Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Plague — and a Madman in a Masquerade

Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold

Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Blink and you miss ‘em… Lois McMaster Bujold has released two Penric and Desdemona novellas in the past year when I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t know how these releases keep on passing me by, I really don’t. Usually, these novellas are mostly light-hearted fun, but the first one, The Physicians of Vilnoc, might be a little uncomfortably timely, as it revolves around a plague. Looking at the publication dates, I don’t think Bujold did this on purpose, as she would have started writing this […]

Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold (2006)

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

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Book 1 of the fantasy tetralogy “The Sharing Knife” by Lois McMaster Bujold. According to other reviews the intent here is one long book broken into sections, which does make sense because of how expository this book feels ultimately. Something I gathered from reading her other fantasy novels, the Five Gods book, and even The Spirit Ring, is that Bujold, as much as she loves writing adventure and military fiction and science fiction, the appeal in her fantasy novels often swerves toward romance and especially […]

A Book Exchange Extravaganza From Bothari43

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Bothari43 has been very kind to me this Book Exchange season. She sent me three ebooks – Anna Zabo’s Syncopation (sorry about your search algorithm), Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Beguilement (The Sharing Knife). In addition to that largess, I now have a lovely cephalopod print and a 5 year daily journal of questions and answers. I am so excited!

Grab a Cup of Tea and Settle Down With Our Favorite Demon-Sorcerer Duo

The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold

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  Lois McMaster Bujold has released another novella set in her World of the Five Gods. And once again, she does it in such a sneaky fashion that I completely missed it! While the Five Gods series has three novels under its belt so far, Lois has been adding a number of stories to the series focused on a young man named Penric, who has become a host to a demon, who he dubbs Desdemona. Penric is a first for Desdemona – despite having close […]

My home is not a place, it is people.

Barryar by Lois McMaster Bujold

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This is the follow up to Shards of Honor, and like a few others, including that one, I think the series is best told in a variety of orders. I wouldn’t start with these two at all and would jump straight into the Miles books and go from there forward. I would read the prequels and side-novels like Ethan of Athos and Falling Free and even Cetaganda whenever you feel like it, but not feel compelled to read them at any specific point. Although I would caution against reading […]

Revisiting old faves/comfort food

The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold

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I like to re-read and review at least one Lois book per year, even though it’s always hard for me to think of much to say besides “I love this!” It’s been a while since I revisited Fiametta, so I chose one of Lois’s rare (only?) standalone books, the fantasy Spirit Ring. Also rarely, this book takes place in the real(ish) world, in Renaissance-y Italy. Except that there’s magic. Fiametta Beneforte is a bright, headstrong daughter of a wealthy sorcerer and metalworker. Her father creates […]



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