Fairy Tales – Page 14 – Cannonball Read 17

Marriage, Convent, or Freedom?

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

March 29, 2019 by Classic Leave a Comment

What a wonderful continuation of the “Winternight Trilogy” by Katherine Arden. We don’t only follow Vaysa in this one, we follow her brother and sister. We also get a couple of appearances from the fallen priest from book #1 and even more insight into Morozko. I wanted to see what the future held for Vasya and the Winter King and now in part two we get to follow Vasya after she rejects a typical life for freedom on the road with her stallion Solovey. Unfortunately, […]

You think you know a guy…

Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes

March 3, 2019 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

Once again, Drew Hayes has come up with something completely different from his previous work. This has more of a detective story, well, detective vignettes that come together. So kind of like his Fred, The Vampire Accountant set up. But we’re in the realms of fairy tales this time. And it feels a lot darker than his other stuff. The writing brings to mind the old noir detective stories, you know, the ones where you see the silhouette of the guy smoking a cigarette and […]

“My expectations for a husband had lowered.”

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

February 20, 2019 by crystalclear 1 Comment

Trying to summarize this is hard, because there are a lot of different storylines and viewpoints. We have Miryem, the daughter of a not-very-good moneylender. Oh, he’s a good man, too good to be a moneylender in fact, in that he’s not the best at collecting his money back. Miryem eventually decides to take up the slack and collect the debts herself. Responsibility takes a toll on people, especially when you have to take that burden from someone else. She idly makes a comment that […]

Good Collection

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me by Kate Bernheimer

February 16, 2019 by Chris Leave a Comment

There is a misnomer on the cover of this book. Some short stories in this volume have not been commissioned for the book. Several of them have appeared in various magazines and collections (some have appeared over a decade ago). This is okay, for this is the first time that they are all collected together and I hadn’t read any of them before. The purpose of this collection in part, according to Bernheimer, is to present fairy tales as an acceptable source of literature, at […]

“It’s amazing how few words a person can get by with.”

After Zero by Christina Collins

February 4, 2019 by cosbrarian Leave a Comment

Elise grew up as the home-schooled daughter of a single mother and has recently transitioned to public school for her eighth grade year. Theirs is a solitary existence – her mother rarely leaves the house, working as a professor for online math classes, struggling with bouts of depression since the death of her husband on the day of Elise’s birth. Elise deals with the solitude, and these days it has actually been helpful: for quickly after starting the school year, Elise made it a goal […]

One of the good ones

Valiant by Sarah McGuire

January 20, 2019 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

If you just search for the title on Amazon, you don’t get this book until somewhere after the 10th page of results, and it’s on the 4th page if you search just books. That’s just sad, because it’s really a good book. Well this one starts off sad, doesn’t it? We start with a young woman, Saville, traveling with her father to a new city away from her mother’s grave. And her father is an ass. He is a tailor who somehow sews things differently? […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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