Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Stepping out of my comfort zone

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

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My review for the Afrofuturism novel, Noor by Nnedi Okorafor AO is part human, part cybernetics. She is an example of how far we’ve allowed technology to become us and we it. We have allowed technology by this futuristic date, to control everything in our lives. Sure, we’ve harnessed clean wind and solar energy but at what price? “Big Corporation” owns everything. The media is controlled and with enough money, lies can be bought as truth. Therefore, in many ways, it is Now (with more […]

When defeating monsters and saving princesses is not enough

The Flower of the Witch by Enrico Orlandi

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Do you want a good story about “becoming a man” but one that might be bit more modern than you are used to? In which “becoming a man” might not mean what we think at first? Then you should try The Flower of the Witch by Enrico Orlandi (and translated by Jamie Richards). And while I try not to start on a less-than-positive note, I will say the language was a little stiff at first. But soon your reading ear should fall into the pattern […]

When book two makes you get the other series and book one….

The Only Living Girl V02: Beneath the Unseen City by David Gallaher

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I missed that the book I had in my hand was a book two when I picked up The Only Living Girl V02: Beneath the Unseen City by David Gallaher. However, it was not as difficult to follow as you might think. Of course, the “previously on “The Only Living Girl” recap did assist me in knowing where I was, but it would have been much better to have read first the “The Only Living Boy” series (which seems to introduce not only a few […]

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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I have a confession to make: I made it to thirty-nine years old, never having read The Little Prince. I knew of it, of course, that it was a mind-bending children’s classic and emotional philosophical journey, and I purchased a copy with the intent to read it…12 years ago. This slim novella traveled from Tennessee to Louisiana to Illinois and I never cracked it open. It was a matter of missed opportunities: I felt like I should read it, but that I should have already […]

Fallen highly advanced civilization, tech magic vs. bio magic, and two siblings on opposite sides of the divide.

Ashes of the Sun: Burningblade & Silvereye Book One by Django Wexler

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More than 400 years ago there were two powerful entities, the Chosen and those who are now called ghouls.  The Chosen wielded a magical power called deiat.  With deiat they powered technological marvels like sky fortresses and more mundane blaster pistols.  The ghouls channeled a biological magic called dhak.  With dhak they could do amazing feats of healing and creation of bio constructs for any application.  Dhak could also be twisted to create horrible monsters, plaguespawn, as creatures and humans could be hybridized.  400 hundreds […]

I’m sorry, Cannonballers, but I did not buy a ticket for the hype-train

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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Let’s just jump right in. My biggest issue that I had with Gideon the Ninth is that I frequently did not know entirely what was going on. And not in a “Ohh, there’s a mystery afoot, and people are being secretive” nor in a “The narrator and I are both doubting reality” a la Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I just kept feeling like I was missing things. Missing lines of dialogue, missing transitions, missing some exposition. Gideon Nav is a member of the Ninth House (as an indentured […]



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