being very humor-oriented without sacrificing a great deal of heart in the process. It also served as a...
The first Ant-Man movie, three years ago, was refreshingly different from most of the rest of the MCU, being centered on the West Coast instead of the East and also, to a degree not shown in any previous MCU movie up to that point besides Guardians of the Galaxy, being very humor-oriented without sacrificing a great deal of heart in the process. It also served as a...
Review: The Hazel Wood
The Hazel Wood by Melissa AlbertMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
It's not often that I get a book that I find severely overhyped, but I'm sorry to say that The Hazel Wood is the latest addition to that list. Promising to be kind of another Alice in Wonderland retelling, it does play out a little like the Splintered trilogy in that it's heavy on the meta-fiction style, stories within stories and dreamy imagery and all that. But unlike Splintered, I couldn't bring myself to care one whit about this Ali...
July 5, 2018
Review: Blackfish City
Blackfish City by Sam J. MillerMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
My first taste of Sam J. Miller's work, and I'm actually really sorry that first taste wasn't The Art of Starving - which I've gone ahead and ordered at the library. But this book? I'm sorry to say it didn't really deliver like I was hoping for. Maybe I should've looked a little closer at the cover and seen the endorsement by Ann Leckie more properly. I didn't like the Imperial Radch trilogy, like, at all, and this book treads some sim...
July 3, 2018
Review: The Burning Maze
The Burning Maze by Rick RiordanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The latest in the Trials of Apollo series continues the increased darkness trend started in the second book, while also raising the memorable humor and smartassery back to the levels we've long come to expect from Rick Riordan. I pretty much couldn't remember a single joke from The Dark Prophecy, but here, we get a lot more stuff to make us laugh, usually from the Arrow of Dodona, who for some reason or other keeps shouting in bad Sha...
June 30, 2018
Review: Supergirl: Curse of the Ancients
Supergirl: Curse of the Ancients by Jo WhittemoreMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Holy Roman Empire, Batman!
(#SorryNotSorry, that one begged to happen.)
Reading the follow-up to Age of Atlantis comes at a strange time for me as a Supergirl fan - or, more accurately, ex-fan, since I've quit watching the show now. It was a long time coming, given how Season 3 was just such a garbage mess of nonsensical doom and gloom and throwing away some of the best characters and pandering to virulent Mon-El haters...
June 28, 2018
Review: Last Night I Sang to the Monster
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire SáenzMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The last of the four BAS novels that my library carries for me to read (though Aristotle and Dante, I had to order from San Diego because my library just has too few copies of it and too much demand, but that's neither here nor there), and for sure one of the best. I think A&D were still a shade better, but this book, more bite-sized and yet more intense, is a very, very close second.
Thanks to Harry gettin...
June 23, 2018
Review: Leah on the Offbeat
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky AlbertalliMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
"As for the fact that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle appeared to be going their different ways when they were usually inseparable, these things happened as people got older - Ron and Hermione, Harry reflected sadly, were living proof."
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
That quote really came to mind to me after I read this latest Becky Albertalli book, a more direct follow-up to Simon Vs. than The Upside of Unrequited was. It's...
June 15, 2018
Review: A Reaper at the Gates
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa TahirMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Most authors in the YA biz give us a new book in their signature series once a year, every year, like clockwork. Sabaa Tahir has always been an exception to that rule, going at least a year and a half between books each time so far, and it's become one of my biggest selling points as I present her books to customers at my work, because I really think it helps raise the quality of the Ember Quartet...along with so many other factor...
