Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice – if not whether, then how they may endure.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

by 1 Comment

My thanks to murderofcrows for drawing my attention to this wonderful author! When I was miserably working on my dissertation nearly two decades ago, I read an article in the free weekly about the ‘most popular fantasy book that no one knows about’ or somesuch. It was, of course, A Song of Ice and Fire, and it really helped me escape from my day to day anxiety; however, the constant violence and brutality wore me down after a while. Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of […]

Comfort rereading for a reading slump

Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold

Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric’s Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira’s Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Prisoner of Limnos by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold

by 2 Comments

I have been in a bit of a reading slump. Lots of stress and other distractions. But the news that one of my favourite authors had published a new novel in the Penric series got me reading! I bought the novel, zipped through it and then reread the whole series. Most of the titles are fairly long novellas, only the last has been noted as a novel, but they are long novellas. The series follows a young man who accidentally acquires a demon and becomes […]

Penric and Desdemona, name a more iconic duo

The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold

by 4 Comments

The Assassins of Thasalon is the latest in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric series. Most are novellas but we have the treat of a full length novel this time. The plots continues from the last novella  The Physicians of Vilnoc (not last in publication date but in chronology) and is the 10th in the series. Penric is settled down with a young daughter toddling about adorably and another on the way. One of the things I love about this character is his kindness, even though he’s a […]

Horizon (2009) and Knife Children (2019) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold

Knife Children by Lois McMaster Bujold

by Leave a Comment

I put this one off for awhile (I originally planned to read all four of these books together and without stopping). There’s something a little exhausting on taking on a series of novels, fantasy of otherwise, when they’re designed to be read as one long narrative as opposed to four distinct entries. But I am glad I waited so I could catch my breath, and it turns out that this was both the best of the four books, but also a satisfying ending. What’s remarkable […]

Passage – Lois McMaster Bujold (2008)

Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold

by Leave a Comment

I am enjoying this series, but I am finding less and less to say about it, especially the plot — especially given I am not a real plot person when it comes down to it (at least not in terms of something I care that much about for reviews). So I guess look at my other reviews for that stuff. In terms of this being either the third part of a four part book series, or just the third act of a long book (and […]

Legacy – Lois McMaster Bujold (2007)

Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold

by Leave a Comment

Lois McMaster Bujold handles marriages well. In this novel, we already have the marriage of Dag and Fawn, Lakewalker and farmgirl (nickname “Piglet??”), which we witnessed in the first book of this tetrology. Now, we find them returning back to Dag’s hometown, where among other things, he’s going to be presented with the illegality of of his marriage. Recall that Dag is a widower and the father of a dead son, and the Lakewalkers are a clan of strong ethnic ties and traditions, and especially […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo