Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Brief History? Worth Every One of the 686 Pages.

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

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As I descend further into dad-hood, I find myself being more patient for longer books and movies. I mean, I recently sat through 3:15 of Barry Lyndon and loved almost every minute of it. So I figured it was finally time to tackle this one, a book which I must’ve started three or four times only to put off due to its length and a lack of patience trying to understand the Jamaican patois. Better late than never ’cause this book is great. I’m finding more and […]

Three stars, for now. It’s not the book it’s me??

Moon Witch, Spider King (The Dark Star Trilogy, #2) by Marlon James

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This book has been holding up my review queue since I finished it in late March. I was surprised at my reaction to it when I read it, and wasn’t sure what I wanted to say, because I wasn’t sure if I liked the book or not. And, if I didn’t like it, why not? I feel like nothing much has changed in James’s style in the last three years. I think it’s me, and that I just wasn’t in the mood at all to […]

Named one of the top 10 books in 2019 by The Washington Post and I gave up at 36 pages: cbr12 bingo “Red” – Bingo #2!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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When Black Leopard, Red Wolf came out it was widely praised and was selected as book of the month in Mysterious Galaxy speculative fiction book club.  I was excited by the description of a fantasy told from a wholly African inspiration.  This was something that would broaden my perspective of what is fantasy.  The book languished on the shelf and then CBR bingo came out and it was the perfect book for the Red square. From the beginning, the story technique rubbed me the wrong way.  […]

I’ll need a round two

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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Compare anything to Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire and you’ve pretty much guaranteed I will jump right on it so when I saw Black Leopard, Red Wolf being teased as “African Game of Thrones” right on my hold list it went. But I’m going to need at least one more pass at this because I just couldn’t quite find my way through it. It was like I could never quite find my entry point, like I was just lost and wandering at the gates. I […]

HOLD UP. This is the first of a trilogy? Yikes. Part of me wants to know more, and part of me is just too tired.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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I feel like a bit of a failure as a reader (well, a listener) after this experience. This was not easy. I really wanted to love this story. It was beautifully imagined and written. This story had everything: drama, action, humor, and adventure. The audiobook performance was unbelievable. The African mythology it was based upon made me want to know more. And yet, I barely made it to the end. From Amazon: Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He […]

First book in a new series

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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When I first heard that James was writing a fantasy that used African myth, legends, and folklore, I was very excited, so it should be noted I had high expectations of this novel. Also, I love James’ but it takes about 100 or so pages for me to get into his books, but then I can’t put it down. So, here’s the thing – most readers are going to fall into one of two camps with this book – you are either going to love […]



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