Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Well what a difference a few years (and a reading habit) make

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

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I picked this up for the first time in early 2019, or so Goodreads tells me. I do remember it was a recommendation from Sandhya, and Goodreads also reminds me of my takeaway: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ Onerous world building, everyone’s title and name and office building and race is another similar sounding name… Let the reader’s mind fly back to mid-2018, specifically July 25, 2018. I am interviewing for a new job, because my current job has ceased to exist and I’ve been […]

This Guy Doesn’t Want to Rule the World, But He Will

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

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This book fills the CBR18 Bingo square “versus,” in the sense of “person versus society.” Or, in this case, “half-goblin versus society of pure-blood elves.” Maia is the half-goblin in question. He’s in line for the imperial throne, but VERY far down. Like, so far down, the emperor has him living way out in the middle of nowhere. So far down that the only way Maia could possibly become emperor is if the entire lineage were to die in an airship crash, which, pffbt, never […]

“We consider it cruel,” Maia said. “And we do not think that cruelty is ever just.”

The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth #1) by Katherine Addison

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It was the first time in his life Maia had been surrounded by people who were like him instead of only snow-white elves with their pale eyes, and he missed several names in the effort not to faint or hyperventilate or burst into tears. ― Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor The memories of a thousand separate cruelties mocked him, but no one save Maia himself had ever counted those as wrongs, and it was unjust to have them declared wrongs now, merely because he could. […]

“Yes, I suppose this will teach us all not to prioritize murder before drunkenness,” said I.

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

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This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting. (ain’t that the truth?) In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. And those human beings remain all too human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Murderers still stalk the streets of this London too. But this London has […]

The talk is had and the kitties get fed

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison

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I knew that The Tomb of Dragons was part 3 of a trilogy that was itself kind of a side series from a stand-alone novel The Goblin Emperor. Now all four are being framed as “Within the Chronicles of Osreth” (back cover), so I’m really hoping there’s going to be more of this world and characters. The Tomb of Dragons is a good ending with decent closure for Thara Celehar’s story, but there’s also plenty of room left open for more to come, including the […]

Fish out of water in deep political intrigue

The Goblin Emporer by Katherine Addison

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I honestly don’t remember how The Goblin Emperor got on my radar (Cannonball Read is a high possibility!) but it intrigued me enough to write it down on my list of books I’m interested in.  To make sure there were plenty of options for my family to get me books for our family Winter Solstice book exchange, I put it on the list, and my daughter picked it for me.  It’s the type of fantasy that is mostly fantasy through mentioned details: no dragons, no epic battles, […]



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