Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Something Wicked & Fae Comes This Way

Trailer Park Fae (Gallow and Ragged 1) by Lilith Saintcrow

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I loved Lilith Saintcrow‘s Jill Kismet series, which I need to start back reading again. When I learned she had a fae urban fantasy series, Gallow and Ragged, I got pretty excited the library had the audiobooks. The first book Trailer Park Fae introduces the reader to two warring Sidhe Fae courts. The land of Summer is ruled by a ruthless Queen who hates the Winter King. UnWinter oversees his dark and dangerous realm. The two courts rule their respective seasons in the human world. […]

Confirming that this one’s my fave

The Scar by China Mieville

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This was kind of a new experience for me. I reread old favorites all the time, but how often do you get to reread new favorites? This is the first China Mieville I ever read (reviewed in 2014!), and I have now read everything he’s written, so I started over. This one is still my favorite. The world-building is amazing. This man’s imagination is bonkers, and I’m so glad he shares it with the world. The characters are unlikeable but incredibly compelling, which is so […]

Humbling women seems to be a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Although I’m vaguely aware of the Odyssey from various school projects and references, I have very little knowledge or interest in the Greek gods and Greek myths. So Circe (2018), by Madeline Miller, did not at first grab my attention–even though it was on NPR’s Best Books of 2018 list. But then a number of Cannonballers named it their favorite book last year, and I decided I should give it a chance. Circe is a nymph and a goddess. She is the daughter of Helios, the very powerful Titan […]

A Most Entertaining Magical Road Trip, But Missing the Runzas

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

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The Simon Snow books are fan fiction of fan fiction, from a fan fiction about fan fiction (or something like that), meaning that they are both adherents to and parodies of the Chosen One genre of fantasy story. They do this very well, and are very entertaining reads. In addition to clearly having fun with tropes and stereotypes, Wayward Son in particular adds what could almost be called a brand of emotional realism to the character and story types. In stories like Harry Potter (which […]

Too much the Chosen One

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

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I made what I now think was a mistake in reading We Hunt the Flame immediately after reading a pair of light parodies of the chosen one genre. The mistake was that We Hunt the Flame is very much as serious chosen one fantasy story, and coming after entertaining mockeries of the genre, ended up feeling a little too obvious about things that were probably supposed to be reveals. Zaphira is a girl but also the Hunter whom everyone thinks is a man. Her skill […]

Another rather forgettable Harris book

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

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Official book description: Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town. There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his […]



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