Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Toby, please stop punching Etienne in the head. It’s not helping.”

Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire

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Ah, the continuing saga of Toby Daye getting kicked in the teeth. After the events of last book, Toby now has to deal with her friends being poisoned, her death getting ever closer, the Luidheag not talking to her, four of five people who just need a fresh one across the face, and the possibility she’s slowly going insane; just another day in San Francisco. Rereading the series, I’ve started noticing how many books have Toby behind the eight ball for most of the plot. […]

“I am so tired of this gothic crap,” I muttered. “Just once, I want to meet the villain in a cheerful, brightly lit room. Possibly one with kittens.”

An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire

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This was the book that almost made me stop reading the October Daye series the first time I read it, still hated it the second time I read, and the third time is no better. It’s not just that this is one of the most dark and depressing books in the series (though it is), it’s not just that the entire book comes across as Toby being constantly behind the eight ball; it’s just bleak and disturbing and not the least bit fun to read […]

“The laws of physics have already been violated. What happens if they decide to press charges?”

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

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I’ve seen that mixture of resignation and hopelessness before; its usually in my mirror.   After the events of Rosemary and Rue, Toby is back once again in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill, lord of the Duchy of Shadowed Hills (outside of San Francisco, in the Mt. Diablo area.). As much as she doesn’t want to be, it’s apparently once a hero, always a hero. I’m not a hero; if I’m lucky, I never will be. I just do my job Sent to help […]

A hopeful future with robots and food

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

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If you need a story of chosen family and hope and good food, Automatic Noodle absolutely fits the bill. This is a delightful novella of a near-future where California has split from the United States after war, and part of California progressiveness was to give civil rights to human equivalent embodied intelligence (HEEI) robots. But those rights are limited – they’re not able to use a bank, own property, and there’s lots of prejudice against robots (very allegorical to American attitudes towards immigrants and marginalized […]

“We have to burn brightly. We can’t burn forever”

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

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Hidden amongst mortals, the Fae carve out lives in the human world and small pockets of alternate space they’ve carved out called Knowes. When one of them decides to play “Faerie Bride” and take a human to their bed, a Changeling; half-human half-fae is born. Given the choice between their human side (and death) or their fae side (and never seeing their human parent again), most choose Fae. October “Toby” Daye was one of these. Barely tolerated by the fae for her halfblood status, she […]

Bishop might take Knight, but the Queen wins

Elsa's Chessboard by Jenny Andrus

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For the grandmother that wanted to play chess with her granddaughter, author Jenny Andrus wrote Elsa’s Chessboard. She was a child who did not have interest in an “old dusty game,” but now she is giving us a peek at the woman who would change chess in ways unexpected. Based on the life of Elsa Konstandt Weisz, we go from Vienna to San Francisco as a young Jewish woman flees WWII and makes a new home in the United States, all the while keeping her […]



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