Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“She would build herself a life of plenty. She would force her world to bloom as she’d made the pomegranate tree grow, and Santángel would help her do it. Even if blood watered the soil.”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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The Familiar is an atmospheric historical fantasy set in the late 1500s Spain, when the Inquisition was up and running at full power. Our heroine is Luzia Cotado, a scullion in the house of a poor noble family who uses small ancestral magics taught to her by her secretly Jewish family to get through the day: unburning burnt bread, multiplying the potatoes when there wasn’t enough coin at market, heating water, fixing a seam. The plot kicks off when Luzia’s mistress, Doña Valentina, catches her at […]

“Let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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I’ve had a bit of mixed experience with Leigh Bardugo’s books. I thought the Shadow & Bone trilogy was generic and bland but loved the follow up duology set in the same universe, consisting of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. I loved Ninth House, but felt somewhat let down by the sequel, Hell Bent. I’m currently in the middle of reading several long series and wanted a bit of a palette cleanser (without starting another series), so I started reading Bardugo’s latest release, The […]

Historical Fiction With Fantastical Flair

Babel by R. F. Kuang

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This is definitely more historical fiction than it is historical fantasy, though the fantasy elements are integral to the story. In this way, Babel is similar to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, to which it’s hard not to make comparisons as both are set in England in the 1800s and involve magic. It was a good book but not the 5-star read I was expecting after having heard so much about it. Babel tells the story of Robin Swift, who was born in China and […]

Faerie Lore, Dangerous Quests, and Romance

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

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Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries I am impressed by the breadth of research and creativity that went into this adventurous fantasy. There is so much information about faeries from all over, and some of it is provided almost as an aside, like a mention that Maltese fae are “more troublesome than average, having an unfortunate habit of creeping into houses at night to feast upon slumberers’ vital organs.” This kind of knowledge being tossed off in such an offhand way fits with the main character […]

Intriguing Beginning, Lukewarm Follow-Through

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

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I don’t have much to say about this book. It was fine. I liked it enough to finish reading it but probably not enough to bother with the sequels, especially since it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. The pacing is too slow and there isn’t enough character development to justify that pace. Spoilers ahead. We follow Ceony, a new graduate of a magic school. Magicians bond to specific man-made elements and she wanted metal, but due to a lack of paper magicians, that’s what she […]

Academia, Fae, and Falling In Love

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

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Emily Wilde has come to Hrafnsvik in order to finish her book.  A researcher of the Faerie, Emily is good at research, less so with people.  But this book will make her academic career, and she is determined to finish it.  Of course, that means dealing with the local villagers as well as her acadmic rival Wendell Brambleby, who she’s almost certain is one of the Folk himself, who has showed up.  But even as Emily gets closer to discovering the secrets of the Hidden […]



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