Cannonball Read 10

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Naomi Novik is two for two in my book (I still need to read Temeraire!!)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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I read most of this book in a day. It was so charming and lovely. In the vein of Uprooted, Spinning Silver is another loosely inspired retelling of a fairytale, this time Rumplestiltskin. I’m honestly not sure which book I liked better. It’s been a while since I read Uprooted, and this book is one of those that gets better in your head the longer you sit with it after you finish. Our Rumplestiltskin is actually one of our heroines, Miryem, the daughter of a moneylender (a historically Jewish profession, as usury was against Christian beliefs, though that didn’t stop them from borrowing […]

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8/27/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:101 |

Why is it always the deal breakers that end up the hero in fairy tales?

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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While I definitely grew up with all the normal fairy tales that inspired Disney movies, I also remember Rumpelstilzchen (German version) leaving a deep impression.  I can’t remember if it was because the story creeped me out (I mean, he tears himself in two when he loses the deal) or if I thought there was something unjust about the treatment of either him or the spinner’s daughter but I certainly thought it was an interesting choice when he became such a central figure in Once Upon a Time’s spin on fairy tales. At its most basic, Spinning Silver is a […]

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7/30/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:135 |

I am not your subject or your servant, and if you want a cowering mouse for a wife, go find someone else who can turn silver to gold for you.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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This is a novel that I don’t really need to explain too much because I have to imagine for a lot of readers on this website, it’s already on their radar. The story here takes place more or less in the same world as her previous novel Uprooted, a middle ages version of Poland where the magic of myth and legends function alongside history and lived-culture. So in this world, there’s a fairy world, but there’s also Judaism, for example. The story is told initially through three main voices, or really two, but a third primary voice enters about 1/4 […]

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7/23/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:280 |

How he trained his dragon

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

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Captain Will Laurence has spent his life in the Navy, and expects it to continue that way. However, being currently embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, that life soon comes to an end – but not through death. Instead, having captured a French ship, Captain Laurence’s ship takes its cargo as a prize…a large dragon’s egg, whose inhabitant decides upon hatching that Captain Laurence will do nicely for a handler. In this alternate history, dragons that aren’t paired with handlers tend to go feral, therefore losing whichever country that claims it as their own a very valuable asset in the aerial […]

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6/19/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:42 |

Stay out of the forest…

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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I haven’t read any Naomi Novik before, but this was recommended on one of those ‘If you liked this, you’ll like…’ on finishing The Bear and the Nightingale, with which it shares a fairytale feel and a young woman coming of age and magic, surrounded by a malignant forest. Uprooted isn’t quite as good as The Bear and The Nightingale, but was good enough for me to note Novik as one to read more from. Agnieska lives in the village of Dvernik where, every ten years, the Dragon from a nearby tower comes and chooses a young girl to take […]

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2/25/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:12 |

Hammond looked like Pandora, the box open and horrors loose upon the world. Laurence was inclined to laugh, but he stifled it out of sympathy.

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

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I like fantasy novels more or less, but I find them to be rather hard to review. I think that while on the one hand, I enjoy them and even respect them, I don’t always find myself with much in the way of salient topics to discuss. So for this one, it’s more or less the case. I enjoyed it. I did take my a long time between the first in the series and this one, because I listened to that in audiobook form. And then I found that pretty much all my resources to listen to this one next […]

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2/24/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:51 |

Just Enough to Leave You Wanting More

Golden Age and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

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As it turns out, Naomi Novik also published a short collection of short stories set in the Temeraire world. Most of them are rather short, unfortunately, because I definitely enjoyed the opportunity to see the world from a perspective that wasn’t Temeraire or Laurence’s view.  All the stories involve characters already introduced, and some also have quick appearances from Temeraire.  The three longest stories focus on Jane Roland’s first big mission as captain after taking over from her mother, a woman who truly wasn’t meant to be in the Aerial Corps – definitely enjoyed getting a glimpse of the history […]

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2/18/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:21 |

Napoleon’s Last Gambit

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

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The concluding volume of the Temeraire series starts where the previous novel ended, with the Russians and their allies in pursuit of Napoleon as he and his armies withdraw back to the safety of France.  While certainly weakened, Napoleon is not done, and still has the ability to wreak havoc, especially by using dragons and politics against his enemies. The whole series has demonstrated the vast differences in the status of dragons in countries, and focused on the inequality of their status in Europe compared to other regions such as Asia and South America.  As a result, appealing to dragons […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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2/18/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:20 |


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