Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Swedish-Vietnamese siblings in space!

Children of the Phoenix Vol. 1: The Eye of the Storm  by Oskar Kallner

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I found the part novel-part graphic novel Children of the Phoenix Vol. 1: The Eye of the Storm to be a fun space adventure with typical tropes. It is due in mid-December 2023, with book two due in summer of 2024.  Oskar Kallner’s story was not as detailed as I had hoped (there is a bit more “tell than show,” and has some repetition. Plus, the science information relies on the reader knowing some of it or having an idea about things already) but it was […]

Whoops, read this back in CBR7 and never continued!

Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold

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So I read this book back in CBR7 with the full intention of blasting through the series . . . and then proceeded to not do that. So of course I had to re-read before actually continuing. This is still three and a half stars, but I’m bumping it up this go-round. I’m very glad I re-read this, because I knew I had forgotten most of what happened here, except for the general arc of Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan, but I didn’t realize HOW much […]

CBR15 Bingo: Take the Skies (Double bingo)

Network Effect by Martha Wells

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4.5 stars CBR15 Bingo: Take the Skies Murderbot is away from Dr. Mensah, the person it likes the most (although it would never admit this to anyone, or itself), in order to guard a research party (which includes Mensah’s daughter). The group is attacked and sucked through a wormhole, and Murderbot is really very annoyed about the sudden upheaval. When it turns out that the abduction may in fact have something to do with an old friend of Murderbot (not that it acknowledges friends, as […]

Watch This Space

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

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The first question in my mind when I finished listening to Wil Wheaton’s excellent narration of The Collapsing Empire was “this had better be a god damned trilogy!”. Thankfully, it is, and I will get to spend many more hours listening to the plight of the young Emperox Grayland II as she navigates the untimely collapse of The Flow, the method by which humans of the future overcome the limitations of light speed travel. The Collapsing Empire opens with a prologue that sets the scene […]

“We seek for every possibility of life and sentience, because the universe is vast and cold and mostly empty, and variance from that void is to be treasured.”

Children of Memory (Children of Time, #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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I was thoroughly discombobulated for the majority of my reading experience with this book. That was the way it was supposed to be, of course, so minor spoilers for that I guess? I don’t think that’s actually spoilers, but some people would probably think it is. Anyway, I didn’t anticipate that level of purposeful fuckery on behalf of Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the slow creep of the feeling that something was not right was simultaneously unpleasant and intriguing. This is the third (and final??) book in […]

Love in the stars

Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik

Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

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I’ve heard only great things about Jessie Mihalik’s books from Cannonball Read. I already had Polaris Rising on my shelf, but I read Hunt the Stars first. Since it was selected by The Ripped Bodice’s fantasy romance book club, it got moved into the rotation. The first Starlight’s Shadow book introduces us to Tavi and her space crew. They are space war veterans who use their skills now as bounty hunters. The war may be over with the Valoffs. However, most humans don’t trust this […]



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