Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“Free speech may be part of the ideal of any revolution, but soon enough it becomes free speech only where the government approves of it.”

Scarlet (Scarlet Revolution #1) by Genevieve Cogman

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It is 1793 and the French Revolution is in full swing. Vampires, who are as usual, portrayed as rich and aristocratic (they’re blood-sucking leeches who also happen to be corpses; how is this not the White Trash Central group? Though yes, even without being vampiric they’d still be leeches; they are rich after all.) are the largest group to slake the guillotine’s thirst. Luckily for the 1%, The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, and his League are heroically rescuing dozens of aristocrats from […]

“I am given no voice in decisions or plans!” but she wants one

Elusive by Genevieve Cogman

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Bingo 14: Citizen Elusive is part 2 of a trilogy that re-imagines some things about the French Revolution. It’s definitely fiction, but given the historical context of citizens trying to take back power from the elite which is a theme in the novel in more ways than one, I argue this counts. A major part of the fiction is the addition of the (former?) maid Eleanor to the Scarlet Pimpernel and his crew, and the addition of vampires (Marie Antoinette might still be around in […]

Adding vampires to history and historical fiction, metaphor or plot device?

Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman

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Bingo 16: History Scarlet is basically fan-fic of historical fiction; totally counts for history since the historical part is real (revolutionary-era France). The historical fiction base is The Scarlet Pimpernel, set in the aftermath of the execution of the rulers of France; if you don’t know the story basically the mysterious masked hero from England saves the lives of French nobility by sneaking them out of France while the French authorities try to put a stop to that. So, basically, Batman who is British and […]

Series Conclusion but Maybe Not the End

The Untold Story by Genevieve Cogman

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The Untold Story is kind of the end of the Invisible Library series, but in the post-script there is the suggestion that maybe that’s not quite right; maybe there will be an Act 2 of sorts at some point in the future. For most of the series, there’s been a couple of major questions that do get answered as well as several others brought up in more recent volumes, including why was Alberich trying to destroy the Library, who are Irene’s birth parents (and why […]

The Epilogue is the best part

The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman

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Bingo 21: Pandemic Since the purpose of this square is “whatever I want”, I figured I’d go with the latest (released a while ago) installment of one of my favorite ongoing series’. I like the Invisible Library series overall, although admittedly some installments have been stronger than others. The Dark Archive (#7) adds some good stuff to the overall story, but as a novel itself isn’t the strongest in the series by a good bit. I think the problems for me are that one of […]

Fantastic Fantasy Fun

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

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Bingo 24 (I love this) The Invisible Library series is just plain fun fantasy, with a sprinkle of literary humor. The basic premise is an extra-dimensional library where rare books from all over the various worlds and realms are kept. The Librarians who work there often go to great lengths to acquire new titles or versions, including theft and adventure of various sorts. The Library is supposed to keep balance in the universe, especially between the forces of Chaos (the Fey) and natural Order (the […]



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