Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Pausing to build up some tension

Drrrr!! vol. 9 (light novel) by Ryohgo Narita

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There have been about 2 light novel series that have been adapted into other formats that I’ve liked all versions of roughly equally. Drrrr!! (ie Durarara!!) is one. I’ve just finished volume 9, and I think there’s only a few more to go to finished the story; this novel is also a good bit past where the anime and manga versions that I’ve gotten through are at. One of things about this particular story is that there are a lot of characters to keep track […]

First Impressions About Half Right This Time

Network Effect by Martha Wells

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I don’t often pre-order, but the Murderbot series is one of the few that I will do that for.  I am however realizing that this often means I have to wait a few days after the release to actually get the book; this was true even before pandemic close/slow-downs. This meant that I was getting a little impatient for Network Effect to show up. When the novel showed up, I got into it right away, and I think this might have been a bit of […]

Coming to a hospital near you…

The Stand by Stephen King

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Why would you read a book about a fictional pandemic when there’s an actual pandemic happening, people ask?  I think it’s perfect timing. I spent the first several chapters comparing the beginning of the made-up super-flu pandemic of 1990 to the current world wide spread of COVID-19, diligently jotting down notes about what the president of the USA said (for example, ‘My fellow Americans, I urge you to stay at home. If you feel ill, stay in bed, take aspirin, and drink plenty of clear […]

All hail N. K. Jemisin

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

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The City We Became lines up with The Starless Sea for my top book of 2020 (with a third hot on their heels, but I’ll get to that in a later review). It’s so mind bogglingly bananas good I have no idea how I’m going to put it to words, but I’m going to try. Late last year I finally read N. K. Jemisin’s short story collection, How Long Till Black Future Month, and of course it was amazing and I loved seeing the genesis of so many […]

Fights, Feelings, Fire, and mostly Fun

Fire Force, Vol. 17 by Atsushi Ohkubo

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One of the things I’ve really enjoyed so far about the Fire Force series is that it takes totally standard plots and characters, and makes them interesting and entertaining. Vol. 17 of the manga really shows off these qualities. The basic story and hero are straightforward: in a world where people often spontaneously combust into mindless demonic fire monsters, teen-age Shinra Kusakabe joins the Fire Force who help take down these monsters before the wreak too much havoc in order to both protect people and […]

Feelings and Murderbot

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

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According to the inner front cover flap. Exit Strategy is the final novella of the Murderbot Diaries; except that now in about a week, book 5, the novel, will be due out. The saga of Murderbot continues with a real emphasis on a theme that’s kind of been there the whole time: corporate evil. Maybe it’s some of the news lately, but the whole profit over life vibe GreyCris and its people, some of whom Murderbot actually meets this time, give off seems pretty timely. […]



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