Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About ElCicco

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Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food.

ElCicco's Reviews:

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Uneven end to the story of the Witcher

The Lady of the Lake: A Novel of The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Although there is an 8th book in the series, The Lady of the Lake is pretty much the end of the story of Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, and in it things get weird. This novel is a combination of sci-fi time travel, military campaigns, and the usual fantasy stuff we have come to expect, with elves, dwarves, unicorns (!) and plenty of fighting and violence. Compared to the previous books, this one has sections that really drag on, usually featuring military campaigns and side characters […]

Endings and beginnings

The Tower of Swallows: A Novel of the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Throughout the Witcher series, the message has been that something big is coming; the world will end and a new world will dawn, and Ciri, the child of the Elder Blood, will help bring this about. Geralt frequently states that he feels like something in him is changing as well, that something is coming to an end, and in this fourth novel (sixth book) of the Witcher series, the reader gets a sense of what he means. Geralt’s schtick has always been that, as a […]

‘Cause you got to have friends, la la la la la la la la la!

Baptism of Fire: A Novel of the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

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Sapkowski is managing to keep my interest very high with this the fifth Witcher book (3rd novel). The stories of Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer continue to develop along very interesting lines, with plenty of fighting, intrigue and double crosses. The truth about Ciri’s power is slowing being unraveled while Yennefer’s role in the problems at hand is only hinted at, and Geralt finds himself part of an unlikely band of people who decide, against reason and any thought of personal safety, to help Geralt find […]

“Neutrality is usually mean.” ~Sapkowski; “If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.” ~Rush

The Time of Contempt: The WItcher Book 2 by Andrzej Sapkowski

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The Time of Contempt is the second novel, fourth book, in Sapkowski’s Witcher series, and as with the previous novel, this one is full of political intrigue, war, and fighting. The overriding question for our main characters is whether, in a turbulent war-torn world, it is possible to maintain neutrality, and if not, is it possible to choose a side without becoming hateful and barbaric. The Empire of Nilfgaard is trying to take over world and is enjoying quite a bit of success in this […]

“You did not see me — you did not look at me, and see me.”

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

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This novel is a Bildungsroman about a young slave named George Washington Black, or simply Wash. It is Wash’s recollection of the extraordinary events in his life during the 1830s, especially his relationship with Christopher Wilde, aka Titch, the brother of Wash’s master Erasmus Wilde. The story opens with Wash in servitude at Faith plantation on Barbados, but his travels will take him to many lands where the weather is different but people are often the same. Washington Black is the story of a young […]



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