Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A twist on Beauty and the Beast in this start to a romantic fantasy duology (I refuse to accept romantasy as a genre, you can’t make me)

Silver & Blood by Jessie Mihalik

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Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this ARC. It has not affected my opinions or my review. About a year ago, the small village where Riela lives alone after the death of her father was threatened by a flood. Riela unlocked magical powers and managed to divert the water and save the village. Now one of the villagers has been savaged by a monster in the woods, and the mostly hostile villagers insist that she go into the forest and dispatch the monster for […]

Watch The Shadows

Book Of Night by Holly Black

Thief Of Night by Holly Black

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For my birthday this year I decided to read both books in the Charlatan Duology, Holly Black’s Book Of Night and Thief Of Night. I’m a lucky, lucky little shadow creature. Charlie Hall is a (mostly) former con-artist trying to go straight and send her little sister to college. She used to be the Charlatan, an intriguingly effective thief willing to work in the world of shadow magicians.  With just a little blood and a lot of trauma you too can waken your shadow for […]

Once upon a time, there was a seemingly ugly cygnet (of sorts) and a probably utterly doomed prince

The Swan's Daughter by Roshani Chokshi

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4.5 stars Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. My opinions are my own. Demelza is the seventh and youngest daughter of Araminta, a legendary veritas swan (extremely beautiful women who have the power to turn into swans, and whose voices compel anyone who hears it to tell the truth) and Prava, a centuries-old, very ambitious, and some would say, evil wizard. However, when veritas swans fall in love, the person they love gains control over them through a magical necklace […]

If Vox Machina Was Family Friendly

Imagine Nation #1 The Blood of Kings by Matt Myklusch

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Imagine Nation #1 The Blood of Kings by Matt Myklusch and illustrator Onofrio Orlando  There are ups and downs happening within these pages. Things are both familiar and fresh with the combination of realism and fantasy that captures the reader. Overall, I enjoyed it, but one small bump was that it felt as if this was not the first in a series but maybe book two or three, which makes me wonder if this is a continuation of the novels in the Jack Blank Adventure […]

Prolonging my time in the Cold Magic world with short stories and essays

The World Begins in Ice by Kate Elliott

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I first learned about Kate Elliott’s Cold Magic series while reading John Scalzi’s website.  In the Big Idea section Elliott described what The History of the World Begins in Ice is all about.  It is a collection of short stories written in the “Spiritwalker Trilogy” as well as essays about the characters and aspects of the world.  The trilogy sounded fascinating, to quote Kate: When I began writing Cold Magic, my primary goal (besides making it shorter than Traitors’ Gate) was to tell a story that would […]

Folklore, Magical Realism and a Place I know little about? I’m in

The Fisherman King by Katharina Mohd Daoud

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  This is a fun, fast-paced read. Brunei is a place I’ve always been a little fascinated by. A small absolute monarchy, Islamic in faith, sitting in South-East Asia with a rich history, Two timelines run alongside each other, the introduction of Islam through the monarchy in Brunei and it’s absorption of local folkloric traditions, and the main story of Lisan’s own journey through his ego and pride. Much is made of how others don’t understand the motivations behind his actions, and to a lesser […]



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