Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“Regrets are more fun when the choices they derive from are made intentionally.”

How to Steal a Galaxy by Beth Revis

Last Chance to Save the World by Beth Revis

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I was having a bit of a reading slump – nothing sounded good, and I returned several books to the library unread, which is a bit out of character for me. I had figured, though, that since I had such a fun time with Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis last month that her brand of space heists in novella format might be what I needed to jumpstart my oomph. Then we got word that Bothari43 had passed, and I knew that […]

But what kind of cheese?

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

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When The Moon Hits Your Eye is the latest in a string of very strange books by John Scalzi. The Kaiju Preservation Society introduced us to a former Postmates-ish driver taking a job at a wildlife preserve for horrifying monsters. Starter Villain pondered the moral implications of inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business. When the Moon Hits Your Eye introduces another premise so ridiculous that I can only assume Scalzi wrote the book on a dare: “What if the moon suddenly turned into cheese?” The story unfolds through a […]

When I probe the gallimaufry of blurred memories from that night I can still feel the potency of the ungovernable impulse that demanded I place my palms on her bony shoulders

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older

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Every time I pick up a Malka Older book, I am struck anew by how beautifully she writes. As much as I enjoy the melding of mystery, romance, and science fiction in her Mossa and Pleiti series, the way she uses words is such a joy to read. The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses is the third in the series, and you must read the first two books in order to understand this one. The Rector’s actions in The Mimicking of Known Successes continues to reverberate. Mossa and […]

Best book of 1998?!

The Decision by K. A. Applegate

Megamorphs 2: In the Time of the Dinosaurs by K. A. Applegate

The Departure by K. A. Applegate

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It’s possible that the best book I’ve read all year is a thirty year old Animorphs book. This whole batch of books is a lot of fun, but book 19 is next level. Book 18, The Decision, is an Ax the Andalite book, and it’s quite good. I think I mention this in an earlier review, but one crazy sci-fi element of the Animorphs books comes to morphing animals that are smaller than oneself. If you, as a human, morph into a tiny cockroach (yes, […]

The Expanse keeps expanding!

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

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This is the fourth book in The Expanse series, and sees the focus both narrow back to our main crew while also expanding into genuinely new worlds. I have been making my way through both the books and the TV series at the same time, and am now at the point where my reading is how way beyond my TV progress, but it’s ok. In this series, focal character James Holden is a perennial optimist, with noble ideas about humanity and truth and morality. He’s […]

“Captain Kirk would have thought of something by now, I’m sure, but I have no red-shirted confederates to feed to it.”

Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Being an astronaut – it isn’t all tiny balls of ice cream and zero gravity bouncing. Plot: Gary has wanted to be an astronaut all his life. And not only did he become an astronaut, his first trip was to be part of a team investigating potential evidence of alien life. This is the stuff dreams are made of. Only that dream turned into a nightmare as they arrived and disaster starts taking them out. Gary is now alone, with no provision, and no sense […]



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