Starter Villain by John Scalzi
I read Starter Villain after my hold came up in the library. That’s always fun, it’s like winning a small lottery, especially if the book has many holds. I liked this; I try not to read other people’s reviews of the same books I read before writing the review, but I did read one for this where the reviewer didn’t like the end and felt like it made the entire thing feel unreal. Which I can understand, but I did not feel that way. There […]
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
This review contains some mild spoilers which I think are given away in the book jacket. Iron Widow is a YA story set in a future city of Chinese inspired Huaxia where men and women pilot mecha type suits to protect the population from aliens around the Great Wall. The suits are called Chrysalises, and the pilot, a man, teams up with a woman in the back in a merging of energy and minds that usually result in the woman’s death. This is how the […]
Hey Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson
Hey Hun is the story of Emily Lynn Paulson’s time in an MLM. She is the narrator of her own audiobook. Emily changes the name of the MLM to protect herself from being sued, but she doesn’t really level anything particularly shocking against the company. The company uses the standard techniques of an MLM in that the people who start the MLM make money by recruiting more people into the company, and the people at the bottom of the pyramid who joined the company last […]
Midsummer's Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca
I am a regular listener of the podcast The Worst Bestsellers. While the hosts often read and make gentle fun of some very popular books, they also recommend books to read instead of the bestseller. This book was recommended and I really enjoyed it. Midsummer’s Mayhem is a cute confection of a book for readers ages 8-12 and loosely follows the plot of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mimi Jackson is 11, living with her two older sisters and one older brother. One day, a new […]
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Oh, how I inhaled this. What a great start to this year’s Cannonball. Black Sun is the first book in a trilogy inspired by Pre-Columbian civilizations with magic, priests, clans and Gods. Serapio is the reincarnated (maybe just returned to the land, it’s a little fuzzy) Crow God. A merchant hires Xiala, a Teek, to get him to the city of Tova. The city is preparing for the solstice, where a ceremony will be lead by the Sun Priest, Naranpa. Tova is a city of […]
I'll Stop the World by Lauren Thoman
I’ll Stop the World is the debut novel by Lauren Thoman, published by Mindy’s Book Studio, the Mindy being Mindy Kaling. It’s clear from her opening note at the beginning of the book that there are twists in this book. I did get one of them because math, but I was really surprised by the second. I admit though when I know there’s a big twist in books I try not to think to hard about it because I just want to enjoy the story […]
