Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Party in 17 years

Cicada by Shaun Tan

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Cicada is a four only for Shaun Tan’s signature styled illustrations. They are the most amazing and interesting part of the book. The story itself is a thinly veiled story of a worker being persecuted with being the “underpaid, underappreciated, worker because they are not like others due to their minority status (i.e.: they are black, gay, Asian, poor, fat, unattractive, a cicada).” Cicada does not help this by speaking “improper English” by telling his story in choppy sentences (“Cicada tell story. Story good.”). And […]

With a nibble here and a nibble there, here a nibble there a nibble….

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

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A Big Mooncake for Little Star is very clever. And while it is not based in an actual myth, Grace Lin has made a story that has that feeling of Asian mythology.  Her amazing illustrations make this a sweet bedtime story, but also it is the perfect anytime story. Of course, it is meant to be a bedtime.  These illustrations are detailed, but in a very simplicity manner. The placing of color also is strategic and moves the story forward. And while this is a […]

Trouble in FantasyLand

Get in Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link

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The lovely faintingviolet turned me onto Kelly Link, and I’m here to report that her latest book of short fiction, Get In Trouble, is a delight and there was not a story in this collection that didn’t simultaneously charm and terrify me. As a whole, Link’s greatest achievement is her ability to build entire universes in 40 pages or less. It’s an incredible feat that includes massive speculative worlds and full character development, while still using beautiful prose packed with metaphor and description. Here’s the breakdown: “The […]

No Brothers Left, and There’ll Be No More After Me

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

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I’m going to write this review as though it’s three separate reviews, because I can’t figure out how to review Books 2 and 3 in this series without completely spoiling Book 1. So if you don’t want to read spoilers, you can stop reading after Book 1. Book 1: Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the story of Karou, an art student living in Prague. She has a best friend, Zuzana, an annoying ex-boyfriend named Kaz, and a double life, wherein she works for a […]

“Sparing another person is a tricky thing. It’s easy to think you’re succeeding when you’re failing spectacularly.”

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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I like Holly Black’s writing. She she sets books in, basically, our real world with fantasy tweaks, and the stories are unapologetically confident in defense of myth and magic. The Darkest Part of the Forest is set in and around an ordinary town called Fairfold with a supernatural attraction: there is a faerie boy trapped and hibernating in an unbreakable glass coffin in the forest, symbolic of the town’s close proximity to the Fae people. Generations of residents have built lore around the boy and […]

How long ’til black future month?

How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

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I picked this book up purely on the strength of my love for N.K. Jemisin.  I’m generally not a fan of the short story format.  The only short story collections I’ve read cover to cover are the ones written by Neil Gaiman, who is very high on my favorite author list.  N.K. Jemisin is an incredible author who creates fantastic worlds so I anticipated enjoying the book, but I was blown away at how her short fiction thoroughly engaged me in a way that the […]



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