Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Featured Review Archive

These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.

 

Ed Gein rocked 1950s America, and has left an indelible mark that has lasted 70 years

Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? by Harold Schechter and Eric Powell

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Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, and basically the whole career of Rob Zombie owe a great deal to Ed Gein. Officially, Ed Gein was not a serial killer. Officially, he “only” killed two women: 58-year-old Bernice Worden, the owner of a hardware store, in 1957 and 51-year-old Mary Hogan, the owner of a bar, in 1954. The general baseline used to define a “serial killer” is three or more murders. But his brother, Henry, died suspiciously in 1944 following a […]

Space horror is my jam

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

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One of my top horrors is space. Another one is under the sea (like deep under the sea). I also don’t like to fly, and caves freak me out. I never thought I was a control freak until I realized that the thing that scares me the most about these things is that I’m not in control. I can’t “get out” of whatever I’m in (space ship, submarine, airplane, etc) when I want to. As far as space, under the ocean, and caves, I have […]

Ranger 4 Lyfe

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

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I’ve written before about the hold Janet Evanovich has on me, and my undying devotion to Ranger, so my second (woohoo, I’m on number 2!) review this year is the latest installment in the Stephanie Plum series, Dirty Thirty. BEWARE SPOILERS! The plot is classic Stephanie. Wacky crime, wacky hijinks, something blows up, Lula buys a bunch of food, etc. Seriously, I’ve never been to Trenton, but I’m not sure Janet’s doing their tourism board a whole lot of good. Big Blue doesn’t make an […]

Same beginning, different stories

Clariel by Garth Nix

Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey

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This is a pairing of two stories that may not seem to have too much in common, but they do. At some point last year we acquired most of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series through a humble bundle deal. I had read a few of her books over the years, but none of Valdemar. I chose at random Burning Brightly, which turns out to be a rare stand alone in the series. What struck me was the similarities in the initial set up with another stand […]

A cozy sff mystery novella that is set in the future but feels like it’s set in the past.

The Mimicking of Known Successes (Mossa and Pleiti, #1) by Malka Older

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 27/30 This was really good! I loved the vibes and the writing and the setting. Definitely reading book two. I’m honestly surprised how much I liked this. It’s really hard to find great, vibesy sci-fi these days. A lot of sff authors go for the colder, more depressing, gritty machine-like futures, I think forgetting that humans like to be COMFY. Even though this book is set after humans have colonized Jupiter (of all places); the humans here […]

When the Cover Surpasses the Content

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

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I’m normally a squeamish person when it comes to gore and all manner of medical procedures, but I jumped into Anatomy: A Love Story eagerly. I anticipated a nice mixture of blood and love, and superficially, my needs were met. Unfortunately, there were myriad problems with the story, including pacing and an inert love triangle. The time is the 1800’s and the place is Scotland. Hazel is a teenager with a passion for being a doctor, despite the almost insurmountable odds against her. She sneaks […]



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