Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


There was a game he could see and another he couldn’t, and he would play them both.

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

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My formative King Arthur works were the 1963 Disney movie The Sword in the Stone, and 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When I discovered Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, as a preteen, my life as a reader of fantasy and romance was set. I’m a King Arthur enthusiast, but not a purist (except for Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 King Arthur – great cast, beautiful visuals, terrible movie that should never have been marketed as “historically accurate”). Hearing that a work is a retelling of […]

The Third Pandava Sister Enters

Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi

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Not too much to say here except that this was  fun ride with Aru. I think that Chokshi did a great job with the adventure story-line while still giving a fun flavor to old stories that Aru, Mimi and the newest additions have heard about. We also had a great set-up into the next book as well. ‘Aru Shah and the Song of Death” has soul sisters Aru and Mimi trying to track down a thief who stole the god of Love’s bow and arrow. […]

For fans of Rick Riordan

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

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  Aru Shah and the End of Time is the first in a ‘Rick Riordan Presents’ and follows the plot beats of Riordan’s own series pretty faithfully. For fans of Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Magnus Chase, Carter Kane, and Lester Pappadopoulos (my personal favorite) this book will feel very familiar. Aru is a seemingly normal 12-year old, being raised by a single mom. Like Riordan’s characters, Aru has no real knowledge of her missing parent until the book begins to unfold. Aru’s mother is an […]

Ocean’s Whatever

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

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I don’t have much to say except this is my least favorite Roshani Chokshi novel. I have loved her other works and have no interest in reading anymore about “The Gilded Wolves”. Chokshi shines when she follows one character through a story and has them meeting others along the way. Heck, I loved her book “A Crown of Wishes” since in that one she followed a young man and woman. In this latest we follow I think 5 people. Every chapter lets us know who we are […]

If you want to appreciate this, read the Mahabharata first.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

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I wish I liked this more. The basic premise is interesting, and the twist that isn’t that shocking actually makes for good future suspense. 11 or 12 year old Aru is trying to impress some kids from school and lights the cursed lamp her mom told her never to touch, and it turns out she releases the Sleeper a demon (I think that’s what he is, given the info on his origins revealed part way through, it’s a little unclear) who wants to gather an […]



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