Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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For the solitary raven in all of us

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

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CBR18 BINGO: Map (Ooh, look! Maps in the front matter.) Oh you beautiful ravens, you truly are magnificent. It seems like it’s been eons since I’ve been as thoroughly captivated by a fantasy world as I was by the one Antonia Hodgson weaves in The Raven Scholar. This novel doesn’t just have intricate world building; it has political tension, mystery, complex characters, and light comedy. Did I merely give in to the hype when I decided to read it, or did I listen to the […]

A fun, political YA duology

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli

A Fiery Spirit by Kate Chenli

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When I read the Iron Widow duology, I saw A Bright Heart in the recommended books, and was immediately drawn to the cover. Luckily my library had the audiobook and I was able to start it without too much of a wait. A Bright Heart opens after Mingshin has been tortured for treason against the king she helped get on the throne, her beloved Ren who promised she would be Queen if she funded his endeavors. She is finally shown his true colors when he […]

“He wasn’t grateful, he was homicidal. It wasn’t enough that they endanger his friends and servants, they had to attack his most valued enemy as well.”

The Book of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells

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The Book of Ile-Rien collects the first two books in Martha Wells’ Ile-Rien universe, which takes place in a fantasy world with a steampunk flavor. Though I have the much-lauded Murderbot series on my TBR, I have never read any of Wells’ work before. The Element of Fire is her debut, and when this book crossed my dashboard I thought it’d be a decent place to start. The Element of Fire – 3.5 stars The return of the king’s bastard sister to the court of […]

Thank you Moira Quirk–I would not have discovered this book without you.

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

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Okay I’m going to end the year with a book I mostly purchased because of who narrates the audiobook. This is some somewhat Machiavellian fantasy. With a scholar in a central role. For anyone who enjoys the politicking in George R R Martin’s books or perhaps The Priory of the Orange Tree, this might be for you. The Councillor starts off with a death. The Iron Queen Sarelin Brey has been murdered, and the question of her successor has not been left up to the […]

“We’ll drag this country into fairness and justice”

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Stormsong by C.L. Polk

Soulstar by C.L. Polk

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  Long time, no reviews. Time to tackle the backlog! I came about this series in a very arse backwards manner. I was given a copy of the book Soulstar sometime last year and I got about a quarter of the way through before I gave into the feeling that something wasn’t right… The funny thing about ebooks is that looking for the blurb is not as simple as with a hardback. So I had missed it—and because of that, also missed the fact that […]

“When a shark offers up a pearl, be wary of its teeth.”

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

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So it looks like after Winter’s Orbit,  I’ve jumped straight into more political fiction! Rather than sci-fi, this one is fantasy, and rather than an empire spanning cluster of planets, we have an empire spanning an archipelago. A sort of fantasy Moluccas, if you will. And while this is not a romance, it does have one of the very cutest animal sidekicks I’ve come across in a long while The empire of The Bone Shard Daughter is ruled by a man who favours tight control […]



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