Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The cover makes the book look more exciting than it is

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

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I know that Ursula K. Le Guin is a big name in influential fantasy authors, especially for children’s and YA.  And I’d never read anything by her, so I figured that I should.  A Wizard of Earthsea is the classic hero’s journey with wizards and magic and dragons and all sorts of other stuff.  What more could you ask for?   Apparently a lot.  I was bored!  Partly due to the story, and partly because of the language. It felt stuffy.  I think she was […]

Harry’s back, and this is only the first of the books we get this year

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

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No rating until I’ve read the second part of the story. Spoiler warning! This is book 16 in a long, ongoing series. This really isn’t the place to start. Normally, I’d recommend that you start with book 1, but the first three books of The Dresden Files are pretty bad, so you’d be better off starting with book 4, Summer Knight. I highly recommend the audio books, narrated by James Marsters. They’re what finally sold me on the series. Official book description: When the Supernatural nations of the world meet […]

Wizards, Written in the Style of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

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Six years! It’s been six years since we’ve had a full-length Dresden Files novel. The wait had not quite reached A Song of Ice and Fire extremes, but fans were still feeling a bit despondent. So cue the excitement earlier this year when it was announced that not only was the wizard-drought going to break, but it with not just one book, but two! …Well, sort of. Sorry, going to put a dampener in this. Because now that I have read Peace Talks – and […]

Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched?

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

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Well, my library is being watched at least. I keep reading myself in circles; themes from one book bleed into another; people, places, statements, snippets of songs- this year is becoming one giant, roiling, swirling brew of a book. Peter Grant and the Falcon Family (tm tm tm!) are back in London, up to their necks in the Thames and sinking fast. Luckily, the river is full of gods who are just as willing to save them as they are to let them drown. Last […]

There isn’t really peace when you are done

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

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4.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is the second book in a series, and this review will contain spoilers for the first book, Carry On. If you haven’t already read it, you should do yourself a favour and do so. Simon Snow was the Chosen One, destined to bring an end to the threat to all magic. Of course, it turned out that he himself was in fact the thing that was threatening the magic in the first place, and his mentor/father figure (and actual biological father, although none […]

If you’re going to ban Harry Potter, at least come up with a better reason

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

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Bingo 23 Banned Book The Harry Potter series has been challenged for many things including glorifying witchcraft, encouraging bad behavior like disobeying rules and lying, and for being un-Christian. This recent ban though is almost laughable, but it did make the international news (click for link): Reverend Dan Reehill, head St Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee, apparently decided that the spells presented in the series were real. He supposedly consulted the Vatican on this, and had the books removed from his school library so […]



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