Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Side Quest Central

Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

May 30, 2025 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario is a pretty good continuation of the Carl and Donut dungeon crawl. The characters and seat of the pants problem solving are still there, the dark humor that’s both tragic and still entertaining is still there. Plot-wise this volume gets thin; much like the side quest emphasis (new feature of this volume), there is not a lot of progress in the main overall situation. There’s also isn’t  a ton of character development beyond the “game character” that everyone has to perform to […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: Carl's Doomsday Scenario, D&D, dark humor, Dungeon Crawl Carl, gaming, Matt Dinniman, Princess donut, reality TV

CoffeeShopReader's CBR17 Review No:27 · Genres: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction · Tags: Carl's Doomsday Scenario, D&D, dark humor, Dungeon Crawl Carl, gaming, Matt Dinniman, Princess donut, reality TV ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Second verse, same as the first

Dungeon Club: Time to Party (Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club, #2) by Molly Knox Ostertag

March 6, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I keep seeing the name Molly Knox Ostertag and I think, “Have I read them?” And I stop, think some more and say, “Yes! Oh duh! They have done….” and think about a book or two they have created. Why I can’t remember them I am not really sure. After all, they are a good author. So, I feel really bad that this name escapes me, but I assure you, you should not let Ostertag escape you! Dungeon Club: Time to Party (Dungeons & Dragons: […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: Action & Adventure, Dungeons & Dragon, friendship, gaming, LGBTQ, Molly Knox Ostertag, Social Themes, table top games, Xanthe Bouma

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:125 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: Action & Adventure, Dungeons & Dragon, friendship, gaming, LGBTQ, Molly Knox Ostertag, Social Themes, table top games, Xanthe Bouma ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Politics, Economy and Gender of Gaming

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow

October 2, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

My review of In Real Life by Cory Doctorow has borrowed pieces from a couple online reviewers. I figured they said what I was feeling, and it’s validating to know I wasn’t the only one that wasn’t “wowed” but the book, yet still found enjoyment. I will start  with: This is not a perfect story, still, I had… fun reading it. The online world vs real world has been done before.  You can … connect on a virtual level, but it can’t replace human (…) […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, History, Science Fiction, Sports, Young Adult Tagged With: Asia, coming-of-age, computers, cory doctorow, digital media, family, gaming, girl gamers, homelessness, jen wang, Politics and Economy of Gaming, poverty, Social Themes, women

BlackRaven's CBR16 Review No:474 · Genres: Children's Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, History, Science Fiction, Sports, Young Adult · Tags: Asia, coming-of-age, computers, cory doctorow, digital media, family, gaming, girl gamers, homelessness, jen wang, Politics and Economy of Gaming, poverty, Social Themes, women ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“God, if she caught feelings, she was going to have to kick her own ass.”

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

June 10, 2024 by Malin 2 Comments

4.5 stars CBR16 Sweet Books: Cozy 48-year-old Maggie’s son has recently moved away to college and now she’s stuck in the big house she got in the divorce some years earlier, in a town where she barely knows anyone. She’s unapologetically grumpy and doesn’t actually want to expand her social circle. She worries about her son in college, however, and keeps trying to challenge him to socialise and make friends. He turns the table on her and demands that she do the same. She has […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction, Mystery, Romance Tagged With: BIPOC, Cathy Yardley, CBR16, CBR16SweetBooks, Contemporary Romance, cozy, emmalita, emotional abuse, gaming, LGBTQIA, Malin, narfna

Malin's CBR16 Review No:21 · Genres: Featured, Fiction, Mystery, Romance · Tags: BIPOC, Cathy Yardley, CBR16, CBR16SweetBooks, Contemporary Romance, cozy, emmalita, emotional abuse, gaming, LGBTQIA, Malin, narfna ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Taking on the role of Isaac

Buzzing by Samuel Sattin

March 21, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Buzzing is more of a 3.5 as an averaged out score than either a 3 or a 4.  I enjoyed seeing the changes in the illustrations to show the emotions, feelings, and how our main character is reacting. This is clever and a unique way of helping us see the situation. However, I never felt any one character was overly fleshed out and none felt “real” and more of a bit of a cliché. At the same time there are a lot of good pieces […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: Depression & Mental Illness, family, Fantasy games, friendship, gaming, glbtq, mother, neurodiversity, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD, role playing games, Samuel Sattin, siblings, Social Themes, tabletop games

BlackRaven's CBR16 Review No:107 · Genres: Children's Books, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: Depression & Mental Illness, family, Fantasy games, friendship, gaming, glbtq, mother, neurodiversity, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD, role playing games, Samuel Sattin, siblings, Social Themes, tabletop games ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Get your D&D on

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club V01: Roll Call by Molly Knox Ostertag

December 26, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I started Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club V01: Roll Call awhile back. I then put it aside as I was trying to read it online (and as you know, my phone is not friends with online formatting). Not only was my phone slow and dragging, but I was also not able to see the images clearly or in a larger format. Therefore, unless you have a SCREEN to view things on, then this might be best in the physical form. And the physical form is […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: D&D, Dungeons and Dragons (Game), friendship, gaming, Molly Knox Ostertag, Social Themes, Xanthe Bouma

BlackRaven's CBR14 Review No:635 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: D&D, Dungeons and Dragons (Game), friendship, gaming, Molly Knox Ostertag, Social Themes, Xanthe Bouma ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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