Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

My first post of the year for a book that made me need to write a review

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

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So, it’s March! And this is my first review! Which tells you a lot about how my reading has been going this year. I hit a major slump just after Christmas (and in fact, still haven’t finished reading the book I was really into at that time). So I picked a book that I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy, but was pretty sure I would have Thoughts on: A Court of Silver Flames, by Sarah J. Maas. I’m trying to make this one relatively spoiler […]

Sloppy editing, battle that just kept going, and an egregious character death: Peace Talks part B

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

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Jim Butcher said it was a publishing decision to break apart Peace Talks and Battle Ground into two books due to length and the sharp turn between the two halves of the story.  However, I’m not certain this was justified or needed.  Last year I read two books that were longer than the combined length of Peace Talks and Battle Ground.  And I suspect had the two been published together that the overall book would have been smaller, had the story not needed to be padded out to fill two […]

It’s too late for the children

A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

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I first saw A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet on NPR’s Best Books of 2020. It immediately caught my attention, but then I saw it was a finalist for the National Book Award and was one of the New York Times Best Books of the Year. It felt like fate was telling me to read this book. All I knew going into it was that it was some kind of allegory for climate change. Evie is our narrator. She’s probably fifteen or sixteen years old. Her parents have […]

Klara, go off to a beach and get some sun

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Two stars is “I think it was ok” but in the realm of reviews, which have somehow normalized a three to be normal and two to be HAZARD AHEAD (and one star, obviously, bad in a way that is worthy of extreme note) this seems harsh to be rated as two stars even though at the end of the day it is, simply, ok. I really liked Never Let Me Go where I didn’t know the ending but did know the twist (aka I knew that all […]

Arranged-marriage YA that didn’t live up to the trope

Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift

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An arranged marriage where the couple hates each others’ guts and then gets to know each other under secret identites? Yes! I picked this up based on that premise and the  read-alike comparisons in the blurb, thinking this would be an ownvoices Indian-inspired fantasy a la Tasha Suri and… it’s not. “You sure you aren’t trying to kill me?” “Never.” She smirks. “In front of all these witnesses.” “Reassuring.” Adraa and Jatin, heirs to neighboring kingdoms, have been betrothed since they were kids. Neither remembers […]

Take that pink ribbon off my eyes, damn it

First Year by Tamora Pierce

Page by Tamora Pierce

Squire by Tamora Pierce

Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

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I was introduced to Tamora Pierce and the realm of Tortall in 1986 by a classmate of mine named Alec Deleon. He was reading a copy of Alanna: The First Adventure while in the library at lunchtime. I asked him why he was reading a book about a GIRL when he was a BOY in that know-it-all way that ten-year-olds have. He said I should try it since I liked The Hero & the Crown by Robin McKinley. Evidently that little jerk was actually paying […]



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