Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


A Slow Burn Magic Story

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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I’m not usually interested in historical fiction, but after reading Piranesi, I wanted to try more of Susanna Clarke’s work. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is set in England during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. There used to be magic in England, but magic hasn’t been seen in centuries. Instead, the people who call themselves magicians are theoretical magicians – they study magic but don’t practice it. However, in the quest to discover why magic is no longer practiced in England, one of […]

“I do not believe I could ever be frightened of someone who cannot stir out of doors if his cloak has a wrinkle.”

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

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4.5 stars Spoiler warning! There will be some spoilers in this review for the first book in the series, so if you’re not caught up, stop what you’re doing and go read Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries immediately. This review will be here when you return. Emily Wilde is back at her university in Cambridge, pleased with the success of her Faerie Encyclopedia. The proposal from her best friend Wendell Bambleby is still something she needs to consider, but after having her suspicions confirmed, that […]

More books I read this summer and am only reviewing now to make it to 104

Cassiel's Servant by Jacqueline Carey

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire

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Cassiel’s Servant – Jacqueline Carey Rating: 3.5 stars Kushiel’s Dart is one of my favourite fantasy books, and books in general, of all time. It stands up, I re-read it this summer in preparation for the release of this. Has Jacqueline Carey done exactly the same thing as Stephenie Meyer and E.L James did, and retold her already existing novel from the POV of another central character? Yes, she has. Was I pretty sure that this was going to be a lot more worthwhile and […]

The Shepherd King duology: power through the first book, it’s all worth it for the second

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

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One Dark Window: 3 stars Two Twisted Crowns: 4 stars Spoiler warning! Some minor spoilers for One Dark Window in this review. 20-year-old Elspeth Spindle (all the noble families have surnames taken from trees) lives in the kingdom of Blunder, most of which is now enveloped in a thick, sinister fog. Most people who venture out into the fog without a talisman (bones, feathers, animal feet, braided horsehair, etc) go mad and run off into the forest, never to be seen again. The only ones who seem […]

The Dragon, the Princess and the Assassin

Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha

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Disclaimer! This was an ARC from Netgalley (but I have also paid to buy the book myself, after reading it). My opinions are my own. Every one hundred years, the king of the Sheltered Lands has to send one heir to serve as consort to the ancient dragon god who acts as its protector and guardian. The previous consort went mad with fear not long after bonding with the Dragon, and Ash, the Dragon, worries that history will repeat itself. Ash has lived for over […]

A novella and a bridging book

The Archduke by Elisabeth Wheatley

Daindreth's Outlaw by Elisabeth Wheatley

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The Archduke is a short novella, that can be found free on Elisabeth Wheatley’s website. It tells the first few chapters of Daindreth’s Assassin from the point of view of Daindreth, from his first meeting with Amira, when she tries to kill him and ends up fighting the demon inside him, to the negotiations with her father to change the marriage contract. Since the entirety of the first novel is from Amira’s POV, I liked the idea of getting to see how Daindreth experienced the […]



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