Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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CoffeeShopReader's Reviews:

In which I rant about the heroine

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

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I was about the day I finished The Girl in the Tower-years old when I realized two things: one, this series is YA darkish fantasy romance; and two, I don’t especially care for YA darkish fantasy romance. The problem is that there are a few characters I do want to see what happens to and the setting is interesting, with its mix of Russian folklore and history. I also do like the conflict from the first novel, not so much present here, between the old […]

Finally a break in a streak of not great

strange practice by vivian shaw

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Yeah for finding a new fun series! It’s fairly light, not perfect but quite promising. The basic premise is that Dr. Greta Helsing (daughter of that Helsing; yes, the one you’re probably thinking of) is a doctor for things that go bump in the night, like ghouls, vampires, vampyres, mummies, etc. She’s friends with Edmund Ruthven (yes, that Lord Ruthven), and as a result of a bad thing going on in the monster community, gets together a group including Ruthven, Francis Varney (a vampyr which […]

Questions on the Nature of All Good Things and Ending

All Good Things by Emma Newman

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Why is Cathy suddenly a potentially powerful Sorcerer? Who/What/How is Beatrice? And what’s up with her rather pointless ending? Why is Lucy suddenly back with a big part in the story? There must have been a better way to give Lucy purpose or explaining her besides using the otherwise pointless Edwin, right? Why do we need to hear so much from William, and what’s up with his sudden need for total power? Was that scene with him and Amelia necessary? Why is there so little […]

Lost in Translation or Indecision

Every Tool's A Hammer by Adam Savage

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For the record, I haven’t finished Every Tool’s A Hammer yet, but I’m 99% sure the remaining 2/3 of it is not going to change my thoughts. I loved the original Mythbusters, as well as the recent Mythbuster’s Junior (I hope there is more of that). So naturally, I decided I wanted to read Adam Savage’s new book. You can tell it’s his voice, but it’s not nearly as entertaining to follow in print as it is in performance/action. The book can’t decide if it’s […]

Untested Triple-Threat-ish

Indian-ish by Priya Krishna

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Personal current rule: I am not allowed to start working through a new cookbook until I finish with the current one. I’m close, and should be able to start a new cookbook by about mid-June. That hasn’t stopped me from building up a small pile of potential successors, including Indian-ish. This means that I have read through the book, but not yet tried anything from it. This book is really three things at once: an introduction to Indian cooking (both in terms of ingredients and […]

Watered Down Everything

Fog Season by Patrice Sarath

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Just from the reading, I have a hard time telling whether or not Fog Season is YA or not. It really seems more YA but that’s not where I remember finding it in the bookstore. The case for YA is that it’s very character driven, the few adults present are villains, servants, or non-presences like mom Alinesse and dad Brevart. Also, the presence of romance, more a factor in this book than the first, is reasonably PG. The violence seems to be a bit less […]



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