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.

 

They’re All My Friends, And They Died…

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

by 5 Comments

I haven’t ugly cried over a book in a hot minute, but man, I sure ugly cried over this one.  This is one of those books that everyone recommends to you and for whatever reason you dig your feet in that it’s probably not going to be for you but you politely say, “Thanks for the recommendation” and then go on about reading anything but that book.  Does anyone else do that? And then invariably, when you sit down to read the book that your […]

Memorable but not fun for me

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

by 3 Comments

I’d seen Yellowface (2023) by R.F. Kuang on various lists at the end of the year, which encouraged me to pick it up. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was still surprised. I’ve read a number of books where plots are stolen or authors pretend to be something they’re not, and this one felt nothing like them. In fact, it felt more like a horror story than a literary story. June Hayward is an aspiring author. She has published one book that did not […]

“Women were built to endure the rules men make.”

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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I would think it a real challenge to make a story about women suffering under abusive husbands and the difficulties of living in the caste system in India incredibly funny, but this book managed to do that. The humor is dark, but the characters (mostly women) are authentic, interesting and very relatable as they try to navigate the world of men while finding ways to advocate for themselves in a world that doesn’t want them to do much at all. Geeta’s awful husband disappeared 5 […]

Two five stars in a row from me for this series. I love it so much!

The Marquis Who Mustn't (Wedgeford Trials, #2) by Courtney Milan

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As often happens with books that I five-star love and gobble up in a mindless pleasure fest of reading indulgently, I am finding it hard to have anything to say beyond BOOK GOOD READ NOW. But let’s try anyway. This is the second book in Courtney Milan’s Wedgeford Trials series, about a small town in Victorian England that is full of mostly Chinese emigrants (as always, the author’s notes are a must-read for historical context) but other members of the Asian diaspora as well. The […]

“I realized I didn’t want to carry them around for the rest of my life.”

Nude Model and Other Stories by Tsubasa Yamaguchi

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This is a very interesting and striking manga collection of three pretty dark short stories. I haven’t read the author’s other work, Blue Period, which is about a teenager discovering art in high school, but I had looked at it before and liked the art style, which convinced me to pick this up. Since it’s a standalone consisting of three short stories, I figured it would be a good insight into her style and I liked the striking cover a lot. I liked all three […]

Oh Lois, you hold my heart so gently.

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold

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So, you pick up a science fiction mystery novel by your favorite author. You know the one, who wrote your favorite character of all time? It’s another in her long, award winning series following Miles Naismith Vorkosigan through his life of adventure and mystery. (if you’ve read Bujold, you know why you never leave out Naismith in his name.) The soletta – the key to terraforming Komarr – has just been hit and almost catastrophically damaged by an ore freighter. Miles is a newly minted Imperial […]



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