Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Rules of Respect
    • CBR15 Passport Book Challenge
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Suggest a Review
    • Sign Up
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

Open Registration ends 2/10/23 - Sign up for Cannonball Read 15 today!  
> FAQ Home
> Tag: speculative

CBR15 Passport! Book #1 – A book that is Not For Moi.

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden

January 31, 2023 by narfna 9 Comments

Oof, this was not for me. Like, so not for me that I maybe shouldn’t even be writing a review, because my brain just bounced off this after about ten pages and then just kept bouncing harder and harder. This is a speculative fiction, experimental novel by British poet Salena Godden about an anthropomorphized version of Death (here called Mrs. Death, personified by an older Black woman) and her connections to/conversations with a person called Wolf. In addition to the the prose actually feeling like […]

Filed Under: Speculative Fiction Tagged With: British literature, CBR15Passport, lit-fic, literary fiction, Mrs Death Misses Death, narfna, poetry, Salena Godden, speculative

narfna's CBR15 Review No:11 · Genres: Speculative Fiction · Tags: British literature, CBR15Passport, lit-fic, literary fiction, Mrs Death Misses Death, narfna, poetry, Salena Godden, speculative ·
Rating:
· 9 Comments

“No point in thinking, you just have to get on with life. We only have one after all, we should try and do our best. We can never get it right, but we must try.”

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

December 29, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

I will admit that I have been avoiding this book since it was published, but especially after I read a Sherlock fanfic one time* that was a riff on Life After Life, and which is one of the most emotionally traumatizing fics I’ve ever read, so by association I was pre-traumatized by this book. Also, one time I read the first Jackson Brodie mystery and I thought it was boring, so I thought this would be boring too. Happily, wrong on all fronts! *If you […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: British literature, historical fiction, Kate Atkinson, Life After Life, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, read harder challenge 2022, speculative, time loops

narfna's CBR14 Review No:242 · Genres: Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: British literature, historical fiction, Kate Atkinson, Life After Life, lit-fic, literary fiction, narfna, read harder challenge 2022, speculative, time loops ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“They were supposed to grow up with their hands in each other’s pockets, compensating for one another’s weaknesses, encouraging one another’s strengths.”

Middlegame (Alchemical Journeys, #1) by Seanan McGuire

December 23, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

This was my first Seanan McGuire book, which is a little unbelievable, both because she writes in genres I love, and because she writes so very prolifically. And I started with a really good one. I’m not against spoilers and frequently spoil myself for things, but I went into this book almost completely unspoiled, even for the premise, and I think that’s the way to go. The book is so weird it’s almost impossible to really sum up in a blurb anyway. So, how to […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Horror Tagged With: #fantasy, coming-of-age, horror, Middlegame, mystery, narfna, sci-fi, Seanan McGuire, sff, speculative, Suspense

narfna's CBR14 Review No:219 · Genres: Fantasy, Horror · Tags: #fantasy, coming-of-age, horror, Middlegame, mystery, narfna, sci-fi, Seanan McGuire, sff, speculative, Suspense ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“Comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love.”

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

December 5, 2022 by narfna 2 Comments

My initial reaction upon finishing Comfort Me With Apples was “wtf was this.” I’m not sure what I was going to rate it or say about it before my book club meeting, but something one of the other members said during the meeting sort of flipped a little switch in my brain and clarified my feelings and thoughts about it. This was a weird effing book. Especially if you go in thinking you know what the main premise is, but you really don’t as it turns out, […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: allegory, Catherynne M. Valente, Comfort Me With Apples, horror, narfna, novellas, speculative, weird shit

narfna's CBR14 Review No:210 · Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction · Tags: allegory, Catherynne M. Valente, Comfort Me With Apples, horror, narfna, novellas, speculative, weird shit ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“I’d follow a clown into a storm drain if he had a baby goat in pajamas.”

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

November 22, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

Objectively Part of Your World is probably closer to four stars, but I had a really good time with it so I’m giving it five. This book was so uplifting and charming and cozy and swoony. Firstly, before we get to plot, probably good to know that this takes place in a very, very, very light sff atmosphere, so there will have to be some suspension of disbelief, but honestly that’s not hard to do here (the idea, I think, was to try to create an approximation […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Abby Jimenez, Contemporary Romance, light sff, m/f, narfna, part of your world, reimaginings, Romance, speculative

narfna's CBR14 Review No:195 · Genres: Romance · Tags: Abby Jimenez, Contemporary Romance, light sff, m/f, narfna, part of your world, reimaginings, Romance, speculative ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

I’m still not sure exactly what to make of this book and it’s been months.

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

October 17, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

I found this an enjoyable reading experience, but it definitely wasn’t a perfect read for me. I’m gonna need to talk spoilers to get my full thoughts out, but they’ll be marked. But first, non-spoilery thoughts. Obviously you know from the title that this is a book about maps, and people who make, study, and collect maps. It’s also about family, secrets, magic, and murder. Our main character is Nell, whose mother died in a fire when she was a small child, and whose father […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: mystery, narfna, Peng Shepherd, speculative, Suspense, the cartographers, thriller

narfna's CBR14 Review No:164 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Suspense · Tags: mystery, narfna, Peng Shepherd, speculative, Suspense, the cartographers, thriller ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 11
  • Next Page »


Recent Comments

  • Leedock on Because when women understand chemistry, they begin to understand how things work.Soooo much better!
  • narfna on We are women without a voice…We are women out of time and place, without even the language of the country we reside in.Everything I hear about this makes me want to read it more. I've heard the audio is great, that's probably the route I'll go.
  • narfna on Because when women understand chemistry, they begin to understand how things work.The author hates the cover, too! I, like you, judged the book by the cover and was wrong. The British one is much better. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61QJVdPaRWL.jpg...
  • narfna on Her grin was tiny but evil. Adorably evil, if that was a thing.TBRed!
  • Leedock on Maiden voyagesWelcome! A Marvellous Light worked better for me, but this was a good book. I'm looking forward to the last in the trilogy when, I...
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission: Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2023 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in