Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“Christ,” said Peter. “Hell is a campus.”

Katabasis: A Novel by R. F Kuang

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Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld Alice Law has but one goal: to become one of the greatest in the field of Magick; to make all the sacrifices (her pride, her health, her love life, her self-respect, and most of all her sanity) worthwhile. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. (And one of the worst humans; but what does a vicious personality and a tendency to drive others to […]

Elastic tension lashed their cars together across space, alone on the road, nothing in his head but grief and freedom.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

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Andrew held the clutch and eased onto the gas, pushing revs while the digital readout reminded him to hold it, wait for the right moment to explode. Sam’s fingers touched the rim of the moon hanging in the sky. A shudder ripped across the bones of Andrew’s forearms, terror and delight and the promise of risk bringing him to life. ― Lee Mandelo, Summer Sons For fuck’s sake Andrew. Is there anything in this scenario that feels heterosexual or well-adjusted to you? ― Lee Mandelo, […]

Going to hell to finish school

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

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I could not get more than halfway through R. F. Kuang’s Babel. The world and magic system were amazing; I could not stay interested in all the character personal drama. Thus I was hesitant to try Katabasis. I finally did though, as I have some experience in the world of higher education as well as the Classical background to appreciate that title reference. On the other hand, that didn’t help The Secret History; hated that, mostly because of the stupid unlikeable character drama. Tragedy in […]

My Year of Dark Academia is Off to an Uneven Start

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

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Lately I’ve been finding myself drawn to dark academia, so I thought this year I might embrace it and go whole hog. I started the year off with two very different dark academia novels–one that I mostly enjoyed, and one that I didn’t really enjoy at all. First up, I read A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. Effy is an architecture student at a prestigious college, but she wants to be a literature student–only women aren’t allowed to study literature. Her favorite author is Emrys Myrddin, […]

Hell is Academia

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

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I read this one rather close to the release date so am a little fuzzy on details – but I had a book club on it this weekend which has helped me clarify my thoughts. While I still liked this novel, my immediate reaction was also that this was my least favorite Kuang novel, especially after Babel and Yellowface. Even with that, there are so many interesting thoughts and ideas being explored that it’s worth the read, and has quite a few tongue-in-cheek moments (like […]

“Time remembered does not flow smoothly at all”

The Truants by Kate Weinberg

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Jess is the middle child of a large, chaotic family and she feels largely ignored, so when she finally heads off to university, it comes as a relief. It takes her a while to find her groove, but then she meets her friends. There is glamorous, upper-crusty Georgie, attractive and steady Nick, and Georgie’s mysterious boyfriend Alec. Above all, there is Jess’s primary reason for her studies: teacher and author Lorna. Lorna has written a very successful and much-lauded novel called The Truants, and Jess […]



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