Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Slight case of second album syndrome

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

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Picking up where The Fifth Season left off, Essun is in Castrima-under getting to grips with comm life and the various personalities within it,  trying to understand just what happened to Alabaster, what his relationship is to the stone eater who accompanies him, and why he wants to teach her to manipulate the obelisks that litter the sky. Meanwhile, we pick up her daughter Nassun’s thread and follow her journey, alongside the father who killed her younger brother for his orogeny, as he takes her […]

A romance trope hidden in a fantasy novel

Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

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Sharon Shinn is always dependable. I know that doesn’t sound like high praise, but sometimes you just need something solid that you know you’ll enjoy, and this fit the bill. She’s got good characters, interesting (if sometimes a little unoriginal) plots, and happy endings (and terrible covers, good god!). Zoe lives with her father in a tiny town far from the capital city. Her father used to be advisor to the king, but after a disagreement and falling out, he was exiled and ran away […]

Sheep trying to take control of things, tricksters, talking dogs and a few other things

Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic by Thom Pico

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Aster and the Mixed-Up Magic is a cute and fun graphic novel. However, it is definitely the sequel to Aster and the Accidental Magic. To help you understanding the pieces of this puzzle, you really should read the first book to understand the twists and turns of this section one. Thom Pico is continuing the misadventures of one gal named Aster. Forced to move to the middle of nowhere for her mother’s work, Aster learns that there is magic in dem darn hills…and dogs and […]

Dresden’s very long list of things to do and the best quote, “Home is where you embrace the present and plan the future.  It’s where the books are.”

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

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For the first time I’m going to attempt to work on my review while still reading the book.  Let’s see what happens! 2/23 : I haven’t touched a Dresden novel since the release of the previous volume in 2014, so before cracking open Peace Talks had to look up recaps for Skin Game and Cold Days to refresh my memory.  As it’s been several years, I had forgotten how quickly the stakes are introduced and Harry is thrown into the fire but this book seems to have […]

We know where the Dragon’s Maw is, where is Paw?: Part two

Scales & Scoundrels V01: Into The Dragon’s Maw by Sebastian Girner

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As I have said before, I do not usually reread a book. However, I have had a book in the “give away pile” for longer than I can remember. If I looked at it, I thought, “Did I read that? I had to. It is in the “give away” box. But I do not remember reading it….” Recently I grabbed the book and said, “FINE! We are solving this once and for all! I am reading it!” And I started Scales & Scoundrels V01: Into […]

Living breathing mythology

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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If you’re dauted by the idea of Piranesi because Susanna Clarke’s other major novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell rolls in at just over a solid thousand pages, you can relax. By her standards, this is a novella and, unsurprisingly, a very very good one. Clarke creates my favorite kind of worlds, the ones just a degree or two separate from ours, and Piranesi is another master class. Piranesi lives in a large house he has never been able to fully explore, but that he documents thoroughly because […]



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