Ricky Pine's Blog, page 90

Review: Unravel Me

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Want to read? No, I absolutely cannot. This series is too depressing. Oh boy do I! This book is a must must must read!

Wow, everything is wrong in this world - a world that I really hope this one doesn't turn into. And to think, Tahereh Mafi sounds like such a happy bright young woman in her bio, on her website...and yet she writes this sad sad sad moving moving moving and nightmarish

piece

of

pure

literary wonder.

If you haven't noticed by now,...

Review: And I Darken

And I Darken by Kiersten White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was about to read this book last year, but a Muslim friend advised me against it because she disagreed with its representation of her religion, so I followed her advice and returned it to the library unread. But then recently, another Muslim friend read and reviewed this book pretty favorably, especially in terms of Muslim rep, so inspired by that (and the fact that the sequel is now out), I decided to give And I Darken the chance I w...

Review: Seeker

Seeker by Veronica Rossi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this, as I understand it, is supposed to be the end of a duology...but you know what? I really hope not. Not just because I'm not really a fan of the whole duology thing - like, it always feels like the story's a little incomplete, or it should've been a standalone from the get-go, but two books? It's so...weird to me, for some reason. But really, Rossi gives us some really good Four Horsemen mythology, with her own unique spin, and I'd be...

Review: Babylon's Ashes

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book manages to break my previous rule for this series that even-numbered books are better than odd-numbered ones, because it's really not much of an improvement over Nemesis Games. Instead, Babylon's Ashes manages to take the story threads its predecessor leaves us and focus on the least interesting, most procedural ones, and even manages to turn the military thriller elements surprisingly pedestrian. Of course, the real prob...

Review: This Savage Song

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although The Archived series remains my Schwab favorite, This Savage Song is a pretty close second, I think.

You always gotta love a bit of fantasy dystopian, and this book, perhaps the closest thing to a Black City spiritual successor there's been since that trilogy came to an end, is no exception. Schwab expertly blends zombies, vampires, and demons (the closest analogues I can think of to this world's three classes of monster) in...

Review: Dove Exiled

Dove Exiled by Karen Bao
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Taking the action down to Earth - literally - does this second book in Karen Bao's kick-ass trilogy a great service. It allows her to expand the world-building by showing us a little more of what the world is like 300 years into the future, when the continents are pretty much all either water-damaged or otherwise uninhabitable and all the remaining territory is either small islands full of natural resources, or deadly floating cities that try...

Review: Crazy House

Crazy House by James Patterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The cover alone promises that this book is the next Hunger Games, and it's not entirely wrong to say, especially not when, for this book, Patterson collaborates with the same co-author behind the first Witch and Wizard novel. Like that series, Crazy House has a peculiar dystopian vibe (minus the paranormal elements, that is), set in a Twenty-Minutes-Into-The-Future world where the pop culture is different, small-town life is the way to...

Spider-Man: Homecoming - Holland Swings Out Of Garfield's Shadow

***THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW.***

"Hey! Ho! Let's go!"
-The Ramones, "Blitzkrieg Bop"

If you read my blog with any level of religiosity, then you know that I, Ricky Pine, am the last of the great Andrew Garfield stans, and I will defend The Amazing Spider-Man movies, bar none the biggest influences on my own writing, to my dying day. Hell, the whole reason why I started this blog in the first place was to articulate my distress and disappointment when I learned that Garfield basically go...

Review: Lord of Shadows

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"In violent times, you shouldn't have to sell your soul."
-Tears for Fears, "Shout"

"You say in love, there are no rules...Sweetheart, you're so cruel."
-U2

WHOA. Bloodydamn goryhell.

I think it's safe to say that this second book of The Dark Artifices is Cassie Clare's equivalent to Victoria Aveyard's Glass Sword. That comes from not only this book being a slightly-flawed, but very much jaw-dropping sophomore effort like The Amazing Spi...

Review: The Devil's Triangle

The Devil's Triangle by Catherine Coulter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The previous thrillers in this series have been pretty surprisingly ambitious compared to Catherine Coulter's main FBI thriller series, but this book, which took a bit longer of a time to come out than the once-a-year scheduling of the previous Brit in the FBI stories, really, really, really takes the cake. Trust me when I say that for diving headfirst into the pool usually occupied by the likes of Cussler, Rollins, and Dan B...