Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About jmsudar

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JM Sudar dreams of someday walking into a bookstore and seeing a book of his own for sale. After hearing his wife lament that she forgot to write her Cannonball review _again_, he decided to pick up a controller and give it a try himself.

jmsudar's Reviews:

The Castle in the Air

The Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

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The magic of Howl’s Moving Castle continues in full resplendence with Castle in the Air. The magic in question being Diana Wynne Jones’ voice, which straddles a wonderful line between eldest sibling, beleaguered mother, and matter of fact Brit, all wound through the whole way with dry, sardonic humor. If you loved Howl, you will love this, full stop. The story hasn’t aged well in one small degree: the portrayal of the country of Zanzib, which has all the feeling of a depiction of the […]

The Truth Machine

The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna

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The Truth Machine is an unapologetically pro-crypto book. I read it because I’m not a pro-crypto person and I wanted to see what a fawning take on the technology could do to sway my opinion. I am largely unswayed, though cases in which this book covers real world applications of crypto were interesting. To that end, it opens by describing a refugee crisis in Jordan. As an experiment, the UN decided to use blockchain technology to track how refugees were accessing their food allotments. This […]

A Woman First: First Woman

A Woman First: First Woman by Selina Meyer (Billy Kimball and David Mandel)

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A Woman First: First Woman is one of those books that’s written “by” a fictional character, in character. I read the audiobook and this was especially true, with the character voicing humorous asides to her henpecked bagman, Gary, throughout, and verbally abusing him when she’s not just rolling over him. The characters in question are from Veep, an absolutely hilarious political satire starring the worst people you’ve ever seen vying for influence and power in Washington DC while continually fumbling easy marks and being so […]

The High King

The High King by Lloyd Alexander

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Getting to the end of writing reviews around the Prydain Chronicles doesn’t feel too different from getting to the end of the Prydain Chronicles. The experience is bittersweet, my love of these stories remains complete. The High King opens with an intense moment, as Gurgi and Taran returning on the road are waylaid by their friend Caw the crow who reports danger along their way. They rush back to Caer Dallben, to find a council in place to determine how to finally end the threat […]

Taran Wanderer

Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander

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This is my favorite of the Prydain Chronicles, no question. It is character development from start to finish, which in my opinion is when you get the best stories. Fresh from leaving Eilonwy on the isle of Mona, Taran is restless, tormented by thoughts of the romance he left unfinished with her and feeling aimless and unsure of his destiny. To solve this, he decides to seek out his parentage and hope to learn his name and what he will be aside from an assistant […]

The Cursed Among Us

The Cursed Among Us by John Durgin

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I am hesitant to be critical of an author via Cannonball unless it’s someone massive like Hemingway, because at that point criticality of the work is like an academic discussion and we need opposing takes. The Cursed Among Us though had several galling mistakes that led me to wonder if the book is self-published. I am not in any way disparaging self-publishing. I think anyone who does that has a tremendous amount of courage and conviction, putting their hard work out for people to see […]



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