Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Few Things Get Lost in Translation from Podcast to Book

Sawbones: the Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine by Dr. Sydnee McElroy, Justin McElroy

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So the question for this first review of 2021 was do I review the book I started (and finished) in 2021 first, or the one I started in 2020 and finished in 2021 first? I have decided to review Sawbones: The Book first, because I’m pretty sure I started 2020 with Will My Cate Eat My Eyeballs? (which I greatly enjoyed) and there are some strong similarities, both being medical in nature, as well as presented by an expert (one of the co-authors of Sawbones […]

I’m not sorry this one’s almost over

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Vol. 4) by Usata Nonohara, Ox (illustrator)

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I’m pretty sure I’m only going to finish this series because the premise had potential at the beginning and several of the side characters were interesting. I’m kind of glad that the main storyline ends with the next installment which apparently just came out. I saw that novel may not be the end of the story, but I mostly don’t care anymore. So, in The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (part 4), we get a new character who I was […]

Maybe It’s the Timing

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Vol. 3) by Usata Nonhara, Ox (illustrator)

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I’m torn: I like the general premise and a lot of the potential in the various story threads, but I’m starting to get annoyed with some of the main characters and perspectives. The basic idea of The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Vol. 3) is that Mariela, an alchemist puts herself in suspended animation to escape a monster attack and wakes up 200 years later alone in a changed world where her skills are highly valuable and rare. There’s an […]

When the word story is better than the graphic version

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life, Vol. 2 (manga) by Guru Mizoguchi, Usata Nonhara, Ox

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I have decided that I like the light novelization of this story better, and this is unusual for me. Usually I run into the manga or anime first, then check out the light novels which tend to seem repetitive by comparison even if they actually came first. This is a warning that this will be as much exploration of why that is as it will be review. So, The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life has, besides a long unwieldly title, […]

Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz with Alchemists

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

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I’ve had Middlegame on my TBR shelf about since it came out and I’m just now getting to it. I think it really did help me to have read several other things by Seanan McGuire, and also to know that she considers this her most technical work to date. There are several parallel stories set up as well as some time bending woven into the story, and for me it mostly works. The main plotline is that of Roger and Dodger, twins created by mostly […]

In which side characters are the real ones

The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life, Vol. 2 (light novel) by Usata Nonhora

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  Light novel 2 in The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life really develops the world and some of the characters. Some darkness is introduced and more history about the status of alchemy and alchemists, and the Labyrinth, is really the focus of the volume. This means both more story and more world building. The biggest problem from book 1 gets a little worse in book 2 though, and that’s Mariela. She’s supposed to be the main heroine, but she’s totally […]



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