Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Is this the final Grishaverse book? I hope not

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

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4.5 stars CBR13 Bingo: Fauna (dragon, wolf, falcon and fox on the cover) In this second part of the King of Scars duology, the stakes are ridiculously high, pretty much as soon as we start off. The book starts pretty much immediately after the end of King of Scars, and if you’re not caught up with all the books in the Grishaverse so far, this review will probably spoil things for you. Continue at your own risk. Nikolai Lantsov has made some peace with the […]

“The three of them sat there – a Ministry agent, a half-djinn, and a cat (likely), staring out past the balcony to the sleeping city they somehow had to find a way to save.”

A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn, #3) by P. Djèlí Clark

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Another book in this world, please! I continue to have a really good time with these audiobooks. I loved Suehyla El-Attar’s narration—even though she mispronounces some words, which would normally make me lose it, but that’s how much I love her voice—it’s so melodious it squashes my inner pedant. We’re back with Fatma el-Sha’arawi—agent of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities—in this first full novel (the first two were novellas) in this alternate-history, fantastical version of 1912 Cairo. Decades previously, a man named […]

“I brought you a cow once, remember? And I killed that chimera for you in fifth year.”

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

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CBR Bingo: People Spoiler warning! This is book 3 in a trilogy, which wraps up a number of very important threads left dangling after the previous book. So after the brief plot summary, there WILL be spoilers in the review. If you are new to the wonderful world of Simon Snow (and Baz, and Penny and Agatha), the place to start is Carry On. This book starts pretty much immediately after our fearsome foursome (and Shepard)’s return from America to England. Simon, still in emotional […]

“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.”

The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) by Brandon Sanderson

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Well, I was hoping I would like this more this time, knowing how it ended, but it was about the same experience for me. A bit sloggy up until the last third of it, at which point it really picked up. I know what he was going for here, turning a tired fantasy premise on its head like he did with the first one*, but the nature of that premise and the world and characters he built for himself just made it not a very […]

Even the sophomore slump is a great read

Tris's Book by Tamora Pierce

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BINGO – Landscape (technically a seascape, but I think it counts) We pick up with the four powerful mage children Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar not long after the earthquake that struck Winding Circle in Sandry’s Book. The earthquake has damaged many of the Winding Circles defenses, and pirates threaten to invade the surrounding villages and Winding Circle itself to steal priceless magical tomes and artifacts, as well as take mages as slaves. The four children and their teachers must fight against the pirates in any […]

Don’t skip this series just because they books are children’s novels, please!

Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce

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BINGO – Gateway – author Tamora Pierce and children’s novels Sandry is the sole survivor of a pox outbreak that killed her entire family; she carries with her the trauma of that loss and being locked in a dark room for months to be safe from marauders. Briar is a street boy with no home who has been caught stealing three times; his options are going to a temple or going to work hard labor at the docks or the mines. Daja is a trader […]



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