Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Zahra and I were complete; we were the sun and the wind, the sky and the earth, life and death, above the world and untouchable.”

The Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee

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I was a big fan of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga, so when I stumbled on this novella, I was thrilled! In the sprawling Green Bone Saga, Lee crafted a dynasty in which 10s of key actors loved and hated and fought and died over several countries and thousands of pages. In The Untethered Sky, Lee narrows the scope to a single girl and her bird – well, never her bird, but the bird that she tends. I didn’t read the blurb on this book, […]

“What I did know was that I had hit upon a truth of womanhood; however blameless a life we led, the passions and the greed of men could bring us to ruin, and there was nothing we could do.”

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

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I’ve had a run of bad luck the past few years where the first book I pick to read ends up, at worst, pretty terrible, and at best, readable but not enjoyable. Unfortunately, Ariadne by Jennifer Saint falls into the latter. Since I spent a lot of 2023 reading and rereading Greek Mythological retellings (thank you Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller among others), I honestly thought this would be a shoo-in as an easy read, my return to CBR, and jump starting my reading for […]

Stormin’ the Normans

Essex Dogs: A Novel by Dan Jones

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Whenever I’m at a bookstore, I seem to be drawn toward historical fiction more than any other genre. A month or so ago, I was browsing a table full of books when this one caught my eye. I’d never seen historical fiction set in The Hundred Years War, and the blurb made this sound like a “band of brothers” type of story — a company of men called the Essex Dogs who fight like hell, not for fame or riches or country, but for each […]

Be a bonobo

The Bandit Queens: A Novel by Parini Shroff

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This book might end up one of my favorites for CBR16. It was a shockingly funny delight about women who murder their husbands. Parini Shroff was inspired to write this story after a visit to India many years ago, where she learned about the micro loan program there. Women receive loans to start their own businesses, forming small support groups that ensure participants repay their loans regularly. Shroff wondered about two things: why women receive the loans and not men (because women were seen as […]

“You have to be realistic about these things…”

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

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I originally purchased the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie(consisting of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings) sometime around 2009. I’ve somehow went 15 years without reading them, so figured it was finally time to do so… The books are mostly set in a country called the “Union”, and explore the inner politics of the nation, along with a series of conflicts with both the “North” (essentially a loosely organized collection of barbarians), and the “Gurkish” (an expansionist […]

Lady pirate called out of retirement for, “One last job”.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

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I was introduced to Shannon Chakraborty writing under the name S.A. Chakraborty through her book The City of Brass, first book in the Daevabad trilogy.  There was a lot I liked about it; excellent Middle Eastern inspired fantasy world building, an engaging story, and a great female main protagonist.  Yet, I disliked how pretty much the only female character was the main one. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi also has excellent Middle Eastern inspired fantasy world building.  This time it’s set on the Indian Ocean during the […]



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