Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A trope to get rid of and maybe some more worldbuilding to add

Burn the Witch vol. 1 by Tite Kubo

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I already knew the story going into Burn the Witch (vol.1); the graphic novel is an adaptation of a limited episode series, and they match pretty closely. What I don’t quite get is the title; there aren’t really any witches. There are people with special powers but it’s not really magic exactly in that there is no real system explained and those who are licensed aren’t vilified. The concept is partially familiar: there is a mirror world to our own in which dragons are real, […]

Cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

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Shortly before Halloween, I was struck by the desire to read vampire books. I don’t think I had read any for years (although I have read many of the ‘classics’ including Dracula (obviously), Interview with a Vampire, Salem’s Lot, etc.), so I wanted a ‘fresh’ approach when I was searching. I was limited by what was available to download from our library, but ended up scratching this particular itch quite satisfactorily. Sunshine came several weeks after Halloween and I had completely forgotten why it attracted […]

Another uneven entry to The Circle Opens

Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce

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Daja and her instructor Frostpine leave their home at Winding Circle, so Daja might be exposed to other smiths and metalworkers in the world, both magical and mundane. They find themselves the guests of one of Frostpine’s friends and his family, the Bancanours. Frostpine assists the local police mage on tracking down the person responsible for creating forgeries of the local currency and Daja stumbles upon the innate magic of the two Bancanour twin girls, Nia and Jory. As was set up in previous books, […]

So so happy that this group pushed me to finally finish this series!

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

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Will finally write the review for this book! I didn’t want to for so long–I didn’t want to let this one go. Narfna, you were right so many times over. Someone asked if this book resolved everything, or if it was frustrating and unresolved at the end like The Well of Ascension. I mean, of course a second book in a trilogy will be unresolved! One thing a friend told me, though, makes perfect sense–Sanderson is a reader’s writer, in that he loves reading and knows […]

“It’s not because–they don’t want me. They want someone who’s going to cast death spells on their enemies. And if I gave them that, I wouldn’t be me anymore, so I might as well not go live with a bag of dicks.”

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

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Picking up immediately after the end of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate is a gripping read that starts with El holding the cryptic note from her Mum and ends on a terrific cliffhanger.  At one of Novik’s events for the book release she did apologize for both books one and two ending on a cliffhanger.  When she set out to write A Deadly Education she envisioned it ending where The Last Graduate does.  Novik is a writes as she goes author, not a big outliner/planner.  While […]

The nature of witches is to be self aware without follow through, apparently

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

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Witches are doing what they can to protect the climate and environment of the world, but non-witches continue to act in destructive ways. Extreme weather events are becoming more and more common, and the witches of the world don’t have enough power to keep everyone safe and return stability to the world because these extreme weather events are happening out of season: blizzards in summer, hurricanes in winter, tornados year round, etc. And since each witch is tied to the season they were born in, […]



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