Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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“He flopped sideways, mute testament to the greatest fighting technique of all: a friend behind your enemy.”

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

November 9, 2025 by faintingviolet 7 Comments

The Devils is my first Abercrombie book. I’ve had Half a King on my TBR for over a decade, but it hadn’t made its way onto an annual list yet. But as is often the case over the past many years narfna reviewed something ecstatically which had me checking to see if it fit a reading challenge (I’m counting this as weird horror for Read Harder and Black for CBR Bingo) and then it made its way to this year’s list.  My brain is tired having finished the nearly 550 pages of this book. But the good kind of tired. The “I just […]

Filed Under: Featured, Fiction Tagged With: black, cbr17bingo, Dark Fantasy, first in a series, found family, joe abercrombie, read harder challenge, roadtrip, The Devils, weird horror

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:51 · Genres: Featured, Fiction · Tags: black, cbr17bingo, Dark Fantasy, first in a series, found family, joe abercrombie, read harder challenge, roadtrip, The Devils, weird horror ·
Rating:
· 7 Comments

Better the devils you know

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

May 12, 2025 by NatalieH Leave a Comment

Joe Abercrombie recently became one of my favourite authors (just after I finished his First Law series last year), so his most recent book, The Devils (the start of a brand-new series), has been at the top of my list for my most anticipated releases this year (also I got an ARC so I got to start reading it a couple of weeks before it’s officially released, yay! (but obligatory this didn’t affect the contents of this review, etc.)). The book is set in a […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: joe abercrombie

NatalieH's CBR17 Review No:36 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: joe abercrombie ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“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

April 27, 2024 by NatalieH Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: #fantasy, Fiction, joe abercrombie

NatalieH's CBR16 Review No:6 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: #fantasy, Fiction, joe abercrombie ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

New Old Beginnings

The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

February 15, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

Hmmm. I dunno about this one. I mean, it’s as well-written as anything else Abercrombie has done. It moves well, the plotting’s good. But as it is the finale of a second trilogy so closely tied to the first, it leads me to have to consider everything in bulk. The problem I have with the Age of Madness trilogy was realized about halfway through this one: I don’t care about most of these characters. Oreo and Savine are fun, I guess. Vick is somewhat interesting. […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: #fantasy, joe abercrombie, The Age of Madness, The Wisdom of Crowds

Jake's CBR16 Review No:17 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: #fantasy, joe abercrombie, The Age of Madness, The Wisdom of Crowds ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

January 2024 Leftovers

The Battle of Hastings: The Fall of the Anglo-Saxons and the Rise of the Normans by Jim Bradbury

Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

Charlesgate Confidential by Scott von Doviak

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

February 4, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

A lot of folks said this month was slow but I thought it flew by… The Battle of Hastings: The Fall of the Anglo-Saxons and the Rise of the Normans *** Bit too stuffy and academic but gave me a great outline as to the importance of the Battle and its outcomes. Time to Murder and Create **** This is the second time I’ve come out of a Matthew Scudder re-read with a better impression than the first time I read it. How it bodes for the […]

Filed Under: History, Mystery Tagged With: #Bernard Cornwell, #fantasy, art theft, Boston, Charlesgate Confidential, England, hard case crime, historical fiction, Jim Bradbury, joe abercrombie, Jorg Ancrath, lawrence block, LGBTQIA, London, Mark Lawrence, Matthew Scudder, Monica Heisey, mystery, New York City, Prince of Thorns, Really Good Actually, royalty, Scott Von Doviak, Sword Song, The Age of Madness, The Battle of Hastings, The Broken Empire, The Last Kingdom, The Trouble with Peace, Time to Murder and Create, Toronto, Uthred, Vermeer, war, William the Conqueror

Jake's CBR16 Review No:13 · Genres: History, Mystery · Tags: #Bernard Cornwell, #fantasy, art theft, Boston, Charlesgate Confidential, England, hard case crime, historical fiction, Jim Bradbury, joe abercrombie, Jorg Ancrath, lawrence block, LGBTQIA, London, Mark Lawrence, Matthew Scudder, Monica Heisey, mystery, New York City, Prince of Thorns, Really Good Actually, royalty, Scott Von Doviak, Sword Song, The Age of Madness, The Battle of Hastings, The Broken Empire, The Last Kingdom, The Trouble with Peace, Time to Murder and Create, Toronto, Uthred, Vermeer, war, William the Conqueror ·
· 0 Comments

At the Dawn of Revolution

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

January 3, 2024 by Jake Leave a Comment

I’m a mood reader most of the time. If I’m into mystery, it can only be mystery. History, same. True crime, yep. When I’m reading other stuff, I’m always envious. I rarely feel like I’m reading what I want. Rarely am I in the mood for fantasy. I do get there sometimes but not often. Part of that is the paucity of fantasy titles that hold my interest. I love A Song of Ice and Fire but can’t do Lord of the Rings and not much else has caught […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: #fantasy, A Little Hatred, first law, joe abercrombie, The Age of Madness

Jake's CBR16 Review No:1 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: #fantasy, A Little Hatred, first law, joe abercrombie, The Age of Madness ·
Rating:
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