Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Where Lovecraft Meets Spycraft

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross

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I’m still making my way through the Laundry Files books, in hope that I’ll be reviewing the final one before the year is out. In my revere of the Atrocity Archives I did mention that while the premise was good, the book was quite episodic and disjointed. To expand on that a little: re-reading it, it seems clear that the author was exploring two distinct ideas — mixing the public sector with eldritch horrors, and mixing espionage with eldritch horrors. Some of the later books […]

“Bardun Jacques would’ve reshaped the landscape around him using the sheer force of profanity, which, Aelis reasoned, might actually have been an eighth College in his hands.”

The Warden (The Warden #1) by Daniel M. Ford

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I have read a couple of books lately where the back of the book synopsis does not completely (or accurately describe what the book actually contains; sometimes it’s by a little, sometimes it’s by a lot. The Warden, thankfully, is one of those books where it’s only by a little. The basic plot is: Aelis de Lenti, daughter of a noble house and recent graduate of the esteemed Magisters’ Lyceum (read: bisexual spoiled little rich girl who likes only the finer things in life and […]

Les Amis Des Chats

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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How could I resist that title and that gorgeous cover?!? I couldn’t. I didn’t even try. Cats and magic, only the best for les amis des chats. Agnes runs a charity shelter finding forever homes for the street cats of 1920’s Montreal. Unfortunately a sorcerous duel on her street blasted a hole in one of the shelter’s walls, necessitating a quick move before winter soon sets in. High rents and landlords who aren’t as interested in rescuing cats force Agnes towards the shop everyone is […]

At least the cover is pretty

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

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Damn … this book is going to be one of those The Last Jedi situations for me, I can already tell. In other words, I was disappointed with the novel/didn’t love it for my own story reasons but a lot of the people leaving negative reviews are doing it for ridiculous conservative reasons. It’s like, “I didn’t have an issue with those things, you book-banning transphobes, I just wanted a more engaging main character/overall story.” It starts off strong, following the main character and narrator, […]

In Which Grad School is Worse Than Hell

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

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I was mildly apprehensive about reading this because mixed audience reviews came out after I preordered it, but it was great. Kuang does character psychology very well, and that stood out more than anything else. Except for one chapter, the POV character is Alice, graduate student in Analytical Magick at Cambridge. When her piece-of-work advisor Jacob Grimes dies in an accident she blames herself for, she goes to Hell to fetch him—not out of selflessness but because she needs him to finish her degree. Her […]

Dog Days Are Over, Bitches

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

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For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn is a romantasy that began life as a TikTok skit. Proving the old adage that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it is also a meditation on grief, loss, love, friendship, family, allyship, and what it means to really live. Throw in some spicy scenes, an unusual presentation of what the afterlife could be, and a great deal of sass, and you have brewed my own personal cup of tea.  When we first meet Lily, […]



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