Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Re-reading Mistborn, Era One – Part I: The Final Empire

Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

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This one is interesting to consider on re-read. I read it pretty early in my first journey through Sanderson’s work. It was the third, I think, after Elantris and The Way of Kings, and I wasn’t anywhere used to his shenanigans yet. It seems much tamer and less complex the second time around, especially since I’ve been swimming in the nonsense going on in the Stormlight Archive for four enormous books now (beautiful, wonderful nonsense). Parts of it were less interesting this time, and parts […]

“Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Herbert

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I probably should have continued on with this series sometime between now and first reading Dune about eleven or twelve years ago. There are elements here which I would have much more easily glossed over in years past, but which stick out terribly now. Still, I feel you have to read a book within the context of its time. I can much more easily overlook or ignore some of the stuff in here since it’s fifty-six years old at this point than I could in […]

The Cosmere Re-Read Strikes Again #CBRBingo – Gateway

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

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One of Brandon Sanderson’s few standalones (for now), Warbreaker very much holds up on re-read. It takes place on a planet whose Investiture (sorry, Cosmere term) means that every person born has one Breath. The existence of Breaths has become a mostly spiritual issue, and one also about power. Breaths can be sold or given away, and the more Breaths one person holds, the more power they have. People with more Breath experience the world with heightened senses, and have the power to Awaken inanimate […]

“You’ll light your own bloody self on fire if you have to. And then you can pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you knew it all along. Congratulations.”

The Trespassser (Dublin Murder Squad, #6) by Tana French

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Short review for a book that has too much to talk about for me without writing a dissertation. I just find Antoinette Conway to be such an interesting narrator, and I love the way French plays off Conway’s weaknesses with the murder of Aislinn Murray. I had actually forgotten almost everything about this book, except how thorny Conway was as a narrator, and how her paranoia SPOILERS ended up being mostly unjustified END SPOILERS. I had also forgotten how angry Conway made me in her […]

“The nameless slave shall wear a silver crown.”

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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The first time I read this way back in 2008 I gave it five stars out of reflex, and then later I downgraded to four (I even deleted my Goodreads review because it just seemed excessive and ridiculous). My instinct upon finishing the second time was also to just smack five of ’em on there. It’s just so well-written, and so comprehensive, and so epic-feeling. It’s practically got it’s own gravity. And then I stepped away from it for a while, again (in this case […]

“There are worse games you could play.”

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

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I think I’m going to bullet point this one since I am now emotionally exhausted. The rest of the review will be all spoilers. *This is still not a five star book for me, though I am going to bump it up to 4.5 stars. Mainly, I’m still mad about Finnick dying, although the longer time passes, the more I see why she did it. Also, the ending does still seem a little rushed and confused, but then again, it does sort of reflect Katniss’s […]



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