Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“There’s a saying in the Blessed Empire: Little thieves steal gold, and great ones steal kingdoms, but only one goes to the gallows. “

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

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One of the consequences of working through the Hugo Award nominees is that I’ll be making my way through a lot of YA entries for the Lodestar Award. And while most of the nominated authors have a positive buzz, they are also all new to me. One of the nice things Worldcon did for the voters this year—in addition with the publishers, I assume—is provide not just a copy of Margaret Owen’s Holy Terrors, but the two proceeding books in the series as well. A good […]

The Trick or Treating Treat

The Princess in Black and the Trick-or-Treating Trouble by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and LeUyen Pham

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At first, I thought Bingo Square 26 cbr18bingo would be a hard one to find a book for. I then remembered that author Shannon Hale’s birthday is January 26 and I had read a book by them that is out and about. It was not the 26th online reader copy that I read, but I could pretend it was.  The Princess in Black and the Trick-or-Treating Trouble by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and LeUyen Pham (illustrator) is a cute addition to the Princess In Black […]

They go together like hocus and pocus.

Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

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Recently I got on an Ursula Vernon reading kick. I was amazed that I had known about her, but never read anything. And then when I learned they were T. Kingfisher, too, I was intrigued. After all, when one uses two names as a writer, what does that say about the writing style? And when one writes many titles under one name, how similar are they? Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon probably is a good example of both of Vernon’s names and styles coming into […]

Wombat in a strange land

Digger, Volume One by Ursula Vernon

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If Lord of the Rings, Redwall and Haru by Joe Latham had a book baby (though I’m assuming Haru could have been influenced by this story) Digger, Volume One by Ursula Vernon would be the result. It is funny, dense, dark, mysterious, slow in parts, yet it keeps you hooked wondering what is next. It is not for young or sensitive readers, as the images are mostly “tame,” the text and descriptions are not always so. The black and white art is both positive and […]

Rabbits Rabbits and more Rabbits

Bunny in the Middle by Linda Olafsdottir

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Bunny in the Middle by Linda Olafsdottir is my cbr18bingo Bingo Middle square. First, there is Middle in the title. Second, the bunny in question is introduced when they show up in the middle of the floor/room. Third, we find ourselves in the middle of an adventure; well multiple ones as our main character finds herself exploring different books.Finally, it is due in the middle of February 2027  Therefore, take your pick which Bingo Middle works for you. And now that you are almost in […]

Yes, hello, we are here, perched on the balustrade, biding our time and being magnificent.

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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I had to take a breather from Hugo award voting for a while, but I thought I’d jump back into it this year. Only to have this doorstopper from an author I had not come across before dropped on my feet. Thankfully, The Raven Scholar turned out to be an absolute page turner, a bit of a kitchen sink of fantasy tropes, and a lot more playful than I expected. An absolute joy to race though.  Now to those fantasy tropes: one of the things […]



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