Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Sequel to Furthermore

Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi

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Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi is the sequel to a fantasy book Furthermore, which I reviewed earlier. To recap,  Furthermore is a fantasy book for ages 9-12. Set in a magical place called Ferenwood, Furthermore follows 12-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow a girl deprived of love, care, and color. It is Ferenwood tradition for all 12-year-olds to “surrender” their magical talent. Based on their magical talent, they will be assigned a task. Whichwood does involve Alice and Oliver, the main characters from Furthermore, but the main character […]

Aerin-sol, Dragon-Killer

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

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In Damar once there was a princess called Aerin who was pitifully out of place, for she was the daughter of a woman who had long been branded a witch. With a vague sense that her destiny lay elsewhere compared to where a princess’s destiny generally lies, she set out to become the best dragon slayer the realm had seen, no matter that killing dragons was a thankless and ignoble task. But it turns out her destiny was far greater than that. I remember I […]

Self-Help For Dummies

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Thirtysomething Nora Seed has failed at everything in life. None of the careers she’d envisioned for herself have panned out. Her relationships have faltered and fizzled out. Her cat has died. Her brother is no longer speaking to her. Shortly before midnight she decides to end her life but instead of heaven or hell, Nora finds herself in a large library, where it’s midnight forever and every book offers a look into what-if: what if Nora had kept up her rigorous swimming training? What if […]

Angsty teens figuring themselves out and it’s actually interesting

Dark Rise by C. S. Pascat

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I know C.S. Pascat from the Fence comics, a lighter queer romance set in a boys school fencing team. This is no that, mostly. Dark Rise is a chosen one story in which there is a secret organization fighting a secret battle to stop the great evil of the past from coming back. This is a standard fantasy scenario; what keeps things interesting is that no one with one or two exceptions is exactly who they think or say at the beginning. Will needs to […]

What if computers were actually kind of magic and programmers only half understood binary?

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

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In Foundryside, what starts out as a heist caper gone horribly wrong becomes a heist caper tale to save the world in which a band on unlikely companions must put aside  differences to stop someone from achieving immortality in a destructive way. Sancia is the thief and the main perspective for much of the story, but she’s pretty one note; she’s had to survive a lot and her past is traumatic, although when she finally faces some of it, the memories do sort of help […]

A Prayer for the Cannonball

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

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I opened A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, read the first sentence and felt my shoulders lower and my jaw unclench. This is a difficult book to review because my response to it is a blend of intellectual and emotional that’s hard to capture. It’s easy to describe one or the other and harder to get communicate “I’m thinking deep thoughts and feeling feelings all over the place!” So just assume that all the thoughts and responses are happening at once. And if I were the […]



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