Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Masterful interweaving of past and present storylines to tell a slice of demon Kai’s life.

Witch King by Martha Wells

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CBR15 Bingo: Violence – “Kai looked at her through the black film of the veil, “You could say ‘be violent’ instead.”  Tahren, who Kai was beginning to suspect had a very dry sense of humor, patted his shoulder and said, “Be violent.”  Also, the Hierarchs are bent on committing genocide on a continent wide scale. Up to this point, my only exposure to Martha Wells was through The Murderbot Diaries.  I instantly fell in love with Murderbot and Well’s excellent writing.  I admire how she […]

It would technically be fiction, but the kind of fiction that was true in all the ways that mattered.

System Collapse by Martha Wells

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SecUnit is not ok. I am also not ok. System Collapse, the seventh in the Murderbot Diaries series is stressful. Amazing, but stressful as heck. You cannot read System Collapse if you haven’t read Network Effect. The action picks up not long after Network Effect ends. ART is still repairing its worm hole drive, the Preservation crew and the University crew are working together to create a charter that will give the colonists (formerly known as the Targets) control over their planet and their future. […]

A Very Short Murderbot Story

Compulsory (Murderbot Diaries #0.5) by Martha Wells

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In my attempts to conquer my bad reading year (both in quantity and experience) I’ve decided to just read whatever strikes my fancy and stop trying to solve it. At least for now I’m sticking to as many short works or graphic novels/comic books as I feel like reading. I’m also trying to revisit old standbys without re-reading. When I noticed that there was a Murderbot short story I wasn’t previously aware of, I leapt onto it. It is a short story, a very short […]

Fantasy is Social Commentary and I Love It

Witch King by Martha Wells

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CBR15Bingo — Relation “ship” — This is a very relationship focused book and they spend time on two different ships as well. My first Martha Wells! And a nice way to start, as I fully enjoyed this book and am glad I went ahead and bought it at full price after dithering over it at the bookstore two days in a row. I got the B&N signed edition, which is a sturdy hardcover with her signature embossed in gold on the inside cover. I thought […]

Fantastic Book, Wrong Reading Mood

Witch King by Martha Wells

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Kaiisteron awakes to find a minor mage trying to use his mage.  It doesn’t end well for the mage.  After being murdered and having his consciousness trapped for who knows how long, Kai has a lot of questions, and he’s not liking the answers so far.  As he sets out to figure out both what happened to him and what’s currently going on, Kai will have to gather his friends and family close and figure out both who to trust and what his path forward […]

“He’s a grief-stricken madman.” “He’s just like us.”

Witch King by Martha Wells

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Martha Wells knows how to grab a reader by the throat right at the beginning. We meet Kai, the Witch King, in a moment of confusion. His body has been murdered and he has awakened in a tomb designed to keep him trapped. One friend is trapped with him, but not others. Who betrayed him, and where are the other members of his family? Kai is a demon prince, invited to inhabit the body of a dying human girl. The life above ground that he expects […]



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