Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

“Writing gives you the power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

May 14, 2026 by Malin Leave a Comment

Dark Corner Selection: March 2026 In a different version of 16th-century Spain, young Luzia Cortado works grudgingly as a scullery maid for the miserable and petty Doña Valentina. Luzia can use what she calls “small magics” to make her life easier. She can mend seams, multiply the groceries, unburn bread or reassemble broken things. She performs these little spells, learned from generations of her Jewish ancestors, by singing quietly. Luzia is a convert; she dutifully goes to Mass and hides any traces of her Jewish […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, History, Mystery Tagged With: 16th Century Spain, alternate history, audiobook, cbr18, feminism, historical fantasy, Lauren Fortgang, Leigh Bardugo, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, religious persecution, the Dark Corner, The Familiar, The Inquisition

Malin's CBR18 Review No:28 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, History, Mystery · Tags: 16th Century Spain, alternate history, audiobook, cbr18, feminism, historical fantasy, Lauren Fortgang, Leigh Bardugo, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, religious persecution, the Dark Corner, The Familiar, The Inquisition ·
Rating:
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“She was a half-wild thing of ink and grass and sea breezes, raised by books and rabbits and fairy lore, and that was all she cared to be.”

The Magician's Daughter by H. G. Parry

May 10, 2026 by Malin Leave a Comment

Biddy lives on a small, magically isolated island off the coast of Ireland with her guardian/foster father, Rowan, and his familiar, the rabbit Hutchincroft. No one who doesn’t know that it’s there can find it. While Biddy has no magic of her own, she has grown up with it all around her. Yet magic is fading in the outside world, and far too often, Rowan has to leave Biddy to go to the mainland in bird form to find some small reserves of it. She […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery Tagged With: alternate history, cbr18, edwardian, family, h.g. parry, historical fantasy, magic, narfna, shapeshifters, The Magician's Daughter

Malin's CBR18 Review No:26 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery · Tags: alternate history, cbr18, edwardian, family, h.g. parry, historical fantasy, magic, narfna, shapeshifters, The Magician's Daughter ·
Rating:
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Retelling of an Epic Hindu Poem

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

April 22, 2026 by Tracy Leave a Comment

I found this retelling of the epic Hindu poem The Ramayana quite engaging. Vaishnavi Patel is trying to explore what led to the actions Kaikeyi took in that poem by adding nuance and a feminist flair, with varying degrees of success. While I haven’t read the original, I looked up enough to know that Kaikeyi plays an important role but not a large one in the original story. In this version, we witness her childhood as the neglected princess among several princes who are more […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: historical fantasy, myth retelling, Vaishnavi Patel

Tracy's CBR18 Review No:27 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: historical fantasy, myth retelling, Vaishnavi Patel ·
Rating:
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Anti-colonial historical fantasy

Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui

March 25, 2026 by LB Leave a Comment

I had such high hopes for Aicha because I love angry women, mythology, and historical fiction, so this sounded like it’d be exactly my jam. Unfortunately all those expectations fell flat. I wouldn’t say this is a bad book, and there were elements I enjoyed, I just don’t know that I’d say I enjoyed the book as a whole. Aicha is about the youngest daughter of a weapons smith, who is also a rebel, and how she also fights for her people’s liberation. But inside […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction, History Tagged With: 2026 release, colonialism, debut, djinn, historical fantasy, Morocco, muslim author, muslim character, orbit publishing, Portugal, sisterhood, Soraya Bouazzaoui

LB's CBR18 Review No:4 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction, History · Tags: 2026 release, colonialism, debut, djinn, historical fantasy, Morocco, muslim author, muslim character, orbit publishing, Portugal, sisterhood, Soraya Bouazzaoui ·
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“In-Yo would say that the war was won by silenced and nameless women, and it would be hard to argue with her.”

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

February 20, 2026 by Malin Leave a Comment

Nowhere Bingo 26: Novella Dark Corner Selection: January 2026 Chih is a young cleric from the Singing Hills monastery who travels around the country searching for stories and history. At the shores of Lake Scarlet, Chih finds the abandoned dwelling where the former Empress In-Yo (the titular Empress of Salt and Fortune) spent her many years in exile. Chih encounters the elderly Rabbit, one of the Empress’s former handmaidens, who tells Chih stories of her own past and how it intertwined with that of the […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery Tagged With: Ancient China, Award Winning, cbr18, feminism, folklore, friendship, historical fantasy, LGBTQIA, Malin, Nghi Vo, novella, revenge, the Dark Corner, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, The Singing Hills Cycle

Malin's CBR18 Review No:6 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Mystery · Tags: Ancient China, Award Winning, cbr18, feminism, folklore, friendship, historical fantasy, LGBTQIA, Malin, Nghi Vo, novella, revenge, the Dark Corner, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, The Singing Hills Cycle ·
Rating:
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cover for volume one of Thousand Autumns by Meng Xi Shi

Dense But Worth the Read

Thousand Autumns Volume One by Meng Xi Shi

Thousand Autumns Volume Two by Meng Xi Shi

Thousand Autumns Volume Three by Meng Xi Shi

Thousand Autumns Volume Four by Meng Xi Shi

Thousand Autumns Volume Five by Meng Xi Shi

January 31, 2026 by Kit Moonstar Leave a Comment

Yan Wushi is a cynic as well as a master cultivator and leader of a demonic sect.  When the head of a Daoist sect, Shen Qiao, loses a duel and is badly injured, Yan Wushi decides to take the injured man in and see if he can corrupt him.  Their clashing philosophies towards the world put them on separate paths, but while each sees the world in different ways, they do live in the same world.  As their paths continue to meet and separate over […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: Danmei, historical fantasy, Meng Xi Shi, wuxia

Kit Moonstar's CBR18 Review No:5 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: Danmei, historical fantasy, Meng Xi Shi, wuxia ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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