Yes, that is a House Of Pain lyric in the title but I have been out of the Cannonball Read for over a year, and if it makes sense to reference House of Pain in any review, it might be Kushiel’s Dart with its protagonist. Just when I had decided that a full back tattoo really wouldn’t make sense for me given my fashion choices and my preference to be able to cover up tattoos, I read Kushiel’s Dart, and am now back to thinking, […]
An arranged marriage, two races who hate each other. Of this romance is born.
Radiance by Grace Draven is the book of the month for Vaginal Fantasy. I am beginning to despair over the choices made for that particular book club. It’s not that Radiance is bad exactly, it’s just a ridiculous piece of fluff that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense once you start to think about various plot elements. Brishen Khaskem is a prince of the Kai and Ildiko is a human noble woman of a neighboring kingdom. The kai and humans find each other to […]
The Girl Genius works in a machine shop in her underthings
The tag line for the book Agatha H and the Airship City is “Adventure! Romance! Science!” In this steam-punk twist, there are people who are Sparks, meaning individuals with the talent of a mad-scientist. Sparks of the past and some of the present are of the deranged evil scientist variety, and they tend to rule the world or at least part of it. Almost 20 years before the current story, a pair of Spark brothers from one of the most notorious Spark families, the Heterodynes, […]
Shape-shifter, Golden Loin, and Black Heart Mix it Up
The graphic novel Nimona has 2 main threads, both of which are interesting, but that don’t always work well together. Thread 1 follows Lord Ballister Blackheart and his struggle against the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics. The main hero of the Institution, Sir Goldenloin, and Lord Blackheart have some personal history that makes this part of the story more interesting than just villain-hero antagonism. Thread 2 is Nimona herself. She somehow became a shape-shifter (her origins are mysterious, even to her), she has a […]
If Tom Riddle Lived
The novel Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate opens and closes as “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” from the collection Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter. Even though I loved that short story collection, this made the novel a slow start because, having already read the short story, the word-for-word repeat was not interesting. Especially not for 50 pages. I am glad I kept going though. Between Yamada and Kanemore figuring out Princess Teiko’s death and Yamada’s final few paragraphs of contemplation, this story presents a […]
I have succumbed to the world of Outlander
It’s hard to exist in a reader world and not be at least obliquely aware of Outlander, Diana Gabaldon’s epic series – currently 8 books and counting, not including the companion novels and novellas. Best I can recollect, I gave serious consideration to embarking on this series around the time of fellow Cannonballers embarking on rereads in preparation for the publication of book 8, and the release of the show based on the books on Starz last spring. I made the decision once I asked […]