Cannonball Read 10

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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New Vorkosigan Novella

The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold

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I don’t think Lois McMaster Bujold has released a full-length novel since 2016’s Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, which I sort of read as a capstone to the Vorkosigan series. Since then, she seems to have been spending her time experimenting with self-publishing novellas. While I’ve found those to be mostly very good, they’ve all been set in the World of the Five Gods. So I’m really pleasantly surprised to see that she’s decided to duck back into the Vorkosigan universe after all! The Flowers of Vashnoi is set after Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, and happily, we’ve gotten Ekaterin back […]

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5/19/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:13 |

Scheming, Snark and a Society on the Precipice

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

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IT’S HUGO TIME! Which means it’s time for me to tackle the best novel nominees! The Collapsing Empire is the first instalment in ‘The Interdependency’ series, which is John Scalzi’s take on a space opera. If you’re already a fan of Scalzi’s work, rest assured you’ll probably enjoy this one. All the tonal hallmarks of his previous writing – breezy, minimalist and snarky – are intact. So is his inclination to weave politics into otherwise lighthearted writing. What’s interesting about this series is that it appears to be a good indicator of the kind of books that likely influenced Scalzi […]

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5/18/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:12 |

How to prove sentience? A meta-galactic version of Eurovision, of course!

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

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It is the near future and life is far more prevalent in the galaxy than anyone had dreamed.  Humanity learns this, much to their chagrin, when an Esca appears to each and every person on planet Earth simultaneously and explains they are not alone.  It would be one thing to find out that aliens exist in an astonishingly wide variety but that was not the reason for the Esca’s visit.  Instead, humanity was informed that they must prove their sentience in order to continue existence.  Otherwise the planet would be wiped and the Earth could have another go at developing […]

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5/14/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:18 |

There is a cat in this book whose name is Donut.

Head On (Lock In, #2) by John Scalzi

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Scalzi’s books are always such good palette cleansers. Head On was fast and fun (and a little bit infuriating). This is the second book in the Lock In series, which started with 2014’s Lock In. You don’t need to have read the first book if this one tickles your fancy, but you should, because it’s great. The premise here is that in the near future, a disease called Haden’s Syndrome (after the first lady of the US, it’s most famous victim) makes it so that a portion of the population are locked in to their bodies, perfectly aware, but unable […]

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5/10/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:60 |

Becky Chambers might be my new hero

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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Before I finished my last read, I started poking around in The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, trying to pick my next read, when I noticed the page “A special note from Becky Chambers” all the way in the back. I assumed it would be an acknowledgement page or maybe a teaser for an upcoming book or even just a note to her fans, but instead, Chambers included a note to encourage aspiring writers not to give up.  The timing couldn’t have been better. I’ve been pretty down on my own writing for quite a […]

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5/7/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:24 |

When the Apocalypse Comes, We Go Shopping

Station Eleven and other books about the end of the world by Emily St. John Mandel and other authors

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The fantasy is always that one can stave off tragedy through preparation: if only one has enough lead time and enough resources, and a place to hide out with one’s loved ones, one can stay safe while the world goes up in flames. In Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014), the protagonist Jeevan gets an early warning phone call about the epidemic that will eliminate majority of the world’s population and is able to do his shopping before the rest of the world realizes that they have to stock up. “Jeevan’s understanding of disaster preparedness was based entirely on […]

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

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4/29/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:7 |

Just don’t get it.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

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The premise of this book, and the great reviews of a lot of  Cannonballers,  placed this one on my TBR pile. A boarding school for “problematic children” serves as a refuge for kids that have found portals into alternate worlds.  Having flourished in these different worlds, returning is painful for them.   They don’t belong here anymore and long for the place where they can be themselves again. Unfortunately, the back story of each of the characters and the structure of these portal worlds into lands of Nonsense and Logic is wrapped around a clunky murder mystery that just muddies the […]

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

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4/26/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:23 |

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Foundation (Foundation, #1) by Isaac Asimov

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I really liked this book, in the way that I always enjoy thoughtful science fiction. Every once in a while, I enjoy a book designed solely to make you grapple with a question, and think, “what if?” The focus here isn’t on Asimov’s characters (though it DOES have actual characters in it, unlike the work of some 1950s sf authors). It’s actually impossible for this to be a character-centric book due the premise. Instead, the arc is on the Foundation itself, on tracing the decline and fall of an empire, and the struggle to preserve human knowledge in the face […]

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

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4/20/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:51 |


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