Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

So many bad tropes (Bingo: Youths!)

Dragon Called (Deadweed Dragons, Book 1) by Ava Richardson

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If the dragons from this book call you, reject the call and change your number. Actually, that’s not entirely fair. The dragons, from what I read, were fine. It was everything else that needed a lot of work. I gave up on page 139, read the last three or four pages (kind of like I did with Jane Eyre in high school, tbh) and tossed this on the “read” virtual shelf. It needs a good line editor for a start.

If You go into The Hazel Woods Today… (Bingo: Travel square)

The Hazel Wood: A Novel by Melissa Albert

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When Alice was born, her eyes were black from end to end, and the midwife didn’t stay long enough to wash her. (Kindle loc. 221) My mother was raised on fairy tales, but I was raised on highways. (loc. 37) Holy cats, you guys. This book and my reaction to it are probably going to fall down around my ears like a pack of playing cards or a straw house, but for the moment I am in love.

Revisiting the Early Novels of a Long Running Series

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire

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While the October Daye series didn’t start clicking for me until the third book, it has since become one of my favorite urban fantasy series.  I love the expansive world building and even thirteen books in, the series keeps growing without conflicting with itself.  I don’t know if McGuire always had this extended world in her head but didn’t know how much time she would have to explore it or if she is going novel to novel on the fly, but it has been such […]

Bruce One Grumpy ol’ Bear

Bruce’s Big Storm by Ryan T. Higgins

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I am not a Bruce book fan, for the most part. I appreciate the work that goes into making a book; I appreciate the illustrations and I understand why many people enjoy them. They tend not to be for me. However, this newest book in the Bruce series is amusing. Bruce’s Big Storm has two parts for me. On one hand, I still wish the neighbors (and his roommates) would let him be. Let him be the grumpy bear he likes being. But on the […]

Pipi Longstocking meets Swiss Family Robinson meets Dora the Explorer meets Tangled

The Runaway Princess by Johan Troianowski

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Bright illustrations that are very detailed and simple text is what is found on the pages of Johan Troianowski’s The Runaway Princess graphic novel. Keeping with the European feel of other books in this standalone series, and the author themselves, this time we have a story that is part Pipi Longstocking meets Swiss Family Robinson meets Dora the Explorer meets Tangled if Rapunzel was a 10-year-old (or younger) girl. The book is broken into separate adventures with connecting but each with their own complete stories. […]

The best opening line since The Martian

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

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“It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.” Seriously, y’all, read that and tell me you don’t want to devour this book whole because that how how Red Sister starts. It’s been YEARS since an opening line hooked me like this and I am still completely shook. Goddamn that’s good. Okay. On to the meat of the book, because it does not disappoint. Red Sister takes place in a world that exists between two encroaching sheets of ice. […]



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