Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

When the clock doesn’t tick

Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi

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Twenty is just a cog in the wheel of the utopian society in Hourglass by Barbara Mazzi. Or at least for  the privileged.  Twenty is trying for one of the coveted positions on the team of engineers. If you make it to the top the reward is everything. But until then, they help keep the Hour Glass running so the privileged few can reap the reward of immortality. But when a real piece of the machine goes missing, more than the Hour Glass will fall […]

“He wasn’t grateful, he was homicidal. It wasn’t enough that they endanger his friends and servants, they had to attack his most valued enemy as well.”

The Book of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells

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The Book of Ile-Rien collects the first two books in Martha Wells’ Ile-Rien universe, which takes place in a fantasy world with a steampunk flavor. Though I have the much-lauded Murderbot series on my TBR, I have never read any of Wells’ work before. The Element of Fire is her debut, and when this book crossed my dashboard I thought it’d be a decent place to start. The Element of Fire – 3.5 stars The return of the king’s bastard sister to the court of […]

Fond of Zombies, Are You? What about Zombies AND Pirates?

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

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Well now!  Steampunk with zombies and pirates, and a certain amount of historical fact to boot?  Welcome to turn of the century Seattle. IRL, Seattle suffered a devastating fire in the late 1890s which tore through the lumber constructed Pioneer Square, its original downtown.  There was also the issue of frequent rain-induced flooding, due to the steep coastal shoreline.  So the civic leaders swapped out timber construction for masonry, and rebuilt, streets and all, on the top of the original buildings.  The lower levels acted […]

I Enjoyed This Book, But I Don’t Remember Much About It

Stars of Chaos Volume 1 by priest

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Chang Geng’s life changes when barbarians attack the small northern border town where’s he’s grown up.  He learns in quick succession that woman he thought was his mother is actually both his aunt and a spy for the barbarians who has poisoned him, he is in fact the Emperor’s missing fourth son, and his worthless lay about godfather is actually the leader of the most powerful military battalion.  Chang Geng is quickly swept up the changing tides and trying to figure out what his future […]

The World Might Have Ended But She Keeps Fighting

The Fallen Kingdom by Elizabeth May

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Aileana is alive again (for now), but with the power of the Cailleach running through her, she doesn’t have long to live.  Her only hope to is a find a magical book that has the ability to break the curse on the Cailleach children and forces every generation of siblings to kill one another.  But Kiaran is no longer Kiaran; he’s returned to being Kadamach, the King of the Unseelie.  While he is still bound by his vow not to kill humans, it doesn’t prevent […]

What Happens After the Hero Fails to Save the World?

The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May

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Aileana failed to activate the barrier in time.  When she wakes, she’s a prisoner of Lonnrach who is determined to use her to find something that will allow him to save the Feary kingdoms.  His methods aren’t pleasant, and when Aileana does managed to escape with the help of Kiaran’s sister, Aithinne, it’s been three years since the fall of humankind.  Now Aileana has to figure out both how to survive in this new world but also if there is a way to save what’s […]



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