Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About faintingviolet

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A reader and caffeine addict who consumes all sorts of books, some just more frequently than others. Your CBR Book Club Maven with over a decade of Cannonballing experience I believe in the beauty that comes from a common goal of reading, reviewing, and discussing. Also, Fuck Cancer. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: faintingviolet's Quick Questions interview.)

faintingviolet's Reviews:

“Nobody grabs SecUnits. I hadn’t realized this was a perk until now.”

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells

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When I read this book in January of 2019 it was my least favorite of the original four (spoiler, it still is), mostly because I didn’t connect with the non-Murderbot characters. To a degree that is still true, I feel less connected to them than I did to Mensah’s team in the first or the programmers in the second. But, on a second visit I think that’s probably by design, as Wells is clearly juxtaposing Don Amene and Miki against those other relationships. There is […]

“I liked protecting people and things. I liked figuring out smart ways to protect people and things. I liked being right.”

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

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My Murderbot re-read continues with the introduction of my favorite character, ART (which, side note, it has taken me over five years to notice that ART is in the title Artificial Condition). Book two picks up quickly after the events of All Systems Red, with Murderbot having left Mensah and her team to figure out what it wants with its freedom, now that it is off inventory from the company, but not wanting to be a “pet robot”. Quickly, Murderbot realizes it wants to get […]

“It took a tremendous effort for me not to rip his arm off, and I’d like that noted for the record, please.”

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

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Back in November of 2018 I joined the cult of Murderbot. After I had read and loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Emmalita and narfna had told me that Murderbot needed to be next up in my reading of contemplative, character driven space opera. I was immediately in love. I’ve kept up with the furthering adventures of Murderbot in the intervening years and had decided earlier this year that I wanted to do a full series re-read before I […]

“What would happen if we spoke the truth?”

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic had been on my to read for a bit as one of the more visible challenged and banned books since its publication in 2006  (31st most challenged  in the decade 2010-2019 according to the ALA) that I hadn’t gotten to yet, but moved higher up as it was challenged locally to me twice since 2020 (it’s been retained both times). So, it found its way to my September reading as my personal choice for Banned Books Week 2024.   As […]

“A society that does not respect women’s anger is one that does not respect women”

Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger by Soraya Chemaly

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This is a DNF book for me, and you should know that going into the review. I did not DNF because the writing was poor, it was in fact very good. I did not DNF because the information was not well-sourced or in some other way in deficit – everything laid out was well placed and well investigated. The book describes the ubiquitous experience that women have with being taught to tamp down their anger and presents the research on the racial and cultural differences […]

“There’s power in finding secrets and blowing them up in a beautiful, bright light.”

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

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The second book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy, Leather & Lark, hinges on a marriage of convenience trope, but that kind of undersells the stakes, this is a marriage of safety and sacrifice. Sure, it’s convenient to keep Lachlan and Rowan alive… but there’s more happening here. This book is way more character driven than its predecessor, but not because the characters are necessarily super strongly developed, but because the plot kind of disappears for a while. Action picks up about two years before the […]



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