Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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This hasn’t helped me decide on the value of prequels

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

January 27, 2026 by matt_thac 1 Comment

I was inspired to read this book following Classic’s review of The Rose Field (scathing though it was). I have appreciated the His Dark Materials trilogy for a while, although I find the criticism of a very Christian normative form of organised religion hits differently from an Islamic perspective. The ideas of a authoritarian church-state read differently from a religious perspective where faith and society are enmeshed alternatively. I’ve not really been tempted to read the prequel books as I always find the liminal space […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: Philip Pullman, prequel

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:17 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: Philip Pullman, prequel ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment
cover of countdown to a kiss featuring fireworks on a black background

I liked the cover best for this one.

Countdown to a Kiss by Piper Rayne

January 5, 2026 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

As part of my prepping for the new year, I decided to take stock of my digital bookshelves and do some housekeeping. In doing so I clocked Countdown to a Kiss by Piper Rayne on my Chirp shelf. It must have been a Friday Freebie I downloaded at some point. It’s a quick hockey romance novella centered on a New Year’s Eve party, so it felt like something I should listen to around the actual holiday or delete from my to read shelf in the app, so I loaded it up while I spent Friday alone at work.   Having now listened to […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Romance Tagged With: Countdown to a Kiss, Hockey Hotties series, novella, only okay, Piper Rayne, prequel

faintingviolet's CBR18 Review No:1 · Genres: Audiobooks, Romance · Tags: Countdown to a Kiss, Hockey Hotties series, novella, only okay, Piper Rayne, prequel ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

A Dark Force Rising

Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon

December 23, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

Even though I enjoy everything I have read by Samantha Shannon and pre-ordered this as soon as I heard about it, I then waited till this past week to read it. I think with this universe in particular, even though Shannon very much made these novels independent enough that they don’t require reading the others to get the story, I still worry about trying to remember and fit them in the larger context before I start reading. I really am overthinking it and creating my […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: multi pov, novella, prequel, Roots of Chaos, Samantha Shannon

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:132 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: multi pov, novella, prequel, Roots of Chaos, Samantha Shannon ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
Sunrise on the reaping

The Haymitch behind the Capitol’s narrative

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

March 30, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

Well fuck. That was so much more devastating than I expected. It’s been forever since I read the original trilogy but I rewatched the movies recently – which means I likely missed some details that didn’t quite make it into the movies (especially around Maysilee’s family and Merrilee). At least, I could truly appreciate appearances of the younger versions of some of the characters from Catching Fire who appeared as mentors (and the amount of tragic backstory we learned about some of them was wrecking). […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction Tagged With: prequel, sunrise on the reaping, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, YA dystopian

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:35 · Genres: Featured, Fiction · Tags: prequel, sunrise on the reaping, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, YA dystopian ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I read Snow’s story to get to Haymitch

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

March 28, 2025 by Jen K Leave a Comment

This is one of those books I have had almost since it was released and yet just kept skipping over. Because of course I want more of The Hunger Games but also, fuck Snow. However, with the new novel focused on Haymitch, that I definitely want to read, I ended up finally deciding to read it – even if I considered skipping it all together.

Filed Under: Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: Dystopian, prequel, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

Jen K's CBR17 Review No:33 · Genres: Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: Dystopian, prequel, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A fun read, but possibly too light-hearted

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

January 18, 2025 by Malin Leave a Comment

3.5 stars Twenty years before the events in Legends & Lattes, Viv is a young and relatively inexperienced mercenary, who gets badly injured fighting undead monsters while hunting for a powerful necromancer. Her mercenary band leave her in the quiet and mostly empty seaside town of Murk to heal up and recuperate. She worries that the group are going to leave her there, but thankfully, to take her mind off her fears, she encounters the local bookshop owner, who manages to persuade her (Viv has […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Book Club, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery Tagged With: #fantasy, adventure, Books, Bookshops & Bonedust, cbr17, cozy, Legends & Lattes, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, necromancy, Outland book club, prequel, Travis Baldree

Malin's CBR17 Review No:3 · Genres: Audiobooks, Book Club, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery · Tags: #fantasy, adventure, Books, Bookshops & Bonedust, cbr17, cozy, Legends & Lattes, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, necromancy, Outland book club, prequel, Travis Baldree ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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