Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I appreciate the hard work that went into creating the book, though

Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston

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I had seen the cover of Cruel Illusions as an online reader copy ages back. I saved the link but never got around to reading it, and then the link expired. No big deal, I’d get to it eventually, and recently I requested it via an interlibrary loan. Well, I almost wish I hadn’t. The cover lied. To a point. It would have (at the end) the roses and the main character dressed like that, but that romanticism was pushed all until the end (except […]

Incredible world-building does not make up for a lackluster romance

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

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“I think it must’ve been a person who’d wished for love but had never known it who’d created the first clock. Because time is a reminder of how quickly the present passes and how little of the future remains, and no one in love would want to know that.” ― Shaun David Hutchinson, Before We Disappear After narrowly escaping Paris when his employer/adoptive mother is accused of stealing a rival’s illusion, Jack finds himself in Seattle the month before the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. While there, […]

To Steal or Not to Steal? DUH! To steal!

The Amulet of Samarkand The Graphic Novel by Jonathan Stroud

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I like reading graphic novels that are adapted from a novel. It has potential for you to see if they match, if the art looks like what you think it “should” look like and you get a “two for one” (so to speak) story. However, when you read a graphic novel adapted from a novel you read so many years ago, you cannot remember what the book was about, you get a surprise. The Amulet of Samarkand The Graphic Novel is Jonathan Stroud’s novel of […]

For a fantasy novel, these characters are a little too real

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

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The Magicians by Lev Grossman follows Quentin Coldwater through his education at Brakebills, a college for magic, and his post-graduation life. Quentin is a depressed, maladjusted jerk. He is not a wholly good person. No one at Brakebills or any magician seems to be a good person. Not Quentin’s best friend Alice and her family trauma that weighs her down to the point of never standing out, not Eliot and his ostentatious proclivity to exclude, not Janet and her razor-sharp tongue that inflicts lashes wherever […]

Shades of Magic

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As with my last review, this was a re-read for me as well. Well, most of it was a re-read. I had actually read the first two books of this series, A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows, previously and decided to re-read them before reading the final book, A Conjuring of Light. I really enjoyed these books and what I enjoyed most are the two main characters. The first character we meet is Kell. An Antari (blood magician), Kell is from […]

An Unclear Circus Farewell

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I have to admit, the timing here is almost ironic. I finish this book just when Ringling Brothers announces their closure. Anyways, Night Circus has a lot going for it. An interesting premise, mystery, magic, and a great cast of characters in an intriguing setting. The language is also unusually detailed, which matches well with the mysterious artsy tone. I should have loved this, but I only liked it. I had 3 main problems with Night Circus. First and foremost, I hate present tense narrative, […]



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