Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“Truth is a human right.”

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

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I have no idea who Lindsay Ellis is, so I picked this up solely based on the blurb. I have a definite soft spot for first contact stories, especially ones where the humans involved are not, well, exactly who you’d pick to represent humanity. “Truth is not freely given in our society; it must be taken. Where walls are built, tear them down. Where borders are drawn, erase the line. Where you see wax, break the seal. Truth is a human right.” It’s 2007, and […]

Still not entirely sure what is going on in this story, but it’s an intriguing set-up

Paper Girls, vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

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3.5 stars CBR13 Bingo: Gateway It’s just after Halloween 1988, and four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls have a very unusual night, full of surprises, peril, and unexpected occurrences. I went into Paper Girls knowing literally nothing about it except that it was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, both artists whose work I’ve liked in the past. Did I know it was set in the late 1980s? Nope. Did I know the protagonists were pre-teens? Big old no. Had I given […]

‘The spook and her pet’ take on an alien empire in this amazing sequel – and Bingo #2!

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

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CBR 13 Bingo: New Series – This is the sequel to A Memory Called Empire which was published in 2019 and completes my second bingo. I loved A Memory Called Empire , in my review said it was deserving its spot on the Hugo nominee list and I was delighted when it won!  The follow up, A Desolation Called Peace, is similarly incredible.  In preparation for reading this, I found an excellent recap that goes over individuals and factions, and their motivations.  I highly recommend it. The […]

Humans fight dinosaurs in space; don’t think too much and enjoy the ride

Steel World by B. V. Larson

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BINGO – Machinery (and my first completed Bingo!) You know those movies whose trailer you watch the first time and you think, “Who gave that the green-light? That looks so dumb.” And the second trailer comes out and you think, “Okay, maybe that looks kind of fun but still. There’s no way I’m going to see it.” And then you see a trailer one more time and finally relent to think, “Yeah, sure, that looks fun and dumb; I’m in!” That was Steel World. It was […]

I was today years old when I discovered this book and I are pretty much the same age

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

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3.5 stars CBR13 Bingo: Machinery (space ships, the guide, Marvin – a lot of examples) Arthur Dent wakes up one morning to discover his house is about to be bulldozed. He’s very upset about it and goes to lie down in front of one of the bulldozers, so it can’t knock down his house, but is interrupted by his friend Ford Prefect, who has some very important things to tell him, and very little time left to do so. It turns out Ford Prefect is […]

“This did not mean that laws and rules were not helpful, or that explanations should not be sought, but rather that there should be no fear in changing them as needed, for nothing in the universe held still.”

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers, #4) by Becky Chambers

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I’m sad this series is over, but I’m glad it exists, and this was a really good one to go out on. Like the other books in the series, there isn’t really a plot. The story is very character focused, and acts as a sort of slice-of-life. I say sort of, because the circumstances here are slightly out of the ordinary. The whole book takes place over five or so days on the planet Gora, essentially an interstellar truck stop because it intersects with so […]



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