Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Yes, hello, we are here, perched on the balustrade, biding our time and being magnificent.

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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I had to take a breather from Hugo award voting for a while, but I thought I’d jump back into it this year. Only to have this doorstopper from an author I had not come across before dropped on my feet. Thankfully, The Raven Scholar turned out to be an absolute page turner, a bit of a kitchen sink of fantasy tropes, and a lot more playful than I expected. An absolute joy to race though.  Now to those fantasy tropes: one of the things […]

“It was like reading a book, she decided. You read the book and the words became scenes, the characters became people and they lived inside you.”

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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Reading epic fantasy isn’t really a thing I do that often, but sometimes, you just need to listen to your book friends when they fall in love with something. It has proven to be a good method for me previously, so why not try again with a beautiful purple covered book and plot synopsis that grab the attention without giving a whole lot away.    It should be noted that I loved this 650-page book. It’s a five-star read for me, easily. But… I have struggled for weeks to figure out how to review it, so I’m sort of throwing my hands up […]

Not what I expected, but absolutely amazing

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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So at the end of last year, I decided that 2026 would be the year that I fully indulged my love for dark academia. I did some googling and put together a list of books that were considered part of the genre. Somewhere I came across The Raven Scholar and put it at the top of my list, as everyone seemed to love it. While reading it, I realized two things: 1) while there are a few dark academia elements, it’s not a book that I […]

Murder, Politics and a Pantheon of Gods

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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Damn! This was so good. I had already picked this novel up because I have been seeing it everywhere and then Malin and narfna both gave it glowing recommendations so I bumped it up on the list. I don’t remember what review or description I had read earlier this summer but between the recommendations and me thinking I knew what it was about, I went in without reading the description again, and while technically, I wasn’t totally wrong about what the novel was about, I […]

Scary Librarian

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hogdson

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: purple cover. See photo. I haven’t done much fantasy this year but as the season changes into fall, I’m starting to get the itch. This was a recommendation from Max Read, who as I’ve said before is my personal Oprah and who I’m more hit than miss with. This one was a hit. A murder mystery, a trial for an emperor-ship, a compelling fantasy with fun tales all rolled into one, this is a creative yarn from Antonia Hogdson […]



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