Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Might have found my worst of the year with my first of the year

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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1.5 stars Warning! This review will contain spoilers, because after my book club discussion yesterday, I’m actually quite cranky about this book, and it’s impossible for me to rant properly if I can’t spoil the heck out of these stories. Don’t worry, you don’t really want to read this book anyway. Also, most of the spoilers are only visible if you go to my blog. In a small, dark basement café in Japan, visitors can travel briefly back in time, if they observe a series […]

The Shepherd King duology: power through the first book, it’s all worth it for the second

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

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One Dark Window: 3 stars Two Twisted Crowns: 4 stars Spoiler warning! Some minor spoilers for One Dark Window in this review. 20-year-old Elspeth Spindle (all the noble families have surnames taken from trees) lives in the kingdom of Blunder, most of which is now enveloped in a thick, sinister fog. Most people who venture out into the fog without a talisman (bones, feathers, animal feet, braided horsehair, etc) go mad and run off into the forest, never to be seen again. The only ones who seem […]

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by BROM

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Connecticut, 1666. An ancient spirit is awoken in the darkness of the wood, fed by blood and the prayers of the wild spirits name him Father and Slayer. They lure a clumsy farmer into a cave to feed him to the spirit, making young Abitha a widow. Abitha already doesn’t fit into the Puritan community with her outspoken ways and questioning of the rules. Having grown up in London, Abitha was sold by her drunken father and married off to a stranger, who thankfully turns […]

CBR15 Bingo: Dwelling

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

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CBR15 Bingo: Dwelling (the “haunted” house is pretty central to the story). This was my fantasy/sci-fi book club’s selection for May, and while I normally don’t like horror books, I read this mainly because I was so impressed with T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone, and also because it really was very short. It’s a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, which I have never read, and because I’m not a huge fan of Poe, I didn’t bother reading it […]

CBR15 Bingo: Strange Worlds

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

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CBR15 Bingo: Strange Worlds 15-word-review: Delivering food during the pandemic leads Jamie Gray to a monstrously exciting new career opportunity. Longer review: During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jamie Gray is working a dead-end job as a delivery driver for the very same company he got fired from. One day, when delivering food, Jamie runs into an old acquaintance, Tom, who remembers that Jamie’s thesis was on science-fiction and therefore thinks the job opportunity that KPS, the “animal rights organisation” that Tom works for might be a […]

Jennifer Hale should narrate more audiobooks

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

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#CBR15 Passport Challenge – Different genres (Sci-fi) 15-word review: Kira touches the wrong alien artifact and things escalate wildly from there. Excellent audio book. The audio book, which even listening at x1.5 speed felt like it lasted approximately forever, is narrated by Jennifer Hale and she does an amazing job. I was surprised to see, that with the exception of this and the upcoming follow-up (the book is set in the same universe, not sure if it’s a sequel, prequel, or companion novel), she has […]



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