Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Dragons and Swamp Folk Underwhelm in the Bayou

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

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I’m not sure what I was expecting with Highfire. I was introduced to the author Eoin Colfer via Artemis Fowl which I enjoyed for the first several novels, then lost interest in in the direction the series was going. I like the not entirely original premise of the grumpy powerful being (Vern the dragon) teaming up with and gradually softening to a spunky sidekick (Squib Moreau). The setting of the Bayou, presumably Louisiana, makes for interesting potential in terms of cultural lore. It’s sort of […]

Dragon Lover

Fire in His Blood by Ruby Dixon

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I’m finally back at the book reviews just in time for Spring! Last year for Cannonball Read 11, I read Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians, which was a steamy hot tale of alien-human with a great mix of humor and heart. I discovered she has another set of books that involves DRAGONS!!! and picked up Fire in His Blood from the library. In the first book of the Fireblood Dragon series, we meet our main character Claudia in jail for scavenging outside the bounds of […]

What happens when the last dragon on earth lives in the Bayou?

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

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Eoin Colfer has penned a bunch of YA/children’s novels.  His extremely popular Artemis Fowl series will soon be a movie.  Highfire is an adult novel, which is more of an adventure tale than a fantasy novel, despite having a vodka loving dragon named Vern as its protagonist. Colfer is funny, funny enough to have been the one to pen book six in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. The story is set in the swamps in New Orleans and has a memorable cast of characters – the […]

Room Enough to Spread a Dragon’s Wings?

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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  The Priory of the Orange Tree is a kind of book that might be as rare as hen’s teeth these days: it’s an epic fantasy story full of magic and dragons that happens to be a standalone novel rather than just one part of a sprawling series. This is not to say that the story contained within the novel isn’t substantial; at over 800 pages, The Priory of the Orange Tree sits somewhere between A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords in […]

I Love Books About Dragons

Joust by Mercedes Lackey

Alta by Mercedes Lackey

Sanctuary by Mercedes Lackey

Aerie by Mercedes Lackey

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CBR11Bingo: And So it Begins Life kind of got in the way of reading, so I doubt I’ll complete a bingo or even my CBR goal, but I figure I’ll keep trucking along. Please be aware that because this is a review of a series, there will be spoilers. Joust is the first book in Mercedes Lackey’s Dragon Jousters fantasy series. We are introduced to main character Vetch, a serf with an abusive master. Vetch was born in Alta, which has long been at war […]

I finally tackle the Temeraire series (four months ago). #CBRBingo – And So It Begins

His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, #1) by Naomi Novik

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This is why I never DNF books. Well, that and the OCD (legit, not just using it facetiously). I had a hard time getting into this (I’ve had a hard time getting into several books the last couple of months–my brain is not wanting to cooperate with me). It took me what felt like weeks to get past the first thirty pages. And it’s not like what was there was bad, I just couldn’t engage myself in it for some reason. Novik styles the book […]



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