Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

His quarry had burned the devil-grass, of course.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

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I mean I guess I just decided to reread The Dark Tower. I’ve read the whole thing once, but this is probably my 4th or 5th time through The Gunslinger and I’ve read The Drawing of the Three twice before. So what’s interesting this time around is knowing where I’m headed, which is kind of ironic about rereading all things considered (sneaky spoiler joke). But what strikes me about this time through is how much richer this book is than how I remembered it, given […]

Targaryen History 101

Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin

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Look, I am ride or die A Song of Ice and Fire fan and not even what is effectively the equivalent of a Westerosi history textbook can stop me. Plus so much of what I love about the series is the depth of the lore and the attention to detail and the inner workings of a complex society so this was actually pretty much my happy place, once I learned to tell the players apart. There are multiple Aegons alive at the same time, it gets […]

HOLD UP. This is the first of a trilogy? Yikes. Part of me wants to know more, and part of me is just too tired.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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I feel like a bit of a failure as a reader (well, a listener) after this experience. This was not easy. I really wanted to love this story. It was beautifully imagined and written. This story had everything: drama, action, humor, and adventure. The audiobook performance was unbelievable. The African mythology it was based upon made me want to know more. And yet, I barely made it to the end. From Amazon: Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He […]

What a Struggle and Letdown

Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman

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This book took me so many days to force myself through. I should have just DNFed it and found another book for the “Supernatural” square. Ah well. Not too much to say here except that most of these short stories were a flop IMHO. I have to say that the way these stories are pieced together doesn’t really work very well at all. The flow between stories is so sharp and I keep getting taking out of each story as soon as I move on to […]

Wrapping Up the Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

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After the events of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Elisa is trying to rule her husband’s kingdom but even though she has grown much since she first entered the kingdom, she still faces doubts various political entities.  There is also still the concern about a looming war from the bordering kingdom even if she and her friends managed to delay it after the last novel.  It doesn’t take long before there are assassination attempts on Elisa’s life. Elisa is worried that she won’t be […]

Magic and War Collide

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

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I loved the first novel in this trilogy because for me it was the perfect mix of fairy tale magic with some real life politics mixed in.  By focusing on the story of a young girl in her village, the novel had a nice intimate setting even as it dealt with a figurative battle between good and evil, the old ways and the new.  The greater politics opened up the potential for a broader scale in the rest of the trilogy, and I think that […]



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