Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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About Nart

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Nart is an avid romance reader who dabbles in other stuff when she has the spoons. When she’s not reading she’s a bureaucrat both professionally and as an activist because she’s a masochist. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Nart's Quick Questions interview.)

Nart's Reviews:

“Education had taken something from her. She could not just BE.”

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

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Despair, hope, and the future of our world. Also, what does it mean to be a good parent? Big aspirations for a science fiction novella, but boy are they met. Plot: Elephants are going extinct, yet for some reason, there are still scientists spending their lives studying them. Dr. Damira Khismatullina is one of these people. She has spent a lifetime learning about the habits of elephants in the wild, and protecting them from humanity. Unfortunately, humanity is actually quite good at eradicating things like […]

“there’s a limit to how much sentiment a large therapod can really hang on to.”

One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Tchaikovsky is, at this point, one of my favourite authors. His writing is so sharp, witty, philosophical, and pessimistically hopeful for the future, and this novella is no exception. Although it is, I think, perhaps a bit more pessimistic than hopeful. Plot: Our hero is a veteran and only survivor of the Causality War. The last war to end all wars (for real this time). And he has one job, to stop humanity from ruining everything that ever was, again. The only way to do […]

“I know, I said, if the humans were dead, who would make the media?”

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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Murderbot is back and we pick up the story not long after the end of the first. They are sort of on the lam, in that their new owners did expressly tell them they could do what they wanted, but they have also chosen not to go to a planetary system where they have personhood, so out here in these streets, they’re just a rogue security unit with a minor history of mass murder running around humans. Today’s plan is simple – figure out whether […]

“I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

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Murderbot, a beloved science fiction series, is now finally available at my local public library. So obviously, I started reading it and yes it makes perfect sense why everyone loves it so much. Plot: Our hero is a part mechanical, part organic machine owned by a company that leases it out as part of overpriced security packages for corporations interested in planetary surveying activities. They have no name, but have taken on the moniker of Murderbot, at least in their own head (motherboard?). They are […]

“I refuse to listen to the preflight safety demonstration unless the attendant can teach me how to save me from myself.”

Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa

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Plot: Carter has gotten some commercial success as an actor on a popular tv show and desperately wants to prove to the world that he’s capable of being more than a romantic lead. After a grueling film left him 40lbs lighter than usual and exhausted, he was sent on agent-ordered vacation to Aruba. His instructions are clear – lay low and regain some strength before diving into the promotion circuit, returning to filming the TV show, and hunting down his next (hopefully) meaty role. Things are instantly […]

“Worrying is the correct worldview. Life is worrisome.”

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

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Plot: Aza is stuck inside her mind, and it is not friendly territory. Why would it be, if she, like the rest of us, are mere receptacles for billions of bacteria to propagate. She is not a person, she is a country or a planet. A non-sentient thing moving through the world with her movements and thoughts and actions compelled in some way by the bacteria or some other thing, but never her own. That’s hard enough as it is, but is made all the […]



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