Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I was hoping for more of Medusa smiting powerful men

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray

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Marketing and publishing trends can be interesting. For the longest time, it seemed like fantasy written by women ended up being forced into YA. Over the last year or two, there have been quite a few novels that have been marketed as the adult debuts of YA authors. That cross over has always existed (I remember R.L. Stine’s first adult book) but for some of the novels, it’s hard to say what actually makes them adult. The Alchemy of Secrets was one example like that, […]

Pretty much nothing like the movie

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

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Read the Rainbow – Red Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III may be the least intimidating Viking in several generations, which is a bit of a problem, since he’s the son of the Chief, and therefore meant to lead the Hairy Hooligans when he gets older. He’s skinny, puny, bookish and not even slightly intimidating, and when he has to compete in the traditional manhood trial of the tribe, and sneak into a cave to capture himself a dragon, he ends up with the smallest, least impressive […]

“Why is it I tell you all my secrets?” “Because you like the way I look draped over a tree branch?”

Beast Business by Ilona Andrews

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Augustine Montgomery is the head of a very successful investigative agency and a deeply private man. He is an illusion Prime, who can alter his appearance at will, and there are very few people alive who know what he actually looks like. Augustine presents himself to the world as calculated, efficient, ruthless and detached. He is never swayed by emotion and has very few friends as a result. Diana Harrison is the Head of House Harrison and a very powerful animal mage. Like Augustine, she […]

The Fifth Season: Funny how oppression is never the answer that the oppressors hope it is.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

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A good friend gave me this book a few years ago as a very strong recommendation for the series. Intending to read it right away, I immediately purchased the rest of the trilogy. Then they sat on my shelf for a while. After reading Amina Al-Sirafi, I wanted to dig into Shannon Chakraborty’s trilogy. So, off I skipped to the local bookshop only to find that they had 1 and 3 in stock, but #2 would take a few weeks to arrive. Rather than be […]

Mostly Amusing, Sometimes Confusing

Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead, The Loyal Opposition Trilogy Book 1 by K.J. Parker

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As a product of the Catholic school system from second grade through university, I have sat through A LOT of religion and theology classes. Heresies, schisms, saints, martyrs, whatever, I feel pretty well versed in church history. While KJ Parker’s Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead is a fantasy novel, it leans hard into Christian church history and theology, setting up some good old fashioned good versus evil scenarios, but it’s not always clear who is good or evil. That’s intentional, but while Parker […]

“In-Yo would say that the war was won by silenced and nameless women, and it would be hard to argue with her.”

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

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Nowhere Bingo 26: Novella Dark Corner Selection: January 2026 Chih is a young cleric from the Singing Hills monastery who travels around the country searching for stories and history. At the shores of Lake Scarlet, Chih finds the abandoned dwelling where the former Empress In-Yo (the titular Empress of Salt and Fortune) spent her many years in exile. Chih encounters the elderly Rabbit, one of the Empress’s former handmaidens, who tells Chih stories of her own past and how it intertwined with that of the […]



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