Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

In chapter 38, Torry (she/her) and Kelly White (she/her) from Nathan For Us: A Nathan Fielder Fan Podcast recap Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (8:09). Then get into their Internet Investigation, Wonder Whys, Gripes and Grumbles, and Sequel Scoop (45:23).

Content Warning: Brief mention about alien abduction, human trafficking, forced abortion, some scenes with noncon, and sexual assault. Take care!

Spoiler Warning: While we explore Ice Planet Barbarians in detail, rest assured that there won't be any spoilers in the episode beyond this book.

Leave a voicemail question or comment for Torry to include in a future episode. Suggest a book here.

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• January 1: Bride by Ali Hazelwood
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Music by Simon Tebbenham.

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Welcome to Ready to Be Romance. I'm Tori and I'm Kelly, and
today we're discussing IcelandicBarbarians.
I tried so hard. I don't know, it wasn't bad.
It wasn't bad. Kelly, welcome to the show.
I'm so excited to talk about this book with you.
Yes, thank you so much for having me.

(00:40):
I feel like this book is a little bit weird.
It's really like, not what people expect it's gonna be in a
way. So I'm very excited to talk
about it. I have very few people I can
talk about this book with because like, when are you gonna
bring this up in conversation? No seriously.
And I first heard you podcastingwith Robin Akiva of Robin Akiva

(01:02):
need a podcast. And you were doing like a Turing
test with them and you used ice planet Barbarians as one of the
like tricks of like. Is this a real book or did AI
make this up? Yeah, I mean, it really does
sound like it could be AI, especially like just reading the

(01:23):
back of it and reading like a little summary.
It truly does not sound real. And the fact that it's so
popular and has spun off so manyother books is truly.
Wild. Truly wild.
I don't know if this is true butit definitely feels like the
most popular like paranormal monster romance book that you

(01:43):
know there ever was. Yeah, I feel like it really show
goes to show people that first of all, there's something out
there for everyone. Like, if you think of like, is
there a sexy version of this? Like, yes, there will be.
There's probably a million of them.
And #2 like, sexy aliens can be the top book, talk book.

(02:04):
You know, you, you just, you just never know what's gonna hit
with people. Totally.
And I also just feel like it just feels new and refreshing to
talk about a book like this. Not that like I feel like in the
Romance Runner, it's like romance has been around forever.
So it's not like conversations about romance novels are new,
but like, I feel like some of the like unabashed, like just

(02:28):
like not stigmatized, not embarrassing.
It's a little embarrassing, but like conversations that are
happening online are really likenew and fresh and fun, so.
Yeah, and there I think there's there's some stuff here that it
makes sense why people are clinging on to this book for
sure in like this current, you know, reality.

(02:50):
It definitely makes sense why people would want a book like
this where it's kind of like cotton candy almost for the
brain. Nothing really.
Well, aside from the beginning, nothing bad really happens. 100%
it's definitely like pure escapism and like I feel like
you could do and like maybe we'll touch on some of the
points of like some of the things that happened.

(03:12):
But like, if you didn't wanna dothat, you could just read it for
like pure enjoyment. And you're right.
It's like kind of escapism and like a bleak world right now.
And like also, I always, I've always said this on the podcast,
but like, if you, if you were like hating men, if you're in an
era of hating men, monster romance is a perfect thing to

(03:35):
pick up like. Which sounds really crazy when.
Like. No I would.
I would rather fuck a literal monster.
Actually, it's very like bear versus man conversation.
Oh my God, that's so funny. So have you been like a A?
Lifelong reader, yeah, ever since I can remember, I've.

(03:57):
I've been reading. I definitely remember, like I'm
sure tons of people reading Harry Potter was probably like
the first kind of long series that I read.
But all through high school, Twilight was coming out when I
was in high school. So that was that was an era for
me. And then, yeah, just after that,

(04:17):
I've always kind of been readingsomething, even if it was taking
me months and months to finish abook.
I feel like I always had something on the go, so yeah.
And romance especially, I think I always end up coming back,
too. It's like one of my favorite
genres. It's just so fun.
It's so fun. Yeah.
Yeah, it is. What type of like sub genres do

(04:39):
you like in romance or what typeof tropes do you like reading?
Yeah, I think for me, I'm mostlyfocus on like the characters.
I don't even know if I necessarily have a favorite
trope. I think it goes back and forth.
I love an enemies to lovers, butthen I love a friends to lovers.
The only thing I hate is like the accidental pregnancy.
That's not for me. Which kind of?

(04:59):
Yes, which kind of? Yeah, we're trying to get.
Into that, but literally. I feel like I'm pretty open to
anything in terms of like subgenres.
I've been reading a lot recently.
Other than this book. I've been reading a lot of like
gothic romance. It's like a bit slower paced and
I like it when it has like a bitof like a mystery.

(05:20):
Yeah, It's just it's cold outside now.
I feel like cozying up, you know?
Yes. But yeah, that's a big one for
me. I've read a couple other like
paranormal romances which we cantalk about too, which are very
fun. But yeah, I'm pretty open.
But yeah, I kind of love it all.Yeah, me too.
It's fun to bounce around because then you never get like

(05:41):
there, like I've got definitely gone through periods where it's
like, OK, I'm reading like all sports romances and I'm like,
OK, like got to got to switch itup and like that type of thing.
But it does always keep you interested, engaged, because
there's just so many different types of books out there.
Yeah, and I find when you read like one type of romance, a lot
of the times you just start being able to predict what's

(06:02):
going to happen. Like the same thing happened.
To me, I was in like a mystery era for a while.
I was just reading all these thrillers and it's like after a
while it's like, OK, well, it was obviously, you know, blah,
blah, blah. Did it 'cause you can just kind
of figure it out. So I feel like it's nice to come
to a, an alien romance where it's like, I don't know, I don't
even know what this person's genitalia is gonna look like.
Like it's a surprise at every turn.

(06:24):
No, that's so true. But I'm really glad that you
brought that up 'cause I think that that's one of the, like,
criticism of the romance genre is like people are like, it's
formulaic and it's like, babe, what?
Like a mystery novel, like a murder mystery is formulaic.
So I don't get that unfair criticism.
No, people are just being lazy if that's their criticism.
Yes, yes, absolutely. So spoiler warning, we're going

(06:48):
to be talking about ice planet Barbarians, but we're not going
to talk about anything that happens after that.
And I want to give a content warning at the top of the
episode, a big one, a big one which I like didn't read and was
like, oh, this is going to be like fluffy and fun and was like
shook to my core when I read. That in this book.

(07:09):
Yeah. Feel like I probably wouldn't
have used this as an example I remembered but it kind of just
comes and goes very quickly 100.Percent would be.
Weird, but anyways. It it does not make sense for
the book I feel like. But there is obviously like an
alien abduction and then a threat of human trafficking, a

(07:31):
forced abortion and a sexual assault at the beginning of the
book and some scenes with non con.
So take care if you're listeningor if you're reading.
And if you want to skip all this, apparently Ruby Dixon, the
author took the first few chapters out of like the new
hard copy. So if you're reading the e-book

(07:52):
or listening to the audio book, all of that is still in there.
But it I feel like you can skip it till when she gets trapped by
Vechtel truly. Yeah, I feel like it's, you
know, you don't need it. It really feels like a different
book. So let's get into the plot.
It was, it was a book published in April 3rd of 2015.

(08:14):
And it does. I kind of feel like it's of its
time I would say. Definitely, yeah.
I would 100% agree with that. I'm also like, it's so close to
April Fool's Day. I wonder if you were like, is
this real? That's so funny.
When did that post go up like? That's so true, my God.
But yeah, every time I pictured the girls, I pictured them in

(08:36):
like 2015 clothing. Yeah, I feel like the a lot of
the references, there's not too many cultural references, but
the ones that there are, it doesfeel very 2015.
Very 2015. So we meet our main protagonist,
Georgie, and she has woken up inwhat looks like a a cargo Bay of

(08:59):
an alien spaceship. And she's in like kind of like a
holding cell with a bunch of other women.
She's like obviously really out of it.
She notices a bump in her arm, which she assumes is like a
tracking device. She's with a bunch of other
girls who are like, scared and they know like varying degrees

(09:19):
of kind of what's happening, butthey don't have the whole
picture. Yeah, it kind of slowly unfolds
over the first little bit. Yeah.
Georgie is kind of like lost in life, it seems.
She has like kind of a dead end job.
So it's funny because it feels to me like she's angry that
she's been abducted, but she's not.
She's not as angry as like I would be.
Yes, she's. Like this kind of sucks.

(09:42):
It's like, okay girl, this isn'tlike a Fender Bender.
Like you guys actually aliens and she's mad but not that mad
about it. No, 100% she like I'm like you
were finding out that aliens exist like hard proof that yeah
says you have been taken to Earth with like pretty much no
chance of going back and you arebeing human trafficked, but you

(10:05):
like are taking it kind of in strides.
Yeah, she takes it very well. Truly, truly, very well.
Yeah. And I like the fact that they
are kind of figuring it out altogether.
I feel like the fun thing about the group of women, and probably
why there's so many books after this following each of them,
they all kind of immediately like form a little sisterhood,

(10:26):
which is nice. And they do seem to to get along
for the most part. Well, there's a couple people
who maybe don't, but yeah, they all just kind of try and help
each other, which is how they try and hatch an escape plan to
get out of this situation. An escape feels like Nah at this
point, but when there's like a, a chance for them to escape,

(10:49):
there's like turbulence on the aircraft and they're able to
like distract the aliens that have abducted them and like take
one of their weapons and they like Georgie straight up kills
one of the aliens. Beating to death like his old
gun. With his own gun, like

(11:11):
describing like her hitting his skull.
I was like, I also felt this like this book feels like a
novella without actually being anovella cuz I was like, she did
not process like and then like obviously the guard, it's not a
good person or even a person at that.
But like, but I'm like, you still killed something and like

(11:34):
again, does not bat a fucking eye.
No, which like I guess good for you that you can
compartmentalize as well. They also do see one of the
other women who is like sexuallyassaulted by a bunch of the
aliens, which is insane. And I feel like they're like
upset, but like, again, Georgie doesn't get like that upset

(11:56):
about. It.
She's not joking about it or anything, but to me, I'm like,
you should be horrified. But yeah, if you're wondering
what we were talking about with the sexual assault, it happens
right at this point. Right at the start and they are
being treated like they are likepeeing in like a corner.
Like yes. It's so not sexy for, like, a

(12:18):
sexy book. Yeah, actually this whole thing,
I'm like, you guys are eating raw meat and haven't bathed in
like months. But that's what I mean.
That's probably. Sexy to some people, the raw
meat thing, I don't know, like there's some stuff going on on
Instagram that I can't even get into, but.

(12:41):
So yeah, they end up like, crashing.
And it's so turbulent that the spacecraft crashes onto like, a
desolate, wintry planet. And obviously the girls are
like, we have no idea how we're gonna survive this.
Yeah, it's looking pretty bleak.Yeah.

(13:03):
The book is also extremely short.
I don't know if we mentioned that at the beginning, but
obviously, you know, we haven't met the sexy aliens yet, so we
know they're coming. We don't know how yet or when,
but yeah, Georgie ends up takingcharge everyone really, kind of
because of the fact that she killed the alien and she's just
kind of been so gung ho about all this, they kind of let her

(13:25):
become the leader. So she decides, or they decide
for her that she's gonna go outside.
So she takes off all the dead guards, you know, and she climbs
up out of this cracked ship, andshe's in this, like, barren
mountainy planet that's very snowy.

(13:45):
That's very snowy, which this isa fool's errand or a like a
fool's mission because why are you like she is the de facto
leader because of her heroic like escape murder, like literal
murder. But I was like you leaving the

(14:07):
spaceship like and going out into like the Arctic is crazy.
Like that's like guaranteed for you to just like get hypothermia
and die. Yeah, I mean, she says at the
beginning she works like a very boring job at, like, a bank.
And I'm kind of like, you know, like, just give up then, you

(14:28):
know what I mean? Like, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, you already said you hate
your life. And I'm really trying so hard to
survive here. Go off, girl.
But it is like very funny that she's like, I hate my life back
home. And then she goes on this insane
adventure and somehow ends up being the one who kind of does
all of the adventuring for everyone.

(14:48):
Truly. Truly.
And so they named the planet notis it not Hoth?
Yeah. Yeah, OK.
Because it is. It looks like the planet Hoth
from Star Wars. Are you a Are you a Star Wars
girly? I'm yeah, I've definitely like
I've seen all the Star Wars manytimes.

(15:09):
I not famously, I guess famouslyin my family.
I like watched one of the Star Wars movies when I was like a
little kid and I cried when Han Solo got frozen in carbonite.
Like spoiler alert for anyone who doesn't.
Know yeah, I haven't watched theseries.
So yeah, but I do love Star Wars.
Hot is just like a big wintry planet where they have like

(15:30):
you've probably seen pictures oflike the giant robot things that
they have. And they have like big woolly
creatures, which we'll get to cuz Ruby Dixon is kind of
obsessed with Star Wars, so she does mention it a lot.
Yeah, like too much. Like, isn't there a a point
where Georgie is talking to Vectel about like, Oh yeah.

(15:51):
Like she makes like a Star Wars reference and she's like, oh,
you haven't watched that? It's like, where the fuck would
he have watched that? That's insane.
Also he lives in like, he's likean alien like.
Yeah, yeah. Like what do you mean?
Of course he has not watched Star Wars, but so funny.
But yeah, so she, she's, she's abig Star Wars girl, clearly.

(16:13):
Yes, yes. And she so she heads out, she
leaves the women behind and likethe women are like, you know,
gaining more information as the time goes on.
Like they realize they're all ofsimilar age.
They all like don't have much family or like friends and like
live alone and stuff like that. So they're like, OK, clearly
they like had a specific mission, but I think this also

(16:37):
is good because they become like, fast friends because
they're so similar in so many different ways.
This is like she is walking away, you know, like the most
safety, but the girls have to survive, like with truly
nothing. Yeah, with also like 2 dead
girls that have like died in thecrash like I don't.

(17:00):
So I I maybe would prefer Georgie's task of going to find
help. I don't.
Know they do at least like they do say they have food.
So at least they've got the seaweed, The seaweed bars.
Yeah. So they you.
Know they've got something but yeah, she does leave her friends
kind of like, I don't know, we'll we'll get into more of her

(17:22):
like going away, but I'm like, girl, you gotta get back.
Yeah, Yeah, I know. I know.
She takes some detours. Yeah, she takes some detours
that are confusing, to say the least.
Yeah. So she heads out.
She sees like a stream. She's like, oh, my gosh, like a
water source. But there's like, fish that are,
I guess, like piranhas that are trying to attack her.

(17:48):
And obviously that's like, really scary.
And she kind of gets like, confused and she walks into a
Hunter's snare and gets snatchedup and like, gets knocked out.
Yes, yeah. I mean, and at this point, it's
clear that we're about to meet the sexy.
Yes, yes, yes. And so it's dual POV.

(18:09):
So we kind of switched to Vecto's POV here, who is a large
blue alien with glowing eyes andhorns and he's like, what the
fuck is this strange creature that I've caught in my trap?
Especially when his like life source like the he's like

(18:29):
there's a thing that the girls call a cootie.
But I'm pretty sure it's Qui. That's what I think it would be
too. I should have tried the audio
book to see. I was thinking the exact same
thing and I tried to look up some like tik toks and like some
I was like this isn't on the Wikipedia.
Like this seems like such a no brainer to do.

(18:51):
But the aliens that live on thisplanet have this thing within
them that's kind of like, I don't know, it like protects
them from the cold and like it helps them heal very quickly.
But it also like resonates, which is like where it hums when

(19:12):
it's identified its mate. Yes, yeah.
So you can kind of see where this is going.
But yes, his quee is resonating when he sees Georgie, even
though he doesn't really know that she's a human or anything
like that. But he's extremely excited when
he finds her because of this. But he's stressed out because

(19:34):
she does not have a quee and sheseems very weak and he doesn't
know what kind of creature that she is or anything like that.
Yeah, which I kind of did like this back story that like the,
the aliens, they're also not from this planet and they, their
ship crashed here like I think it was like 300 years ago or

(19:56):
something like that. So they found out that they need
a Qui to survive. And so there is kind of like
this. Oh like I can help this person
cause we've done it before. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot
of, there's a lot of like good things that were planned for
this book clearly 'cause there'sthat part of it where they they

(20:17):
need to help her to survive and the other girls, theoretically.
And then also the fact that there's too many men in.
In Vegas, that he's also. Excited because he's like, oh,
like there's not enough women tomate with.
So the fact that he found this, this randomly found this woman

(20:39):
is like a, a huge deal because where else is he gonna find a
mate? And he doesn't even know about
the other girls. Yes, yeah.
And he's thrilled when he finds that out.
Yeah, that's not Yeah, you're right.
That's the other problem is thathis they're worried that his,
like, tribe is going to become extinct 'cause they're not
producing enough offspring. And you need the Qui to provide

(21:02):
an offspring. Yeah, there's more men than
there is women. Yeah, and she needs the Qui to
survive or else she'll die of like gas poisoning from the.
Plant, yes, yes, yes. So caters wait if you need the
qui 'cause I was like I guess that makes sense because then
the women couldn't mate with more than one person because you

(21:24):
need the qui and it is with yourmate I guess.
I don't know, at the end of the book it there's like the thing
that he's like, oh, like we matefor life.
But I feel like it isn't explicitly said that it's only
one person. I feel like Ruby Dixon's like, I
bet she's writing threesomes in those later books.
I would be shocked if there isn't a bunch of Polly, you

(21:44):
know, alien stuff going on. And there there has to be like,
if you have 21 books in a series, you're progressively
Kenny. You're definitely progressive,
like, yeah. And more people keep crashing on
the planet, like, I don't know. Yeah, yeah.
So he takes this strange creature to a Hunter's cave.

(22:06):
He's feeling this overwhelming need to mate, so he starts going
down on her. This is like the I actually like
I think threw my Kindle across the room.
It is. Wild it really.
It quite literally goes from zero to 100. 100% and it's just

(22:27):
like it's so I it's just funny because like usually I feel like
so many romance books are like even smart, like it's like there
is they make all these like excuses to like get the
characters together and it's like in this one.
No, no need. It's just like, I'm going down
on her and that's it. And it's like, oh, OK, I'm glad

(22:50):
I wasn't listening to the audiobook because I feel like I
would have laughed so loud. Like I don't know what I would
have done listening to the audioof this.
I was like, I was shook. And I, I've read crazy books.
I don't know why this just like threw me off so much.
But she wakes up. She's like someone's going down
on me with and he has horns and a ribbed tongue.

(23:12):
They always have. There's always something going
on that is ribbed, like one of my favorite lines from the book
that I pulled it's it wasn't a monster come to eat me, it was
this monster who's come to eat me out.
Yeah, there's a lot of just likeone liner like, you know, Ruby
Dixon or that, and like was likethat was a good one.

(23:35):
That was a sly, Yeah. And she's like, confused,
obviously, but she's, like, alsoreally enjoying it.
He like wants to mate with her so he wants to like have sex
with her, have penetrate sex. I guess they're already having
sex and she like stops him because she she was like oral

(23:57):
sex is one thing but P&V is a whole nother story.
Yeah, again, she doesn't know what that P is going to look
like. So yeah, I feel like it's a
solid, you know, you gotta like at least get a visual on the
alien, the alien pee before you go forward, I think.
I think that's fair. We get like a more like accurate

(24:18):
or detailed description of Vectel that he's bluish Gray, he
has a black mane, a rugged face,ridges on his nose and his arms
and his brow, and he has blue glowing eyes with no pupils and
he's 7 feet tall with a tail. Yeah, he's a big guy.
It reminds me. Well, I kind of like said this

(24:40):
in my things that I have wrong with this book, but it really
sounds like just Navi from Avatar, like big.
Time literally. Which makes a lot of sense cause
Avatar came out in what, 2010? Yeah, I think. 2009 I.
Think maybe 2009. Yes.
Yeah, it it's rough. It is probably on her mind, but

(25:01):
yeah, the tail, the hair, the blue skin feels very avatar.
Yeah, it also like Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen vibes.
Yep, very much that, yeah. Maybe she was naming blue
people? The Smurfs Smurf.

(25:21):
No. Yeah, yeah.
And I think she does take a lot of inspo in her books, which is
it's fun to try to like. Guess what inspired this like
fever dream of a book? But yeah, she does stop him.
They kind of like, try and like move forward and he still wants

(25:43):
to help her. But they can't understand each
other because obviously he speaks another language because
English hasn't made it this far in the Galaxy, I imagine.
But they kind of find a way to exchange names with each other
at the best that they can. Yeah, I found this, like, really
endearing and cute. Yeah, Yeah, 'cause he calls her

(26:04):
Shorzi and she calls him like haptal.
Yeah. No, it's sweet.
I feel like this is the part like these parts of the this
part of the book and like anytime where there's like them
trying to communicate and like them just being like very sweet.
Like it is very smutty. This book.
It's clearly like they just, youknow, Ruby Dixon just wanted to
find a way to get some people tofuck some aliens, which is

(26:27):
great. But there's a lot of like heart
here. It's totally, totally in that
way. It's well balanced.
Yeah. Vectel's like, OK, this girl's
still sick. I need to, like, provide for
her. So she's, like able to sleep in
the the warmth of the furs, which is probably the first time
in, you know, days. And he, like, hunts for her and
brings her back the spicy meat. And she's, again, she's trying

(26:51):
to tell him, like, we need to goback to the ship.
There's other women here, but because he can't understand her,
they don't make much progress. Yeah, he really is just focused
on taking her back to his tribe so that he can be like, look, I
have a mate and getting her the queen so that she doesn't die.
But obviously her main focus is trying to get back to her, her

(27:15):
friends. Yeah.
So yeah, he kind of shows her a bunch of stuff, like how to, you
know, get rid of those fish she saw earlier.
And then she kind of is like, OK, we need to go back.
So she kind of like implies thatshe's gonna sleep with him if
they go back up the mountain andhe's into that.

(27:37):
Yeah. What did you think of that?
I mean, I was gonna say it's very hard to believe, but I'm
like, we're talking about sexy alien smile.
So I guess everything here is itfelt like a little bit like this
whole part where like she wakes up and he's going down her.
A lot of it to me felt a little like we need a bit more back
story about her Cuz I'm like, wedon't know anything about like,

(27:59):
you know, is she very like sexually forward or anything
like that? And then all of a sudden, we
just like, this is the first kind of couple of things that we
learn about her. So that I felt like needs a bit
more fleshing out. Yeah.
But I mean, it's a good plan. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
There's high stakes. So you're going to do whatever
it takes to survive. That's that's fair.

(28:19):
But yeah, this this book lacks so much back story that like,
which is like fun. If you want a book where you're
like, I'm going to start it tonight and I'm going to get to
the meat like of the book, like this is the perfect book for
you. But if you want like any world
building or like or really know the characters like, this book

(28:41):
is not for you. Yeah.
We just need like a bit more information on Georgie I think.
But yes. She also is into Vectel.
I feel like that's important to say.
She's not just like, promising she's gonna have sex with him,
like, you know, and like not gonna do it or anything.
Like she does like him. She likes him just taking care
of her. And he's been like very nice to
her, which she appreciates. Yes, yes, she yeah, she feels

(29:05):
like some type of safety around him.
So yeah, he like is teaching herstuff.
But there's a point where Georgie thinks like, oh, like
we're heading in the in the direction, which I have no idea
how she remembered where the direction was, but we're like
heading back to the direction ofthe ship.
But they weren't doing that. They they were doing something

(29:28):
totally different. So she's like, again, trying to
try to make him understand. And she ends up like falling
down a huge crevasse and it's filled with like creatures that
resemble wookies that attack her.
But Vectel's there to save the day.
Yeah, as usual, Vectel's really just like he's just here.

(29:50):
He's just here saving everybody.Yes, yes.
And then they decide. So he takes her back to The Cave
and they learn words, like different words for each other.
And I was like, why didn't you guys do this Day one?
Yeah, it really feels like missed opportunity.
Yeah. Like.
Yeah, I feel like she just kind of like yells at him and he,

(30:11):
like, doesn't understand. And then she's like, well,
that's the end of that. And it's like.
Why did she just like, pissed athim?
Yeah. It's like you could definitely
try a little bit harder, but totally.
But yeah, they do learn a coupleof of words, including somebody
parts and you know, you kind of can see where it's going pretty
quickly. Yes, yes, leads to them having

(30:33):
sex. He has like a spur of of course
he does. Yeah, which I just assumed was
kind of like an Omega verse. Not have you read any like Omega
verse? No, but.
That is, I do know of the Omega verse and that's very funny.
OK, That's a thing in that, in those books, yeah.
Those types of books, I should say.

(30:54):
Yes, yes, this is classic monster.
I think it's just like importantthat like he is just like, you
know, his whole job is like to pleasure Georgie and I think
that's the main. Yeah, cuz by the end of the book
she's like, why would I leave? I have a guy that's like
obsessed with me and like just lives to like make me happy.

(31:18):
Why would I go back to earth andknow it?
She's not she's not right. So she's like, OK with having
sex with him, like unprotected sex because there's no way that
they could have a baby, obviously.
But Vectel obviously knows otherwise and is like stoked

(31:40):
that there is a chance that she could be pregnant.
Yeah, this is like, I'm like, girl, why did you not think
about this? I don't know why you wouldn't be
like he's main, like he's mostlyhuman.
It's not like literally an animal like he looks like and he

(32:00):
knew to go down on you. Yeah.
Like he has some sort of human instincts.
But she's only 22, so maybe, yeah.
She's she's gone through a traumatic experience.
She just wasn't thinking straight.
Yeah. But I guess like the next day
that Vectel goes to get them food and checks one of his
hunting traps. And unfortunately, Dominique,

(32:24):
one of the captives from the ship, is there and has died of
hypothermia. And then he's like, oh, OK,
there's more, more people like Georgie.
She didn't like come alone, which also I'm like, why would
she? How would she be there by
herself? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

(32:45):
Like Michael, you seem like a pretty smart guy.
Yeah, yeah, he's a noggin, my dude.
Yeah, yeah. But he's like, Oh my God, like
we have to get her back to the ship.
There's like probably other people that are in need.
And so they hurry back and there's like 5 girlies remaining
and they're alive, but they are ill.

(33:06):
Yeah, they're in bad shape. They're definitely in bad shape.
I mean, it's very cold. They're all sick and they don't
know why. Or a couple of them are sick at
least. And again, they crashed from
this original alien ship. So the aliens from before, the
evil ones, yes, we're assuming they're coming back for them
because they were the cargo who was going to be human

(33:28):
trafficked. So the girls have basically just
been waiting, hoping that Georgie makes it back, and
otherwise like they're essentially just waiting to be
picked up by the bad aliens again.
And that this is the part that like absolutely kills me because
the girls ski Georgie. She's she's kind of thriving at
this. Point.
She's like booed up. And they're like what the like

(33:50):
who the fuck is with you? And like you went away for like
2 days or whatever and you got an alien boyfriend that's
obsessed. We all have a friend like this
though. We all have friends, but you go
to the bar and like they come back and they like have some guy
who's like have them dinner, like bought them a bunch of like
pizza and is like, oh, I'm goingto like call your friends Ubers.

(34:14):
Like we all have a friend like. This.
That's so true. Or like they go go on vacation.
I'm not that friend. Like me.
Either you go on vacation and they have like a yeah, like a
two week romance or whatever andyeah, you're like, this is
supposed to be a girls trip, but.
Yeah, like I don't wanna get a new hotel room.

(34:34):
Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah.
So they're like learning about Vectel and Kira, one of the
girls on the ship, she had a translator, an alien translator
like thing implanted in her ear.So she's actually able to
finally know what Vectel is saying and translate it to

(34:55):
Georgie. And so she's like, this guy
thinks you're his mate. And she's like, I'll, I'll deal
with that later. Like we gotta go get help and
get you guys to like a safe place.
But they can't like travel the the seven of them.
So Vectel and Georgie head out to go get more hunters and

(35:19):
supplies. Yeah, yeah.
So they go on this trek and on the way they can't make it all
the way back to Vectel's people,so they stop at this cave that
Vectel seems to think is like his elder's cave, which I guess
it is. But Georgie realizes that what
he thinks are like, I can't remember exactly what he calls
them, but like magical lights. She's like, no.

(35:40):
My dude, this is a spaceship. It's just like behind some ice.
So they melt the ice and she realizes that, you know, this
ship still has power and has a bunch of like, buttons.
And so she's like, what is happening?
Yeah. And this is like the funniest
shit because yeah, so she's a language download.

(36:01):
Yeah. And so she's able to now
communicate with Vectel and she,like, finds out kind of about
his people and then about the planet and the Qui.
And like that there's a time limit.
Like they have like 8 stays and you know it's been 4 or whatever
so they gotta get quiz fast or like learn how to escape the

(36:22):
planet. But the linguistic upload is one
of the funniest things I've probably ever read.
Like I was just reading. I was like a fucking course.
Like it's so classic sci-fi though, where it's like, we
don't know, like standalone sci-fi.
I feel like a lot of the time does stuff like this or it's
like we don't have time to like figure out how they're actually

(36:42):
gonna talk to each other. It's like just to have her
download this whole language. Yeah, OK.
Sure. Like yeah, that makes total
sense. But again, why would it need to
make sense when you are living on not hot but like?
Yeah, we're not here for that. Like, that's not what we're here
for, though. I actually think this part is
like one of the most compelling plot points in the whole book.

(37:04):
The fact that like his, people actually also crash landed on
this planet. Is just very.
Interesting. Yes, yes.
And that like there, there's just a way for them to get more
information 'cause if this spaceship wasn't there, they
would just be living in like thecaves and stuff like that.
Yeah, yeah. Obviously they're stoked that
they can now communicate with each other and he can finally

(37:26):
express that like that they're mates.
And she's like, well, like in myculture we get to like choose
our own mates and stuff like that.
And he, like, really doesn't understand that because the
queen chooses and he's like, it always chooses correctly.
So I don't know why they're like, why you're having doubts
about this situation? He's like, I'm telling you it's.

(37:48):
Fine, but he's. Quite respectful like.
He is, yeah. That's like kind of The funny
thing about, like, this whole situation is like, Bechtel's
just like, very respectful the whole time.
He's like, OK, like, OK, then you can pick.
It's OK. Like, don't worry about it.
And he doesn't like pressure her, which I think is again why
women like this book so much. 100 also like the barbarian.

(38:09):
He's like maybe in looks a barbarian, but like not really,
I guess, other than being like kind of like ultra male hunter,
hunter and gatherer or whatever.But like, other than that, he's
like a respectful gentleman. Yeah, he's very sweet.
Very sweet. So they reach his tribe, and

(38:31):
they live in, like, this interconnected group of caves.
So she meets a bunch of other people.
She gets healed by the tribe's healer, and they have sex.
And she finally realizes, like, oh, I actually could be
pregnant. Yeah.
Which was again she like takes it like a.

(38:52):
She just like OK. Yeah, she's like, well, I didn't
choose this, but like, I'm I could be happy with this.
Oh my God. She must have.
She's probably just like, you know, she's probably like one of
those girls who's like, you know, I'm ready to be a mom at
22. Yeah, at 22, she's away from
yeah. Are we on a different planet
with a man you met 2 days ago? She's like, I'm good, it's OK.

(39:16):
We only just realized we can understand each other like
today, but. Yeah, yeah.
And like, my family won't be able to meet this kid.
I'm never going to see my familyagain.
Like whatevs. Yeah.
But Vectel rounds up the troops and him and Georgie and some
other male aliens head back to the ship.

(39:37):
They they get zapped, they get, they all get the linguistic
upload and then they they meet their hostages.
Yeah, they're very excited. They're so excited, 'cause
they're like, Oh my God, well, we're gonna repopulate.
Yeah, they're like, we need girls.
We need girlies. We need girlies and like, you
are a bunch of girlies and it's so funny because there's like

(39:59):
more girls that are on ice. Yeah, he's like, literally on
ice. And the whole time George was
like, I can't tell him, I can't tell him.
And then she, like, tells him. And he's like, Oh no, this is
amazing news. Yeah, yeah, there's six more
girls I think who are like in the ship, but yeah, they are not
awake yet, which though that's for them, but.

(40:22):
Yeah, the the there's like literal 2 lines that are like,
yeah. So they woke up and we told them
everything. They cried a little bit, but
then like they were ready. Yeah, they were ready to go.
To be fair though, like we don'tknow how long they were on the
original alien ship. And I'm like, waking up from a
nap that long is probably like, that's probably incredibly

(40:46):
refreshing. Like, probably feeling so good
when you wake up that you'd probably just like, accept any
kind of fate. Totally.
And again, like when you're lostin space, the chances of getting
home are slim. So like just they're really
making the best of that. Situation.
Yeah, you got to do your best. Yeah.
And they're like, Oh my God, we're going to get someone like

(41:07):
Vectel, like each of us again. They're not complaining.
So they are getting yeah, food and clothes because they are not
doing well. And Georgie explains the whole
thing. They're going to need a Qui.
They're going to get the language download from the
elders cave. And this will allow them to be

(41:27):
able to like, survive on this planet.
There's like fear that the original scary aliens are going
to come back. So they're like, hey, we got it.
We got to go get these Qui. And the way that they do this is
the hunters, the, the male aliens go and kill a huge beast

(41:48):
and like, take these worm like, like disgusting, like parasitic
things out of this beast's heart.
And then they slice, like, slicetheir neck open and put them in,
of course. And of course, Georgie's like,
they're like, OK, you're all like, bitch, yeah, you're the

(42:09):
fucking leader. Like, let's go.
She's like, I don't, I really don't want to do this.
But she does do it. And she faints, but when she
wakes up, she's she's a lot better.
Yeah, I feel like this is such a, like, funny part of the book
'cause it's like, was there any,like, chance that they weren't
all gonna take it? Like, yeah, they go back with
the scary aliens or freeze to death.

(42:31):
It's like, OK, well. Yeah, I'm taking the qui, but
like also it Georgie kept being like I need to talk to the girls
to make sure they wanna do this and you're right.
What is the options though? I'd either die or do this.
Yeah, it's like, OK, I guess I'll do it like, yeah, and.

(42:51):
It's kind of like they live happily after.
Yeah, it just ends. Like, that's so crazy, but it
kind of just ends. Like Liz has been kidnapped by
one of the male aliens, but like, Vectel's like, oh, don't
worry. Like they just resonated.
With each Rosh, yeah, it's like,okay, what And then.

(43:18):
They're like, yeah, there's likestill the threat that like the
other aliens can come back, but like, it's kind of it's a
happily ever after, I guess. Yeah, they'd like come back.
They take out all their trackersand leave them in The Cave with
the Wookie creatures. Yeah.
And then they like see the ship come back and then leave again.
So they're like, oh, I guess that's that's that.

(43:39):
It's kind of like, yeah, I was waiting for.
Do you think they'll come back? I haven't read the other books
but I'm assuming they will it. Feels like they must cause like
but then I don't know 'cause this this type of book to me
doesn't read like interplanetarylike warfare.
Yeah. Though I'm like maybe they do

(43:59):
just cut their losses and and bare.
Because literally, what would the other books be about if they
did? But if they didn't come back,
it's just the girls living on that.
I don't get literally just like.That Oh my God, that's so funny.
I do. You're actually probably right.
Because if you think about it, we would get all of the women's

(44:24):
stories from this point on. So you're right, it is probably
just, but they would all be happening at the same like
simultaneously. So what would happen other than
that? Yeah, I think it's all the other
women's stories. And then I know a couple of them
are also like prequels. So I think it's like the other
people in the tribe, like how they, you know, got together

(44:46):
with their mates. OK, cool.
I think that's it. I think there's like no more
drama other than like interpersonal.
It's wild. It's so, again, there's like so
much detail and then also just no detail at all about this
book. It's the pacing.
It's so weird to me. Yeah, it's it's like something

(45:09):
crazy happens on every page. Yes.
But the book's only like 170 pages and still I'm like OK, but
I need more information. Stuff happens, but also nothing.
Also nothing. OK, let's wrap up with our
roundtable discussion. This is our Internet
investigation, our cursory proves of the Internet of Things

(45:29):
you need to know. This was really interesting.
You wrote that Ruby Dixon created it as a spin off as Star
Wars, as we talked about at the top of the episode, which like
it makes a lot of sense. Like it's, it's very clear.
It's like it's not even like paying homage.
It's like it's clear as a mat. She was like, I saw Star Wars

(45:51):
and it's not sexy. Yeah, my version will be.
Yes. That's really what it feels
like. Yes, like fanfic kind of of Star
Wars with none of the main characters.
No, it's not a it's not actuallya fanfic, but it like she has
said that she's a Railo fanfic fan, fanfic fan.

(46:14):
Yes, which I kind. Of I feel like this is like the
second time this has come up with authors.
I'm not sure if you guys talked about this with Ali Hazelwood at
all, but she's also like a relo fanfic girl.
Yeah. What is the deal with that ship
that like all of these people latch onto it and then are so
like proud to be like I'm a relolike not if you should not be.

(46:37):
Like yes, yes, you. Should not put your whole back
into shipping like I wanna know.But.
It's funny that they all wanna talk about it so much.
I completely agree actually, that would be a fun bonus
episode because it is interesting about like there's
so much fanfic, but the Germany,the Twilight and the Raylo stuff

(47:01):
has I feel like like has really risen to mainstream popularity
versus like because there's likeso many different fanfics, but
like especially those three kindof universes I feel like are so
popular. Yeah, and people get like famous
actually writing books based on their fan fictions, which is

(47:23):
really wild. The Harry Styles 1 is the
funniest thing to me. Like yes, yes, yes that.
Is. The one hilarious.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it I also just, it's so nice
'cause it's like, these are things I like, I like all of
these things. And it's very like millennial
woman. I feel like, yeah, like I like,
I like all these things. So like, I don't, I don't mind.

(47:44):
No, it's just funny when you like once you hear like Ali
Hazelwood wrote, this is a Raylofanfic, for example, It's like
then you can never on for me at least as someone who's like
watch Star Wars, it's like I can't like parse out that it's
not that, but. Totally.
But yeah, fanfic, I feel like it's always fun when you can
read about what authors are, youknow, fans of, of who.

(48:06):
Yeah, yeah. And I'll read this quote from
Reddit from Ruby that shares kind of some of the other inspo
for the book. So she said the idea for Ice
Planet Barbarians was a gestation of many different
things, and me wanting to write something completely different
to refresh my brain, I deliberately made the planet

(48:28):
crappy as hell. Because if it was all margaritas
and sunny beaches, it would be ano brainer about Georgie Stain.
But I loved Clan of The Cave Bear as a teen.
I love Star Wars and I love faded mate stories, so I sort of
pulled from all of those angles.Yeah, I love that she's so open
online, like just like looking her up.

(48:50):
There's like multiple Reddit AM as that you can go read with
her. She's clearly like very
passionate about connecting withher fan base, which is nice.
Like there's just so much fodder, like there's just so
many, like so many books that you could cover that it you're
really winning in the ice planetbarbarian Phantom, like truly.
Yeah, if you're looking for a fandom to join and you're like,

(49:12):
I just want to read a lot of something like this is a good
one because yeah, there's a ton of content here.
Totally. Totally.
And then Ruby expressed interestin this becoming an animated
show. I'm I'm like shocked that it
hasn't been picked up. Yeah, I'm like racking my brain

(49:33):
though, trying to think of like,are there that many like sexy
animated series? And I'm like, are now people
clamoring for it? I'm I'm sure people would watch
it. Yes.
But maybe it's just not mainstream.
Like maybe you just kind of haveto be in that, which I'm, I'm
certainly not. But it is like, yeah, she said
she would love to see it as an animated series.

(49:54):
So. Yeah, I think that makes so much
sense. I I also don't watch like any
animated shows. And you're right.
I like, I know that there's adult animated shows obviously,
but like, yeah, I don't know about this like kind of rated R
version, but I do read web tunesand I there's such a like sub

(50:16):
genre of like romance, sexy stories that are like, you know,
cartoons that I feel like would it would make so much sense if
they were made it made into a series.
Yeah, I think she said somethingsimilar to like an Archer was
like what she would like, which like, I think like maybe if they

(50:37):
went for that tone too, it's like kind of fun.
Well, there's a lot of comedy inthis.
There is, for sure. I mean, I think that Ruby Dixon,
like, knows what she's writing. Like, I don't think she's like,
I'm writing a Pulitzer here. Like, I think she's like, yeah,
like the aliens are fucking and like, you're gonna like it.
And like, I think she knows exactly who this is for.

(50:59):
But it'd be interesting to see an animated series too, 'cause
I'm like, I'm trying to even think of, like, what adult
animated shows are like, geared towards.
I mean, mainly women, I assume would be watching this.
So I would, yeah. I don't know how many there
really are. That's a good point, because
you're right. Like I think of Archer, I think

(51:20):
of. Bojack.
Bojack. Yeah, like Family Guy and stuff.
Yeah, but those are all very like.
Male coded. I guess a little bit, yeah.
Or like mainly male main characters too.
Yeah, yeah. So maybe it would work.
Maybe this is like a hidden genre and like we are going to

(51:43):
make some people a lot of money when they realize that we've
pointed out this gap in the market.
I know, I know I, I truly believe that.
And like I do think that there is a possibility just because of
like so like I, I do think that production companies have
realized like 4th Wing and Acatar etcetera, etcetera can

(52:06):
make them millions of dollars. So I have like no doubt in my
mind that someone has like perused.
This. Yeah, yeah.
Totally, Yeah, yeah, I mean, listen like I would watch the
first episode. I'm I'm into it like I'm
interested it. Would be like the show would be.

(52:27):
It would be like one hour and itwould cover the whole book.
Yeah, a limited series. Yeah, they could do a limited
series. Like one book is 1 episode.
That's like a whole season. Yeah.
OK, these are wonder wise our unanswered questions for the
listeners. Honestly, there's so many
unanswered questions. There's a lot.

(52:48):
One is just, yeah, like the the back story, like even just in
this one, it's like we get none of Georgie's, but it's like the
other girls are literally unknown.
Yeah, I don't even know if we get all of their names.
I'm like no struggling to remember.
Totally. We got like, we know Kira
because of the translation thingand like Liz talks to her a lot.

(53:11):
The one they got kidnapped and that's it.
Dominique, but she's dead like. Yeah, yeah, RIP.
Rest in peace, pour one out for Dominique tonight.
Yeah, and I'm just like so confused truly at how Georgie
and the girls survive. Like if the Arctic tundra that
they are in is truly as bad as it's described, they would

(53:33):
perish on site. Yeah.
I don't many of them like didn'teven have like I feel like the
will to live. So yeah, and I feel like none of
them are like survivalists. Like this wasn't like they
kidnapped all people who were onlike a loan or something.
Like these are just random girlswho are from all over.
This is actually, it's kind of going on to the back story

(53:54):
thing, but I'm like, how would like all of these women go
missing and like no one is asking.
Any questions? Yeah.
Like I, I know that it says theyhave no family and whatever, but
it's like, are they all from like the same area?
We know one of them is from somesort of like farming southern
place 'cause she talks a lot about that.

(54:15):
But yeah, I feel like, you know,someone's gonna notice
eventually. Yeah.
Is there like a spaceship comingto get them at some point or
something like that? Maybe that happens and they have
to like all actually decide to stay there.
Who knows, But they're they're all moms soon.
Yeah, We also, like don't reallyknow other than the Star Wars

(54:36):
references, like does this take place in 2015 or is this like,
yeah, another time where like, yeah, maybe there is a spaceship
coming from Earth to get them. Like, yeah, I feel like we have
no concept of when when this is really happening.
No, I guess I I'm gonna read on.I I have read the second book,

(54:57):
but I'm gonna and and you get nomore information than in this
worst one I was like yeah, no, you get you straight up get 0
information. But I'm gonna read on because
I'm curious if if there's anything of of more substance.
Yeah, yeah. It's just funny.
I'm like, you know how some movies they like, deliberately

(55:19):
don't have cell phones so that it's like it can take place
whenever? I almost feel like Ruby Dixon
should have done that, where shedidn't reference any cultural
moments. And then it's like, OK, now we
have no idea when this took place 'cause that would have
been interesting. Yeah, totally.
OK, Our grapes and grumbles, these are NIT picky problems we
have with the bug. This is like my main.

(55:39):
This is actually just like a grape and grumble for the whole
romance genre. But like the covers, you guys,
we got to stop. Like if I'm supposed to track
these on Goodreads, I can't. Like I can't in good faith.
Mark has read when it's like a girl with a blue monster, like

(56:00):
going down on her. Like, I can't do that.
I truly can't. I was reading like the physical
book and like, I was like gonna read it on like public transit.
Like my husband was like, why don't you just read it on the go
train? And I was like.
Like I can't with. My child with me, Yeah, I'm

(56:22):
gonna think I'm insane, like. Yeah, did you have the original
cover? Cuz they did do a special
edition and it's a lot less like.
No, I have the like full sexy cover.
OK? I don't know where I'm gonna put
it on my shelf cuz like, yeah, people are gonna come over and
be like, oh, oh, you read like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like.

(56:42):
People that just, like, don't get it, yeah.
And I'm like, no, it's fun. Yeah, yeah.
People don't get. It I'm like, you don't
understand. They live in a non capitalist
society. It's like kind of sweet.
Yes, yes, yeah. There's like no crazy shit going
down politically. Like, God, we talked about this

(57:03):
a lot, but it is fucking insane how this book starts because I
remember, like picking up this book.
I was like, I listen to it because it was always on my TBR
and then I listened to the episode that you did and I was
like, it just like was like, yeah, I should check that out.
I like totally forgot that. That's been on my TBR for like 2
years. So then I read it and I was

(57:23):
like, oh this like I, I was justblown away because when people
talk about it online, they're like, this is pure fluff and
like, and it is after chapter like 3 or whatever, but like or
Part 2 or whatever. But like Part 1 is so gruesome
and graphic. I kind of like honestly kind of
skimmed. Yeah, it feels unnecessary and I

(57:47):
yeah, it just like does not fit the tone of the rest of the
book. It's kind of a bummer.
I'm glad that Ruby like removed it from some of the copies of it
cuz I do feel like it just like doesn't really need to be there.
I guess it was to build the stakes and find like a way for
the girls to escape. But yeah it just like they could
have just crashed from the pod. Like we didn't need the

(58:08):
violence. Totally.
And I guess like it is to show that like they're they're a foil
for the good aliens, but truly, I think unnecessary.
Yeah, it's like the bad aliens were human trafficking.
Like you could have just said that that's like enough.
Yeah, that's like makes them badenough they kidnap them.
Exactly, exactly. There was parts of this book and

(58:29):
again, we kind of mentioned this, but like I'm like, you
were on a survival mission. You were like about to die.
Like time is you have 8 days andlike we're on day 4 or whatever.
So why is there like 3 days of that where you're just OK having
sex with this alien? I think that this was one of my

(58:50):
grapes is just like it. She obviously has inner turmoil.
Like she's like, Oh my God, the girls could be like dying back
there and I'm just like, I'm. Just getting off.
I'm just getting off. I'm like, I'm like happy, yeah,
but like and fed and warm and whatever.
But like I feel like there wasn't like enough turmoil I

(59:13):
guess. Like I or like there wasn't, I
don't know. It was just like there was a lot
of side missions. I feel like for Georgie when
it's like you should have been pretty like on the real 1.
You need to focus, yes, focus. You need to focus right now.
But yeah, yeah, it feels like almost.
They could have done something with like maybe the environment

(59:35):
to be like, oh, it's like too snowy.
We like can't go or something. We're like snowed in.
But instead, yeah, it was just more like, I just wanna fuck I.
Just wanna fuck the reason that.She did it and it's like you,
you gotta, you gotta have a little more drive than that, I
think. Totally.
You're the leader, Georgie de. Facto leader, You gotta get on

(59:55):
this. I fucking hated how Victo, Oh my
God, called Georgie's clit 1/3 nipple like 20 times.
Yeah, no, I hated that. Like I hated that.
This is like my big gripe with alot of like smutty books is that
like any description like that? I'm like, we just don't need to

(01:00:18):
do that. I know he's an alien, but I'm
like, please, we don't need to get creative with like our
anatomy at this point. We've like.
Yeah, we're good. And OK, So does that mean the
female aliens don't have cliqueslike I?
I don't know. And like then like we can really
get into like looking at evolution.
Then why does he have the rib onhis Dick if they don't have

(01:00:40):
kids? That doesn't make good sense.
Yeah. What?
Yeah. Like, why do you have that spur
that you don't like that's purposely there in the exact
place, Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's a plot hole.
Definitely. But yeah, poor lady aliens.
If they don't, maybe it's somewhere else.
But. Yeah, who knows?

(01:01:01):
Oh yeah. And just like how the girls are
like, they're literally dying. But like they're like, at least
like they just like, the only other thing that they can talk
about is like, well, George, yougot like a man and it's like
getting laid. Yeah, they're like working on
their Type 5 while she's. Like literally, I literally, I
don't know where that came from.I'm like, you guys are so weak,

(01:01:23):
but you could you have the brainpower to like make jokes.
It was just like whiplash. There'd be like, they would be
like, so unwell that they weren't even waking up.
There was a point where they were just like literally
unconscious. But then when they were, they're
just like, OK to like, RIP, RIP her apart like so bad.

(01:01:46):
And then, yeah, just the ending is feels rushed.
Yeah. It just ends.
It just ends and there's Yeah, we don't get, we don't hear
about the kidnapping aliens and we don't even know like really
how the pregnancy works. Like he's 7 feet tall, so.

(01:02:07):
Yeah, yeah, that'd be rough. Yeah, I mean.
Is the baby gonna be human size?Is it gonna be a like a alien
like I just. How many fingers?
Like, yeah, there's a lot of unanswered questions.
I guess that's why it's like yougotta read on to find out what
the baby looks like. Totally and how did he know

(01:02:28):
that? I guess the Qui told him but
it's like how did he know he could mate a human?
I guess yeah the Qui but. Yeah, maybe his qui radar was
like off though I don't know. It says it never chooses wrong.
It never chooses wrong, but I'm like.
But then there's no interspecies.
Like they didn't. Did the tribe have a plan to

(01:02:50):
like, find like go to another planet and get other species if
they couldn't reproduce? Or they just also were gonna
just die out. It doesn't seem like they had
any plan at all. Yeah, it does feel like they
were just hoping some people to crash land and they didn't even
know that they crash landed, it seems from what we know about
Bechtel. Yeah, yeah.

(01:03:12):
And if it's like inderspecies, couldn't they meet mate with
like the metlacs or whatever, orlike, I guess they're more
animal than human, I don't know,humanoid.
Yeah, maybe it's just like, too stinky.
Yeah, I don't. Know, but yeah it does.
Or the Wookie, Yeah I guess the Metlacs are the Wookie things

(01:03:33):
cause like Wookies I think are like bipedal at least.
Like yes on two legs. Yes, yes, yeah.
But who knows? We'll never know.
We'll never know we. Won't OK finally our sequel
scoop. This is the T on any upcoming
sequel seasons and the general reception.
So obviously there is a shit tonof bugs.
There's 21 books in this series +2 spin off series making it

(01:03:57):
over 40 bucks in the Ruby Dixon ice planet barbarian universe.
The next book is Barbarian Alien, which is obviously Rahosh
and Liz, and there is an extended epilogue of Vectel and
Georgie. So I think I'm gonna read that.
I haven't read it. I didn't want to really like

(01:04:18):
spoil myself, but. Yeah, I feel like I will read
that too. That's very cute.
I might continue the series as well.
We'll see. I feel like it's like it is just
kind of like fluff, like, you know, you don't have to think
too much and it's kind of just, you know, minus the covers part.
Like if you're reading on a Kobo, Kindle, whatever.
Like, you're golden. Totally, totally.

(01:04:39):
Or like maybe you just don't care which like wow, I more
power to you. I wish that I did not have
anxiety about people looking at what I'm reading.
Same, I remember when I was in like university and I was
reading 50 Shades of Grey and I was like on a bus like like
having the book like half in my backpack like mean like I can

(01:05:02):
never be seen with this. God, I can't let people know.
Yeah. It's a lot of books.
That's a lot of books. But yeah, I, I, I think I'm
going to try to power through just it.
They're fun to sprinkle in with like other books I feel like.
Yeah, I'm also like, good for Ruby Dixon for like, where do
you find the time to write that many books?

(01:05:24):
Totally. And it seems like from when I
was doing some Internet investigation that she has no
plans in stopping and has a million other ideas and it'll
just continue, truly. That's amazing.
Yeah, I also read that she, her husband does not read any of the
books, but he occasionally helpsher workshop the plot, which I

(01:05:45):
thought was very sweet. I'm like, what a what a
supportive husband. That's so funny.
I love that that maybe there's achance that he doesn't know what
actually goes down. I'm like thinking they're like
sitting eating pad Thai. And she's like, well, like, what
should the alien's Dick look like?
And he's hear me out. No, he's probably, he's probably

(01:06:07):
like, Oh yeah. And then Georgie presses the
button in the elders cave. Yeah, I'm like that.
That's the plot that he's giving.
And then she's like, I'll fill it in the blanks of the other
stuff. Don't worry.
Yeah, don't worry, I got this. OK.
That's kind of the end of Ice Planet Barbarians.
Are there. Is there anything else that we
didn't touch on that you want toinclude?

(01:06:28):
No, I think that's everything. I mean, we had a lot of gripes,
but I think the book is really fun.
If you I think you might be interested in an alien romance
like this one is very short. And yeah, I do think you can
kind of power through it in likea day.
So it's it's definitely like a fun book.
I yeah, don't go in thinking it's going to be change your

(01:06:51):
life or anything, but. No.
Maybe it will, maybe it'll like awaken something I.
Was just going to say it also could very much teach your life.
Yeah, or again, if you're like, I'm sick of men.
I want to like read some like very loving big alien man porn
then like this. Totally.
I actually did. Find on Reddit when I was like

(01:07:12):
reading a lot of the AMA questions, a lot of people
identified that they are like, oh I'm a queer woman and I love
these books and my friend who suggested that I read this book
is also a queer woman so. Interesting.
Very funny that that's like a big, I don't know, it feels like
that's like a big audience for this book too.
So interesting to know. Love a sapphic romance?

(01:07:32):
Yes. OK.
Can you tell the listeners, Kelly, where they can find you
and anything else you want to plug?
Yeah, I'm on the Internet at Kelly W Kelly, like KELOY, the
word double and the word UYOUI like, sometimes post on TikTok
about what I'm reading. Sometimes I post about running

(01:07:55):
and then I also hosted a Nathan Fielder focused podcast called
Nathan for Us podcast. It's on hiatus right now, but if
you are interested in Nathan forYou or The Rehearsal, we did
cover a bunch of the episodes and it's very fun.
We also had a couple interviews with people on the show, so if
you want to listen to that, you can find us all over wherever

(01:08:16):
you find podcasts. Nice.
Thanks so much for coming on. Yeah, thanks so much for having
me. This is great.
I'm glad. And that's the story of ice
planet Barbarians. Thank you so much for listening
and thank you to Kelly for joining me on today's show.
This episode gets released on Wednesday, December 4th, but a
few days after that, I'll be on the podcast Boobies and Newbies

(01:08:40):
with author Kelly Reynolds to discuss the holiday novella My
December Darlene by Lauren Asher.
If you remember, Kelly and I covered the fine print by Lauren
Asher in the first few episodes of this podcast, So check both
of those episodes out. And if you would like to suggest
a book or leave a voicemail witha question for a future episode,

(01:09:02):
you can do so via the links in the episode show notes.
You can also follow me on socials at Ready to Be Romanced.
And subscribing to the podcast and leaving a rating and review
on Spotify or Apple Podcast really helps the show grow, find
new listeners, and lets me know that I'm right on track.
Our next episode is a Cuban Girls Guide to TN tomorrow.

(01:09:23):
Until then, happy reading for Ready to be Romance, I'm Tori.
Goodbye.