Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“We consider it cruel,” Maia said. “And we do not think that cruelty is ever just.”

The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth #1) by Katherine Addison

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It was the first time in his life Maia had been surrounded by people who were like him instead of only snow-white elves with their pale eyes, and he missed several names in the effort not to faint or hyperventilate or burst into tears. ― Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor The memories of a thousand separate cruelties mocked him, but no one save Maia himself had ever counted those as wrongs, and it was unjust to have them declared wrongs now, merely because he could. […]

“The witch looked surprised to see me, her eyes blinking furiously at me through murky waters. I don’t know why she was so astonished. It was my lake she’d been thrown into; she should have expected I’d come and see if there was anyone worth eating.”

Greenteeth by Moly O'Neill

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In the quiet depths of a lake lurks Jenny Greenteeth, a monster with needle sharp teeth, hungry and ready to pounce. In all the years she’s lived there, Jenny has never spoken to a human; but that ends when a witch from the local village is thrown into her lake. I could hear some humans cheering. Or maybe humans laughing, or maybe even screaming. It’s difficult to tell the difference, humans are always making a noise for some reason or another. Not being fond of […]

Come for the cats, stay for … also the cats

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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Like many other Cannonballers, I was familiar with Heather Fawcett because of the Emily Wilde novels, so when I saw her next novel was going to involve a magical cat shelter, I was in, even though I hadn’t enjoyed the third Emily Wilde novel as much. Overall, I had a really fun time with this but it really was primarily due to the cats and the cat shelter, and I actually would have enjoyed even more cats, and day to day life at the shelter. […]

Cozy but Underdeveloped

Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett

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This was a reasonably satisfying cozy fantasy that didn’t quite live up to its promise. Pax is the manager of a traveling sentient hotel that picks up and deposits guests throughout various magical worlds. When the hotel ends up on earth (we’re not told how that happens) and out of fuel, Pax determines that the best way to fix the hotel is to “reboot” it by pretending it’s an apartment and bringing in a tenant. Enter Josie, struggling single mom of the adorable 4-year-old Amos. […]

So much parental drama to resolve

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

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I quite liked A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches but I also struggled with most cozy fantasy I read last year, especially if it was an author’s second or third cozy fantasy. I’m happy to report that this novel was just as good as A Very Secret Society. You can read these two in any order – I believe they are set in the same universe but I am not sure if they even share any of the same characters. Sera Swan was once […]

Great Potential, Lacking in Execution

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

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This book should have been right up my alley. A cozy fantasy with an introverted librarian and a sentient spider plant assistant? Sign me up! But it failed to live up to my expectations and ended up being kind of “meh.” For me, the problems started almost right at the beginning. Main character Kiela and the spider plant Caz flee the Great Library of Alyssium when rebels set fire to it, and they head to Caltrey, the island where Kiela was born and lived for […]



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