Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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The “horrible little attack weasel” gets to save the day and it’s not the hero

The Ivory Tomb by Melissa Caruso

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The Ivory Tomb is slow to start but once it gets going it’s a good adventure and solution to the problems set up in the first two volumes of the Rooks and Ruin trilogy. The first half is everyone running around trying to figure out a way to stop the demons who have all been released by the end of the second volume; then a cameo that way both fun but also not nearly as nuanced as I kind of wish given who it was […]

Mid-trilogy shift from Snarky Magical Adventure to a Demon Endless Philosophy

Quicksilver Court by Melissa Caruso

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Quicksilver Court is an interesting middle installment; there’s a lot of set up for future things and not much is resolved. What’s interesting is that a key question from the first book is answered about halfway through; usually you have to wait until book 3 for that. What happens here though is that that reveal sets up both a good bit of probably character development (or at least soul searching) as well as the final major plot conflict. Ryx, Severin, and the rest of the […]

Something Old, Something New

The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

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There are a lot of familiar things in The Obsidian Tower; it’s set in the same world as the author’s previous trilogy, but focuses on a completely different part of it; there’s a strong-willed female lead who is something of an outsider but has considerable power and ability from the start, but she’s got a much better sense of the world(s) around her than her counterpart in the previous series; there’s hints at various alliances, betrayals expected and not, possible friendship and romance, the possible […]

Avoiding the end but it’s not quite the end

The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso

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I have noticed a rather troublesome habit about myself that when I get to the conclusion of a series, I tend to put off reading it because I don’t really want things to end, but this is a problem because of the risk of spoilers. I blasted through books one and two of the rather generically named Swords and Fire series maybe a year ago, and finally not too long ago, I finally have gotten to book three, The Unbound Empire. I knew a little […]

Keep with the New Fun magic Falcons or Stick with the Plan?

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

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Bingo Review 15: Fresh Start I’ve kind of had my eye on The Tethered Mage, Book One of the Swords and Fire trilogy, and using it for the starting a new series square worked out just fine. Looking at the cover I actually just noticed that one of my favorite fantasy writers, Genvieve Cogman, approved of it too; I don’t always have great luck with things authors I like like, but maybe this is an exception. I should also admit that by the end I […]

Burned Through Like Balefire

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

The Defiant Heir by Melissa Caruso

The Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso

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Bingo Update: I’m using this for the Travel square. Each of these books centers around journeying from the protagonists home city (and center of the Empire) Raverra. It takes them to other places within the Empire (Ardence, Callamorne, Highpass) as well as key locations in the invading Vaskandar (Sevaeth, Kazerath, Let, Atruin). How quickly they can or cannot travel is also plot significant, as it relates to our heroine’s ability to stay alive as well as prevent ruin of her nation. The notion of “home” […]



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