Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I don’t turn toward the light because it means someday I’ll ‘win’ some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the light.”

Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

by Leave a Comment

Still ace at Star Wars novels, Claudia. I really should read her non-Star Wars work at some point, but every time I finish one of her SW books, I’m left satisfied, and feel no need to do so. Perhaps this is a mistake. This book was unexpected, both in that she chose to write about the earlier period of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s partnership instead of the later period most SW writers play in, and that I enjoyed it so much, when I’m usually […]

Basically a princess and bodyguard romance, but in Spaaace!

Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

by Leave a Comment

This is the second book in a series. While this book can be read independently, there are details to the world building and continuity that’s better explained in book 1, Polaris Rising, so you may want to begin with that one. Official book description: Bianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to […]

Life is Beautiful, and Life is Stupid

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

by 2 Comments

  ‘Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything pulses to a beat laid down by the Big Bang. Everything feels the drumline of creation from star to sex to song.’   How do you determine if a species is sentient? Do you go running and hiding behind René Descartes when asked? Rig-up some kind of ad-hoc test to see if they are capable of a subjective, private point of view? Or are you of the mind that if critters have feelings, that should be good […]

A space rebel romance

Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet

by 1 Comment

As a big fan of Amanda Bouchet’s Kingmaker Chronicles, I was pumped for her new book Nightchaser. This is the first book in her new sci-fi space series, which centers on Tess Bailey. She is a space captain with a troubled past who has become a sort of Robin Hood in space. She and her crew steal vaccines and supplies to give to children in need. At the start of the book, we find her on the run with a stolen lab. The Dark Watch […]

Penultimate Expanse Feelings

Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8) by James S.A. Corey

by 6 Comments

One of these days I’m going to have to do a full-series Expanse re-read. Probably not until after next year, when the last book is published. But whenever that happens, I feel like this book might be worth five stars. Maybe the last one, too. I actually finished it when it was first published over two months ago, but I’m so far behind in my reviews, this one isn’t going to super informative. I remember it traumatizing me, but in a good way. All that […]

All you ever were was a little bit of the universe, thinking to itself. Very specific; this bit, here, right now. All the rest was fantasy.

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks

by 3 Comments

This is going to be a tough review to write. First off, I loved it, and I find those reviews difficult. Second, it’s another big Culture novel from Iain M. Banks, and as I found last year with Matter, it’s hard to distill everything into a brief review. I’ll do my best on both counts, but I’ll just start with this: for anyone who loves hard science fiction in general and space opera in particular, the Culture novels are the absolute best I’ve read. Surface […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo