Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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“One could plot violent espionage and still hope for dessert.”

King of Scars (Nikolai Duology #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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I’m trash for the whole Grishaverse, so of course I loved this. If anyone else, like me, enjoyed both previous series and ever thought to themselves, “Hey, you know what would be great, a sequel to the Grisha trilogy that feels more thematically like Six of Crows?” you’re in luck! Because that’s this book. We’re back with some of our favorite characters from both all of the books, and they’ve all been through some shit, so they’re all a little bit (or a lot bit) […]

If you love fairy tales

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

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I’ve always enjoyed fairy tales and became a bit obsessed once I discovered the darker original Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson collections.  This book evokes those tales but the stories have been spun in different and interesting directions, in part because it was created as a volume of fairy tales that the characters in the Grishaverse (the world setting Leigh Bardugo created) would know.  In 2012 Leigh’s publisher asked if she would write a prequel story for her first novel Shadow and Bone.  But instead […]

The Trick to Falling

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I go through phases of reading YA fantasy. I have come to realize that for the most part I age the characters up in my mind, because they rarely seem like teenagers. While I was in the middle of reading Six of Crows, I listened to The Dollop episode 275, “The Newsie Strike.” As a Dave and Gareth were marveling over 8 – 16 year old boys organizing and leading a strike, and understanding the economic theory behind each side’s position. It reminded me that […]

It will be nice working with proper villains again

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Not gonna lie, I first picked up this book based purely on the cover and those gorgeous black edges: Seriously, it’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve seen in a while.  But every time I picked it up in store, I hesitated to buy it based on the fact that it’s set in the same world as Bardugo’s previous Grisha trilogy, which I haven’t read yet.  So instead I bought Shadow and Bone – the first in that series and recommended by pretty much […]

This fantasy heist novel is delicious.

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So, I don’t believe in hype. Bear with me here, because what I mean by that isn’t what you probably think I mean. Obviously, I’m not in the habit of denying that things exist. Like, NO, GRAVITY IS NOT REAL AND KOALAS ARE A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION or whatever. “Hype” is a real enough concept that somebody once upon a time had to invent a word to describe it. For me, when I’ve used it as a word, hype is buzz. It’s something that […]



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