Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

“The past cannot be cured”- Elizabeth I, Queen of England

Shadow of Night: A Novel (Book Two of the ALL SOULS SERIES) by Deborah Harkness

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I read A Discovery of Witches two years ago, and was suitably unimpressed. (Well, not unimpressed, more like I loathed it.) Then last year, for some unknown reason (I blame having bronchitis and being in the mood to mindlessly binge watch), I watched the entire series on Netflix. (I also watched Shadow & Bone, about 11 seasons of Supernatural, and all of Bridgerton that was out at the time; don’t judge me for any of it. I told you, I was delirious with bronchitis.) So […]

“Magic is desire made real.”

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

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CBR18Bingo: Craft, because one character learns how to do witchcraft. A Discovery of Witches is about Diana Bishop, a historian who stumbles upon a powerful ancient manuscript. Because Diana is also a witch, she recognizes the manuscript’s magical qualities, and returns it, trying to keep magic out of her academic work as much as possible. But it turns out this manuscript has been lost for 250 years, and the fact that she was able to find and open it is enough to draw the attention […]

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness

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Deborah Harkness has come up with new challenges for Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont in The Black Bird Oracle, Book Five in her best-selling All Souls series. Fans of the first four installments will absolutely enjoy this one, but it is definitely an installment and not a stand alone in a series. New readers need to be encouraged to go back and start with the first installment, A Discovery of Witches, because there is a LOT of world building that you’re kind of expected to already know. The […]

Review #10: If anybody has recommendations for a good fantasy romance, please let me know, because this ain’t it

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

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I read A Discovery of Witches in the midst of a tough project at work, and needed a soapy fantasy to help distract me. It didn’t work! Publisher’s description: “Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the […]

Only read if you really love these characters.

Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness

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I have a weird relationship with Deborah Harkness’s books. I liked her All Souls trilogy, but I also recognize that it has some significant problems (that I won’t get into here). I had assumed those feelings would carry over to this book, a sequel to the trilogy, essentially. It’s billed as being about Marcus and Phoebe’s relationship, but it’s actually just an extended epilogue and very little happens that is of consequence. It’s also very weird. The book is split in three parts. First is […]

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3) by Deborah Harkness

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I can point out so many flaws but at the end of the day I read this 561 page book very fast and I did, I enjoyed myself. My rational brain is going, “Stop! She’s too powerful! This villain is made of cardboard! This is wish-fulfillment! He’s so possessive, and how convenient it’s coded into his genes!!! This is CHEESY AS HELL. They are CODEPENDENT.” Meanwhile, the part of my brain that just makes noises and wants to grab things that are soft is making […]



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