Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


How does one describe this book?

Freedom & Necessity by Steven Brust & Emma Bull

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I’m having the hardest time writing this review, but I just need to suck it up and word vomit out something, because I read this back in March. The problem is, I have no idea how to describe this strange, strange book. And also, not sure how I feel about it? Like, I enjoyed it? I gave it four stars (well, 3.5)? But I also still find it confounding. By the way, Steven Brust and Emma Bull teaming up to write this somehow led me […]

“The greater the desire, the greater the suffering, and now she desired greatness itself.”

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

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I was a weeny and put off writing a review of this because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say about it, and now it’s been a month since I finished. I feel like I’ve told you this story before. Coincidentally, this is a retelling! I didn’t pay too much attention to the specific plot of this one before reading it, other than the keywords “historical” and “Mulan” and “retelling”. This is why you shouldn’t pay attention to other people sometimes. It is historical, […]

“We are the ones who ensure history exists to be written.”

One for All by Lillie Lainoff

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Have you ever heard the saying (not the Groucho Marx version, but the earnest one) about becoming a member of a club you don’t want to be a member of? It might just be pretty common in the circles I’ve run in, because I’ve mostly heard people talk about it in relation to loss – How you never want to become &/or welcome a new member to the parents of kids who’ve died club, or the widows’ club. Definitely clubs you do not want to […]

“‘You are a scoundrel,’ she whispered furiously. ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I’m thinking of starting a Society of Gentlemen Scoundrels.’ ‘You’re millennia too late. It already exists and is called the patriarchy.'”

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels, #1) by India Holton

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I actually requested the sequel to this book on Netgalley and was approved before I realized it was the second book in a series, and while it didn’t seem like it would be necessary to read this one first since romance books can usually be read on their own, I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. And it was a pretty good time! So this book is about lady pirates who fly their houses around England. They take no offense at thievery and assassination, […]

“It’s so much easier to obey orders. It’s not much fun to think.”

Spectred Isle (Green Men, #1) by K.J. Charles

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On the one hand, I wish I would have read this sooner, because it’s great. On the other, I wish I would have saved it, because the sequel seems to be postponed indefinitely for some ground-up retooling, and I would prefer to have it as soon as possible. I found the worldbuilding here to be one of the more intriguing urban fantasy set-ups I’ve read, especially when you factor in that a large part of it uses the consequences of WWI in such a thoughtful […]

I read the first book in this series back in 2012

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

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CBR13 Bingo: Old Series (the first book in the series came out in 1996. The first book in this review came out in 2010 – it’s taken a long time for Whalen Turner to complete it) A Conspiracy of Kings Rating: 3.5 stars Sophos, the heir to Sounis, is rusticating with his mother and sisters, having been sent away from his uncle’s court for generally being considered a disappointment. He keeps ignoring his tutors and weapons training, which turns out to be a problem when […]



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