Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Books like this are why I love science fiction. #CBRBingo – Fresh Start

Children of Time (Children of Time, #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Man, this hit me at just the right time, in just the right way. It was the perfect blend of escapism (events take place farrrr away and a verrry long time from now) and dealing with reality (humans gonna human even in the future and light years away). I almost don’t want to tell you anything about this book because if you go in unspoiled you are in for some surprises, but part of why I wanted to pick the book up is that I […]

What if your worst enemy designed a videogame death trap for you and then placed you inside it? But he was also incompetent?

An Unwelcome Quest (Magic 2.0, #3) by Scott Meyer

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First of all, this is one of the rare series that if you’re going to read it, you have to do the audio. You’re just missing something truly ineffable if you don’t. And I guess if you’re one of those people who can’t do audiobooks, then I don’t know what to tell you. I think I would have subtracted an entire star from all of these books without Luke Daniels’ performance. He brings a certain majesty of attitude and snarkiness, to these very silly stories. […]

“There is no consent under capitalism.”

Docile by K.M. Szpara

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I liked this! But it didn’t go where I was expecting it to and I had to think about it a bunch before I rated and reviewed it, which I think is ultimately in the book’s favor. If it was easily digestible, I don’t think it would have been worth much of anything. Docile has been touted as a “science fiction parable”, and I think that’s an apt description. Certain things are purposely heightened (the wealth disparity between classes) and taken to their extremes, while […]

Re-read review of the first two books, and also more people still need to read this series so I can have someone to talk about it with!!

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Ada Palmer

Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota, #2) by Ada Palmer

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This is a re-read review for the first two books in this series, which were originally written as one volume, and then split in two before publication. After reading them back to back for the first time, I can definitely say they work much better together as one story than they did the first time I read them, almost a year apart from each other. The arc of the story—the rising tension, climax, resolution—is much more clear and satisfying when they are read together. My […]

“It’s not what the Masquerade does to you that you should you fear . . . It’s what the Masquerade convinces you to do to yourself.”

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1) by Seth Dickinson

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The Traitor Baru Cormorant is probably the strongest (fictional) condemnation of colonialism that I’ve ever read. (And there have been some contenders.) I’ve been putting off writing a review of this book (and rating it) for a month now, because I was having such a hard time trying to sum up its complexities, and what it did to me as I was reading it. Mainly, though, this is exactly the reason I love fantasy and science fiction, because it can take real-world concepts like anti-colonialism,  […]

“One of them says, ‘Why did they do it?’ And the other answers, ‘Because they could.’ That is the only answer there ever is.”

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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I will not let this book ruin my review streak. I finished it last week and have just been sitting on a final rating and review because I wasn’t sure what I thought of it when I finished it, and I’m still not really sure now, but I don’t think waiting any more will help. Maybe typing up my thoughts will help solidify some things. I’m a little behind the times with this one. It was a big deal a couple of years ago, but […]



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