Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When someone is that calm in a crisis, either they don’t know what’s happening, or you don’t.

The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley

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Suffering doesn’t make people good or noble. A little bit gives them perspective. A lot turns them cruel, and too much – you get a murder or a marvel, and neither of those are really people any more. ― Natasha Pulley, The Hymn to Dionysus His duty was hurting him, and this is the medicine, and the only reason you think that’s unreasonable is that your duty has hurt you much more, there never was medicine for you, and you don’t see why other people […]

Norse inspired marriage of convenience

Tears of the Wolf by Elisabeth Wheatley

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I wouldn’t have said that I was on Norse or Viking kick this year and yet this is somehow the fifth Viking/Nordic inspired fantasy novel I have read this year (three of them were part of the same trilogy, though, The Bloodsworn). I discovered Elisabeth Wheatley because her book goblin reels/videos kept showing up in my feed, and then I realized she wasn’t just a fellow reader and book lover but an author so I decided to try her latest release (there’s a sequel coming […]

“Oh, of course. Mediocre men receiving positions of power they haven’t earned because of their birthrights. How against the grain.”

Accomplice to the Villain (Assistant and the Villain, 3) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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All Evie Sage wanted was a well-paying job to support her family that didn’t involve her boss attempting to sexually assault her. Now, she’s the assistant accomplice (she got a promotion!) to The Villain, the kingdom’s most terrifying figure. All her job was supposed to entail was “light paperwork and occasional beheadings,” but now, she’s knee-deep in torture, familial betrayal, a kingdom-ending (or saving) prophecy, and a flirtatious disaster with the boss. All while dealing with the fact that she may not be as sweet […]

The novel doesn’t quite live up to the magic of the setting

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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CBR 17 BINGO: “N” (for Night) Double BINGO! Across: B, I, N, G, O, Down: Black, TBR, N, Family, Citizen The Night Circus is a much beloved novel that, on paper, seems like it has everything that should appeal to me: a Victorian timeframe, a magical setting, an air of mystery, an understated romance. I admired the author’s creativity, particularly in the way she weaves fantastical elements into the circus; yet, I felt a bit let down by the fact that I wasn’t eager to […]

Something’s Wrong

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

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I’m going to be honest; I picked this one up based on the cover alone.  And like they tell you not to do, I did sort of judge this book by its cover. Well, the cover and the first section of the book. And I thought I’d be dealing with a short set of vignettes about pulp horror monsters in space. Turns out that was a bit of a lowball there—there is actually a story arc that we follow throughout the book.  Poor Dementer, has […]

when an author gets too excited by world building

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

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Look, I really like T Kingfisher’s work in general, so I’ve had this on hold essentially from when it was available to go on hold. I read it in a single day, I think in a single sitting (although this latter part not that surprising as I think I was on a train and therefore not much else to do). I also really like fairytale retellings, even the ones that aren’t Beauty and the Beast. But this book just wasn’t it, and I think it’s […]



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