Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I’m a man who will always choose to know.”

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

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CBR16 Bingo: Horses – The horses are all but extinct in this world, and they are so dearly missed that the possession of one means possession of power. Kinch, a thief drowning in debt, is promised that he’ll be square with the Takers Guild if he accompanies the knight Galva on her mysterious mission to a giant-infested kingdom. I’m a rather utilitarian reader, happy with solid plotting and characterization, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate when a particularly enjoyable turn of phrase crosses […]

A strange little fantasy. I expected nothing less from this author.

City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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This is a tough book to sink your teeth into. It’s slow to start, and slow to catch your emotions (if it ever catches them all), but still, for the right reader this book could work very well. I always appreciate a well-executed attempt at a unique structure, and we have that here in abundance. Up front, though, the reason this is getting 3.5 stars is that though there were bits that caught my imagination in the first half of the book, it didn’t really […]

A Chorus of Dragons, Series Review

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons

The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

The House of Always by Jenn Lyons

The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons

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How epic do you like your fantasy? Do you need world-ending battles between gods and demons? Do you love dragons and wizards? Vampires and zombies and shapeshifters? Magic swords and magic stones? How about pirates and kraken? Maybe some political intrigue and betrayal?? Well, buddy, have I got the series for you! I seriously feel like Stefon when I talk about this series, because these books have everything. Also, it’s told in varying timelines, by various narrators, under the conceit that these chronicles have been […]

Fantastic second book!

The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart

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[review contains references and spoilers for Bone Shard Daughter, book one of The Drowning Empire trilogy] After defeating her father, Lin hoped taking over as emperor would be a smooth transition, but no one knows who she is and don’t trust the Sukai family after the terrors of tithing festivals and constructs. But with Jovis, who has become a folk hero, at her side she decides to travel across the empire to announce the ending of tithings, return everyone’s bone shards, and try to get […]

There’s No End Like a Sanderson End

The Hero of Ages by Bandon Sanderson

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The more Sanderson I read, the more I feel like his books are really just love letters to his fans. His author notes are always so personal, and its clear that he takes his fans seriously and thinks about them as he’s writing. In this last installment of the Mistborn trilogy, Sanderson’s goal was to write an ending of a series that both satisfied and concluded without rushing or shoehorning. He took all the things he hated about series that ended disappointedly and made sure he […]

Saints! Soldiers! Sorcery! Swords! Swooning!

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

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It’s time for me to FINNALY go all-in on some good old fashioned FAN TA SY. Normally, these are the sort of books that I pick up in the bookstore, give a “hmm” at the cover, and keep walking. I’ve never been great at immersing myself in fantasy worlds outside of the big-names; I just don’t have a memory for the complex lore and histories of most fantasy epics. When I open up a book and it starts with breakdowns of family names and maps […]



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