Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Octavia Butler – Adulthood Rites, well this was disappointing

Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler

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I hate writing negative reviews, especially for authors I love, but this book did not do it for me. Middle parts of a trilogy are difficult, I understand that, but this book just felt repetitive and barely moved the narrative forward. This novel focuses on the first male child born of a human (with genetic input from the Oankali) on earth since humanity was saved from extinction. Lilith, the main character from the first book is the mother but she barely appears as Akin, her […]

A Love Story Even a Non-Romance Person Can Fall For

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

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Romance is really not my genre; for one thing I’m very much ace and spent most of my growing up time wondering what was wrong with all the story people who apparently have no self-control with the lust and related emotional stuff. However, sometimes, there comes along a romance that has enough other elements, like actually interesting characters, plot, and/or setting, that I can appreciate the whole thing, romance focus or not. Winter’s Orbit is one of these kinds of stories. In some ways this […]

Life… uh… finds a way

The Last by Hanna Jameson

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An American history professor is in a hotel in Switzerland for a conference, along with his colleagues and a melting pot of holidaying families, travellers, and staff, when the bombs begin to fall. As the hotel patrons and staff begin to panic, many flee but a handful remain. These lost souls attempt to band together as the clouds in the sky turn orange and the rain turns radioactive. Cut off from the world as the internet fails and power supply is cut, they begin to […]

The princess epidemiologist fairy tale that is rather topical right now

A Princess in Theory: Reluctant Royals by Alyssa Cole

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In November, my favorite independent bookstore was celebrating Small Business Saturday with promotional items depending on how much you spend.  I was a short hop away from the goal I wanted and decided to get A Princess in Theory because I had enjoyed A Prince on Paper, which I acquired during the Cannonball book sale last year, and was curious to read more by Cole.  What I didn’t realize when I read A Prince on Paper was that it was the third book in Cole’s “Reluctant Royals” series.  […]

A satisfying end to a great sci-fi trilogy

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

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Reviewing books in the middle of a series is always tricky because, by definition, spoilers are inherent. The fact that the the cover of this book says it’s a sequel to Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades already gives away certain information about the plot, let alone the back cover summary. All that aside, I will try to just give the bare bones of this plot along with this statement of the trilogy – it’s a fun, entertaining, and satisfying series. Now, to The […]

Cuisine des Mémoires and other stories

How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

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LeVar Burton is a national treasure. As the originator of Reading Rainbow, Geordi LaForge on Star Trek TNG and the creator of one of my favorite podcasts, LeVar Burton Reads, I have spent a not insignificant amount of time with him, and for that I’m grateful to him. And now, I have to take it a step further because he introduced me to the amazing creativity of N.K. Jemisin. He first read “Playing Nice with God’s Bowling Ball” for a live event and interviewed Jemisin […]



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