Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu

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After defecting to English magic (and higher pay), ghost-talker Ropa is ready to pack up her grandmother and leave Edinburgh behind entirely. But as tensions mount in the city and a mysterious enemy becomes more visible, Ropa’s grandmother is murdered – and Ropa is considered the primary suspect. In the fourth book of the Edinburgh Nights series, author Huchu really begins to weave together the broader conflict brewing in the world of Scottish magic and Ropa’s personal journey, bringing to fruition many of the things […]

“He laughs and laughs. My, how he laughs.”

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle by T.L. Huchu

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Ropa should be on cloud nine, helping organize the Society of Skeptical Enquirers’ biennial conference and hobnobbing with all the bigwigs of Scottish magic. But when she’s left scrambling to investigate a politically charged theft, she begins to wonder if the world of magic is more trouble than it’s worth. This is the third book in the Edinburgh Nights series, which follows teenage ghostalker Ropa as she investigates magical crimes in a politically uneasy Scotland. In this book, we seem to shift from the individual […]

A More Interesting Way to Do Hogwarts

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T. L. Huchu

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Bingo 14: Snake Quick notice: because Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is new acquisition at my local library, it had a shorter checkout period with no renewal so I had to give it back before getting to write about it; I may not be as totally sure of certain details as a result. The snake theme actually works on more than one level here because there is indeed a hospital and mysterious affliction that is affecting school boys in the magical community, and Ropa gets […]

Immersive, engaging and a whole lotta fun

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu

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T.L. Huchu’s The Library of the Dead was one of my favorite books of last year, so you better believe I went nuts when I saw that unbelievable cover. Just like the first, this book is captivating, immersing you in the world of a post-catastrophe Edinburgh through the eyes of one teen girl who can quote Sun Tzu one moment and then fall back into Scottish slang the next. After the events of the last book, Ropa’s ghostalking business has tanked. But that’s ok because she’s […]

“The Only Currency More Powerful than Money in this World is the Violence of Man.”

Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

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I found the Library of the Dead when searching online for books that were like The Starless Sea.  As always, I got it (for free) out of the library to do a cursory read before committing to purchasing. And while there weren’t that many similarities between Morgenstern’s book and this one, Huchu’s first foray into speculative fiction is a great success. I’d never heard of Huchu before, but I will definitely be checking out his other publications based on how much I enjoyed this read. Edinburgh has […]

If there’s a library in the title and on the cover, shouldn’t it be part of the story?

The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu

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Bingo 5: Cityscape The Library of the Dead features the city of Edinburgh on the cover, both above and below ground. It has a pretty interesting premise: 14 year-old Ropa is a ghostalker, meaning she is a licensed professional who takes messages back and forth between the dead and the living. She’s dropped out of school to work full time to support her family, her grandmother and little sister. She’s got rather rough past, but she does have a few friends. One of them introduces […]



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