Location: Italy
Member Since:
March 29, 2012
Valerio Pastore
Valerio Pastore's favorite authors on Smashwords
Smashwords book reviews by Valerio Pastore
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Ten Thousand Miles Up
on April 20, 2012
(no rating)
After his first novel, ARGO, Rick Griffin once again will enchant his fans with this tale of pirates, rebels, and an original concept of tyrants. Again Rick proves his strength with the technicalties and the descriptions. You have the impression you are there, in the middle of the action. His weakness, in this specific context, is the short space the novel offers. Not enough time to sympathize with the characters, to fully understand them and appreciate the reasons that motivate them. Given a longer piece, we could even appreciate the tyrants, they *do* make an interesting species... But it's a minor flaw. This book is thoroughly enjoyable!
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Pit Fighters 3. Side Gig
on April 20, 2020
Third, impeccable chapter! Paris keeps being an interesting character -not really 'a good guy', but a creature with all the problems caused by impulsive nature, his excessive trust in a world that has yet much to teach him. A creature who still needs an angel to help... 8+ for explicit content, but the spice is placed at the right points, without overlapping on the narration, which keeps being top-notch in such a short space!
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Ani-droids
on Aug. 10, 2023
Stressful day, identity crisis, oppressive rules bent to take away even the slightest joy you created with your hands, treated like some defective ‘gear’…and a car crash that almost kills you. Nice starter, eh?! “Ani-Droids”, which works both as self-concluded story AND start of a series, it’s that novel for which I’d just buy a Kindle Scribe -just to write down a flood of notes on everything that works here! Believe it, guys: a few pages in it and you’re hopelessly hooked! It’s really hard not to give everything away! Rick Griffin puts the utmost care in every aspect of his work, chipping every corner. He *knows* how to keep up the rhythm, to plant clues, turn the obvious into surprise, giving it all a cinematic feeling from simple dialogues to action-packed scenes! You can almost touch their characters, feel them as if you knew it for a long time! Whenever an explanation is needed, and the action is stagnant, no textwalls, no dreaded ‘shopping lists’. You feel like you could participate in those moments. Every single character is finely layered, the worldbuilding is nicely crafted and this society could or could be not dystopic, it’s just a question of perspective, and that’s what makes it intriguing. And, cherry on top of the cake, the numerous illustration by the author, himself. Gorgeous! Really, you DON’T want to miss this!