Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Bananas Alternate History Blending WWII and Dinosaurs

Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson

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My father-in-law recommended this book, the first in the Destroyermen series, to me. We both enjoy sci-fi and military history, so he thought this alternate-history novel, with WWII-era tech and dinosaurs, would be fun for me. What he doesn’t know is that I also enjoy the Honor Harington books, which are basically naval battles in space (based loosely on the Horatio Hornblower books). All that to say – I’m predisposed to enjoying this kind of thing. And I did! Written by a weapons historian, Into […]

The Space Navies Are Fighting Again!!

The Short Victorious War by David Weber

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This is my third review in the Honor Harington series – a military sci-fi series based heavily around “naval” battles in the skies. I believe the character is roughly based on the equally alliterated Horatio Hornblower books of yore. Minor spoilers are inevitable but nothing serious. In Weber’s third Honor Harington book, our hero is placed in charge of a monster of a ship. She’s a highly decorated captain, recognized for her superior tactics as well as her political acumen. However, even in the future […]

Religious Zealots and a Proxy War in Space

The Honor or the Queen by Davie Weber

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The Honor of the Queen is David Weber’s second installment in the Honor Harrington series. This military sci-fi series takes the Horatio Hornblower-type naval battle stories and places them hundreds of years in the future, as well as in spaaaaace. I reviewed the first book in the series several T-years ago, if you’re interested. In this book, Honor is leading a ship on a diplomatic mission/proxy war front to an area populated by separatist groups called the Masadans and Graysons. These two splinter groups are […]

“It just goes round and round, one big circle. We’re trapped. All trapped’

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

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Warning, this review contains mild spoilers for the early parts of this book. Do you ever start reading a book and get the feeling that the author showed their hand too early? I was feeling that way when I started Kameron Hurley’s The Light Brigade. I had just gotten to the end of chapter two when I put the book down and thought. “Right, I think I know where we’re heading here. Hurley’s pulling a Paul Verhoeven on me. This book is going to be […]

Six books in, and still not a weak link to be found in the series

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So, look. Typically in my reviews I go the very remedial route of talking about broad themes from the book, how well the characters and/or worldbuilding were developed, and I comment on the pacing and overall competence of the plot. If I am very lucky, something will stand out that either makes me want to rant, or go on a gushing squeefest, and I can write a better than milquetoast review. When you get to the sixth book in a consistently excellent series, there isn’t […]

Naval Battles in Spaaaaaace!

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While I am a big science fiction guy, and a history guy, military science fiction is a new genre to me. David Weber’s Honorverse series grabbed my attention because a very short version of this book was recently featured in 2015’s Free Comic Book Day. I liked the story, so I downloaded the first book of the series for free on Kindle. Weber’s Honorverse series chronicles the exploits of Honor Harington, a naval officer in the future, in space. Honor is a natural leader – […]



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