Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold (2006)

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Book 1 of the fantasy tetralogy “The Sharing Knife” by Lois McMaster Bujold. According to other reviews the intent here is one long book broken into sections, which does make sense because of how expository this book feels ultimately. Something I gathered from reading her other fantasy novels, the Five Gods book, and even The Spirit Ring, is that Bujold, as much as she loves writing adventure and military fiction and science fiction, the appeal in her fantasy novels often swerves toward romance and especially […]

Hold on to your butts (and your obelisks)

The Obelisk Gate (Broken Earth #2) by N.K. Jemisin

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Imagine me, standing up, doing a slow clap standing ovation. That is how I feel about this trilogy. It’s been a while since a series has gripped me so thoroughly, and this coming from someone who doesn’t ready a lot in the genre of epic fantasy science fiction. And I guess this book is all of these? But it also transcends definition in a lot of ways because it is SO MANY THINGS. And how does she do all of these things well? I DON’T […]

Run, don’t walk, to read this trilogy!

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, 1) by N.K. Jemisin

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And a happy new Cannonball year unto you! It’s my first review of the new year, and as last year my full cannonball slipped through my fingertips I’m hopeful that this is the year…of redemption. But like, also, this is the year of realizing that it’s just a number and as long as I’m reading I’m a winner. Onto my first review! I had already heard of N.K. Jemisin from LeVar Burton Reads, the podcast wherein the ever delightful LeVar Burton reads short stories. He […]

The Chosen Ones- OMG yes read it

The Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

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I’ve never read any of Veronica Roth’s YA work, but I scooped up her adult debut. First off, it’s about superheroes and chosen ones, and much like I love gritty takes on fairy tales, I loooooove gritty takes on superheroes and chosen ones. Second, I’d finished Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo last year. I’d been lukewarm on Bardugo’s YA, but Ninth House was phenomenal. I shrugged, and figured maybe I’d have the same experience with Roth, another best selling YA author going adult. **this is […]

“The Spontaneous Anthropomorphic Event had taken place before I was born, so rabbits talking, wearing summer dresses or driving cars never seemed that unusual to me.”

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde

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Say one thing for Jasper Fforde, he does what he wants. This is a quintessential 3.5 star book for me, but I was all set and ready to round this up to four stars until the ending happened and totally threw me for a loop. It’s not that I thought the ending was bad, more that I wasn’t expecting it and didn’t quite know how to process it. I may very well come back at some later date and round this up to four stars […]

Such High Hopes, So Little Pay Off

The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin

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I love gritty fairy tale retellings. I love “what comes after the wedding” fairy tale continuations. I love domestic dramas. So Charmed Wife seemed like a shoe-in. Cinderella 13 years after the wedding, hating her marriage and what comes next? Heck yes! Sign me up. And at first it was good. No big surprises, Cinderella’s unhappy, her fairy godmother is a selfish letdown, the Prince is a cheating ass. I was ready to see what the author did with this mix. I’ve read it before […]



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