Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Sharp-Dressed Cats, Angels, Murder, Noir that Stands Apart

Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk

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I feel like I came to Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk late even though it’s still a relatively new release. I also started it, had to pause because I had to read for work on deadline, and then picked up where I left off… but only after my required reading made it abundantly clear that, by comparison, this book is amazing. That said, it moved slower for me than others and perhaps that affected my overall rating for it. This is a novella that […]

A Chorus of Dragons, Series Review

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons

The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

The House of Always by Jenn Lyons

The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons

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How epic do you like your fantasy? Do you need world-ending battles between gods and demons? Do you love dragons and wizards? Vampires and zombies and shapeshifters? Magic swords and magic stones? How about pirates and kraken? Maybe some political intrigue and betrayal?? Well, buddy, have I got the series for you! I seriously feel like Stefon when I talk about this series, because these books have everything. Also, it’s told in varying timelines, by various narrators, under the conceit that these chronicles have been […]

The “horrible little attack weasel” gets to save the day and it’s not the hero

The Ivory Tomb by Melissa Caruso

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The Ivory Tomb is slow to start but once it gets going it’s a good adventure and solution to the problems set up in the first two volumes of the Rooks and Ruin trilogy. The first half is everyone running around trying to figure out a way to stop the demons who have all been released by the end of the second volume; then a cameo that way both fun but also not nearly as nuanced as I kind of wish given who it was […]

Demons and wizards and magic – oh my!

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

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4.5 stars Bree Matthews applied to an early admissions residential program at the same college that her mother attended, only to discover that her mother strongly objected to her going there. They had a blistering argument, and Bree’s mother died in a car accident before they had a chance to settle things. Bree blames herself for her mother driving when angry. Her grief and guilt are overwhelming, so Bree hopes that being away from home is the best way forward. She has barely arrived at […]

Going to Hell and Back

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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I have never liked The Secret History; I will admit to seeing why it’s such a favorite based on the general aesthetic (practically inventing ‘dark academia’) but that’s about it. Don’t @ me; this is not a ‘convince me’ thing. This particular hill of mine is why I was a little surprised that I liked Ninth House (Alex Stern 1) and I still like her story in Hell Bent (Alex Stern 2). The plot is pretty basic: rescue Alex’s former mentor/friend Darlington from Hell. Alex, […]

“You rescue me. I rescue you. That’s how this works.”

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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This is the second book in the Alex Stern series. This review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Ninth House because I’m not sure how to review it without referencing things that happened in the last book. So if you’re new to this series, start there. Darlington is still missing, “in Spain” to those not in the know, and in Hell, possibly dead to those initiated in the secrets of Lethe House. Galaxy “Alex” Stern doesn’t have a lot of […]



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