Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR18
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • 2026 Registration
    • Suggest a Review
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

About ElCicco

CBR 4
CBR 5
CBR 6
CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR  9
CBR10 participant
CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR14 Bingo Badges
CBR15 Participant
CBR16 Participant
CBR17 Participant
CBR18 Participant
CBR18 Levels

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. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: ElCicco's Quick Questions interview.)

ElCicco's Reviews:

The gang’s all here!

The Late Mrs. Willoughby: A Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery by Claudia Gray

June 17, 2026 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

My local bookstore recently had a table full of Claudia Gray’s Jane Austen-based detective series on sale, so I picked up a couple, not realizing that I was starting with books 2 and 3. That’s a little bit of a shame, and I might circle back around to the first book eventually, but I still find this introduction to Gray’s series most entertaining. Gray has taken Austen’s best known and beloved characters from across several of her novels and created extended families for them, including […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: cbr18, claudia gray, ElCicco, Fiction, Jane Austen, mystery, The Late Mrs Willoughby

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:27 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery · Tags: cbr18, claudia gray, ElCicco, Fiction, Jane Austen, mystery, The Late Mrs Willoughby ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

It’s all fun and games until the gods show up

All Hail Chaos: Time of Iron Book 2 by Sarah Rees Brennan

June 12, 2026 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

All Hail Chaos is the sequel to Long Live Evil, which I reviewed favorably last year. At the time, I thought this sequel would end the story, but it looks like we are in for a Time of Iron Book 3, and there is a doozy of a cliffhanger at the end of book 2. My overall impression of All Hail Chaos is that it was … fine. Honestly, I felt like the pacing was kind of slow, and some of the more interesting character […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: #fantasy, All Hail Chaos, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, sarah rees brennan, Sarah Reese Brennan, Time of Iron Books

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:26 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: #fantasy, All Hail Chaos, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, sarah rees brennan, Sarah Reese Brennan, Time of Iron Books ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Accept the things you cannot change or change the things you cannot accept?

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

May 19, 2026 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

The Memory Police is an unsettling novel. The descriptions I read in advance made it sound a bit like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451. It is a dystopian novel, and it does involve the authoritarian suppression of knowledge and personal freedom, but while I think of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 as “political” science fiction, The Memory Police is not exactly that. The most disturbing acts of suppression in The Memory Police come from within the people themselves. The story is set on an island where some […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr18, Dystopian, ElCicco, Fiction, The Memory Police, yoko ogawa

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:25 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr18, Dystopian, ElCicco, Fiction, The Memory Police, yoko ogawa ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A lovely choice for Mother’s Day but get your hankies out

Foster by Claire Keegan

May 10, 2026 by ElCicco 2 Comments

This novel, which is barely 100 pages long, packs an emotional wallop. Set in rural coastal Ireland, Foster is the story of an unnamed girl, age unknown (I’m guessing 7 or 8-ish), who abruptly finds herself living with an aunt and uncle one summer. In these few pages, Claire Keegan beautifully reveals the pain and longing of this child and of her relatives, and the roots of each. The novel opens with this girl and her father getting in the car on a Sunday morning […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr18, Claire Keegan, ElCicco, Fiction, Foster

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:24 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr18, Claire Keegan, ElCicco, Fiction, Foster ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“Emotion check: Having someone else support your bad decisions feels kind of good”

Platform Decay: Murderbot Diaries Book 8 by Martha Wells

May 9, 2026 by ElCicco 3 Comments

This latest Murderbot installment is short (150 pages) but full of the snark and excitement one has come to expect from the series. It is missing the usual cast of characters (including my favorite ART) but it introduces some new ones and of course focuses on everyone’s favorite SecUnit. The action of Platform Decay occurs on a torus, that is, a space station ring surrounding a decaying planet. The torus is man-made and contains a variety of biomes, mining and farming zones, habitation areas and […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Science Fiction Tagged With: #Science Fiction, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, martha wells, Murderbot Diaries, Platform Decay

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:23 · Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction · Tags: #Science Fiction, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, martha wells, Murderbot Diaries, Platform Decay ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

A brilliant (but bloody) blend of history and fantasy

He Who Drowned the World: The Radiant Emperor Duology Book 2 by Shelley Parker-Chan

May 7, 2026 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

This finale to Shelley Parker-Chan’s The Radiant Emperor Duology was outstanding. As with the first book (She Who Became the Sun), Parker-Chan focuses on the political and military machinations of a handful of ambitious individuals, each desperate for power and/or revenge. Parker-Chan has created complex characters who, despite their violent and frequently perverse proclivities, can also occasionally inspire pity. The court intrigues and double crossings had me on the edge of my seat, and the battles — sometimes featuring very hungry ghosts — were harrowing. […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: #fantasy, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan, The Radiant Emperor Duology

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:22 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: #fantasy, cbr18, ElCicco, Fiction, He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan, The Radiant Emperor Duology ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 115
  • Next Page »


Recent Comments

  • esmemoria
    on Painfully Unfunny
    You got that right!
  • BlackRaven
    on Painfully Unfunny
    Sounds like this book was 167 pages too long
  • BlackRaven
    on The Joke’s On You
    Sounds like The Stench was all the title needed
  • esmemoria
    on The Joke’s On You
    Practically every sentence is a joke omg, I recently finished a book like this. Hated it.
  • esmemoria
    on Eat the Rich
    and the recognition that love isn’t going to cure trauma This is a perspective that is unusual to find. Sounds...
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission, Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2026 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in