Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Questions without answers

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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I think I picked up Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer sometime around when the movie loosely based on it came out in 2018. For whatever reason, I didn’t read it then, but as it’s a short book I decided to read it a few days ago. The novel follows a team of women sent to investigate a strange area known only as Area X. Previous expeditions have occurred, but usually some weird misfortune happens to the participants (in one, members killed each other, in another, killed […]

When the clock doesn’t tick

Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi

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Twenty is just a cog in the wheel of the utopian society in Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi. Or at least for  the privileged.  Twenty is trying for one of the coveted positions on the team of engineers. If you make it to the top the reward is everything. But until then, they help keep the Hour Glass running so the privileged few can reap the reward of immortality. But when a real piece of the machine goes missing, more than the Hour Glass will fall […]

Carl and Donut become warlords

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman

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In this set of novels, we really start seeing more and more of the external impact, and some of the bigger picture. There are still so many questions but the story is continuing to grow bigger as we learn more. So many more lawsuits and injunctions about decisions and actions in the game that play but they are mostly just irritating the ever more off the rails AI. Book 6: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride – floor 7&8 First a maze and then a […]

Carl and Donut’s Continued Adventures

The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

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I am having a bit of a hard time remembering when some of the “outside of dungeon” events occurred in relation to each book so going to do this one as more general review with some details about each book. Dinniman keeps adding more details to the world building beyond the dungeon and I might like that broader picture even more than the dungeon. We get to see things like CrawlerCon (so fun) but also see hints of the larger politics and how the crawl […]

That time Princess Donut saved Carl from the alien invasion

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

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After seeing 2 Cannonballers more or less start the year with these, I was very curious. Add a narfna endorsement in the comments, and, of course, I was going to check it out. And then immediately burned through all the existing novels – I hear the audiobooks are incredible so might do a reread soon that way but I am not sure I would have had the patience for a 26+ hour audio book as a first read through (for some of the later books). […]

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover?

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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Ok, I admit it. I judged a book by its cover. I really try to not be shallow or too focused on aesthetics when I walk through a bookstore, but I admit that the cover for Cloud Cuckoo Land has been catching my eye for a few years now. I know a good cover has no relation to the quality of the book, but something must draw my attention when I am not hunting with a specific book in mind. So, when I saw Cloud […]



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