Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Update on Paladin’s Grace: An unenthusiastic DNF; UNO reverse; DIF (Did Indeed Finish)

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

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After writing my original review, I kept wondering if a different format might suit me better for this book. So I borrowed the ebook, and wow did that make a world of difference. I could skip and skim the inner monologues until they lessened. A little after mid-way through the book, the plot really picked up, the two main characters started interacting more – with each other and with others that can knock some sense into them, other things started happening to keep them busy […]

They have an audiance, but that wasn’t really me

SCRAM: Society of Creatures Real and Magical by Roy Lucey

Stray Cat V01 Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge by Dian Day

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Have you ever read a book that you really wanted to like, but it just didn’t pan out as hoped? That was SCRAM: Society of Creatures Real and Magical and Stray Cat V01 Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge. Both had fun and nifty ideas, but the style of writing and/or the progression to the finale did not work for me. The idea of SCRAM: Society of Creatures Real and Magical by Roy Lucey was interesting. Three friends want to search for Magical Creatures. The […]

Gotta Love a Book with Pictures

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

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I really enjoyed this little fairy tale novella that focuses on the bonds of sisterhood. The sisters, Esther and Ysabel, have a job of singing to two massive willow trees over the River Liss, a river that is imbued with magic. They live a fairly simple, happy life, though Esther’s love life is starting to come between them just a bit. I don’t want to say too much about this short (99-page) book because it’s too easy to spoil given its length. The prose is […]

“Potatoes…do not make gods.”

Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher

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T. Kingfisher was my most read author in 2025 (I read five of her books and reviewed two), so I had planned to wait before reviewing anymore of her books, but my hold for Hemlock and Silver finally came up on Libby, and I enjoyed it too much not to talk about it. So here we are. Anja is an expert in poisons. Or, more specifically, she is an expert in antidotes. But when the king himself summons her to investigate the poisoning of his daughter, […]

“That on the other side of the winter that took my children…My god, there has to be a spring.”

Idolfire by Grace Curtis

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In Ash, on one side of the world, Aleya Ana-Ulai, City Guard and bastard of the royal family, is desperate for a chance to prove herself. Her family may have written her off as a mistake, but she’ll prove all of them wrong. Or die trying. On the other, Kirby of Wall’s End is searching for redemption and her village’s lost idol. An ancient curse may have killed her brother (though that may have been faulty architecture), be leading to the death of her village, […]

Talking Donuts Explode

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

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Dungeon Crawl Carl is still going pretty strong in book 4. Carl, along with Donut, and a few others are on floor 5, which seemingly requires a bit of teamwork or at least coordination between groups. It really takes a while for the story to get going, maybe a little too much time doing some scene setting that just doesn’t seem that necessary. The probably haunted buried temple thing likewise has some good potential that really doesn’t get developed. The flying gnomes and the camel […]



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