Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Body Shifting, Acceptance, and Change to Save a Friend

The Ancient Magus' Bride vol. 17 by Kore Yamazaki

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Bingo 7: Bodies, Bodies In The Ancient Magus’ Bride (volume 17), there are quite a few bodies, many of them unusual, unique, and/or not original for their inhabitants. Given that many of the bodies belong to teenagers (roughly high school age), it’s sort of fitting there’s going to be a lot of change and confusion. First, Chise (MC’s) classmates: Philomela has been infected by a nasty powerful ancient magic book and transformed into some kind of briar demon thing, but Chise still sees her classmate […]

Let’s just focus on the main story, the very good dugs, and Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite

Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne

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Bingo 15: New Series Book 1 of the Ink & Sigil series (Ink & Sigil) came out in August 2020; book 2, presented momentarily, came out in 2021, just under a year later. It’s a recent enough publication that I was actually a little surprised to see it in the library. I was glad to see it though, both because I enjoyed book 1 and also because I was a little stuck for this square, but no longer. Paper & Blood picks up about where […]

A Japanese Girl in a Celtic World

The Ancient Magus Bride vol. 14 by Kore Yamazaki

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Bingo 9: Mythic The Ancient Magus Bride is a manga and anime series based primarily in Celtic mythology, although it contains references to other folklore as well. One of the key characters (the magus of the title) is Elias who is some kind of Fae creature, given that he’s claimed as such by Titania and Oberon (this happens early in the series), the dragons who show up are European in appearance, Silky is a brownie who used to be a banshee, there are some sídhe, […]

Magic and Alchemy at School

The Ancient Magus' Bride vol 13 by Kore Yamazaki

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The Ancient Magus’ Bride might be one of my favorite anime/manga series that’s currently running. I like the basis in Celtic folklore and mythology with the addition of alchemy, a Japanese main character, and now a little more importance for a character who has had probably about 5 panels total in the previous 12 volumes. Volume 13 of the manga has some movement in both plot and world building for this newish College arc, where Chise is basically going to alchemist school, even though she’s […]

A side story that stands on its own

The Ancient Magus Bride: Jack the Flash and the Faerie Case Files vol. 2 by Yu Godai, Mako Oikawa, Kore Yamazaki

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I have been greatly enjoying The Ancient Magus Bride series in several of its current forms; most recently, the two side-series. One of them is the manga Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files; here I present volume two. This part of the story wraps up the first arc, which is basically a re-telling of the short story in which Jack (Jaqueline, but she hates being called that) and her twin Larry are introduced. Jack and Larry are Changelings, a human and Fae baby switched […]

A rare find for me: a good short story collection

The Ancient Magus' Bride The Golden Yarn by Kore Yamazaki et al

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So far I’ve really been enjoying the Ancient Magus Bride in its original manga form; I’ve also liked the anime but haven’t seen the whole thing yet. The general gist is that a Japanese teen, Chise, who has no family who wants her, puts herself up for auction. She is purchased by Elias, a non-human mage who wants to train her/ learn about humans from her. Chise has some magical abilities herself, and she fits in well with the mage’s world. It’s a really sweet […]



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