Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

In case you were wondering, Christopher Marlowe is a little shit, according to this author.

Shadow of Night (All Souls, #2) by Deborah Harkness

by Leave a Comment

It has been a bit since I read this, so this review will be a bit lacking in details as I struggle to remember why I rated this three stars. I remember the middle particularly being a bit of a slog. Also, not much happened plot-wise for a 600ish page book. The author clearly just got really excited about putting her characters in a 16th century setting with a bunch of famous people from that era (and lots of non-famous people as well, to be […]

A weird book I had a lot of things to say about.

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, #1) by Deborah Harkness

by 9 Comments

Oh wow I have so many things to say. The vast majority of the time when I go to write a review I have to sit there and think of things to say, when my instinct is just like, I had feelings okay and now you want me to put them into words? But the words are just wanting to flow for this one. So first, because context is important, three things about this book and also me: 1. It was free. A friend was […]

I Feel Guilt Over the Two Stars Rating

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

by 2 Comments

I loved this book when it first came out and I have to say that my re-read of this was painful. Why did I like this so much? Did I not see that Matthew was uber possessive which is my least favorite hero trait? The constant endearments in French may me roll my eyes. Also the Mary Sueness of Diana was beyond ridiculous. She gets powers on top of powers and also decides that the only thing that matters is her love for Matthew. She […]

I’m basically Reviewer 2 here with this so bear with me

Shadow of Night (All Souls #2) by Deborah Harkness

The Book of Life (All Souls #3) by Deborah Harness

by Leave a Comment

I didn’t quite make the comparison when I read A Discovery of Witches, the first book in the All Souls Trilogy, but after finishing the set it’s obvious: these are books that are pitched toward fans of Outlander (or books like Outlander that fill in the spaces between major plot twists with lots and lots and lots of small expository details.) It’s probably not a coincidence that Deborah Harkness and Diana Gabaldon both have doctorates and both brought a very academic sensibility to their fiction […]

The academic research paper of fiction

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

by 1 Comment

For a book that seemed to be received so positively initially, around the time of release, it seems like all I’ve read lately are reviews that are disappointed by how boring it is and confused by why it was so well-liked. You might say my expectations were pretty low. So I had to laugh as I realized I was enjoying it. A Discovery of Witches is EXCESSIVELY academic. Not just in the subject matter, which obviously is, but in the whole tone and writing approach. […]

An insult to avocado toast

by 9 Comments

katie: I take full responsibility for this one. I somehow missed A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness the first time around. My interest was piqued after seeing a trailer for the new series featuring Matthew Goode. Here. Have some eye candy: Katie: Anyway, I messaged Patty and was like, “we may have a contender.”    



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo