Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About narfna

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Good evening, everyone. I'm Leslie Monster, and this is Nightline. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: narfna's Quick Questions interview.)

narfna's Reviews:

“Power doesn’t have to be the way the regent and your rebels make it be . . . Power can be looking after people. Keeping them safe, instead of putting them into danger.”

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1) by Tasha Suri

by 2 Comments

 I actually really ended up liking this and I’m going to need to use of one of my ten cheat books to pick up the sequel (I’m on a book buying ban for the whole of 2024 — I’ve already used three cheats 😬). It’s always lovely when as a lifelong fantasy reader you come across something that feels fresh and unique, and this book gave me that feeling the whole way through. The underlying story—about a society oppressed by an empire led by a […]

“There was something wrong with Gaea Station. There had always been something wrong with Gaea Station.”

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

by 4 Comments

I actually really liked this, and I’m really surprised about it. This book deserves a longer, more thorough review, but I’m just not capable of doing that at the moment. I can see how this book wouldn’t work for some people, but if it doesn’t, it seems a matter of taste to me. I feel like Emily Tesh knew exactly what she wanted to do with the story, and pulled it off. The concepts, characters, plot twists, and everything else this book was wanting to […]

“There’s a whole universe in her and I would be so lucky to live in it, explore it. Over and over.”

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

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The voice in this was fantastic. Also terrific? The plotting, the emotional arcs of these characters, the way she develops the main characters’ relationship with scene after scene of conversation. Not to mention the great side characters, the effortless queer rep, the handling of black culture on an overwhelmingly white liberal arts college in England, the radio element, and the female friendships. Honey & Spice follows Kiki Banjo (amazing name), a sophomore at a university in England and host of her own radio show, Brown Sugar. […]

“A peace based on injustice is a treacherous sleep whose waking is death. Your honor lies in waking out of it.”

The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore

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This book was infuriating, but very interesting. If you’re looking to rage-out at the patriarchy, The Woman They Could Not Silence will certainly do the trick. But also, because Elizabeth Packard was a badass who changed things for thousands of people in her lifetime and many more into the future, you get a happyish ending as well to lift you back from your cleansing rage. Elizabeth Packard was committed to an asylum in the 1860s by her husband; because he said she was insane, she was […]

A pretty disappointing anthology, to be honest.

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by ed. Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams

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While there were a handful of really good stories in here, overall I was disappointed with this collection. Way too many confusing or unsatisfying endings. (This was edited by Jordan Peele, but also by John Joseph Adams, whose anthologies in the past I have not really liked, either, and I wish I would have known he was involved before I read it. Would have had more accurate expectations.) “Reckless Eyeballing,” N.K. Jemisin — Okayyyy, but what does it meaaaan. 4/5 stars “Eye & Tooth,” Rebecca Roanhorse — The […]

A strange little fantasy. I expected nothing less from this author.

City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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This is a tough book to sink your teeth into. It’s slow to start, and slow to catch your emotions (if it ever catches them all), but still, for the right reader this book could work very well. I always appreciate a well-executed attempt at a unique structure, and we have that here in abundance. Up front, though, the reason this is getting 3.5 stars is that though there were bits that caught my imagination in the first half of the book, it didn’t really […]



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