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.

 

What Is “The Apocalypse” Anyway But Another Series of Bad Days, Or Same As It Ever Was, Or It’s Irrelevant

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson

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I can’t really explain it, but You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a near five star book. I rated it 4.5 stars on Storygraph and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t rate it a 5. I want to… there’s something… but I want to. But I won’t. Because there’s something on the tip of my tongue or on the cusp of catchable thoughts that maybe I can’t articulate. Or maybe I’m just that much of a hard ass. There are a few things […]

Epic fantasy inspired by the Pre-Columbian Americas

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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CBR15 Bingo: On the Road – For two main characters about 80% of the book is them travelling. Bingo! The lands surrounding the Crescent Sea are ruled from the distant, northern city of Tova and the religious order of the Watchers.  The power of the Watchers has been waning and now that a commoner, Naranpa, has the highest role of Sun Priest there is dissent in the order and city.  Tova itself is broken into four districts each ruled by a different clan: Tsay (Golden […]

Closer Than We Thought

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

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Rebecca Wragg Sykes, an archaeologist and science writer, attempts to make Neanderthal life comprehensible by explaining with great joy and verve the current state of research and the conclusions that can be drawn from it. She makes the case that Neanderthals did not match the cliché of dumb brutes, but instead underwent major developments and were capable of immense adaptation during their existence of roughly 300,000 years. However, there is a major problem with the book almost from the start, and that is basically the […]

bit too much plot for me, but I enjoyed a number of the threads and will read the next

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles

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The Will Darling books mean that I will read almost anything by KJ Charles for a while. This, however, which was hotly awaited and eagerly devoured didn’t quite do it for me, although I think it would do it for other people! If I had to put a pithy point to it, it reminded me a bit of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb in that there were way too many plots and characters and side quests and backstories all over the place, to the point where […]

What’s worse than ghosts? Puppets.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

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So I wasn’t a fan of Horrorstor and had no interest in reading more of Hendrix’s books, but I couldn’t help grabbing How to Sell a Haunted House. I’m not even sure why. Honestly, I think it was just the cover. I mean, maybe we just got off on the wrong foot with Horrorstor and needed a second date to figure out if the chemistry really worked or not. This may come as a surprise, but this story is about a haunted house. But even worse, […]

Fairy Tales Can Be Deadly

The Last Tale of The Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

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This book is the very definition of the word Gothic. It belongs on the shelves next to Jane Eyre and Rebecca.  As in Rebecca, the main character in the novel isn’t given a name. He is just referred to as The Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is a curator of myths, legends, and fairy tales. While tracking down a rare book, he encounters Indigo Maxwell-Castenada, an heiress to a massive fortune, and a woman obsessed with fairy tales. They get married rather quickly, and she makes him […]



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