"A Court of Thorns and Roses" - Our Review (Finally) - Of Swords and Soulmates

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ashley (00:00):
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
participants.
The hosts make no claim to beliterary experts and their
opinions are exactly thatopinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the fair use doctrine.

Mari (00:32):
Hello and welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch and discussromanticist stories.
I'm one of your hosts, mari,and with me I have Kelly.

Kelly (00:36):
Hey everyone, it's Kelly.
We also have Ashley.

Ashley (00:40):
Hey, it's Ashley.
We also have Jonathan.

Jonathan (00:43):
What's good, it's JP.

Mari (00:46):
How's everybody doing Good .
Good, I am better than I waslast time we recorded, because I
was just getting strapped lasttime, so I still have some
stuffiness in my voice, but thisis a billion times better than
I was.
I will say, like I posted inthe social media stuff, we were

(01:07):
mildly affected by HurricaneHelene, so we're recording in a
different location.
So if this sounds off ordifferent than what you guys are
used to hearing, that is why.
So please bear with us.
Today, we will be discussing ACourt of Thorns and Roses by
Sarah J Maas, which obviouslyI'm excited that we finally did.
But before we get into it,we're going to do some news.

(01:27):
All right, the first thing I'mgoing to put on here is I've
been following this.
I've already pre-ordered thisand I've been following it for a
while, and I've had two peopleindividually message me about it
.
So I'm very, very excited andthink that I probably will like
this.
There's a book coming out.
It's called Pride and Prejudicein Space, in Space, in Space.

Ashley (01:50):
I like the zombie one.

Mari (01:53):
Yeah, the zombie one is fun.
I liked it better.
I like the zombie one better asa like.
I like the movie better thanthe book Like.
Visually I thought it was cool.
This one is written by AlexisLampley, who she is, I think,
the main artist on Nerd.
Nerd Inky is what it's called.
They do really cool book covers.

(02:15):
The book cover, please, nerdInk, is that what it is?
Yeah, yeah, so she's the artistat Nerd Ink and this is her
first book.
So I follow Nerdy Ink.
You know Nerdy Inc.
I'm sorry, nerdy Inc.
N-e-r-d-y-i-n-k.
So I follow Nerdy Inc.
And then I saw this book startto come up.
So it's going to be released inOctober.

(02:35):
The release date is October15th and it's a retelling of the
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorite books.
But in space and the way thatthe blurb reads, I think it's
going to have some of the vibesof the old Dune movie, not the
new one, the old one where it'sjust like space opera kind of

(02:56):
vibe to it.
I'm excited.
I hope it's good.
The cover is really pretty.
The cover looks like a 70ssci-fi book to me.
It looks like a really prettyillustration.

Ashley (03:08):
Well, and it sounds like it's going to have a lot of
illustration throughout the book, which makes sense them being
part of a book cover printbusiness.
Yeah, it's very, it's stunning,it's really pretty.

Mari (03:21):
I believe that they're doing a special cover for it If
you pre-order it through them.
I think it is.
There's an alternate coverwhere you can do a reversible
cover.
I like the cover of theoriginal one better.
I pre-ordered this back inApril.

Ashley (03:36):
It's been on my radar for a while.

Mari (03:43):
But I kept having other news and stuff for this, for the
podcast, but now I'm finallylike I need to talk about it
because it's about to come out.
But yeah, the illustrations init look really cool.
Lots of spacey, like I don'tknow.
It's got a very 70s vibe.
It's like pastels in space,like the cover is like a flowy
dress and it's got this likebubble over her head as like a

(04:06):
helmet, and then like this, Idon't know, rainbow pastel Lisa
Frank looking planet in thebackground.
I am excited about it.
I hope it's good, but we willsee.
The other thing I was going tosay is that I was excited about
this too.
Fairy Loot, which we've talkedabout in the past, is releasing
a special edition version ofKiki's Delivery Service.

(04:29):
Have you guys?
I know Kelly and I have watchedthis and we're fans.
But did you guys ever watch theKiki's Delivery Service?
I have not.
I think you guys would enjoy it.
It's, I mean, it's Ghibli,studio Ghibli, so it's animated,
it's very sweet.
It's a, it's a kid's story.
I mean, she's a, she's a witch,but it's like she's a witch.
Yeah, the way like the spellshop is like, it's very much

(04:50):
like spell shop.
Yeah, right, yeah, and the bookis really good too.
I read the book recently.
I had watched the movie a fewtimes.
I read the book for the firsttime this year, just recently.
But fairy loot is doing aspecial edition version of
kiki's delivery service.
It's a hardcover and it's goingto have a cover designed by
Josie Smizik.

(05:11):
It's going to have digitallysprayed edges.
It's going to have artwork onthe cover, custom endpapers.
Yeah, I'm looking forward tothis.
This is outside of their normalsubscription, so even if you
don't have a Fairylootsubscription, you can still get
this.
It's going to be $31 plusshipping.
They're located in the UK andit would ship in May or June of

(05:34):
2025.
But if you want to order itearly access for the Fairyloot
people who live in the UK, it'sgoing to be on the 17th.
Well, actually, for all theFairyloot people like it's 1pm
British Standard Time for peoplewho live in the UK, 4pm British
Standard Time for Fairylootsubscribers outside of the UK

(05:56):
and then, if they have anythingremaining, for the rest of us
peons that aren't Fairylootsubscribers, it'll be on October
18th at 1pm British StandardTime for UK customers and 4pm
British Standard Time for US andCanadian customers.
In the past, I've gotten stufffrom them and been able to get
it at that last, like you know,when it's available to everybody

(06:17):
else, kind of thing.
So they do a pretty good job ofhaving enough available for who
they think there's going to beinterested.
They do good quality books I'mexcited about that one.

Ashley (06:25):
Yeah, I've never heard any complaints about them.
I just haven't dabbled yet andI would absolutely recommend the
delivery service.

Mari (06:31):
It's, it's a cute, I would say maybe fall, fall vibes.
Cute little movie to watcharound this time of the year.
Yeah, oh, the other thing that Iposted on social media when I
first found out about it too, isthat Sarah Beth Durst, who
wrote the Spell Shop, is doinganother book in that world.
I don't know if I would call ita prequel or a sequel the way
it's marketed is a standalonebook in that world.

(06:53):
But it's basically the creatorof Kaz.
So I think it's going to have alittle bit of prequel of how
Kaz got created.
And then, of course, her nameis Terla Perna Terluna she, you
know, gets turned into thatstatue as punishment, but
apparently it's like, and thenshe wakes up and then this book
happens.
So I think it's going to be alittle bit before and a little

(07:14):
bit after.
Oh yeah, kaz's mommy.
Yeah, I'm excited about that, Ithink.
I think it's going to be fun.
In the little announcement sarahbeth said the it's called the
enchanted greenhouse.
Sorry, I didn't say that.
The enchanted greenhouse is setin the same world as a spell
shop.
It's about terlu parna, thelibrarian who created kaz and
was transformed into a woodenstatue as punishment.

(07:34):
That should have been the endof her story.
Yet one day terlu wakes up.

Ashley (07:38):
Dot dot, dot it's gonna be, hopefully before it went up
in flame, maybe that's whatcaused her to wake up.

Jonathan (07:46):
Maybe the person who imprisoned her was like dead.
Deaded themselves and, as aresult, their magic died with
them and she was released fromher worldly bonds.
So that's going to be releasedJuly of 2025.

Mari (08:01):
So next summer we'll have that to look forward to.
So far, I know the cover looksreally pretty.
Though the cover was released,it has that same similar feeling
as the Spellshop does.
Also, we have there's a newbook coming out by Ruby Dixon.
It is Bull Moon Rising.
It is a Minotaur story, so likea monster romance female main

(08:23):
character and Minotaur for theother character.
Ruby Dixon is who wrote IcePlanet Barbarians.
For anyone who's not doesn'tinstantly know that name and
associate it with Ice PlanetBarbarians.
She is the Ice Planet Barbariancreator.
So that book comes out October15th of this year and if you
pre-order it or like the firstrun of it, there's like a hard

(08:46):
cover that's very sparkly andvery pretty.

Jonathan (08:48):
It looks like it's got some really pretty edge edge
paintings as well.

Mari (08:52):
It's like a dark blue with like leaves and a moon maybe
and stars in like white on it.
And then it's got pictures andpapers, like pictures on the
inside, inside end papers.
It looks like it's like asparkly, almost pastel rainbow
thing on the cover and thenunder the cover it's like a, a
pink um with a dark blue imageon it.

(09:14):
So yeah, it has very much ofthat sweet kind of lisa frank
kind of vibe to it to me and I'mthat may be just me showing my
age, but this feels like theTrapper Keeper covers.

Jonathan (09:28):
I've got to ask you tangentially Are you a Lisa
Frank fan or just in general ofthe artwork?
I like the artwork growing up.

Mari (09:37):
Well, I like the idea of the artwork growing up.
I mean, it was always like theexpensive stuff.
I never actually had any actualLisa Frank stuff that was not
in our price range, but Iremember liking it.
I never actually had any actualLisa Frank stuff that was not
in our price range, but Iremember liking it.
I remember coveting it.
Let me put it that way.

Jonathan (09:52):
I was in the same boat and then a few years ago I want
to say like mid-pandemicTrapper Keeper released
throwbacks and so I am now as anadult because you do adult
things with adult money so I wasable to go back and purchase
myself that Trapper Keeper.
I am like six inches from it,right now.

(10:13):
I never use it, but I'm stillglad that I have it.
Thank you, nostalgia.

Mari (10:20):
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
It makes you happy, you know.
But yeah, it looks really good.
I have never read anything ofRuby Dixon's other than her Ice
Planet Barbarians, which istechnically sci-fi, but I know
Ruby Dixon has a lot of fantasybooks out there which I would

(10:40):
say, by what I'm looking at, thesynopsis of this Minotaur kind
of thing, it looks like it's inthe fantasy realm, but I've
heard good things about thosebooks too her fantasy books too
so I'll probably end up readingthis.
There's a lot of Ruby Dixonbooks that I want to read, but
this one's definitely going onthat list.
Have you guys read any Minotaurstories before Anybody?

Jonathan (11:05):
Not specifically Minotaur stories before Anybody.
Not specifically Minotaur,although I think my most recent
interaction with an impactfulMinotaur is in the Netflix show
Chaos.

Mari (11:19):
I still haven't seen that.

Jonathan (11:20):
And that's so tiny, that's a blip.
Okay, I enjoyed it.

Ashley (11:24):
Yeah, no, I'm definitely going to watch it.
I think there's a Minot.
Okay, I enjoyed it.
Yeah, no, I'm definitely gonnawatch it.
I think there's a minotaur inthe percy jackson series I've
heard that, but it's been solong since I've read all of the
books that I don't remember.
I don't believe I've read aminotaur in a romance or fantasy
setting, otherwise but wait, Ithink maybe we have, we have, we
have.
Say more.

Jonathan (11:45):
Okay, everybody sitting down.

Ashley (11:46):
Yeah.

Jonathan (11:47):
Beauty and the Beast.

Ashley (11:49):
You think the Beast is a Minotaur.

Jonathan (11:51):
I mean, what is a Minotaur?

Ashley (11:52):
No.

Jonathan (11:52):
Half bull, half dude.

Ashley (11:54):
Is a Minotaur fuzzy, though A Minotaur was the head
of a bull in the body of aperson.

Mari (12:00):
I thought that's what a Minotaur was.
I thought that's what aminotaur was.
I thought that was the physicaldescription, right.

Jonathan (12:04):
More or less Pretty much a beast, Although you know
what that's the beast.
The beast got the little tinyhand.

Ashley (12:09):
I see it.
Now that you say it, I see it.

Jonathan (12:17):
I can't unsee it now.

Mari (12:20):
You didn't know that that was French slash Greek mythology
.

Jonathan (12:22):
That's what I do.

Mari (12:23):
I ruined childhoods.
I can definitely see the ideaof where that comes from.
I will say that in our future,as a podcast, we will be reading
a Minotaur story.

Jonathan (12:33):
Is that the Land of Milk and Honey story?

Mari (12:35):
It's the Morning Glory Milking Farm.

Jonathan (12:38):
Ah, yeah, yeah, okay.

Mari (12:40):
So we met.
I met some podcasters at DragonCon that we will be doing a
collaboration with in the future.
You know, surprise, it's goingto be Morning Glory Milking Farm
.
Yep, that's a minotaur.
It's two of them.
I only met yeah, I only metSarah.
So the podcast that I'm talkingabout is called Hissin' and
Kissin'.
It's without the G, so it'sH-I-S-S-I-N and K-I-S-S-I-N and

(13:01):
it's a for adult audiencepodcast because there's Cussin
and stuff in it.

Jonathan (13:09):
So you know.
Fyi for anyone who's listeningwhen you say Cussin is that with
a?
G or without a G.
That's without a G, that'swithout a G.

Mari (13:16):
It's all without Gs.

Jonathan (13:18):
I just wanted to make sure we're saying Eric correct
here Eric, eric, eric.

Mari (13:24):
Eric Eric, eric, eric, eric, Eric, eric, eric, eric,
eric, eric, Eric, eric, eric,eric, eric, eric, Eric, eric,
eric, eric, eric, eric, Eric,eric, eric, eric, eric, eric,
Eric, eric, eric, eric, eric,eric, Eric, eric, eric, eric,
eric, eric, Eric, eric, eric,eric, eric, eric, Eric, eric,
eric, eric, eric, eric, Eric,eric, eric, eric, eric, eric,
Eric Eric.
Pop culture references.
But if anyone is interested,jonathan or anybody else, about

(13:45):
learning about more Minotaurstuff, I would recommend that
podcast.
It was a fun one.

Jonathan (13:49):
You know what makes me wonder about Minotaurs?
Are there any Maxitaurs?

Mari (13:57):
So I am trying furiously to look up, because my Greek
mythology mythology stories yes,that's what I thought.

Jonathan (14:05):
Okay, my greek mythology lore is very bad, as
we've said before I like it,this one, this the one we're
going to read about, though, andthe milk and honey has a brain,
right so it's not called milkand honey, it's called morning
glory milking farm.

Mari (14:22):
That's a different book.
Yeah, it's Morning GloryMilking Farm by CS Nascosta and
it's a Minotaur love story.
Cm Nascosta has a whole seriesof monster romance stories.
I've read several of them.
They're pretty good, but shehas two that I've read Minotaur

(14:45):
stories, the Mordegory MilkingFarm, and then Minotaur Minoan.
Minoan Bride is a novella andshe has an interesting spin on
the Greek story that she uses inher lore.
But yeah, that's what you'rethinking of.
I think that's the book you'rethinking of.

Jonathan (15:01):
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of.
I just want to make sure Milkand Honey is a phrase, an
expression that means prosperityand abundance.

Mari (15:10):
Like the Land of Milk and Honey.

Jonathan (15:11):
yeah, yeah, it's not bad.
I'm not saying anything.
I just want to make sure, if Isay something bad accidentally,
you should be like hey, thatdoesn't mean what I think you
think.

Mari (15:22):
It means you should put a stop to that right away, got it,
got it.
But yes, ruby dixon minotaurbook it'll be interesting to see
how she does it because, like Isaid, I really like how she
does the ice planet barbarians,so I'm sure she'll do minotaurs
just as well.
She writes good stories, so shebetter do, I just ordered it the
bull moon rising yeah okay, allright, so we going to get into

(15:43):
the book itself Court of Thornsand Roses, commonly shortened as
ACOTAR, by Sarah J Maas.
Why we read it?
Because it's a juggernaut ofthe genre.
We needed to read it, we neededto talk about it, ash and I
needed the guys to have this asa frame of reference.

(16:03):
You must stuff her with that,for some of the things that we
can talk about, yes, or at leastjust have a common language for
some of these things.
All right.
So it was published originallyMay 5th of 2015.
I'm going to read the synopsison it and then we can get into
more details.
When 19-year-old huntressFarrah kills a wolf in the woods

(16:24):
, a terrifying creature arrivesto demand retribution.
Dragged to a treacherous,magical land she knows about
only from legends, farrahdiscovers that her captor is not
truly a beast, but one of thelethal, immortal fairies who
once ruled her world.
At least he's not a beast.
All the time, as she adapts toher new home, her feelings for
the fairy Tamlin transform fromicy hostility into a fiery

(16:48):
passion that burns through everylie she's been told about the
beautiful, dangerous world ofthe Fae, but something is not
right in the fairy lands.

Ashley (17:03):
An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Farah
must find a way to stop it ordoom Tamlin and his world
forever.
It always falls to a woman.

Jonathan (17:09):
you guys, Y'all get shit done.
That's all I'm saying.
That's all I'm saying If leftto our own devices, you see the
state where you find us in we.
You know, shit went sidewayswith Tam Tam and we need a woman
.
Step in there.

Mari (17:26):
So what did you guys think ?

Ashley (17:28):
Non spoilery I would very much like the boys to go
first, because you and I havethoughts and opinions, and this
is not our first read, and so wehave to hold it back.

Jonathan (17:37):
I nominate Kelly.

Ashley (17:38):
So much, kelly.

Kelly (17:41):
I don't know.
I spent most of the bookwondering what the hell was
going on.

Jonathan (17:50):
Just like by yourself in a corner, like how do I open
this thing?
I can't.
Like, if you turn, you can'topen it.
I think it's more like how didI get here in life is probably
you had to walk with it.
You had to walk.

Kelly (18:02):
Yes, I spent.
I spent a lot of time ponderingmy poor life choices that have
led to that moment.
No, I just felt like for a lotof the book, reading the book, I
had no idea what was going onwith the plot, did you?
Enjoy any of it.
I mean finally, by the end, itstarted making sense and started

(18:23):
actually going somewhere.
I had a lot of trouble gettinginto it.
Are we reading on this one?
Finally, by the end, it startedmaking sense and started
actually going somewhere.

Ashley (18:27):
I had a lot of trouble getting into it.
Are we rating on this one?

Jonathan (18:28):
Like an overall.
You had a collective overallfor this one, Kelly.

Kelly (18:32):
I mean probably like a three.
I felt it was okay.
It wasn't if the firsttwo-thirds of the book had been
written as well as, like, thelast third of the book.
As far as advancing the plotand making sense, I would have
rated it higher.

Ashley (18:46):
And I get that.

Kelly (18:47):
There was effort by the author to try and make you feel
more like the character wherethere wasn't like tons of
exposition dropped on you so youknew what was going on, so that
you were just in the as in thedark as the main female
character was about what wasgoing on, and that's great.
Except if it confuses yourreader, then it becomes a

(19:07):
problem.

Ashley (19:07):
Yeah, fair, fair, so it sounds like a two he said a
three.
Jonathan, you're up, tell memore tell you more.

Jonathan (19:22):
Huh, okay, uh.
So I I thought story startedoff real strong.
I thought it was going likethis is good, that's click this
in the gear.
I like how, I like where thisis going you like the killing?

Ashley (19:30):
I got a lot.
We're talking about stuff.

Jonathan (19:32):
Yet I got a lot of questions, a lot of questions,
right, okay.
And then I was like this thingshifted and uh, I feel like, had
I had, I had like markers where, like, just like some sort of
indicator, like marker, not likean actual, like crayola, but
like an indicator of what partsof the book, when, when the
action stopped and then when itwould restart you could just

(19:55):
skip that whole you could skipthe.
You could skip a whole bunch andnot lose any of the story and
just pick back up like and that,that's so.

Ashley (20:05):
I was like it went yeah to meh to yeah it was real, it
was high, and then it was low.
Yeah, and it was high yeah, thelow last.

Jonathan (20:13):
So it was like high, and then it was low, and then it
it was high, but the low lasted, so it was high, and then it
was low and then it was flat.
It stayed low, it stayed lowand you were like any moment now
.

Ashley (20:19):
Like a mountain one night, like a watch pot, doesn't
?

Jonathan (20:21):
boil Like a mountain range.
No, not even like a mountainrange, it was like a flat bottom
U like one of those blockletter stencil U's.
It was like down, very steep upand down.

Ashley (20:35):
What's your score?

Jonathan (20:36):
I gave it a four you gave it a four.
Yeah, I gave it a four.
I felt like, even though, Imean, when it was up, it was
very up, when it was down, itwas very down and the majority
of the book was down, but theups were up.

Ashley (20:48):
Made up for it.

Jonathan (20:49):
Yeah, I don't know if it made up for it.
Yeah, I don't know if it madeup for it.
Also, I would add, I know we doa lot.
We reference a lot of Beautyand the Beast, but I got some
legitimate Beauty and the Beastvibes out of this book.

Mari (21:00):
Oh yeah.

Jonathan (21:02):
But it also like I have questions.
I'm probably not there yet.
I know we're not there.
I'm just going to save thosequestions.

Ashley (21:09):
Stop answering your questions.

Jonathan (21:10):
No, no, because it's like I feel like it is Beauty
and the Beast, but it this wasnot my favorite book.

Ashley (21:18):
I think you know, Mari, specifically how long it took me
to get through my first read ofthis.

Jonathan (21:22):
Blasphemer.

Ashley (21:23):
I know, and if it wasn't for Mari's push gentle nudging
like yep, yep this is by far theslowest feeling book.
It's going to get better.
So this book was maybe a threefor me.
I can't remember the last timeit took me something like four

(21:44):
or five months to finish a book.

Jonathan (21:46):
You know what it is.
It's the sunk cost fallacy,because let me tell these
listeners that if there's astack of this series on the
shelves over here, you'reinvested in this.
No, you're not as invested inthis series as you are into the
cult of Sarah J Maas.
Are there other Sarah J Maasbooks?

(22:07):
Yeah so she also re-series them.

Ashley (22:10):
Yeah, that whole shelf is her.
Oh, holy shit.

Jonathan (22:11):
He's looking at her shelf, yeah that whole shelf is
her.

Ashley (22:12):
Oh, holy shit, he's looking at her shelf.

Jonathan (22:15):
Sarah J Massey's children are going to Ivy League
schools.
Based on this shelf.

Mari (22:20):
I think she's just got one child but yes.

Jonathan (22:23):
Oh, wow.

Ashley (22:24):
So this book was not my favorite for all the reasons
actually that Jonathan said Iunderstood what was happening, I
just didn't care.
There was too much fluff in thecenter for me.
I was not interested literallyuntil the last third to a
quarter of the book.

Jonathan (22:42):
That's enough slices.

Ashley (22:43):
It was enough slices for me and it kills me because
Jonathan is very on board withthe characters as we know them
now and I desperately need himto read book two.

Mari (23:01):
He bought a wig.

Jonathan (23:02):
you guys, I got a wig, Guys he bought a Tamlin wig and
I'm definitely down.
And, Mari, you've seen theCrown right and the mask.

Mari (23:14):
I'm dying.

Ashley (23:15):
Are you okay?
We're killing her.

Jonathan (23:17):
We're killing out with the bad air, in with the good
air.
I've seen CPR on Looney Tunesmy entire life Listeners.

Ashley (23:23):
All of this said, this is not going to be your favorite
book there is spice there isstory.
There is depth.

Jonathan (23:35):
It was too much depth for me, the flat part was very
deep.

Ashley (23:36):
It's like the mariana trench.
Yeah, it was down there, um,but the end made it worth it for
me.
I enjoyed where the story endedand and how it's progressed
since then, so it's a three forme.

Mari (23:46):
I would read it again and chip is a real boy again okay,
so I um, we basically have donethis, this speaking order, in
the order of least knowledge andassociation with it to the most
because, like kelly hadn't readany of it, very diffidently,

(24:07):
kelly hadn't read any of it.
This was his first reading,jonathan, I think you had tried
and stopped several times andthis is your first reading all
the way through.
Is that correct, ash?
I know you've read some of theentire series, but not the all
of the series.
Right, I'm about halfwaythrough Akatar yeah like the
series itself.
Yeah, yeah and I've read theentire series, so I starred.

(24:29):
I read Akatar for the firsttime August of last year, so
this is my reread and let metell you a little story.
I have also been trying to readCrescent City, which is her
other series.
She's got three Sarah J Mastis'three series ACOTAR, throne of
Glass and Crescent City.

(24:49):
I have been trying to read thefirst Crescent City book for
nine and a half months.
A whole baby.

Ashley (24:58):
Yes, a whole child A whole gestation period.

Mari (25:03):
Yes, a whole person and the similarities, like that book
is so slow and there's so much,and then at the end it finally
comes together and you're like,oh, pull on my heartstrings.
So I'm just going to say thisis I think this is just what
Sarah J Maas does.
She tends to twist and or ripyour heart out or get it, get

(25:27):
her hooks into you, or somethingin the very last part of her
books, something in the verylast part of her books.
I will say that I really,really enjoyed the Akatar series
as a whole.
I've enjoyed it.
Akatar itself, the Akatar bookone, is the weakest of the link,
which is what I tell everyone.
I feel like it is absolutelyworth it in order to enjoy the

(25:52):
rest of the series, which I verymuch enjoy and I would
recommend to anyone who listensto this podcast.
I will say that, going back youknow, rereading it now and going
back thinking back to when Iread it the first time.
I remember reading it because Iwas like what is everyone
talking about this book?
I guess I'm going to read it.
Yeah, there's no hype talkingabout this book.

(26:15):
I guess I'm going to read it.
Yeah, there's no hype.
Yeah, everyone talks aboutAgatar.
I guess I'm going to read it,whatever.
And I had the hardest timegetting through it.
I was just like what iseveryone talking about?
What are they smoking Like?
Am I even reading the rightbook?
It was so like you know, youget to that middle of the book.
It is so slow, it is sosluggish, it's like you're in
some sort of a hallucinationdream or something.

(26:38):
It's just, it's very, very slow.
Once you've read the series, youknow that there's a lot that
happens.
That has to happen that way andit's laying down groundwork for
things in the rest of the books.
But we're not rating the series, we're rating the first book.
So I feel very similar to how Idid, in that it was very slow,
very hard to get through andthen the end very much pulled it

(27:02):
together for me and was like,oh, all of it just came together
very well.
And since I really liked theseries a lot and I see how this
book had to be the way it had tobe the way it was in order for
the series to be what it is,this is the base and if this

(27:23):
book were different, I don'tthink the series could be what
it is.
I'm going to have to give it afour, bordering on four and a
half, because I see what it isas a whole and I don't know how
to see it any other way.
All right, kelly, the spoiler.
A half, because I see what itis as a whole and I don't know
how to see it any other way.

Kelly (27:33):
All right, kelly, the spoiler spoiler spiel okay, dear
listeners, from this pointforward, we will be discussing
spoilers, so consider yourselfwarned do we want to say
anything else in the overallstuff?

Mari (27:45):
you know about spoilers before we go into fantasy.

Ashley (27:48):
Jonathan, your overall question jon, or are they
specific?

Jonathan (27:53):
It just feels like it's Beauty and the Beast.

Ashley (27:56):
Yeah, it says it On the back of the book Manipulative.

Jonathan (28:00):
I didn't read the book with my eyeballs actually how
do you turn the?

Mari (28:06):
audio around the left goes in the right ear Synopsis.
It's a Beauty and the beastretelling.
Yeah, absolutely, it is thebeauty and the beast retelling
officially picking up so thattrack I feel validated.

Jonathan (28:19):
It feels dark though, like manipulative, so I guess my
, my biggest question is did tamtam use her?

Ashley (28:30):
you'd have to continue reading.
I'm not going to continuereading that's not what you told
me yesterday.

Jonathan (28:35):
We would I I don't want to continue reading the
series.
I like to.
I like to think of my tam tamas very sexy and loving well
then, it sounds like you don'twant us to answer that question
I don't know if that's a podcastquestion yeah, I mean yeah in
order to answer that question,we would have to we'd have to
relay information that goesbeyond this book.

Ashley (28:55):
Well beyond this book.
Yeah, we can talk about that.
It's fine if you'd like.
No, no?

Jonathan (29:03):
I want to preserve my thought process on Tamlin.

Ashley (29:06):
You're going to end it on a happy note.

Jonathan (29:07):
Yeah, I'm happy with Tam Tam right now.

Mari (29:10):
Okay, jonathan, you will like the other books, if I can
tell you.
I, from what I know about youand I mean your wife is telling
you, she knows a heck of a lotmore than you do, than I do
about you, but from what I knowabout you, you will like the
rest of the book.

Jonathan (29:23):
Like you, were very honest with your first iteration
.
She knows a heck of a lot morethan you do I mean you're?
Alive.

Mari (29:33):
Kelly, do you plan to read the rest?

Kelly (29:36):
I, I don't know.

Ashley (29:39):
I mean, I think reading the rest has to do with the
individual, but also like wherewe want to go with the podcast.
Right, because we could spendepisodes talking.
I think for me, where's the?

Jonathan (29:49):
peer pressure for Kelly.
Kelly, you got to read this.
Apparently we're missing outKelly.

Ashley (29:54):
Well, because you liked it more.

Jonathan (29:56):
I mean, yeah, kelly and I liked the same parts of
the book.
He was just one star off,that's all.
Where's the peer pressure him,kelly?
I think you should read thiswhole series.

Kelly (30:14):
The biggest problem I had with this book, aside from it
being confusing and feeling likeit was somewhat disjointed at
the beginning, was that you hadthe very typical the girl dies,
whatever girl, has the maincharacter fallen?
Has the male, whatever person,fall in love with them?
And what happens?
Oh, he turns her into a fae.
Oh, he turns her into a vampireas well.

(30:34):
Oh, he turns her into a queen.

Ashley (30:37):
It's not exactly what happened.

Jonathan (30:39):
That's what happened.

Ashley (30:40):
That's exactly what happened he turned her into a
Faye.
It's not his love for her, likehe didn't turn her into a Faye.

Jonathan (30:45):
No, but that's how it ended.
He for her that recruited theothers to do it.

Mari (30:55):
She's not even high Faye, she's just regulation Faye.
No, she's high Faye At the end.
She says that.
She says it at the end.
I've been turned into a highFaye.
I just read it 30 minutesbefore we finished.

Jonathan (31:04):
I don't doubt it.
I just finished listening to it.

Mari (31:08):
The first time I read it and then, this time going
through, I listened to thedramatized version the first
time I read it and then, thistime, going through, I listened
to the dramatized version.

Jonathan (31:15):
I agree with yeah, I agree with mari, because so I
had said that to ashley thisafternoon.
I said, hey, she hi fay now andactually I thought it was no.
I thought, and I thought I hadheard the same thing that mari's
saying is that she was highfave, that she's high, I thought
it was no, but I might have.
I tell you what I didn't quitegrasp the turning into fay, but
no, kelly's right Like.
Yeah, it's like the end is near.
How do we keep her Turner?

Ashley (31:37):
Well, she died, she died .

Kelly (31:40):
Go ahead, kelly, tell us more I enjoyed the the whole
thing of her doing the trials.
I mean that was an interestingway of doing things but it also
at the same time it way of doingthings but it also at the same
time it was like how much morecan she get in debt to the other
guy, lucian, and all that stuff.
And then I also thought it wasinteresting and quite a

(32:01):
different way to do the evilstepsisters, evil sisters kind
of thing, where her sistersactually turned out to be, or
made a change and turned to be,better people than you thought
after everything that happened.
So that was a nice change fromthe usual, you know, evil
sibling thing that happens inmost fantasy stories I mean

(32:25):
they're still assholes, but Ihear what you're saying I didn't
think they were assholes

Mari (32:29):
oh my god, it's just a different upbringing.

Jonathan (32:31):
It's different.
When I no, no, when I firstread this book, I was like, oh
my god, this is you know.

Mari (32:34):
Yeah.
I was like, oh my God, one wasjust a different upbringing.
It's different childhoods.
No, no.
When I first read this book, Iwas like, oh my God, this is.
Yeah.
I was like I know it says it'sa Beauty and the Beast retelling
, but this feels like a badCinderella retelling, like these
are the horrible sisters andshe's, you know, the main
character is the only one thatever does anything for anybody
else.
And I was just like this is soheavy handed for anybody else.

(32:55):
And I was just like this is soheavy-handed.
Um, yeah, so I do.

Kelly (32:57):
I do think that there was definitely more flesh added to
the characterizations of thesisters in that middle part, for
sure, yeah, I agree like fromas soon as she gave the evil
lady gave the riddle, like itwas obvious what the answer was
yes, like I mean she should haveimmediately said it as soon as
she got the riddle out of hermouth okay, wasn't particularly
educated.

Ashley (33:16):
Here's my thing.
Yeah, I didn't mean.

Jonathan (33:17):
It's that obvious.
I had to write it all down I, Ifigured it out.

Mari (33:22):
But here's the thing again .
I thought it was easy but, likefarrah, had education up to
eight years old.
At eight years old she stoppedall education and was in a
subsistence living.
She learned how to hunt.
She taught herself how to hunt.
She taught herself how to doarrows.
She taught herself how to skinthings.

(33:43):
Think of how young indevelopment an eight-year-old is
and how the brain is stillforming.
That's when she last like she'silliterate.
She, you know, she has thisvague knowledge of this high
life that they had when theywere wealthier.
But she basically didn't have achildhood.

Ashley (34:01):
She went into like having to take care of everybody
mode, um, at eight years oldand lacking the answer to the
riddle for the majority of herlife right?
Yes, oh my God.
Yes, there wasn't exposure orexperience to that.
There weren't books that heread or TV that she watched,

(34:22):
even from afar.

Kelly (34:26):
Other than her saying she was hooking up with that boy in
the village and she knew itwasn't love, right?

Ashley (34:31):
So you know, it's easy to know what love is it's easy
to know what something's not andto have experienced what it is
there's, it's easy to know whenone is being used, and
particularly when you're usingthem so you know farrah does all
this stuff because she promisedher her mother her dying mother

(34:52):
made her promise that she wouldlike take care of her family.

Mari (34:57):
Okay, number one Farrah's the youngest.
Why would she ask her youngestchild to take care of everybody?
That was like something thatalways bothered me the first
time I read it.
But now, reading it through, Isit there and I wonder if
Farrah's mom didn't actuallymean that literally she's just
like you know how you, you tella little kid oh take care of

(35:17):
your dad.
You know, take care of yoursibling.
You don't really mean for themto be like.
You are now the caretaker ofthis person for the rest of your
life.

Ashley (35:24):
This is an oath well to a small child.
It would be literal, right, doyou?

Mari (35:29):
think the mom meant it literally, or do you think
farrah just took it that waybecause she was so young?

Ashley (35:33):
Did you have a theory on this husband?

Kelly (35:36):
I think the mom must have meant it, because obviously it
was the right choice.

Mari (35:40):
Obviously yes.
Oh my God, you're, right, Kelly.

Jonathan (35:47):
I feel like Farrah's mother was probably Faye-related
, his mother was probably um feyrelated and, um, she had there
was some sort of whether it wassome sort of power or or theme.
She knew.
She was able to tell that herchildren were different and what
each child was capable of, anda result, I guess so, and the

(36:11):
trouble I have here, and this isall speculative.
I don't.
I don't have any foundation forthese things except to say that
, hey, I'm just guessing, exceptfor, like the older sister, um,
didn't, the glamoring didn'treally work on her Um, so it
tells me that there's something,there's some gene in this
family that's kind of buckingthat stuff, um, and so I think

(36:33):
that mom was like hey, listen,these other two are blown have
they're, they're, they're,they're blown up.
But you, you still have achance.
I can see in the future thatyou're going to be the one who
has to do this and then ask her.

Ashley (36:48):
So I think she meant it literally yeah.
I didn't find that important atall.

Mari (36:54):
Yeah, it just made me think about it this time.

Kelly (36:56):
I don't know, I have two siblings and I'm pretty sure by
the time I was eight years oldmy parents knew I was going to
be the most responsible one.
But I'm just saying I thinkthat your parents know pretty
early on the type of characteryou're going to be.

Ashley (37:19):
I would agree with that.

Mari (37:20):
Yeah, I will say to anyone out there and I'm going to put
this as a place mark too, ash,for after you read Throne of
Glass, I don't want to readThrone of Glass.
Anyone who's read Throne ofGlass and Akatar there's a
theory out there that is veryinteresting.
That involves Farrah's mother.
Message us and I will tell you,because I think it's got some

(37:46):
potential to it.
And, ash, here's a reminder tooOnce you read Throne of Glass,
be like Mari, what was thatAkatar tie-in?

Ashley (37:53):
Right, yeah, there's a lot of speculation that these
three series are intertwined insome way and in a multi, you
know, almost like a Marvelmultiverse kind of way.

Mari (38:06):
With just just talking about the first book, Even like
the first two books would help.
But yeah, it's a really goodseries.
Okay, so fantasy.
What are we giving good series?
Okay, so fantasy?
What are we giving it for worldbuilding, fantasy, etc.

Kelly (38:20):
It set up an interesting fantasy world with the whole
idea of the Fae kingdoms beingdivided into these different
groups.
But then of course we throw inoh there's this other kingdom
that's much more powerful.
So I don't think it wasterrible.
It's a lot of what tends tohappen when I read books that
have Fae in it whether it'sromantic or not is that there

(38:42):
are no rules for the Fae.
It's just kind of an authordoes whatever they want for the
Fae.
So if they decide that this Faecharacter is more powerful or
can do this, then that feycharacter can do that.
It's always very whatever andthat's fine, but it also makes
it annoying.
Oh, this fey is more powerfulthan any creature combined, but

(39:06):
somehow somebody managed totrick him.
But if he just says this onephrase, then he'll be more
powerful than any of the otherfey and can kill everyone.
So I would say I have to givethe fantasy element of just a
three okay, jonathan, you'renext oh, fantasy fantasy, are we
okay?

Jonathan (39:24):
so fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, um, so the idea that
there's this, um, this dichotomyof lands, uh, separated by a
wall, and some like ancienttreaty, and there's definitely a
disparity between how the twogroups of nations kind of live

(39:45):
and what they value and whatlike.
So you have one society, it'svery everything means something
to them, like if you get like ablock of wood, it's worth
something to you, where theother one is like uh built in
abundance but it's missing someof those uh or or struggling to
maintain or recall or regain uh,some of the uh more meaningful

(40:06):
things, like I don't know theirface, like I felt that was a
very interesting way to to buildit.
I also feel like there's aninteresting way to to build it.
I also feel like there's aplethora of creatures that I
that I don't know anything about, but it definitely sent off
vibes like I'd like to see somephotos, some pictures or images

(40:28):
of they exist, yes, of these ofthese creatures also language?
I feel that maybe there'slanguage that I'm not.
I would like to see their homes, uh, also really dug whatever
like nighttime festival.
They were having the holidayfuck fest.
I'm assuming that's what it wasthe spring rights yeah yeah,
yeah, the bring spring on yeahyeah, yeah, I'll give it a, I'll

(40:52):
give it a four for fantasy.
We're standing fantasy pointzone.

Ashley (40:57):
These boys are killing me, mari.
I know I hate, I almost hatethat this is book one, because I
really do think it just gets somuch better.
The fantasy in this book for meis a four.
I think there's so muchbuilding although it's limited,
right, because we predominantlyonly see the spring court in

(41:20):
this book, and it just gets somuch better.
So I know that the rest of it'sa five, but if I'm looking at
just this, because it's justspring court, it's the one
festival, like you said.
And then we're, you know, bamunder the mountain, I would say
it's a four, like you said, andthen we're, you know, bam under
the mountain, I would say it's afour.
You see some magic.

(41:43):
You see repercussions of magic,right, the control of it,
amarantha's hold on the worldand how it's affecting others,
high fae, low fae and humansalike.
I really enjoyed, you know,reaching out into those other
creatures, the Surreal, are youkidding me?
I want to be besties with thatguy, right, like we all want the
Surreal Tico shirts.
And I enjoyed the fantasy partof this book probably the most,

(42:07):
better than the romance, betterthan the spice, not because it
was new, but because it was welldone, even as difficult as it
was to get through that valleypart of the book, I really did
enjoy the fantasy.
It's a four for me.

Mari (42:21):
Yeah, for me fantasy in this book is a five.
I think that there's a fairyworld being built, a whole world
comparison to the humans.
There's a history between thehumans and the fairy.
The humans were slaves and thenthey rose up and then some of
the fae were fighting with thehumans against the other fae.

(42:41):
So you have this whole lushhistory built up.
You have all these courts withtheir own ways of being, their
own politics, their own magic.
You have in this first bookthis really interesting curse of
the masks.
I don't know that I'd read thatbefore in a book, that your

(43:03):
whole court is cursed to wear amask and I thought that was kind
of interesting.
I fucking love the surreal.
If I had been able to squeezein one more costume for Dragon
Con this year, I was going to bethe serial for the Sarah J Mass
photo shoot, cosplay photoshoot.
It was going to be serial butthat ending where she goes under

(43:24):
the mountain to save those thatshe loves.

Ashley (43:29):
I mean tiny human.

Mari (43:31):
Tiny human in the you know land of the Fae that's out to
kill her, goes to the mostdangerous part that she knows of
this land, under the fuckingmountain, to save those that she
loves.
And she has to go through theseepic tests, she has to endure
this ordeal.
I mean, chef's kiss, yeah, Imean, I just, I, all right, so

(44:00):
that encapsulate, encapsulatewords.
That finishes fantasy.
Um, uh, romance.
What do we think about theromance?

Kelly (44:10):
I mean, obviously, since it was a beauty in the beach
retelling, you're gonna have thestockholm Syndrome at play, so
I don't know.
I liked that.
She was kind of.
She was a lot like Belle inBeauty and the Beast.
You know she pushed back a lotagainst him, which is nice.
You know you could see some ofthe romance trying to build up,

(44:32):
but there was also a lot of, youknow, play into the.
He's a bad boy.
She keeps getting warned about.
Oh, don't go out there whilehe's in this state because it
won't be the one you know of.
He'll just do whatever.
He's a bad boy.
There was a lot of that vibe toit and that's just really not
my jam.
I feel like we've read worse.
We've read better, better, so Idon't think I can really give

(44:56):
it more than a three fair, fairuh, for romance, I'm gonna give
it a two.

Jonathan (45:03):
what it was just the romance started to maybe happen
a tiny little bit in the, in thevery flat spot of this book,
and so it just wasn't enough ofit for me to give it an
overwhelmingly high review.

Ashley (45:21):
I feel like there was a it's a three for me for reasons
that I can't fully acknowledgeon this podcast.
You see some of the foundation.
I don't disagree with Kelly'sinterpretation of it, but I
don't think everyone would seeit that way in book one.

(45:41):
I do think the feelings thatshe's feeling now are genuine
and I think you can love someonewithout being in love with
someone.

Jonathan (45:50):
Yeah, like a sister.

Ashley (45:52):
No, a partner.
So for that, for me, it's athree, I think for me, also
similarly tiptoeing.

Mari (45:59):
Like Ash, I think that Farrah has an immense amount of
love and passion for those thatshe cares about.
She is always about giving ofherself and giving herself and
sacrificing herself for thoseshe cares about.
She did it for her family overand over.
She did it for Tamlin andLucien.

(46:20):
She did it for all the humanswho didn't even know she was
doing it for them.
Definitely these romanticideals of sacrifice for those
that you love.
She's got a lot of that Becauseof things that Ash and I know.
I would say that I agree withKelly and I also feel that
there's some very nuanced andlayered romance in this book,
and so for me it's a four, and Iwould love to have a discussion

(46:42):
with anyone who's read beyondthis book and we can talk about
it more, but that's as deep as.
I can go yeah.

Ashley (46:49):
Yeah.

Kelly (46:50):
And I think that's part of the problem here is when you
read a book that's a part of aseries, it's hard to rate go
back and talk about just thatone book if you've read the rest
of them.
It's like trying to talk aboutStar Wars A New Hope if you've
seen all of them.
You can't just talk about theone movie by itself, right?

Mari (47:21):
So your knowledge of the rest of the series sort of
taints how you interpret andlook back on that first book.
When I read this the first time, I wasn't terribly impressed
with the romance aspect of it.
So on that note, yeah, Kelly.

Kelly (47:27):
Spice.
It was far tamer than otherbooks we've read Far, yes.
For sure.
Now, as far as how the qualityof it was, I mean, I think the

(47:52):
quality of it was pretty good.
I think that it wasn't likegrotesque or over the top you
know ridiculous amounts of spice.
Nor did I think it was you Like.
I think the spice was well, ifanything, I thought there was
going to.
You know, I thought there wasgoing to be a lot more so, but
it was not near as much as whatpeople have made it out to be.
You know, it's kind of like.
You know, if you've never readanything spicy, you would say
that this was a smutty book.

(48:12):
As far as the spice goes, Iguess I would probably, you know
, stick with saying it's like athree or three and a half.
I mean it's, it was fine.
There was a, you know, moderateamount and it was fairly well
put in there.
So I don't think there was anyreal you know, negative thing
about it.

Mari (48:33):
Jonathan.

Jonathan (48:33):
Spice, so I really didn't have a whole bunch of
spice for this book at all, evenwhen spice was happening spice
was like salt and paprika.
I would say, though, like theonly thing I would add is
there's probably a reason thatthis book took eight years to
catch on.
Um, because that's how long ittook most people to get through

(48:54):
the flat spots.
Burn, wicked, sick Burn.
No, it's not Cajun.
I'm going to give it a two anda half.
I think that's generous.
I want to give it a two, but Ifeel like a two and a half is
probably because there's someretractable claws.
That's all I'm saying.
That's from Matt.
No banging either.

Ashley (49:20):
God, you guys are killing me.
Um, I I would say it's a three.
I agree with the boys.
It was.
It was underwhelming.
There is hype to the book.
It's a spicy series.
This is not a spicy book.
Um, it was polite, it was.
It was foundational, I think,even with knowing what we know.
In book one, even at some point, jonathan was like I forget

(49:43):
what question I asked, but Iasked it back to him.
I was like do you think that heloved her?
And he paused and it was a verylong pause, right.
So I think the boys are prettyon par.
I think it was a three for me.
What was there was nice.
It wasn't anythinglife-changing which you will see
in later books.
Boys, oh yes, um it was.

(50:07):
It was good enough.

Mari (50:08):
It's a three for me for me and I'm trying I am trying
really hard to remember back andI think this is how I felt
about it the first time I readit.
I didn't know any of thespoilers going into the series,
but I did have this preconceivednotion that this was going to
be a spicy or smutty book,because everyone talked about it
as the oh, that's the face smutseries, with a preconceived

(50:29):
notion that this was going to bea spicy book and then getting
what we got, I remember beinglike where, where's the spice?
Did the spice fall out of mybook?
You know, like looking underthe pages, like where is it
Going with my preconceivednotions that it was going to be

(50:49):
a smutty book, whether it is not, and going with the fact that I
never, I never, I don't connectto Tamlin Didn't jive for me
and I have enjoyed books beforewhere the main romance situation
doesn't jive for me and I stillenjoy the book.
So there are plenty of thingsabout this that I enjoy, but
yeah, so for me the Spice was atwo Going on the covers.

(51:09):
I know there's two versions ofthe covers there's the original
ones and then there's the onesthat we all know now.
The original covers were doneby Adrian Datish and they're
more like what you would thinkof a traditional fantasy cover,
the ones that we see now.
If you go to a bookstore andtry and get an ACOTAR book, it's
the color blocked versions.
That was done by Happy Pets Inc.
I will not say what I'm goingto say because that's not my

(51:31):
turn, kelly.

Kelly (51:34):
I've only looked at the one cover, and it was the cover
that's on the kindle version.
I mean, I think it was fine.
It's not like it was, you know,a groundbreaking cover.
By any means, I don't know thatit would have made me pick it
up off the shelf.
I feel like it's just anaverage cover, so I guess maybe
a three jonathan.

Jonathan (51:51):
So I'm going off the color blocked versions, which I
uh that I would have picked thatbook up for the color blocked
version alone.
I just like it.
So a couple of things that willmake me pick.
If you're an author out thereand you're like what's going to
get Jonathan to buy my book,I'll tell you right now
geometric shapes and colorblocking.
If you can give me a good,solid color, that's what does it

(52:12):
for you.
That's what does it for meInteresting?
So I'm going to give the bookcover a five.

Ashley (52:16):
Oh, wow, okay, High praise.
I like the original covers farmore than the now covers.
I know they are coveted.
You can't find them unlessyou're just the lucky person in
the Goodwill store.
I think the color blocking Ithink it's interesting.
I mean, mean, how often do yousee like just a solid ass red

(52:37):
book, right and so for?

Kelly (52:39):
that I probably would have picked it up.

Ashley (52:40):
Is it the most relevant to the story?
Is it the most beautiful coverI've ever seen?
I feel like that.
Both are no.
For me, I think it's a three.
It's how I feel about the space.
It was just it, it was okay, itwas there, it was played.
I'm not mad at it.

Mari (52:55):
I hate these covers.
I hate these covers with apassion.
I think that they're bright andjoyful and they do not, and
they're not reflective of thestory, in my opinion at all
they're not cohesive.
They're not cohesive Like youput them on the shelf and it's
like a I don't know a postHalloween frenzied kid just

(53:18):
threw up on your bookshelf.

Ashley (53:20):
I was going to say I get like rainbow vomit.

Mari (53:22):
Oh, yes, yes, I, as much as I love this series, I put off
buying this series until Ifound really good slipcovers.
And you guys will see, in thepicture that you have already
seen, if you're listening tothis, the picture that I used
for the social media stuff forthis episode.
It's my version of xr andthey're all beautiful dark
slipcovers that I have on them.

(53:43):
I, it's a one, it's a one.
I hate them.
Hate them, load them.
I think I was being polite, Idon't loathe them, but I don
don't love them.

Ashley (53:55):
And I only bought them because you gave me the first
two books.

Mari (54:00):
I got you hooked on your dealer.

Ashley (54:02):
Yeah, I'm your dealer, aren't I?
Nine times out of ten, that's ayes.

Mari (54:06):
Yo, you got any more of that romanticity over there.
You got any more of that SarahJ Maas.

Ashley (54:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mari (54:11):
What you got next?
Getting a little itchy.

Kelly (54:19):
Do we think it's a kissing book?

Jonathan (54:20):
yeah, sorry, it wasn't my turn, and I gotta go yeah,
it's a kissing book.
Yeah, I popped this thingthrough the calculator and it
gave me it popped out a 39success rate.
Am I reading smart?
It's mildly dirty I'm gonnaexpanded I, yeah, I've expanded.
There's been some expansion tothe calculator over the past few
weeks.
It's growing.

(54:40):
It's a grower, not a shower.
Ashley, she's shaking her headat me.
Um, okay, is it a kissing book?
No, I didn't it.
Just, it didn't even hit 51.
I could be on the fence is itmy turn again?

Ashley (54:54):
yeah, it's a kissing book because, ultimately, if
pharah hadn't been wrapped intothis whole situation, they all,
everything would have gone toshit.
Everything would have gone toshit.
She wouldn't have known thatthere was a problem in into the
capacity that it was, shewouldn't have gone under the
mountain.
Amarantha would have continuedher control over parithia.
Everything would have justcatastrophically combusted.

Jonathan (55:18):
How much kissing was there?

Ashley (55:20):
It's a kissing book.
I need more kissing.

Jonathan (55:21):
No, no, no, it's a kissing book.

Kelly (55:23):
I need kisses not kiss.

Ashley (55:27):
It's a kissing book in that if Pharaoh was removed from
the story, the world would nothave been saved for the time
being.
I agree with ash.
I agree with ash, we know morethan you do.
Yeah, but with in, but just forthis book.
If feyre hadn't been beauty andthe beast, right then it, there

(55:53):
wouldn't have been progressionand the takedown of amarantha,
and that is key to this book.

Mari (55:59):
Absolutely, I agree.
It's a Romanesie book.
If Farrah had not been willingto die for love, die for those
that she loved, it would havebeen a totally different story.
She would have gone under themountain.
Farrah went under the mountainfor love.
Farrah killed for love.
Farrah died for love.
Yeah, absolutely Romanesie wehave spoken yes mark it in the

(56:21):
archives anything else about thebook anybody else wants to say.
I will say that everyone, um,oh no, no, seriously, think
about giving this I have a point.

Ashley (56:35):
I have a point no no, no , I have a point, I have a point
, I have a point.

Jonathan (56:37):
She's got her hand.
Just so you know, Mara, she'sgot her hand in the air going
stop.

Ashley (56:42):
In case you didn't see it Mara it's there.
No, no, no.
I have a point, and this is howdid you?

Jonathan (56:57):
know that she was in love and do you remember the
answer?

Ashley (56:58):
that you gave me.
You said it was one line.
She gave one line.

Jonathan (57:02):
It was one line.

Ashley (57:03):
Mari, you're going to appreciate this if he remembers,
if I remember, do you?

Jonathan (57:07):
remember.
Oh, my God, I can't remember,but it's something.
I'm sure it was somethingimportant to remember, yeah.

Ashley (57:18):
But it was sensitive so I buried like sensitive.
It's going to be reallyrelevant to the questions that
you're going to have for usoffline.
His answer to me was becauseshe told she told re sand that
she knew she loved Tamlinbecause Tamlin didn't hold her
captive, she was never his.

Jonathan (57:31):
That's what it is she.
No, it's not because she didn'thold him captive, it's because
she said he never treated melike a captive.
Hold on to that feeling.

Kelly (57:41):
Holding on to it.
Tam Tam was like what do youwant?
You?

Jonathan (57:42):
want paint.
Hold on to it.
You want paint?
Here's some paint.
Wrap it up, Mari.
Here's some canvas art.

Mari (57:46):
I made some point.
Wrap it up.
Okay, I will read the sequel atleast, and give that a shot
before you have a full opinionof the series.
And I would say that, if anyoneis thinking about even if
you're not a big audiobookperson the dramatized version on
Audible which is why I ended upreading of this, not just the
audiobook the dramatized versionthat had the multiple voices

(58:07):
and the sound effects very welldone, that's what I listened to
and I very much enjoyed it.
Thanks to listening to Of Swordsand Soul M soulmates.
Before we go, make sure tocheck out the show notes, rate,
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(58:28):
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If you'd like to offer asuggestion for a future rapid
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(58:50):
you'd like to read along withus as we prepare for a new
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We hope you'll join us in twoweeks for our next episode when
we read and review A Dowry ofBlood by ST Gibson.
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}"A Court of Thorns and Roses" - Our Review (Finally)