Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


About Ellesfena

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I mostly read nonfiction (especially public health-related), mysteries, and fantasy. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Ellesfena's Quick Questions interview.)

Ellesfena's Reviews:

Not for me

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

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So far, my big plan to read a bunch of dark academia this year isn’t really working out for me (other than The Raven Scholar). I didn’t really like this book. Galadriel (El for short) is a junior at a boarding school for teens with magical powers. The idea behind the school (called the Scholomance) was to keep the students safe from “mals” (maleficaria) which like to eat magical humans and are particularly attracted to teens rather than children or adults. Unfortunately, long ago the defensive mechanisms […]

Rethinking Assumptions About Adoption

The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce

Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood by Gretchen Sisson

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I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. It’s in a very religious area (the nearby city is literally nicknamed “City of Churches”), and one thing I noticed after I left was how many of my former classmates, after marrying and settling down, had adopted children from other countries. Offhand, I can think of 7 families I know in the area who adopted internationally, which in a small town seems like a lot. The Child Catchers helped me contextualize these adoptions within the broader framework […]

I couldn’t put it down

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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Many Cannonballers have already reviewed Homegoing, and I doubt I’m going to add any profound insights with my own review. Long story short, I thought this book was amazing. I wish I’d read it much sooner. Homegoing is a family saga, starting with two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, in 18th-century Ghana who don’t know the other exists. Each chapter alternates between their descendants. Effia is married off to a white man from England and lives a fairly luxurious life in a fort, while unbeknownst to her, her […]

I’m in the future, where you are too

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

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Kokoro is a lonely teenager who’s been bullied by classmates to the point of dropping out of school. She spends her days in her bedroom, afraid to leave the house, until one day, her bedroom mirror starts to glow. When she touches it, she’s pulled into a strange castle, along with 6 other teens. The castle is guarded by a girl in wolf mask who tells them there’s a hidden key, and whoever finds it will be granted one wish. The Wolf Queen, as they […]

Definitely a debut novel

The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson

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The story: Tom Hawkins, the son of a gentleman, is sent to debtors’ prison, Marshalsea, in 1700s London. While there, he learns about the murder of another prisoner, Captain Roberts–and that the main suspect is his cellmate, Samuel Fleet. Fleet is kind of a menacing weirdo, and Tom begins to worry that he might be next. He realizes he needs to solve the murder before he meets a similar fate to Captain Roberts. Why I read it: A few months ago, I read The Raven […]

Not what I expected, but absolutely amazing

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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So at the end of last year, I decided that 2026 would be the year that I fully indulged my love for dark academia. I did some googling and put together a list of books that were considered part of the genre. Somewhere I came across The Raven Scholar and put it at the top of my list, as everyone seemed to love it. While reading it, I realized two things: 1) while there are a few dark academia elements, it’s not a book that I […]



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