Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Why is the crow their emblem? Because crows remember.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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Crooked Kingdom is the second half of the duology started in Six of Crows.  When first we met our six protagonists, they were all down on their luck in general society but they had carved out places for themselves in the street life.  They took on what many considered an impossible job, succeeded, and then had victory snatched from them by a double cross and kidnapping.  The start of Crooked Kingdom finds everyone brought low, mentally and physically, but with a new mission, to rescue their comrade […]

This review ended up way more angry than I thought it would.

King of Scars (Nikolai Duology, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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I thought this was miles in quality above the original Grisha trilogy, but I’m still a little conflicted in my reaction to it. In terms of the actual writing and my engagement with the characters, I enjoyed this book so much more than the original trilogy, though not nearly as much as the Six of Crows duology. You can tell she’s improved as a writer, but for my personal taste, this book relied too heavily on older storylines and characters, and I wish she wouldn’t […]

Bardugo can do so much better than this entire debut trilogy.

Siege and Storm (The Grisha Trilogy, #2) by Leigh Bardugo

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Sometimes a good author just gets stuck telling a mediocre story, and that’s what you have here. I know she can do so much better than this. So, let’s go over the good thing before I get to the bad: Nikolai. The second son of the King of Ravka, aka SPOILERS the privateer Sturmhond END SPOILERS. That character stole every scene he was in, and breathed life into the pretty much dead on arrival story. He was the lone bright spot in what was otherwise a […]

The sun summoner who became a saint, concluding the Shadow and Bone trilogy

Seige and Storm: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy book 2 by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising: The Shadow and Bone Trilogy book 3 by Leigh Bardugo

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Leigh Bardugo started off the first book in her Grishaverse, Shadow and Bone, with a neat mechanic, there was a “Before” section, and then chapter one.  It sets up the background of the book in a simplistic, story book format, referring to the main characters as boy and girl, instead of using their names.  At the end, there was an “After” section following the last chapter.  Same form as at the beginning, but wrapping things up.  She continued doing this for books two and three […]

I came into the Grishaverse backwards

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

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I came across the Grishaverse backwards.  Last year I read a write up for Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns and was intrigued by the concept of a book of fairytales that characters in her Grishaverse would have read or been told, when they were children.  The piece said knowledge of the other books was not necessary to enjoy Language of Thorns and I put it on my Cannonball gift exchange wish list.  I was delighted to discover it in my gift box (Thank you, […]

“One could plot violent espionage and still hope for dessert.”

King of Scars (Nikolai Duology #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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I’m trash for the whole Grishaverse, so of course I loved this. If anyone else, like me, enjoyed both previous series and ever thought to themselves, “Hey, you know what would be great, a sequel to the Grisha trilogy that feels more thematically like Six of Crows?” you’re in luck! Because that’s this book. We’re back with some of our favorite characters from both all of the books, and they’ve all been through some shit, so they’re all a little bit (or a lot bit) […]



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