Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.”

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

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When Fiat.Luxury reviewed When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain I went to my library to put in a hold and discovered that we had both it and the first in the cycle, The Empress of Salt & Fortune available as audiobooks. I was on the hunt for audiobooks to keep me company on my commute so instead of just requesting When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain I went ahead and requested The Empress of Salt & Fortune as well.   The Empress of Salt […]

You Want To Do What With A Library?

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

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The demon Vitrine has loved the city of Azril for centuries. Shaping its walls and guiding its people, it has been built into everything she has ever desired it to be. Then the angels come, and the city burns, leaving her with nothing but memories, and the angel she cursed to wander the city he destroyed. Trying to rebuild the city from the ground up, Vitrine has to deal with her memories, as well as her hatred for the angel who has become entwined with […]

Queer fantasy novella feat. shape-shifting, mammoths.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

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This was a delightful novella, surprisingly rich for its 100 pages! Here’s the summary: Cleric Chih is a cleric in an order whose mission is to record history accurately. They are traveling via mammoth (!) with a guide, Si-yu, but are attacked and trapped en route by three wild – and hungry – tiger sisters who are also shape-shifters (!) To stall their captors, they propose to tell the human version of the story about the tiger Ho Thi Tao and the human scholar Dieu. […]

Some Carryovers from Last Year and Two from This Year

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

The Cat Who Taught Zen by James Norbury

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

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Muse of Nightmares I was not expecting that. I was not expecting the call-backs to the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, and that was so cool. This was already a book I was loving, and that bumped it right on up to 5 stars for me. This isn’t a spin-off or sequel, so you don’t have to have read that trilogy to enjoy this one, but I loved the sense of mild continuity. Muse of Nightmares picks up where Strange the Dreamer left off. Minya […]

“At Gatsby’s, the clock stood at just five shy of midnight the moment you arrived.”

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

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The Chosen and the Beautiful is a retelling of The Great Gatsby, which is told from Jordan Baker’s point of view. Except in this version, Jordan is Vietnamese and has been adopted into the Baker family (via a Missionary member of the family who adopted her in her travels). And oh yes, there is magic—lots and lots of magic. Full disclosure, I have read The Great Gatsby all of once, seen the Baz Luhrmann movie once, and listened to the Broadway Cast recording of the […]

Style over substance but not in a bad way

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

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I know I’m a little late getting into this series, but I have to say I sort of get the hype about The Empress of Salt and Fortune.  The world of the story is pretty interesting if a little underdeveloped, but I’m guessing that gets expanded in the later volumes of which I think there are now 3 more. Really, my only complaint is that the frame character and scenario is so underdeveloped. The here and now frame has a cleric and their talking animal […]



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