Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“But then, all children come to hold grudges against their progenitors … Although I have made monsters, I have also performed miracles.”

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Every time I try to watch The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 version, as I am an elder millennial, an “Oregon Trail” generation child) all I want is for that movie to be good. It had promise, didn’t it? And yet, each incomprehensible scene devolves into a farce, and anyway I haven’t stayed up long enough to watch a complete movie in several years. I may put it on again tonight, because even if the end is terrible I won’t even be awake to see […]

monsters and miracles in Mexico

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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CBR Bingo Square: In the Wild I do love a good retelling, and early sci-fi seems especially ripe for the revisionist takes, given how centered they are on white male protagonists, and how absent the perspectives of women and POC are. So the idea of Moreno-Garcia’s follow-up to Mexican Gothic being a retelling of The Island of Doctor Moreau was a very appealing one, especially with moving the action to the Yucatan peninsula and engaging with Mexico’s history of indigenous resistance. Carlota, the eponymous daughter, is one of […]

It was always aliens who had built the pyramids. Nobody could conceive of any Indigenous group erecting anything more complex than a hut.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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I loved Monstserrat (Momo) and Tristán. I think they are my favorite Silvia Moreno Garcia characters. I loved them individually and especially together. I liked, but did not love the story they were in. And it wasn’t so much the plot, because that’s great, but there were times when I was frustrated with the info dumps. I think we got bogged down in detail too many times. Monserrat and Tristán have been friends since they were children, when Monserrat saved Tristán from bullies. Momo is […]

“Desire was not passion and passion was not love.”

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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I have been slow to jump on the Silvia Moreno-Garcia bandwagon, mostly because I read one of her earlier books and it wasn’t for me. Then everyone lost their minds over Mexican Gothic. And I did nothing! But I’m glad I eventually gave her another shot, because this book shows me that I can like what she does, though it still didn’t perfectly gel with my tastes. SM-G is a genre hopping author, and with The Beautiful Ones, she takes on a fantastical version of […]

Getting in the last of my 2022 Reviews!

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardous

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Girls Made of Snow and Glass (3 stars)-Not bad, but I started to get bored halfway through the book. Liked both characters points of views (Mina and Lynet), but I started wanting the story to go faster. I liked the idea of these two characters really wanting the other to be more (Lynet wanting Mina to be her mother and Mina wanting to be Lynet’s mother) and them being pulled apart by terrible men. But, after you keep reading, the book falls apart. I think […]

Not velvet, more like scratchy polyester

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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  Having really enjoyed Moreno-Garcia’s novel, Mexican Gothic, I ordered Velvet Was the Night excitedly, hopeful for another arresting story that was gripping from the start. Unfortunately, that was not what I got from this book. It took me much longer to get into it, and I may have set myself up for disappointment since I was holding it up to Mexican Gothic. It took me several days to finish this book, which isn’t the case with a book I am actively enjoying, I can […]



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