Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Reliving the Past Doesn’t Always Work Out

Blitz by Daniel O'Malley

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Blitz is on the one hand pretty good with the characters and world building, but on the other less amazing with trying to combine two plots. The gist is that there is a group of ladies who are all Checquy members during the WWII bombings of London (hence the title) and then a modern day new recruit to the Checquy and her struggle to learn a new world, new abilities, and figure out how to also keep her family together. Both by themselves are interesting, […]

Not exactly a sequel

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Daniel O’Malley’s first novel, The Rook, is easily one of my favorite and satisfying books I have read, so I made sure to add Stiletto to my must-read list. I read a few early reviews, so I wasn’t surprised by the fact that Stiletto isn’t a direct sequel to The Rook. In The Rook, we meet Rook Thomas right after she lost her memory and gained her powers. We get to know Thomas as she gets to understand herself. O’Malley crafted a near perfect fantasy thriller with The Rook, […]

It took 4 years for this book to come out — I can’t wait til the next one!!

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Oh my God you guys how long am I going to have to wait for a sequel to this book? I am glad that I waited as long as I did to pick up Rook, but then I loved it and immediately read Stiletto and now I’m just sitting here. Spoilers for the first book! “You’re a tool, to be used and directed for the good of the people. Sometimes you’ll be a scalpel, cutting out disease. Sometimes you’ll be a sword, and you’ll take […]

“It sounds like I’m the Defense Minister of Ghosts and Goblins, but as long as the job is “all fairly self-explanatory…”

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Y’all have been recommending this one forever, and I finally got a copy and read it, and LOVED IT. So thank you all for your excellent taste! The book opens with the line, “Dear You, The body you are wearing used to be mine.” And it just never slows down from there. “If you want to switch jobs, then you can come over here right now and balance the extermination budget in London while (shuffling through papers) figuring out why the hell a two-door wardrobe in […]

Pawns in the Game

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Stiletto is the follow up to David O’Malley’s The Rook. I quite enjoyed The Rook; I’m less fond of the follow up. I think it’s still very good urban fantasy, but some of the issues I had with The Rook became more prominent here and a few new issues were introduced. The plot follows two new women as the Checquy and the Grafters try to form an alliance. Felicity, of the Checquy and Odette of the Grafters, form an odd friendship as the forces opposing […]

Sharp as a Razor

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This review is for the audiobook version of Stiletto, by Daniel O’Malley, read by Moira Quirk. This book is the sequel to the popular novel The Rook, part of the Checquy series. Rook Myfanwy Thomas is hoping the merger between two secret organizations, the Checquy and the Belgian Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen (AKA The Grafters) will be seamless and easy. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a mess. A group known as The Antagonists seem to be trying to stop any kind of agreements being reached. […]



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