Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The book I didn’t think I’d like, read anyway, and was delightfully surprised by the results

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

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The publisher description of “With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner Satoru as they take to the road on a journey…” is the perfect way to describe The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (translated by Philip Gabriel). And I thought that before I was even halfway through. I am now (as I start this review) a little over halfway through and it is still perfect. The emotion of the story is soft, but intense as […]

Fool’s Errand (Tawny Man #1)

Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb

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My 2025 Robin Hobb Journey continues!  This trilogy starts after Liveship Traders ends. To really enjoy this series you should read the first two because it will pack a much bigger emotional punch; I would not recommend reading this as a standalone, just don’t do it. To start, we hang out with Fitz in his cabin, 16ish years after the events of The Farseer Trilogy. He and Nighteyes have carved out a peaceful life together and things are just fine, although Fitz is, as always, […]

Stronger Together

The Strength of the Few by James Islington

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When I read James Islington’s The Will of the Many back in 2023, I loved it and immediately wanted to read the next book in the series (The Strength of the Few, released last month). That anticipation dropped somewhat when I read one of his other books The Shadow of What was Lost, earlier this year, and found it pretty mediocre. Had the author improved, or had my tastes just changed? I decided to re-read The Will of the Many a few weeks ago, just […]

She Knocked it Out of the Park

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

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I had forgotten just how much I love Alix E. Harrow, especially her prose. I’ve read all of her novels and novellas and a few of her short stories, and this one is my favorite, which is interesting considering how much I typically don’t prefer to read about time travel. But her writing is great, and so was the story itself. The novel is set in a fantasy world, and the timeline moves between present day and the past. Owen, one of the narrators, is […]

Super Fun Fantasy

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Fantasy is a genre I’ve rarely explored. Thanks to CBR, I grew more curious about it, so several years ago I went on a little spree and bought a pile of them. That’s how I came across Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows. Six of Crows reminded me of one of the only other fantasy books I’ve read, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in that it is a tale of a heist with a brilliant, complicated leader of a rough and tumble gang. Kaz is the […]

If you thought The Secret History needed a dragon …

King Sorrow by Joe Hill

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This is Joe Hill’s first novel in almost a decade so I was pretty excited to read it because I remember enjoying some of his previous novels like Horns and Heartshaped Box. I had completely forgotten that his last novel, The Fireman, didn’t do anything for me. And while I like NOS4A2, Hill’s novels generally seem to be darker or have a less hopeful outlook than his father’s (and King can get dark but there’s something about them that feels a little less dreary). I […]



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