Cannonball Read 9

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

Some moments are beyond imagination.

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower VII) by Stephen King

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Okay, I’m back. I haven’t lost my mind, or my grip on reality. Everything’s fine. It took me a long time to read this final installment of “The Dark Tower” series. Sure, it’s super long, but it’s shorter than a few of the other installments. I just truly didn’t want it to end, so I stretched it out, found distractions and procrastinations, and delayed the inevitable. This final chapter is less full of revelation, and doesn’t so closely ressemble a conspiracy theorist’s corkboard with pushpins and yarn (see also: Charlie’s Pepe Silvia wall in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). Though […]

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8/5/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:32 |

“Civilization is the way one’s own people live. Savagery is the way foreigners live.”

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

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How to begin? I have wanted to read books by Octavia Butler for years and somehow never picked one up until now. Wild Seed wasn’t’ an easy read, although the language is beautiful, the characters are compelling and change over time (in many ways!), and the plot is complex and interesting. The story takes place over several hundred years and the characters mostly live day-to-day having children, falling sick, getting married, eating food – with powerful ancient beings living day-to-day next to more “ordinary” psychic humans. Anyanwu has lived for hundreds of years near her village in Africa when she […]

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8/4/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:5 |

Sacrifices understanding for looking real smart. Mistakes complexity for depth.

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1) by Yoon Ha Lee

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What it comes down to with this book is that the barriers to entry were too high. (I shouldn’t have to add the “for me” to that statement, but I will because other people are losing their mind over this book and it was nominated for a bunch of awards, so clearly SOMEONE gets it.) With science fiction and fantasy as a genre, certain barriers to entry are expected, even looked forward to. I always relish that feeling of confusion and displacement I get when entering a new fictional world for the first time, before I learn its intricacies and […]

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8/1/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:53 |

More space than fantasy is not as much my thing

Armada by Ernest Cline

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I loved Ready Player One, so when I saw another book by Ernest Cline, I grabbed it. Armada is very similar, but not quite as great. It’s got the fun mix of characters, a good geeky premise, and adventure, but it just doesn’t quite have the sparkle that the other story does. I wonder if maybe I didn’t love Armada as much because I was comparing it to its predecessor, and the significant parallels between the books make that really easy to do. Both books star flawed heroes with rough childhoods who are nearing the end of their high school […]

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7/23/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:50 |

Hilarious, quirky science fiction fun

Emperor Mollusk versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez

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If you haven’t picked up anything by A. Lee Martinez and you’re a fan of humor-laced horror or science fiction (aka Douglas Adams type stuff), you’re missing out. This book was the third or fourth by him I’ve read, and each one has been a delight.   As the title should indicate, this novel is ridiculous. It’s about an alien from Neptune (who looks like a giant mollusk) who is a super genius. In his quest to understand “science” he’s constantly conquering worlds and creating diabolical weapons, making him a kind of accidental super villain. He long ago conquered Earth, […]

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7/21/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:16 |

Second Time Around

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

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Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (2011) – It’s terrible getting halfway through a 750-page book and realizing you’ve read it before.  The good news is that the story is so good that I didn’t care.  I like a good spaceship crew story and this one combines space opera with a good mystery and a love story. The story is told by the two strong male protagonists, Miller, an alcoholic policeman on Ceres, and Holden, an executive officer aboard an ice mover.  When Holden’s ship is shot out from under him, he and his four remaining crew members escape in […]

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7/18/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:27 |

Hot Off the Presses

Crimson Son 2: Motherland by Russ Linton

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Crimson Son 2 by Russ Linten (2017) – It’s not often I have the opportunity to review a book before it’s published, but I was a Beta reader for this book, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and give the author this review since it’s officially out there now. In the first book, Crimson Son, we’re introduced to the world of Crimson Mask.  It’s a world very similar to ours except that governments have created super-powered heroes called Augments.  But we’re not focused on the battles of the hero, Crimson Mask.  No, this is the first-person […]

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7/18/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:26 |

Short and Sweet

Alien Dimensions #9 by Neil A. Hogan

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Alien Dimensions #9, edited by Neil A. Hogan (2017) – This anthology is short and sweet.  At barely 76 pages, it covers a broad range of clever science fiction short stories.  Whether you’re into sentient forests or the real extraterrestrial reason behind having an orange ape in the White House, this collection might be for you. “Wandering Woods” by Gustavo Bondoni – Intriguing tale of a planet completely overrun by electronic trash and the sole sentient forest that asks for terraforming help before it’s too late.  Fighting arsenic and mercury, the ancient trees are strangely complacent, sure the humans will […]

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

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7/18/2017 | 's CBR9 Review No:25 |

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