Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“All you children playing with fire, looking surprised when the house burns down”

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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At 20 years old, Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern is a freshman at Yale university. She doesn’t quite fit, but she took a deal from a stranger at her hospital bedside, and she’s determined to use it as a fresh start. But that’s harder than it looks when magic is all around. Yale has many secret societies, and all of them pull their power from magical sources. Alex is now a part of Lethe, the house that monitors the goings on of those societies, and makes sure […]

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 […]

Ninth House is great, but it’s not a feel-good read

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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I feel like I should start this review with some trigger warnings. Ninth House contains multiple descriptions of sexual assault, including assault of a child, bullying, and descriptions of drug use and abuse. I think the book handled these subjects as well as can be expected. I generally don’t read books involving rape or child abuse, so I wouldn’t have read Ninth House if I had known beforehand.  Ninth House is about a young woman named Galaxy (Alex) Stern who is admitted to Yale and inducted […]

An impossible job, near certain death, terrible odds…I love a good heist!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Six of Crows was recommended to me before I had heard of the Grishaverse.  After receiving it as a gift in the 2018 Cannonball gift exchange, I discovered that it was part of a larger world setting and I should probably read the preceding trilogy first.  It took me a while to get around to the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy and then another length of time to get back to Six of Crows.  I’m glad I waited and read the trilogy first, otherwise, the world […]

Way darker than the classic Joshua Jackson vehicle “Skulls”

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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Secret societies and magic have existed at Yale for centuries…didn’t you know? Don’t worry, most of the students don’t either. But the members of the secret societies are elbow deep in literal blood magic that keeps their alumni wealthy, famous, well-connected, well-liked….you name it (Bush the second’s election makes SO MUCH more sense now). Who keeps this kind of power in check? College students aren’t exactly famous for their good judgment. Enter Lethe House, the ninth house, created as a watchdog to keep the other […]



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