Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I go where I have to go, do what I have to do.”

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

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“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” I have never read any of Stephen King’s non-horror works, like the Dark Tower series. I’m not sure what made me pick up the first book of the series, The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, but I did enjoy it, as confused as I was half the time. The book follows Roland, also known as the Gunslinger. The story starts in media res, without any context or background, just the present moment. The […]

“A city like Ankh-Morpork was only two meals away from chaos at the best of times.”

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

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Oh, what to say about a Terry Pratchett book that can’t be summed up as “just read it!” in increasingly louder tones? AS I said in my review of Wintersmith, the worst Terry Pratchett book is better than some of the best examples of other authors’ works. And this book has to be in my opinion one of his best. Sam Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, is soon to be a father, which means perhaps chasing Carcer, one of the more dangeous of Ankh-Morpork’s […]

May Want To Avoid If You Are Insect-phobic. But Otherwise, Yes!

Weyward by Emilia Hart

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Three generations of Weyward women, about a hundred years apart, and each with a peculiar gift of working with potions and spells, and having a close connection with birds and insects.  Sort of a slightly more sinister Cinderella.  The birdies aren’t the cute ones, and there is a distinct lack of adorable little mammals.  The potions are mostly for women’s health issues, abortion in particular.  Lord knows their customers are in desperate need of some help. Of course this leads to them finding themselves frequently […]

Into the Spindleverse

Fractured Fables by Alix E. Harrow

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I’ve enjoyed the previous novels I’ve read by Alix E. Harrow (particularly The Ten Thousand Doors of January and Starling House), so when I came across Fractured Fables on a recent trip to the bookstore, I was excited to find something by her that I had not yet read. This is actually a collection of two stories (I never know what the difference is between a “short story” and a “novella”, but they’re both 100-ish pages long, including some cool illustrations), A Spindle Splintered and […]

You Cannot be Unchosen

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

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It’s been a while since I’ve had so much difficulty writing a book review. This has nothing to do with my current work load, or even with the book being bad—far from it, the book is absolutely brilliant. You can see why it won a Nebula. It’s just surreal And a little opaque. But in a very impressive way. Especially when you consider that this is the author’s debut novel.  The Saint of Bright Doors is the story of a young man named Fetter, who […]

The Whipping Boy, With Magic Doctors and Intrigue.

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

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In the city-state of Castellane, everyone from the wealthiest of nobles to the most debauched of criminals has one common thread running through their lives: the neverending search for more wealth, more power, the next hedonistic thrill to drive off boredom. Kel is an orphan, in the Palace for one reason-to be the Sword Catcher, the body double of the royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but his ultimate destiny is to die for Conor; that is the […]



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