Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I subscribe to a theory that answers cannot hide from us forever if we seek them long enough.”

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne

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Al is one of five magical scribes in the world, charged with upholding the law between the mortal world and the higher planes where gods and mythical creatures reside. When his latest apprentice turns up dead, he discovers that he may have been trafficking the fae – and as his mentor, it is Al’s duty to make things right. This is the first book in the series, which is a spin-off of Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles. I have not read those books, but Ink and Sigil works […]

Horribly Fun

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Tchaikovsky has a knack for making humans supporting actors in his space-faring opera about intelligent animal life. After reading Children of Time, which I enjoyed, I wasn’t sure how he would do a second book about a different species in a fresh way. But this second book is just as good as the first. Told in a similar way to Children of Time, Children of Ruin switches between the past and present. The past being a time when human civilization has basically self-destructed and sent […]

Not Murderbot, but still good

Witch King by Martha Wells

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I was first introduced to Martha Wells through the reviews of Emmalita – it still took me too long to get there, but once I started the series, I read each book in very quick succession. So, when I was travelling for work and ran out of book, I was so pleased to see Wells’ Witch King at my favourite bookstore. It was on sale! Hardcover! Reasonably sized for carry on! Our protagonist is Kaiiesteron, known as Kai, a demon whose spirit/soul lives in the […]

A haunting story on many levels

Anita de Monte Laughs Last: A Novel by Xochitl Gonzalez

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I read this novel as an e-book purchased through Bookshop.org. If you, like me, have been relying on Kindle e-books for a while and want to stop supporting that dickhead Bezos, check out Bookshop. They have a selection of e-books that is somewhat limited but they are very good offerings nonetheless. Moreover, when you make a purchase, Bookshop will donate a percentage of the sale to the independent bookstore of your choice. Buying books has never felt more virtuous! Anita de Monte Laughs Last is, […]

I devoured this whole trilogy twice in 12 nonconsecutive days

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

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I received Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries in our family Winter Solstice book exchange but didn’t start it until the end of January.  It was so engaging I blitzed through it in two days.  Having enjoyed it so much it was immediately re-read.  The re-read took only two days as well.  This same pattern was repeated when reading Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales.  Fortunately, I discovered this series at the perfect time.  Books one and two were already […]

A complicated mix of a story

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

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Black Cake is a novel that I’ve seen favorably reviewed over the past few years, and according to its cover, has been made into a Hulu series. I can understand why Hulu would be drawn to this story. Black Cake involves colonialism, racism, generational misunderstanding and trauma, and resilience. The novel itself is set up with alternating points of view, the most compelling being that of Eleanor Bennett. She has died and left behind for her children a recording in which she reveals astounding secrets […]



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