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The Incomparable

301: All the Best Words

 

00:00:05   the incomparable number 301 may 2016 [TS]

00:00:13   welcome back everybody to the [TS]

00:00:14   uncomfortable this is that episode that [TS]

00:00:16   i enjoy every year where I get to read a [TS]

00:00:18   lot of books that are on the list of [TS]

00:00:19   awards [TS]

00:00:20   it's the nebula awards they were seven [TS]

00:00:23   nominees for best novel and and unlike [TS]

00:00:27   last year where we recorded just before [TS]

00:00:29   the award was handed out we're actually [TS]

00:00:30   recording after the award is handed out [TS]

00:00:32   so we will talk about the novel's intern [TS]

00:00:34   chosen randomly in order that leads to [TS]

00:00:38   the winner randomly which is kind of [TS]

00:00:40   funny [TS]

00:00:41   joining me to talk about these seven [TS]

00:00:43   books that somebody thought were worth [TS]

00:00:45   putting on a list of award nominees are [TS]

00:00:48   members of my book club [TS]

00:00:50   Scott McNulty hello i was going to [TS]

00:00:52   predict the winner but now you've ruined [TS]

00:00:55   yes that's the problem about not having [TS]

00:00:59   this P last last year when we did this i [TS]

00:01:01   just read all the names as if they were [TS]

00:01:03   the winner and then edit out all the [TS]

00:01:05   losers so it seems as if i knew what i [TS]

00:01:07   was talking about but this year we [TS]

00:01:09   already know the winner so anyways going [TS]

00:01:11   to have you here Scott a pleasure [TS]

00:01:14   Erica and sign is here hello i am here i [TS]

00:01:17   did my homework very early this time and [TS]

00:01:19   now have forgotten a lot so everything I [TS]

00:01:21   took some notes how many of them did you [TS]

00:01:23   read I i started all of them to attempt [TS]

00:01:25   it also and that's good enough good and [TS]

00:01:27   i finished six ok fair enough [TS]

00:01:30   lean Sims is here heileen how are you [TS]

00:01:33   okay how are you [TS]

00:01:35   I i'm good i read i read seven books how [TS]

00:01:38   many books did you read i read 5i [TS]

00:01:41   attempted six but i could not get [TS]

00:01:43   through one of them are and then one of [TS]

00:01:46   them was all two of them or third in a [TS]

00:01:48   series and I hadn't read the beginning [TS]

00:01:49   of the series so I didn't interesting [TS]

00:01:51   didn't didn't do it [TS]

00:01:52   fair enough that's that's completely [TS]

00:01:54   fair and joining us again as he has [TS]

00:01:57   actually the last couple years from the [TS]

00:01:58   skin panty podcast it is sean Duke Sean [TS]

00:02:02   welcome back thank you for having me i [TS]

00:02:04   will be your resident curmudgeon this [TS]

00:02:05   episode so expect joy you might have to [TS]

00:02:08   fight to certainly Scott for it but [TS]

00:02:11   we'll see how actually my post will see [TS]

00:02:13   how we will see how it goes [TS]

00:02:15   that's good curmudgeon curmudgeonly is [TS]

00:02:17   fine there's nothing wrong with [TS]

00:02:18   conventionally alright so seven novels I [TS]

00:02:22   literally did go to [TS]

00:02:24   scott might approve to random.org best [TS]

00:02:28   place on the internet to find a random [TS]

00:02:29   number anywhere atmospheric aberrations [TS]

00:02:31   lead to random numbers random.org and so [TS]

00:02:35   I i randomly selected the order in which [TS]

00:02:37   we would talk about these seven offices [TS]

00:02:39   so the nebula Awards science-fiction [TS]

00:02:40   writers of america write science fiction [TS]

00:02:42   writers association it's not just [TS]

00:02:44   America I don't know their science [TS]

00:02:46   fiction writers galactic they have they [TS]

00:02:47   have a system that is not just a it's [TS]

00:02:51   not a fan vote like you go words so it's [TS]

00:02:53   a little bit different lists and and [TS]

00:02:55   they chose these seven as they're the [TS]

00:02:57   ones to go to the final voting to choose [TS]

00:03:00   a winner [TS]

00:03:01   so first up is the fifth season by NK [TS]

00:03:05   jemisin now you may remember her she [TS]

00:03:09   wrote [TS]

00:03:10   uh-huh the hundred thousand kingdoms [TS]

00:03:11   which was a hugo nominee a few years [TS]

00:03:14   back that I actually really loved and in [TS]

00:03:18   in the fifth season this is a this is a [TS]

00:03:21   story told in three different timeframes [TS]

00:03:23   and the question is how many--how [TS]

00:03:24   spoiler we should probably try to keep [TS]

00:03:26   it light on spoilers because most people [TS]

00:03:28   are not going to not not going to read [TS]

00:03:30   all seven books but i will say it's it [TS]

00:03:33   stolen three different time frames with [TS]

00:03:34   with a bunch of characters and you begin [TS]

00:03:36   to wonder if you read it [TS]

00:03:37   perhaps these time frames are connected [TS]

00:03:39   because why would you tell completely [TS]

00:03:42   disconnected stories calm and it's about [TS]

00:03:45   a world that is apparently coming to an [TS]

00:03:47   end there are there's a race of people [TS]

00:03:51   that are that are their current kind of [TS]

00:03:53   like mutants who have the ability to [TS]

00:03:55   control like the earth and rocks and [TS]

00:03:57   lava and stuff like that but there and [TS]

00:04:00   they have like a training academy but [TS]

00:04:02   they're also kind of their the subject [TS]

00:04:05   of racism and the training academy maybe [TS]

00:04:07   a little more sinister than it might [TS]

00:04:09   sound from a simple description about it [TS]

00:04:11   and there's in one of the the timeframes [TS]

00:04:14   there's a cataclysm that is causing a [TS]

00:04:17   city to be destroyed and questioning the [TS]

00:04:20   future of the entire planet and along [TS]

00:04:22   the way we meet these characters who are [TS]

00:04:23   connected to the special people who can [TS]

00:04:27   control the rocks and the earth and feel [TS]

00:04:31   the vibrations of the earth and stop [TS]

00:04:32   earthquakes from happening and things [TS]

00:04:34   like that so it's it's definitely a [TS]

00:04:37   a kind of magical world in that sense i [TS]

00:04:40   would say i'd say this is definitely a [TS]

00:04:42   fantasy novel only because there doesn't [TS]

00:04:44   seem to be any even remote scientific [TS]

00:04:47   basis for this these are people with [TS]

00:04:48   special powers special earthquake powers [TS]

00:04:51   basically so that's the fifth season uh [TS]

00:04:54   anybody have have want to jump out and [TS]

00:04:58   remember what the fifth season was a [TS]

00:05:00   hunter i wanna i talked about all this [TS]

00:05:02   is when I i remember because it was [TS]

00:05:03   actually the think the second to last [TS]

00:05:05   one that I fully read and it gave me [TS]

00:05:09   nightmares [TS]

00:05:10   so I had to read it really fast because [TS]

00:05:12   I was really enjoying it but I wasn't [TS]

00:05:14   enjoying the nightmare so it's like if I [TS]

00:05:15   just get there really fast and we have [TS]

00:05:17   to worry about it anymore [TS]

00:05:18   I apocalyptic dreams are not uncommon [TS]

00:05:20   for me but not many nights in a row so [TS]

00:05:22   because I as you may know if you listen [TS]

00:05:25   to the uncomfortable a lot i am a sucker [TS]

00:05:27   for a good apocalypse Tory and for my [TS]

00:05:30   money this was a good apocalypse Tori I [TS]

00:05:32   I always tend to measure them against [TS]

00:05:34   the first half of the stand and i [TS]

00:05:36   thought this really measured up as far [TS]

00:05:37   as did the way that this you know [TS]

00:05:40   world-ending thing was dealt with by the [TS]

00:05:42   people in this world the prologue says [TS]

00:05:44   you know there are a lot of into the [TS]

00:05:45   world's and people come back from them [TS]

00:05:48   this isn't one of them this is the end [TS]

00:05:49   of the world that's how it starts [TS]

00:05:51   basically yes and i love the idea that [TS]

00:05:53   that that's a thing that that this sort [TS]

00:05:56   of end-of-the-world type thing is [TS]

00:05:57   something that happens over and over [TS]

00:05:59   again throughout the history of this [TS]

00:06:00   world were reading about which may or [TS]

00:06:03   may not be our world in the far far [TS]

00:06:04   future I can like I wasn't sure about [TS]

00:06:06   that so maybe it is kind of science [TS]

00:06:08   fictiony I kind of like books that easy [TS]

00:06:11   with that in that way I was so that one [TS]

00:06:13   of the things that's really note and [TS]

00:06:14   notable I think while reading this book [TS]

00:06:16   is that it's got this idea of dead sibs [TS]

00:06:18   right so it's the dead civilizations [TS]

00:06:20   this is a this is a world with a [TS]

00:06:22   civilization that is being built on the [TS]

00:06:25   the remains of many fairly advanced [TS]

00:06:29   civilizations that have come before it [TS]

00:06:31   and the measure and this is a a planet [TS]

00:06:34   that is sort of shattered it's got [TS]

00:06:36   horrible economic issues there [TS]

00:06:39   tidal waves and earthquakes and volcanic [TS]

00:06:41   eruptions and so everybody every town [TS]

00:06:44   has what 10 years of of storage of like [TS]

00:06:48   food supplies and everybody's storing up [TS]

00:06:50   for the next Cataclysm to survive it and [TS]

00:06:53   the culture that they are part of is [TS]

00:06:55   really awesome because it survived like [TS]

00:06:57   four of them or something without ya [TS]

00:07:00   dying out but so everything is is [TS]

00:07:02   tenuous like all civilization is tenuous [TS]

00:07:05   and there are remnants of height x stuff [TS]

00:07:09   that they don't even understand what [TS]

00:07:10   they are they're strange little jewel [TS]

00:07:13   things that float in the sky there are [TS]

00:07:16   little like a spinning like almost like [TS]

00:07:18   when Millie kind of things that they [TS]

00:07:20   don't nobody knows what they're for [TS]

00:07:22   so there's this history of like the [TS]

00:07:23   world that used to understand this stuff [TS]

00:07:25   in that world is gone but people are [TS]

00:07:27   still kind of making their way [TS]

00:07:29   yeah and I think you mentioned a little [TS]

00:07:30   bit about you know 10 years of storage [TS]

00:07:33   and stuff because they're used to the [TS]

00:07:34   world's sort of ending a lot of times I [TS]

00:07:36   thought that the structures that the [TS]

00:07:38   society has in place for dealing with [TS]

00:07:40   those ends it was a really fascinating [TS]

00:07:42   touch and and then the fact that the [TS]

00:07:45   book is all sort of wrapped up and it's [TS]

00:07:47   got a very specific system of magic [TS]

00:07:50   that's tied to two people in the Earth's [TS]

00:07:52   and and your kind of discovering how it [TS]

00:07:55   works throughout the book and through [TS]

00:07:56   the lens of a of a few characters that [TS]

00:07:59   we see it's sort of interesting points [TS]

00:08:00   in their lives made it made a really [TS]

00:08:02   fascinating read and it it ended leaving [TS]

00:08:06   me really wanting the next book there [TS]

00:08:07   wasn't it wasn't as big of a conclusion [TS]

00:08:09   as I was kind of hoping for her but [TS]

00:08:11   that's right i just pre-ordered the next [TS]

00:08:13   book immediately it doesn't have an [TS]

00:08:15   ending i would say that's one of the [TS]

00:08:16   weaknesses of the book is that it kind [TS]

00:08:18   of you get to the end and you realize [TS]

00:08:20   that it's like kicking into the next act [TS]

00:08:23   the next chapter in the story at the end [TS]

00:08:26   yeah this is definitely my favorite book [TS]

00:08:28   of all of the ones we read I'm yeah I [TS]

00:08:31   liked it most [TS]

00:08:32   I think my to yeah i think that she did [TS]

00:08:35   a really really good job of weaving [TS]

00:08:37   these different stories and in in a [TS]

00:08:41   really satisfying way I guess and kind [TS]

00:08:45   of the threads that connect them all and [TS]

00:08:47   because they are connected i will spoil [TS]

00:08:48   that but I won't tell you how and I just [TS]

00:08:51   felt like it was really really artfully [TS]

00:08:52   done i thought the and the imagery her [TS]

00:08:56   her her command of language was really [TS]

00:08:58   beautiful yeah the the ways that things [TS]

00:09:01   that she described the way she wrote [TS]

00:09:03   things ever [TS]

00:09:04   really enjoyed and I I wanted more like [TS]

00:09:07   I finished reading and I was like oh [TS]

00:09:09   this is really disappointing but they [TS]

00:09:11   don't have any more of this storied and [TS]

00:09:13   and it did feel like a first story in a [TS]

00:09:17   series in the couple our first stories [TS]

00:09:20   in series and they felt like that [TS]

00:09:21   definitely i'm so I do feel kind of like [TS]

00:09:23   I'm i'm hanging a little bit but i just [TS]

00:09:26   thought that it was really really artful [TS]

00:09:27   and beautiful [TS]

00:09:28   I'm and I'm wondering if the next book [TS]

00:09:31   might be might tie in more of the [TS]

00:09:33   science-fiction elements because of the [TS]

00:09:35   way they left this one possible [TS]

00:09:38   Scott what did you think I enjoyed it it [TS]

00:09:42   wasn't my favorite of the seven books it [TS]

00:09:45   wasn't my least favorite either so [TS]

00:09:46   that's good i guess for people keeping [TS]

00:09:49   track of my favorite and least favorite [TS]

00:09:50   books market on my spreadsheet at the [TS]

00:09:52   end i'll ask everybody to bring them so [TS]

00:09:54   be prepared for that if you eat so as we [TS]

00:09:57   go make a list of them well we'll ask [TS]

00:09:59   you to bring at the end i'll check the [TS]

00:10:01   toys and I I struggled with this only [TS]

00:10:04   because you know you said it's a fantasy [TS]

00:10:06   book but i don't know if i consider it a [TS]

00:10:08   fantasy book or science fiction book and [TS]

00:10:10   I don't think that's a problem really [TS]

00:10:12   because I enjoyed it and I thought I'm [TS]

00:10:14   she's a talented writer beautifully [TS]

00:10:16   written as already has been said but in [TS]

00:10:17   and i think it's interesting that she [TS]

00:10:19   melds all of the facets that are in here [TS]

00:10:23   that make me wonder like make it [TS]

00:10:25   difficult for me to categorize it as [TS]

00:10:27   either purely science fiction or purely [TS]

00:10:29   fantasy because of course you know [TS]

00:10:31   you've got the magic or seemingly magic [TS]

00:10:33   I don't know if it's magic or not she [TS]

00:10:34   doesn't really explain it mean earth [TS]

00:10:37   magic i'm not sure how that science [TS]

00:10:39   fiction that there's earth magic unless [TS]

00:10:41   well it could be you know that there [TS]

00:10:43   would have been genetically engineered [TS]

00:10:44   to have psychic i see ya okay I'm not [TS]

00:10:46   sure how there's any technology that [TS]

00:10:48   leads to people being born who can [TS]

00:10:50   control earthquakes but but it doesn't [TS]

00:10:52   feel your little faith [TS]

00:10:54   alright okay fair enough there's no [TS]

00:10:56   there's no like dread dragons are magic [TS]

00:10:58   spells it's not that kind of fantasy but [TS]

00:11:00   it also doesn't seem to be like they're [TS]

00:11:03   trying to say oh well there's a [TS]

00:11:04   technological explanation for how these [TS]

00:11:06   people are doing doing this but there is [TS]

00:11:08   technology she leaves it up to the arena [TS]

00:11:12   to into it's one way or the other which [TS]

00:11:15   is clever right because so if you are [TS]

00:11:16   leaning more [TS]

00:11:17   towards the fantasy you just think it's [TS]

00:11:19   a fantasy and if you think it's more [TS]

00:11:20   science fictiony you just think it's [TS]

00:11:22   science fiction which is great like the [TS]

00:11:24   whole yak that they looked to the sky [TS]

00:11:27   and something's missing in your highness [TS]

00:11:29   so yes [TS]

00:11:30   what could that be a spoiler phone is [TS]

00:11:34   missing the which led me to believe it [TS]

00:11:38   was earth and so this led we also [TS]

00:11:40   believe that it was far in the future [TS]

00:11:41   right and so these and the the hovering [TS]

00:11:44   crystals that do things and you know and [TS]

00:11:47   are introduced kind of nonchalantly like [TS]

00:11:49   oh and there was a crystal in the air [TS]

00:11:51   and I'm like what a weird bit of imagery [TS]

00:11:52   there and it's like yeah actually that [TS]

00:11:54   matters [TS]

00:11:54   that's going to be important but you [TS]

00:11:56   don't know for a while I like that do ya [TS]

00:11:58   sure they're just covering their [TS]

00:11:59   two-week whatever it is they do [TS]

00:12:01   slutever following people yeah or not so [TS]

00:12:06   i mean i really liked it and yeah I [TS]

00:12:09   think I'm if I had to categorize it's [TS]

00:12:12   which I don't but to force myself to I [TS]

00:12:15   characterize it now Scott I'm making [TS]

00:12:17   that everything I i would still I'd call [TS]

00:12:20   it science fiction [TS]

00:12:21   ok interesting i said okay all right or [TS]

00:12:23   wrong but that's fine Sean what did what [TS]

00:12:26   did you think of the fifth season up so [TS]

00:12:28   this is going to be a thing you're gonna [TS]

00:12:29   hear many times tonight alright sorry [TS]

00:12:33   for that there another way i think of it [TS]

00:12:34   is there's this great scene and pirates [TS]

00:12:36   of the caribbean work your nightly is [TS]

00:12:38   about to get thrown into the water off [TS]

00:12:39   the plank and there's the one guy who [TS]

00:12:41   basically gets one line in the movie and [TS]

00:12:43   all he does is he screams too long and [TS]

00:12:46   the things the plank and eventually [TS]

00:12:47   falls in that's kind of how I felt about [TS]

00:12:49   many of the books that i read through [TS]

00:12:52   this fifth fifth season little less than [TS]

00:12:56   certain other books we will come to [TS]

00:12:57   later for reasons that are a little [TS]

00:13:00   different but at I think part of that is [TS]

00:13:01   that for fifth season I listen to it as [TS]

00:13:03   an audio book which I maybe it's not a [TS]

00:13:06   good idea because of out some of the the [TS]

00:13:08   switches and narration don't quite work [TS]

00:13:11   i think in the way that it may be work [TS]

00:13:12   for all of you I will say though that [TS]

00:13:14   despite that i did enjoy most of this [TS]

00:13:17   book in and then there's one scene that [TS]

00:13:20   actually sticks out to me that i can't [TS]

00:13:22   seem to get out of my head because I [TS]

00:13:23   found it really tragic is that scene [TS]

00:13:25   with i believe it's with kamiya and her [TS]

00:13:27   guardian where he just flat-out tells a [TS]

00:13:29   child [TS]

00:13:30   like you think you matter and he [TS]

00:13:32   answered this question and it i don't [TS]

00:13:35   know that that moment really sort of [TS]

00:13:36   stuck out how to actually rewind the [TS]

00:13:38   audio tape and listen to it again to [TS]

00:13:39   make sure I'd heard it it was really [TS]

00:13:41   kind of brutal and of course the world [TS]

00:13:43   are living in is pretty screwed-up had [TS]

00:13:46   pretty bigoted and terrible but yeah [TS]

00:13:49   that's you know like I've really liked [TS]

00:13:51   in there and I love some of the world [TS]

00:13:52   building elements i mean some of the [TS]

00:13:54   things we've already mentioned i love [TS]

00:13:55   when they start talking about the the [TS]

00:13:58   weird technology that's a holdover and [TS]

00:14:00   they don't have any idea how it works [TS]

00:14:02   they just know that it does and it does [TS]

00:14:04   all these weird things so I like a lot [TS]

00:14:06   of aspects of it but it is one of those [TS]

00:14:08   things are like I think i'm getting to [TS]

00:14:09   this this point in my PhD where like if [TS]

00:14:12   a book is over 250 pages i start to want [TS]

00:14:16   to just cut them out and maybe reduce [TS]

00:14:19   the book down a little bit i start [TS]

00:14:22   finding things from like did we really [TS]

00:14:24   need that scene and that's gonna come up [TS]

00:14:27   i'm sure Scott and I will have much to [TS]

00:14:29   say on that front for a later book that [TS]

00:14:31   I suspect both yeah and i both had [TS]

00:14:33   issues with so I don't know what you [TS]

00:14:35   could be referring yeah which book at [TS]

00:14:37   it's clearly it's clearly the shortest [TS]

00:14:41   book on the left right yeah so um I [TS]

00:14:44   think it's interesting that the the fact [TS]

00:14:47   that this is told him three times [TS]

00:14:48   sequences on one level I felt like it [TS]

00:14:50   made it move because you have that [TS]

00:14:52   moment you want to get back to what you [TS]

00:14:53   just finished chapter of and you know [TS]

00:14:55   you've got to go through two others to [TS]

00:14:56   get there and sort of gives you this [TS]

00:14:58   impetus to drive forward at the same [TS]

00:15:00   time i would say yes there are moments [TS]

00:15:02   where I think this chapter probably [TS]

00:15:04   doesn't need to be here except we need [TS]

00:15:06   to have everything every 30 chapters be [TS]

00:15:09   one from each time frame and I didn't [TS]

00:15:11   have those moments but you know for me I [TS]

00:15:13   didn't feel like it was too long so much [TS]

00:15:15   as I felt like like I said it could get [TS]

00:15:18   to the end and although it kind of wraps [TS]

00:15:20   up these three stories and in fact that [TS]

00:15:22   it brings them all together and you see [TS]

00:15:23   the bigger picture at the end [TS]

00:15:25   still it doesn't really there there's so [TS]

00:15:29   much more story to tell and I was a [TS]

00:15:31   little disappointed that it was you know [TS]

00:15:33   again I i bought a book and what I got [TS]

00:15:36   was an installment of a series and and [TS]

00:15:38   that that lets me down a little bit too [TS]

00:15:40   i want to mention one thing that I [TS]

00:15:41   really like from this book was [TS]

00:15:44   it's just another little thing that I [TS]

00:15:45   thought was cool is that one of the [TS]

00:15:48   characters is named alabaster and he's [TS]

00:15:51   described as being a man with the [TS]

00:15:52   darkest skin and could ever possibly see [TS]

00:15:55   and that he was named ironically by [TS]

00:15:57   whoever gave him his name and you find [TS]

00:15:59   out that everybody gets these names at [TS]

00:16:02   this place where the earth you know [TS]

00:16:03   earth Wizards basically or sorry Scott [TS]

00:16:06   earth science people and and and i like [TS]

00:16:10   that and also i like the inversion of [TS]

00:16:12   the whole hero's journey thing where [TS]

00:16:13   it's like a young a child finds out that [TS]

00:16:15   she's special and in this case it's she [TS]

00:16:19   finds out that she's special in being [TS]

00:16:22   treated by people horribly because [TS]

00:16:25   they're racist against these types of [TS]

00:16:27   people and sent to a special school it's [TS]

00:16:29   like Harry Potter except know they beat [TS]

00:16:31   her and they're terrible people and then [TS]

00:16:34   they did I mean it's such a great in [TS]

00:16:36   version of that story like she is [TS]

00:16:38   special and she is important but she's [TS]

00:16:40   treated so horribly it's a it's not a [TS]

00:16:42   good culture [TS]

00:16:43   no yeah that reminds me of that scene [TS]

00:16:46   where she you know she meets her [TS]

00:16:48   guardian and you think oh he's so nice [TS]

00:16:49   to her and she could please go to [TS]

00:16:51   protect her because she's he's her [TS]

00:16:53   guardian but then you find out that the [TS]

00:16:56   guardians are protecting everybody else [TS]

00:16:57   there's that scene where he like breaks [TS]

00:17:00   your fingers and yeah it's virtually I [TS]

00:17:03   think it's from just shortly after that [TS]

00:17:05   where he even says that line right [TS]

00:17:07   whether or not you better to her right [TS]

00:17:09   this kid right [TS]

00:17:10   it's really but i think that with that [TS]

00:17:12   was the line for me that was like this [TS]

00:17:14   is a really screwed-up world you that [TS]

00:17:16   you can say that to a kid's face you [TS]

00:17:18   think you matter [TS]

00:17:19   it's a book to let her literally starts [TS]

00:17:21   with the death of a child right the [TS]

00:17:23   first seen in this in this book after [TS]

00:17:25   the little prologue which the prologue [TS]

00:17:27   is there to make you wonder about [TS]

00:17:28   everything you're about to see because [TS]

00:17:30   it you he doesn't become clear what [TS]

00:17:31   you're seeing until the very end but I'm [TS]

00:17:34   but after that the first thing you see [TS]

00:17:36   is it's a mother who finds the the dead [TS]

00:17:39   body of her child which has been killed [TS]

00:17:40   by her husband and the reason the child [TS]

00:17:42   has been killed is because the child has [TS]

00:17:44   these earth powers that she also has and [TS]

00:17:47   it's all it's just horrible [TS]

00:17:48   and so for the rest of the book she's [TS]

00:17:50   dealing with that my and and you know [TS]

00:17:51   that's that's a bold move because that [TS]

00:17:53   is that is rough right to start with a [TS]

00:17:55   definite a dead child [TS]

00:17:57   on not the death of but the finding of a [TS]

00:17:59   debt already dead child on on the first [TS]

00:18:01   page of the first chapter of the book [TS]

00:18:03   it's pretty pretty rough stuff but it i [TS]

00:18:05   thought i loved it i mean i really i [TS]

00:18:06   really enjoyed this book and I like this [TS]

00:18:09   world and I i enjoyed the idea that they [TS]

00:18:13   are these people who can quiet the [TS]

00:18:15   earthquakes I live in California go [TS]

00:18:18   earthquake people we need we need more [TS]

00:18:20   of them some of those ya le sew and NK [TS]

00:18:24   jemisin she is a beautiful you know her [TS]

00:18:27   pro style is beautiful it's just yes to [TS]

00:18:29   her words ar-ar-ar [TS]

00:18:31   it was a joy to read the words I thought [TS]

00:18:33   she's got all the best words all the [TS]

00:18:35   best for you pics get writer only the [TS]

00:18:36   finest words are chosen her [TS]

00:18:39   this is my this is this is a this isn't [TS]

00:18:42   my my top echelon to four of the seven [TS]

00:18:45   number one but it's a 1 a 1 10 you've [TS]

00:18:50   got also known as to i may have [TS]

00:18:54   sometimes when it comes down to my [TS]

00:18:55   region to give me Scott I I listed them [TS]

00:18:59   all and I even though I I i went back [TS]

00:19:01   and forth i did into putting a second [TS]

00:19:02   but let's take a break so i can tell you [TS]

00:19:04   about our sponsor this week this episode [TS]

00:19:07   of the uncomfortable brought to you by [TS]

00:19:09   Harry's providing comfortable shaves and [TS]

00:19:12   excellent shaving related products to [TS]

00:19:15   you over the Internet at a very fair [TS]

00:19:19   price [TS]

00:19:20   now I've been shaping with hairy stuff [TS]

00:19:21   for more than a year now and you know I [TS]

00:19:25   don't shave every day because I now work [TS]

00:19:28   at home and don't have to face people in [TS]

00:19:30   a business context everyday so sometimes [TS]

00:19:33   I I go if I skip a day but that's all [TS]

00:19:35   because of your gross fast enough that [TS]

00:19:37   after that I become a caveman and I need [TS]

00:19:39   to shave and I in fact earlier today [TS]

00:19:41   shape with Harry's put on a new blade [TS]

00:19:43   this morning actually and super smooth [TS]

00:19:46   the the hairies blade is a is so great [TS]

00:19:50   it is is giving me this nice close shave [TS]

00:19:52   i used to hate the hair is a shame [TS]

00:19:55   Lucien which I also loved it's really [TS]

00:19:58   it's a great product and I they can pay [TS]

00:20:01   me to say that part i can only say that [TS]

00:20:03   to you because it's the truth that i do [TS]

00:20:05   use their stuff and I by myself and i [TS]

00:20:07   really like it so Harris razor it's one [TS]

00:20:10   way [TS]

00:20:10   with everything you need it's got a nice [TS]

00:20:12   little lubricating strip on it's got [TS]

00:20:14   five blades crafted in Harry's German [TS]

00:20:16   factory reflects hinge it quality is [TS]

00:20:20   guaranteed to get a full refund if [TS]

00:20:21   you're not happy with its super [TS]

00:20:23   high-quality razor and then there's the [TS]

00:20:25   price part of it [TS]

00:20:26   factory direct prices they cut out the [TS]

00:20:27   middleman and sell directly to you you [TS]

00:20:29   don't have to go to the drugstore you [TS]

00:20:30   have to talk to anybody and click a [TS]

00:20:32   couple of things on the internet and the [TS]

00:20:35   the razors and the shame cream or lotion [TS]

00:20:37   will come to your house and about half [TS]

00:20:39   the price of the leading brand how much [TS]

00:20:42   the deal is this there's a starter kit [TS]

00:20:44   that's available for just fifteen [TS]

00:20:45   dollars including a razor three blades [TS]

00:20:47   and your choice of the very nice hairy [TS]

00:20:50   shape cream or the fantastic foaming [TS]

00:20:53   shave gel i love that shave cream [TS]

00:20:54   doesn't get all puffy like like a shave [TS]

00:20:57   gel does but it it does the job and it [TS]

00:21:00   has the same little man smell like a lot [TS]

00:21:02   and fifteen dollars seems like a great [TS]

00:21:04   deal for the starter kit because what [TS]

00:21:05   you have five dollars off your first [TS]

00:21:07   purchase by using the code smell smel my [TS]

00:21:10   last name after using my code you'll get [TS]

00:21:12   an entire month's worth of shaving for [TS]

00:21:14   just ten dollars Harry's was started by [TS]

00:21:17   a couple of guys who are passionate [TS]

00:21:19   about making a better shaving experience [TS]

00:21:20   for everyone everyone and this is what [TS]

00:21:23   they've come up with great razors easy [TS]

00:21:25   to order they come right to your door [TS]

00:21:26   and for a great price so Harry's give [TS]

00:21:28   them a try use code Snell for five [TS]

00:21:31   dollars off go to Harry's com har ry [TS]

00:21:34   s.com code Stella checkout smel and help [TS]

00:21:37   support the uncomfortable thank you to [TS]

00:21:39   harry's for sponsoring the uncomfortable [TS]

00:21:42   alright next is updraft by friend wat [TS]

00:21:44   Fran Wilde i should say updraft one uh [TS]

00:21:47   an award from SFWA won the Andre Norton [TS]

00:21:50   award which is 4y a science fiction and [TS]

00:21:53   fantasy so we did win an award it was [TS]

00:21:55   nominated for the the main novel prize [TS]

00:21:57   and it did not win that one updraft is a [TS]

00:22:01   it's a it's a story about people who [TS]

00:22:04   live in towers made of bone that are [TS]

00:22:07   constantly growing their kind of above [TS]

00:22:09   the cloud tops [TS]

00:22:10   there are a whole bunch of people who [TS]

00:22:12   get around in this in this city by [TS]

00:22:15   flying around on like wing in wingsuits [TS]

00:22:17   they've got big wing gadget hang glider [TS]

00:22:20   wingy things that they strapped onto [TS]

00:22:22   their backs and they fly around [TS]

00:22:24   the updrafts and the thermals and they [TS]

00:22:26   move from place to place their watched [TS]

00:22:28   over by a bunch of basically like police [TS]

00:22:31   in the second in this tower that guards [TS]

00:22:33   the guards the city supposedly and [TS]

00:22:36   protects it from monsters such as the [TS]

00:22:38   sky mouths who are these invisible [TS]

00:22:40   creatures that their skin is invisible [TS]

00:22:43   but then they open their mouths and you [TS]

00:22:44   see their mouths and they basically they [TS]

00:22:46   eat you and you die and so it's a it's a [TS]

00:22:50   it's a I'm gonna say fantasy Scott can [TS]

00:22:52   tell me all the science of the wings [TS]

00:22:54   investigator novel about about ours and [TS]

00:22:57   our main character is curated who is a [TS]

00:22:59   who is a young girl who is about to pass [TS]

00:23:01   your wingsuit test and wants to become a [TS]

00:23:03   trader a traitor like her mother and go [TS]

00:23:05   from tower to tower trading items [TS]

00:23:07   because most people sort of live in the [TS]

00:23:09   tower that they live in for their lives [TS]

00:23:11   or if they're lucky enough it's [TS]

00:23:12   connected by a bridge to another tower [TS]

00:23:14   but they're all kind of isolated unless [TS]

00:23:16   you can fly in one of these wingsuits [TS]

00:23:18   and of course then carrot as she's [TS]

00:23:21   learning things about her world and [TS]

00:23:23   about the people in the tower who were [TS]

00:23:25   supposed to be watching over them [TS]

00:23:27   she unravels a whole lot of intrigue and [TS]

00:23:30   conspiracy about what how things used to [TS]

00:23:34   be and how things are now and she's a [TS]

00:23:37   she's a she's tested repeatedly in in [TS]

00:23:40   terms of trying to trying to do what's [TS]

00:23:42   right and also obviously coming of age [TS]

00:23:45   and learning her who she is and learning [TS]

00:23:47   confidence and now she's literally [TS]

00:23:49   tested as well she is she is literally [TS]

00:23:50   tested repeatedly yeah at flying and [TS]

00:23:54   other things it's like getting your [TS]

00:23:55   driver's license except you may die [TS]

00:23:57   yeah if you find that so after after [TS]

00:24:00   what people think of the wingsuits and [TS]

00:24:02   and such for updraft and bones and bones [TS]

00:24:06   growing bone towers I really really [TS]

00:24:07   really liked friend lads book I knew [TS]

00:24:10   about this book mostly from having a [TS]

00:24:12   long conversation with her about the [TS]

00:24:14   world that she had built before i had [TS]

00:24:17   actually seen the books and I think it [TS]

00:24:18   was out at the time and so I've been [TS]

00:24:21   really fascinated by how she developed [TS]

00:24:23   this world and made it work before I [TS]

00:24:25   even knew that there was a story and [TS]

00:24:27   then when I got to read the story i was [TS]

00:24:28   really excited [TS]

00:24:29   it's a lot of fun and it's a really [TS]

00:24:31   exciting book the world building is [TS]

00:24:32   amazing the characters are fascinating [TS]

00:24:35   I i love reading about the the whole [TS]

00:24:38   test system have to go through when they [TS]

00:24:41   have to fly in formation and have to [TS]

00:24:42   follow these specific rules about flying [TS]

00:24:44   it's like a really advanced crazy [TS]

00:24:46   driving test [TS]

00:24:48   I mean it is it's it's a really [TS]

00:24:50   fascinating novel and i love how it goes [TS]

00:24:53   into the sort of deep dark secrets of [TS]

00:24:55   the spire and starts to unravel some of [TS]

00:24:57   the you know why is this world the way [TS]

00:24:59   that it is and maybe we shouldn't be [TS]

00:25:03   happy about the way that it is so I mean [TS]

00:25:06   from start to finish i just really [TS]

00:25:08   really liked it i was really happy to [TS]

00:25:09   hear that it got the visit the Andre [TS]

00:25:12   Norton correct right right yeah i was [TS]

00:25:14   really glad because I think it's very [TS]

00:25:16   much a deserving but coming to be fair i [TS]

00:25:18   haven't read every other why a fantasy [TS]

00:25:20   novel out there but you know that's a [TS]

00:25:23   good one [TS]

00:25:23   this is a really good one yeah the trick [TS]

00:25:26   that it does that i think is very clever [TS]

00:25:27   is its fantasy setting right so it it [TS]

00:25:30   tells you about the world through the [TS]

00:25:31   eyes of the love of the the main [TS]

00:25:33   character carrot and and so you accept [TS]

00:25:37   it right because you're a book reader [TS]

00:25:39   and you're reading about a world that [TS]

00:25:41   doesn't really exist and and so you [TS]

00:25:42   accept it and that actually is [TS]

00:25:44   delightful then when she'd uncovers the [TS]

00:25:47   secrets of the city because you're going [TS]

00:25:49   along with her where you're like you [TS]

00:25:50   know we've just we've accepted the [TS]

00:25:52   ground rules of this entire world and [TS]

00:25:53   then she goes she she goes to the spire [TS]

00:25:56   and and it turns out [TS]

00:25:57   Oh some of those ground rules are true [TS]

00:26:00   after whole they're just they're just [TS]

00:26:02   lies being told to the people who live [TS]

00:26:04   in the city and that was that was really [TS]

00:26:05   great because you get to experience that [TS]

00:26:07   moment of disillusionment with her like [TS]

00:26:08   what i thought the rules of the world [TS]

00:26:10   with this and they're not i thought that [TS]

00:26:12   was very very effective what other [TS]

00:26:14   people think of draft i liked it for a [TS]

00:26:17   lot of the same reasons that Sean said [TS]

00:26:19   hello [TS]

00:26:20   you know I i was wavering between [TS]

00:26:21   fantasy and science fiction for this [TS]

00:26:23   because I could easily just see this [TS]

00:26:25   playing out on another planet because I [TS]

00:26:27   mean again nobody's nobody's casting [TS]

00:26:29   spells I felt like that the spells were [TS]

00:26:31   more blatant didn't have the previous [TS]

00:26:33   button this one it's all pretty much [TS]

00:26:35   physics [TS]

00:26:36   sure sure boneyard giant towers made of [TS]

00:26:40   bone is totally yeah an invisible [TS]

00:26:42   monsters totally giant creatures a young [TS]

00:26:45   too [TS]

00:26:46   sponsors to stop them yeah yeah should [TS]

00:26:48   be ok but but i think if i had to pick [TS]

00:26:51   one word to describe this book it would [TS]

00:26:52   be delightful [TS]

00:26:54   it's just yeah it and it is it's the [TS]

00:26:57   world building that really got to me [TS]

00:26:58   it's so unlike anything that I've ever [TS]

00:27:00   read before I mean a land that has no no [TS]

00:27:03   ground at all like there's no there's no [TS]

00:27:05   before except for the floor apartment [TS]

00:27:07   that's that's something I'd never even [TS]

00:27:09   contemplated so it was fun to just sort [TS]

00:27:11   of let my brain play in that world and [TS]

00:27:13   think about the possibilities and [TS]

00:27:15   limitations and then I would you know [TS]

00:27:17   come upon those possibilities and [TS]

00:27:19   limitations being played out in the book [TS]

00:27:21   she answered all these questions that i [TS]

00:27:23   was pretty much asking and I liked that [TS]

00:27:26   she didn't spend pages and pages [TS]

00:27:28   describing all the details that make up [TS]

00:27:30   the world most of them you just discover [TS]

00:27:31   by a character doing a thing or at the [TS]

00:27:34   very worst thinking about a thing so it [TS]

00:27:36   didn't drag on and on and I loved the [TS]

00:27:39   POV character she just really worked for [TS]

00:27:42   me i'm i'm kind of a sucker for young [TS]

00:27:43   girls but I also appreciated that the [TS]

00:27:46   language used to tell the story was sort [TS]

00:27:48   of very simple straightforward pros with [TS]

00:27:51   lots of sort of short sentences there [TS]

00:27:53   wasn't a lot of long and entangled [TS]

00:27:55   poetic flowing descriptions and it when [TS]

00:27:58   that was exactly right for this [TS]

00:27:59   character it felt like something that [TS]

00:28:00   would come from her mind you know she's [TS]

00:28:03   at the center of the narrative and the [TS]

00:28:05   pros fits with her and of course i like [TS]

00:28:07   the story as well I I too was interested [TS]

00:28:10   in in the mystery and enjoy the [TS]

00:28:12   unraveling of it but I felt the one [TS]

00:28:14   biggest drawback for this is I felt like [TS]

00:28:16   the end came a little fast and furious [TS]

00:28:18   it didn't i didn't quite have enough [TS]

00:28:20   time to completely understand what was [TS]

00:28:22   happening and wrap my head around it so [TS]

00:28:24   and I mean it there's clearly more books [TS]

00:28:27   coming in this series as well but I [TS]

00:28:29   thought the the wrap up here was was a [TS]

00:28:32   was a little tough for me to swallow [TS]

00:28:35   yeah she said I was looking at goodreads [TS]

00:28:38   little while ago and she said that the [TS]

00:28:41   next books won't necessarily follow [TS]

00:28:43   accurate they'll be in the same universe [TS]

00:28:45   so I don't know she might have a passing [TS]

00:28:47   roller if I don't know what's going to [TS]

00:28:49   happen so I kind of felt much like a [TS]

00:28:53   dude with the fifth season like this was [TS]

00:28:55   the first book and that it was just kind [TS]

00:28:57   of introducing this universe [TS]

00:29:00   first to us and that this was not the [TS]

00:29:01   end and then i read on goodreads that [TS]

00:29:04   maybe it kind of is at least for this [TS]

00:29:07   character so it's going to be [TS]

00:29:09   interesting to see what the next books [TS]

00:29:11   do and in terms of that one thing that I [TS]

00:29:13   really really loved when I started [TS]

00:29:15   looking at alternate covers is I think [TS]

00:29:17   that I don't think that this is a [TS]

00:29:19   society of white people and I thought [TS]

00:29:21   that was really not nice you don't like [TS]

00:29:24   it's and but it's very clearly described [TS]

00:29:27   in the book you know tiny copper Tony [TS]

00:29:29   and color and dark right and yeah and [TS]

00:29:32   I'm and that's you know but it wasn't [TS]

00:29:35   like you seen a lot of things where it's [TS]

00:29:37   very even and you know like the [TS]

00:29:39   physicist fifth season words like his [TS]

00:29:41   name is a joke and like it's very [TS]

00:29:42   blatant okay well he's he is a man of [TS]

00:29:44   color and so I really appreciate the and [TS]

00:29:48   I don't know I feel like a lot of a lot [TS]

00:29:50   of authors are very heavy-handed with [TS]

00:29:52   their like these are definitely the the [TS]

00:29:54   people of color and they are different [TS]

00:29:56   and we will describe them in depth where [TS]

00:29:58   is it was more if more organic i guess [TS]

00:30:01   in here then then some books that I've [TS]

00:30:04   read scott what do you think [TS]

00:30:05   well so this book at two strikes against [TS]

00:30:08   it when i started reading it and so it's [TS]

00:30:10   a why a book and I don't really like ye [TS]

00:30:12   novels and i also thought the world was [TS]

00:30:15   dumb which is a problem but having said [TS]

00:30:20   both of those things i enjoyed reading [TS]

00:30:22   it I thought it was a good story [TS]

00:30:24   not my favorite clearly i still think [TS]

00:30:26   it's kinda stupid to live in bones and [TS]

00:30:29   fly around but she would be over with [TS]

00:30:34   the story i like to make character i [TS]

00:30:36   like the inspire people in the singing [TS]

00:30:39   and all that stuff still don't really [TS]

00:30:42   understand and I suppose you're not [TS]

00:30:44   supposed to understand why they're [TS]

00:30:45   living in bones and [TS]

00:30:47   how they got to fly around and all that [TS]

00:30:50   stuff but yeah I mean it's fine it's a [TS]

00:30:53   fantasy world for isn't science fiction [TS]

00:30:57   interested and this is I'm having the [TS]

00:30:59   same issue with a reading uh i decided [TS]

00:31:02   i'll read the the locus of nominated [TS]

00:31:04   books as well so i'm reading this book [TS]

00:31:06   Karen memory which i think is very well [TS]

00:31:10   watch yourself right now I just don't [TS]

00:31:12   like it oh my gosh prob so because i [TS]

00:31:17   have no interest in steampunk I don't [TS]

00:31:18   care about the Wild West and so these [TS]

00:31:21   are these are things that give it [TS]

00:31:23   strikes against it so I'm reading it and [TS]

00:31:25   I think this is a very well-written book [TS]

00:31:27   it is just not my cup of tea and kind of [TS]

00:31:31   the same thing happened in a what is the [TS]

00:31:35   draft draft there you go to say uplifted [TS]

00:31:37   I knew that wasn't right in between that [TS]

00:31:40   too not [TS]

00:31:41   yeah except that I thought it was good [TS]

00:31:43   i'm just not its target audience clearly [TS]

00:31:46   I i liked it i think one of the things [TS]

00:31:48   that did really effectively is a and you [TS]

00:31:52   know what a lot of books don't do this [TS]

00:31:53   is it really made me feel the injustice [TS]

00:31:58   that carrot experiences when she like [TS]

00:32:01   doesn't get her flying license and it [TS]

00:32:04   really made me hate the the the villains [TS]

00:32:08   essentially they're so bad they make me [TS]

00:32:11   so mad and I thought you know that [TS]

00:32:12   doesn't happen a lot sometimes they're [TS]

00:32:13   villains I'm like yeah that guy's bad [TS]

00:32:16   you're gonna have to take care of him [TS]

00:32:16   and an updraft I really did feel that [TS]

00:32:18   thing that I think is really effective [TS]

00:32:20   perhaps even more effective in nya and [TS]

00:32:22   in tien teen kind of stuff where you [TS]

00:32:25   want to feel that like oh man they're [TS]

00:32:27   they're holding me down [TS]

00:32:28   I you know parents just don't understand [TS]

00:32:30   that sort of thing and I really felt bad [TS]

00:32:32   very down it was it was super effective [TS]

00:32:33   in making me making me cranky about the [TS]

00:32:36   people who who didn't know didn't let [TS]

00:32:40   carrot do what she deserved to do when [TS]

00:32:42   she gets when she passes her tests and [TS]

00:32:43   they fail her because they don't like [TS]

00:32:45   her I you know I really did feel exactly [TS]

00:32:48   what what the other one me to feel which [TS]

00:32:50   is kind of outrage it's so unfair and [TS]

00:32:53   that's good that's very effective [TS]

00:32:55   yeah it's something I love about the [TS]

00:32:57   book to his even when you like you go [TS]

00:32:59   did two down and dip different [TS]

00:33:00   levels of the bone tower and you see how [TS]

00:33:03   this society basically has a class [TS]

00:33:05   structure yeah I don't really want to [TS]

00:33:07   talk about I forgot his name but the [TS]

00:33:10   fellow who has some kind of mental [TS]

00:33:13   disability right and he's just [TS]

00:33:16   collecting like garbage on the lower [TS]

00:33:18   level of mobiles yeah yeah and this [TS]

00:33:21   whole system setup precisely so he can [TS]

00:33:23   be down there doing this this pointless [TS]

00:33:27   job but it's not pointless of course he [TS]

00:33:29   has to be there the whole class [TS]

00:33:31   structure requires them to be there so [TS]

00:33:32   that the tower doesn't rot [TS]

00:33:34   he's got to clean all the garbage it's [TS]

00:33:36   just it's it's a system that is like at [TS]

00:33:39   every level just feels like it's not [TS]

00:33:41   like you said right it's not fair but [TS]

00:33:42   it's not that like childish it's not [TS]

00:33:44   fairly you stomp your feet right it's [TS]

00:33:46   sort of like no it's it's seriously [TS]

00:33:48   unfair as the men step system [TS]

00:33:51   yeah i have read him or is a hoarder and [TS]

00:33:53   not a person there for any purpose just [TS]

00:33:55   that nobody else wanted to occupy the [TS]

00:33:57   bottom levels and so that's where he [TS]

00:33:59   ended up not that he was it turns out in [TS]

00:34:01   the plot that there are actually reasons [TS]

00:34:03   why he is who he is and yeah he's there [TS]

00:34:05   yeah that's part of if I have one [TS]

00:34:07   complaint about this book and I do it's [TS]

00:34:09   this one [TS]

00:34:10   it's that it's that I feel like if you [TS]

00:34:12   imagine Star Wars literally Lucas found [TS]

00:34:15   on on Tatooine and he's never been off [TS]

00:34:18   his planet before and by the end of 90 [TS]

00:34:20   minutes of the movie star wars he is [TS]

00:34:23   defeated everything in the Emperor is [TS]

00:34:24   dead and there's a whole new you know [TS]

00:34:26   democracy in place in the galaxy that's [TS]

00:34:28   sort of what happens here I feel like [TS]

00:34:30   it's too easy and I know that they're [TS]

00:34:32   there are lots of lots of dramatic [TS]

00:34:33   things that happen but but uh she like [TS]

00:34:36   literally overthrows in this again [TS]

00:34:38   spoilers but come on no she dies at the [TS]

00:34:41   end and everything's terrible of course [TS]

00:34:42   now she actually visit aureus but i [TS]

00:34:44   would say her victory seems a little too [TS]

00:34:46   comprehensive it turns out that she sort [TS]

00:34:48   of falls into a larger plot that's going [TS]

00:34:50   on a larger set of dissidence there's a [TS]

00:34:52   a tower that supposedly been abandoned [TS]

00:34:55   but there's actually secret information [TS]

00:34:56   there that she's been she's been [TS]

00:34:57   accidentally she and her friend have [TS]

00:35:00   been gathering it seemed like a little [TS]

00:35:02   too coincidental a little too easy and [TS]

00:35:05   the fact that although there are some [TS]

00:35:07   very exciting moments where the bad guys [TS]

00:35:09   get defeated it it seemed like [TS]

00:35:13   I let it just seemed too easy it seems [TS]

00:35:15   like 22 comprehensive victory here for [TS]

00:35:18   this that that all she had to do was a [TS]

00:35:20   few things and it leads to the complete [TS]

00:35:22   collapse of the system that's been in [TS]

00:35:24   place for a very long time I guess that [TS]

00:35:26   would be my complaint is that is that [TS]

00:35:27   you know yeah it's great it's a fun [TS]

00:35:29   story that she's so victorious but you [TS]

00:35:33   know in the end it turns out everything [TS]

00:35:34   in the world is aligned so that she can [TS]

00:35:36   step into this one slot and change [TS]

00:35:38   everything and and and that that [TS]

00:35:40   bothered me a little bit you know Jason [TS]

00:35:42   I think you just articulated a lot [TS]

00:35:44   better than I did what my problem with [TS]

00:35:46   it was is because almost all those [TS]

00:35:48   things that you're talking about sort of [TS]

00:35:49   happen fairly fast at the end yeah right [TS]

00:35:51   she does just fall into all this stuff [TS]

00:35:53   and it's like a bunch of dominoes just [TS]

00:35:55   going Bam Bam Bam and and I think that [TS]

00:35:58   was that was it if if she had to work [TS]

00:36:00   for it a little harder more things had [TS]

00:36:02   to happen to make all of that work then [TS]

00:36:04   I don't think I would have had the same [TS]

00:36:06   sort of feeling of of rushing at the end [TS]

00:36:08   yeah i kinda wanted her to win a [TS]

00:36:09   hard-earned victory that suggested that [TS]

00:36:12   this world was going to change and [TS]

00:36:14   instead she wins a and a hard-earned but [TS]

00:36:17   absolute victory where the world has [TS]

00:36:19   changed and it just felt like I i'm not [TS]

00:36:21   saying i wanted this be split into three [TS]

00:36:23   books that tells the story in a whole [TS]

00:36:25   big story arc i'm not saying that I'm [TS]

00:36:26   just saying that it it seems awfully [TS]

00:36:28   abrupt like suddenly you know ya [TS]

00:36:30   suddenly everything changes and there's [TS]

00:36:32   complete victory at the end and maybe [TS]

00:36:34   that's just because I'm a jaded adult [TS]

00:36:36   but the world kinda doesn't make me [TS]

00:36:38   quite that fast it seems it just seems a [TS]

00:36:41   little too simple and then and then a [TS]

00:36:42   bad man went away the end right it's [TS]

00:36:45   just a little too simple for me Jason [TS]

00:36:47   you do you do realize you have set up a [TS]

00:36:49   problem now because you've just said I [TS]

00:36:51   didn't want this to be three books when [TS]

00:36:53   they make this a movie it's going to be [TS]

00:36:55   a trilogy [TS]

00:36:55   yeah it's going to take nine hours and [TS]

00:36:58   it's going to be Peter Jackson make but [TS]

00:37:00   Sean we're gonna learn everything there [TS]

00:37:02   is to know about what it's like to to [TS]

00:37:05   start bone growth and build a bone [TS]

00:37:08   bridge between two towers and that's [TS]

00:37:11   going to be a pulse-pounding I think who [TS]

00:37:13   in 3d and will be on the you'll be on [TS]

00:37:18   the edge of your seat during the [TS]

00:37:19   Engineering's it'll be better that [TS]

00:37:21   revenge as the bones up with 3d scanned [TS]

00:37:26   Benedict's bones and use them as our [TS]

00:37:28   model for the bones to be using the [TS]

00:37:29   tower shake cheekbones with the spire is [TS]

00:37:32   made from the cheekbones and the other [TS]

00:37:35   thing about the book is death is very [TS]

00:37:38   like whatever you know where they're [TS]

00:37:42   taking their flying test and like [TS]

00:37:43   literally someone dies it's like well [TS]

00:37:45   you know I guess those people are dead [TS]

00:37:47   we lost in the clouds [TS]

00:37:49   yeah that's just kind of it is like what [TS]

00:37:52   it was an interesting thing like it's [TS]

00:37:55   not a big deal you spend all this time [TS]

00:37:57   talking about like they're talking about [TS]

00:37:59   taking classes and how you have to be [TS]

00:38:01   careful and you have to you know there [TS]

00:38:03   are ways to signal your intention like [TS]

00:38:06   all the stuff and then someone dies and [TS]

00:38:08   it's not it's not even like a teachable [TS]

00:38:09   moment it's just someone died [TS]

00:38:12   okay yeah and then when when a main [TS]

00:38:15   character one of our are the best friend [TS]

00:38:17   of carrot dies it's so very [TS]

00:38:20   transparently he disappears below the [TS]

00:38:23   clouds will never see him again [TS]

00:38:25   yes forget he ever existed anyway I I [TS]

00:38:29   complain about it but it is really [TS]

00:38:30   enjoyable it is it is a fun read it is a [TS]

00:38:33   it is a fascinating world the the flying [TS]

00:38:39   stuff i mean who hasn't had at least a [TS]

00:38:40   dream where they can fly and here these [TS]

00:38:43   people fly around between these towers [TS]

00:38:45   that it was a lot of fun [TS]

00:38:46   I just yeah sigh and I I've detailed the [TS]

00:38:48   thing that my problem is that the end [TS]

00:38:50   seems a little too completely victorious [TS]

00:38:52   and abrupt but but it's good i like to [TS]

00:38:54   very much [TS]

00:38:55   alright let's move on how about that [TS]

00:38:58   buchones next what's next [TS]

00:39:01   Jason computer know everything know [TS]

00:39:03   everything [TS]

00:39:04   barska the elephant's graveyard bilo [TS]

00:39:08   lawrence ma showin is next on our list [TS]

00:39:12   barska is a is a very strange book i [TS]

00:39:16   would say this is the book that I felt [TS]

00:39:18   is indefinable e science fiction and [TS]

00:39:21   fantasy smooshed together it has both [TS]

00:39:24   spaceships and magical telepathic of [TS]

00:39:29   fortune-telling elephant people [TS]

00:39:31   altogether talking on the roof [TS]

00:39:34   talking animals that are also that are [TS]

00:39:36   not fantastical but sort of science [TS]

00:39:38   fictional and origin fascinating [TS]

00:39:40   connection your main character is a an [TS]

00:39:42   elephant like human he's one of the the [TS]

00:39:44   fant they are the they are like sort of [TS]

00:39:47   like the characters the earth magic [TS]

00:39:49   people in the fifties and they are hated [TS]

00:39:51   by everybody else in the galaxy but [TS]

00:39:54   there is this there are spaceships [TS]

00:39:55   connecting all these different worlds [TS]

00:39:56   and the fans have this on their rainy [TS]

00:40:00   planet they've got this drug that is [TS]

00:40:03   sort of used to to create a sort of a [TS]

00:40:08   state as sort of a psychic state but it [TS]

00:40:11   also is used as a drug for other for [TS]

00:40:13   other creatures on other other planets [TS]

00:40:15   all of the aliens in this are analogues [TS]

00:40:18   of animals on that we know from the [TS]

00:40:21   present day and and then it's a story of [TS]

00:40:24   this one this one little elephant who is [TS]

00:40:27   who is the wrong color bar and is and is [TS]

00:40:32   a and it's not supposed to exist and is [TS]

00:40:34   shunned by his entire race so he's it's [TS]

00:40:36   like that old joke about how that you [TS]

00:40:38   know my brother beat up on me and my [TS]

00:40:40   father beat up on my brother and the [TS]

00:40:42   people next door beat up on our family [TS]

00:40:43   and the people down the hall beat up on [TS]

00:40:45   but it's like that this kid is at the [TS]

00:40:47   bottom this little elephant is at the [TS]

00:40:49   bottom of the hierarchy [TS]

00:40:50   nobody likes the elephants and none of [TS]

00:40:53   the elephants like him and and guess [TS]

00:40:56   what happens that turns out that [TS]

00:40:58   character general is special has some [TS]

00:41:01   special powers is connected to a [TS]

00:41:04   legendary elephant from history not [TS]

00:41:07   Babar and and suddenly almost everybody [TS]

00:41:11   it's like almost everybody in the galaxy [TS]

00:41:14   will suddenly have their fate impacted [TS]

00:41:18   by what this outcast elephant person [TS]

00:41:21   does and that is what barska it's about [TS]

00:41:24   see this story hundreds of tips it spin [TS]

00:41:29   spin slope is general and his low or the [TS]

00:41:32   two elephants that we get to know this [TS]

00:41:34   I was not looking forward to this book i [TS]

00:41:36   left it until the last ones because I [TS]

00:41:39   knew it was about elephants it has [TS]

00:41:40   elephant in the title [TS]

00:41:41   yeah and you know elephants and other [TS]

00:41:43   animals and that is such a quick way to [TS]

00:41:45   turn me off a book [TS]

00:41:47   don't care for stories about animals [TS]

00:41:48   especially when they are told from the [TS]

00:41:50   animals POV and just knowing that sort [TS]

00:41:53   of gave me flashbacks to one of the [TS]

00:41:54   terrible you go short story nominees [TS]

00:41:56   from last year but I made the mistake of [TS]

00:41:58   reading but then once i actually started [TS]

00:42:01   reading it and got into it I was so [TS]

00:42:03   surly engaged these characters you're [TS]

00:42:05   right they were clearly people they were [TS]

00:42:07   animals they were they were animal like [TS]

00:42:09   people and but there's still people so i [TS]

00:42:13   could just sort of sit back and enjoy [TS]

00:42:14   the story and i thought that this one [TS]

00:42:17   felt very sci-fi despite that you know [TS]

00:42:20   somewhat fantasy elements it felt sci-fi [TS]

00:42:22   because you had these different planets [TS]

00:42:24   with different types of people and [TS]

00:42:25   spaceships and space stations in a [TS]

00:42:27   secret mysterious history the [TS]

00:42:29   protagonist has to discover or [TS]

00:42:31   StumbleUpon and you know you got this [TS]

00:42:33   quote-unquote scientific particle that [TS]

00:42:36   allows communication with dead people in [TS]

00:42:38   telepathy and lots of social commentary [TS]

00:42:42   couched in the differences between the [TS]

00:42:43   different species of of people so it [TS]

00:42:46   felt it felt very much like a classic [TS]

00:42:48   the type of science fiction story [TS]

00:42:50   without feeling old I think the only [TS]

00:42:52   thing that made me uncomfortable was [TS]

00:42:54   just it really was it really was showing [TS]

00:42:57   you lots of you know racism and [TS]

00:43:00   differences between the different [TS]

00:43:01   animals and I kept my brain kept wanting [TS]

00:43:04   to sort of apply that to the real world [TS]

00:43:07   and it made me uncomfortable the whole [TS]

00:43:09   time as I was doing that but the story [TS]

00:43:11   itself was was really really good you [TS]

00:43:14   know what about everybody else only did [TS]

00:43:16   you read this one a dead i liked it and [TS]

00:43:18   i just finished a couple days ago and [TS]

00:43:21   and it was it wasn't my favorite of of [TS]

00:43:24   the books will have already stated what [TS]

00:43:26   my favorite was but and I liked it I [TS]

00:43:29   liked the [TS]

00:43:30   and it was definitely I've I thought the [TS]

00:43:32   most creative and fantastical of any of [TS]

00:43:36   them I mean you've got you know the I [TS]

00:43:39   don't know I I don't answer my poor say [TS]

00:43:42   the word for more Five is that would I [TS]

00:43:45   don't even like animals are not i don't [TS]

00:43:49   read a lot of books where where animals [TS]

00:43:51   are very human-like and it's a complete [TS]

00:43:54   character it's not really my thing but i [TS]

00:43:55   thought this was really well done [TS]

00:43:57   I thought it was it was really really [TS]

00:44:00   interesting and I kind of sense i'd read [TS]

00:44:03   all the others first and I considered [TS]

00:44:05   all the others more fantasy ish i kind [TS]

00:44:09   of like having a science-fiction break [TS]

00:44:11   i'm in it too so and yeah I I liked it a [TS]

00:44:15   lot i thought that there was a lot of [TS]

00:44:16   good writing in it a lot of good [TS]

00:44:18   characterization and and some [TS]

00:44:21   interesting i don't know commentary on [TS]

00:44:23   on prophecy and the accuracy of prophecy [TS]

00:44:27   yeah and and in interpretations of and [TS]

00:44:33   so I thought that was also that was also [TS]

00:44:35   good Sean would you think so this is one [TS]

00:44:37   of the ones that I was not able to [TS]

00:44:38   finish but i will say that I this is not [TS]

00:44:41   the book that I didn't finish because [TS]

00:44:42   they didn't want to borrow which will [TS]

00:44:46   come to that one later i'm sure it's [TS]

00:44:48   about how to put it on the back cover [TS]

00:44:51   yeah but i will say that that the parts [TS]

00:44:55   that i had read I mean this is a book [TS]

00:44:57   that I definitely want to finish because [TS]

00:44:58   it's definitely right up my alley the [TS]

00:45:00   kind of book that i would like John too [TS]

00:45:01   so I what I have read i have really [TS]

00:45:04   enjoyed but i have not read enough to [TS]

00:45:07   really can't i can't judge the book i [TS]

00:45:09   really like this book i like the fact [TS]

00:45:12   that i like it when characters suffer [TS]

00:45:16   and so there's their suffering of this [TS]

00:45:18   book i like the fact that all the other [TS]

00:45:21   animals hate the elephants because they [TS]

00:45:23   don't have fur which is [TS]

00:45:26   I was just you know a good you know it [TS]

00:45:29   shows you how silly of your racism and [TS]

00:45:32   all that stuff is because it's like you [TS]

00:45:33   know whatever you're all animals are all [TS]

00:45:35   animals let's just get along right and I [TS]

00:45:37   like how they made one of the characters [TS]

00:45:39   really wants to serve in whatever you [TS]

00:45:41   know the Starfleet equivalent is and so [TS]

00:45:44   he's like the first person from the [TS]

00:45:46   planet at your do it [TS]

00:45:47   he's like spotting he is but everybody [TS]

00:45:50   hates him [TS]

00:45:50   yeah I washing out this text back yeah [TS]

00:45:53   exactly [TS]

00:45:54   get out of the heat and there's so much [TS]

00:45:56   stuff going on like they're you know the [TS]

00:45:57   talking animals and then they find you [TS]

00:46:01   know a supercomputer cube and the [TS]

00:46:05   elephants get on little boats when [TS]

00:46:08   they're about to die and float off to [TS]

00:46:09   their death but in wealthy spoilers and [TS]

00:46:11   they are their death processes [TS]

00:46:13   interrupted by submarine i think it is [TS]

00:46:17   it's just all kinds of crazy stuff going [TS]

00:46:18   on in this book and then you get the [TS]

00:46:20   prophecies and the little kid who can [TS]

00:46:23   you know basically talked to the planets [TS]

00:46:26   and he you know he jumps people think [TS]

00:46:28   he's weird and they ignore him so he can [TS]

00:46:30   just kind of walk around and steal stuff [TS]

00:46:32   because nobody wants to technology [TS]

00:46:34   exists so he just can do whatever he [TS]

00:46:36   wants [TS]

00:46:37   so I think this book is a lot of yeah I [TS]

00:46:39   i really loved it for a lot of the same [TS]

00:46:42   reasons i like the talking about [TS]

00:46:44   prophecy there's a line that actually [TS]

00:46:45   highlighted which is a way you're saying [TS]

00:46:47   you knew i would do this hundred years [TS]

00:46:49   before I was born [TS]

00:46:50   well I knew something or someone would [TS]

00:46:52   precipitate a crisis are you responsible [TS]

00:46:55   for this [TS]

00:46:55   of course not you're just a piece on the [TS]

00:46:57   board you're not playing the game [TS]

00:46:59   I love that it's a and I think his [TS]

00:47:02   responses what game you're crazy old [TS]

00:47:04   woman who died a long time ago [TS]

00:47:05   it's like he doesn't want to he doesn't [TS]

00:47:07   want to deal with but but it's it so [TS]

00:47:09   that the prophecy is all kinda shaky [TS]

00:47:10   there's this character is a little with [TS]

00:47:13   who's the daughter [TS]

00:47:14   yes and she's grumpy and we we see her [TS]

00:47:17   and her planet where she's been partying [TS]

00:47:20   it up and then suddenly she just calls [TS]

00:47:21   it was like on this assignment and and [TS]

00:47:24   it's to this cold a dark cold metallic [TS]

00:47:27   space station in orbit around the planet [TS]

00:47:30   of the elephants and I like I thought [TS]

00:47:32   that was really evocative like the the [TS]

00:47:34   the contrast between this dense tree in [TS]

00:47:37   a forest because the cities are in [TS]

00:47:39   forest where the elephants live and and [TS]

00:47:42   then you go to the two like the the [TS]

00:47:45   Antarctica basically and it's miserable [TS]

00:47:48   and cold and awful there and then you go [TS]

00:47:50   up to this the sterile space station and [TS]

00:47:54   the end of this book similar to updraft [TS]

00:47:57   is has a dramatic change of a sequence [TS]

00:48:01   of events that's dramatic and yet i [TS]

00:48:03   bought it i guess because I felt like [TS]

00:48:04   maybe with the with the whole prophecy [TS]

00:48:07   thing that's going on and the fact that [TS]

00:48:09   one of the characters is politically [TS]

00:48:11   important from early on and and that the [TS]

00:48:14   the predicament of the elephants is sort [TS]

00:48:16   of artificial to begin with that they've [TS]

00:48:18   kind of put wall them off on the side I [TS]

00:48:20   I felt like I believed the surprising [TS]

00:48:24   things that happened at the end and i I [TS]

00:48:26   just I really yeah I i will remember [TS]

00:48:29   images from this book for a long time [TS]

00:48:31   because it is like Scott said so strange [TS]

00:48:34   and so yeah things that you just think [TS]

00:48:36   okay I guess we're gonna do that now all [TS]

00:48:39   right then it's just enjoyable to be [TS]

00:48:41   taken on that ride by writer into this [TS]

00:48:43   but just and that and that it doesn't [TS]

00:48:45   cheat the other thing that I think it's [TS]

00:48:47   great there's a scene early on where [TS]

00:48:48   they find an artifact that is from from [TS]

00:48:50   the beginning of the dawn of time from [TS]

00:48:52   before they can remember history and [TS]

00:48:54   it's destroyed but it turns out that [TS]

00:48:56   later we get to access that information [TS]

00:48:58   and it explains why there are all of [TS]

00:49:01   these aliens that actually seem like [TS]

00:49:03   animals and that explanation is [TS]

00:49:05   completely reasonable and understandable [TS]

00:49:08   and you learn a sort of a secret of the [TS]

00:49:10   history of the galaxy and I thought that [TS]

00:49:12   was all really really great to that it [TS]

00:49:14   is that in some ways it's it's a wrap [TS]

00:49:16   it's a it's all wrapped in fantasy [TS]

00:49:19   tropes and then you peel peel back the [TS]

00:49:21   surface and you discover its science [TS]

00:49:22   fiction underneath which I like [TS]

00:49:24   yeah and i want to talk about the [TS]

00:49:26   characters just just really alley like [TS]

00:49:28   his low is adorable door and I felt like [TS]

00:49:31   88 kind of wonder if the author had been [TS]

00:49:34   around many six-year-olds because it [TS]

00:49:37   kind of felt like a six-year-olds [TS]

00:49:39   through an adult-sized and I don't know [TS]

00:49:41   if that's what it was supposed to be and [TS]

00:49:43   but but just just cute and creative and [TS]

00:49:47   rambunctious and in trouble and a [TS]

00:49:49   six-year-old you know through an [TS]

00:49:51   adult-sized [TS]

00:49:52   and I really really liked that and I [TS]

00:49:55   also just want to say you're all the [TS]

00:49:57   main character is a scholar and and he [TS]

00:50:01   gets to do whatever he wants to do and [TS]

00:50:02   he is he is like the main character of [TS]

00:50:05   the story and we don't get that very [TS]

00:50:06   often so gay for scholars and writers [TS]

00:50:09   because you're yeah yeah I liked a lot [TS]

00:50:14   it's unlike anything that I've ever read [TS]

00:50:16   i would say and I just don't like the [TS]

00:50:18   with the senator or counselor guy was [TS]

00:50:21   like a yak or something yeah that i'm [TS]

00:50:24   using and I like the pandas were like [TS]

00:50:26   security and it just delighted me this [TS]

00:50:30   whole book [TS]

00:50:30   alright let's move on the the random [TS]

00:50:32   novel letran next demands that we speak [TS]

00:50:35   about ancillary mercy by and lucky the [TS]

00:50:37   third book in the trilogy that began [TS]

00:50:40   with ancillary justice winner of the [TS]

00:50:43   hugo award for best novel a couple years [TS]

00:50:45   back I this is a and ancillary mercy [TS]

00:50:49   follows the characters that you've met [TS]

00:50:51   before in an ancillary justice ancillary [TS]

00:50:54   sword and takes it to more or less a [TS]

00:50:57   conclusion that pays off a lot of stuff [TS]

00:50:59   from the first couple of books what [TS]

00:51:02   people think of ancillary mercy really [TS]

00:51:04   nice if you didn't read this one no I [TS]

00:51:06   powered my way through through the [TS]

00:51:09   entire series while longer this year and [TS]

00:51:12   I did not like the series at all i hate [TS]

00:51:16   you at all i'm so sorry but I i went so [TS]

00:51:21   far as to read it all and then go read [TS]

00:51:23   amazon reviews trying to figure out what [TS]

00:51:25   I missed because it just felt painful to [TS]

00:51:28   me the entire time it was like when I [TS]

00:51:30   read twilight kind of what i read [TS]

00:51:33   twilight and people are like how it's [TS]

00:51:35   really good you know it'sit's great [TS]

00:51:37   merit of twilight and I was like I don't [TS]

00:51:39   get it I don't understand what people [TS]

00:51:40   like about it and that's how I felt [TS]

00:51:42   about this and so when I finished I was [TS]

00:51:45   like I've got to figure out what I don't [TS]

00:51:49   get [TS]

00:51:49   because very clearly there's something [TS]

00:51:51   I'm not understanding it has like [TS]

00:51:52   foreign 4.6 stars on amazon or something [TS]

00:51:56   and I still don't get it like I do not [TS]

00:51:58   get why people love it [TS]

00:51:59   I'm yeah it's okay to not like things [TS]

00:52:03   that other people [TS]

00:52:04   the Americans alright it's alright for [TS]

00:52:06   things to be good enough for you but I [TS]

00:52:08   don't that the problem is not [TS]

00:52:10   necessarily that I don't like it's that [TS]

00:52:12   I don't understand why other people do [TS]

00:52:14   and I'm trying to sound like you didn't [TS]

00:52:17   like it they didn't like it all right [TS]

00:52:18   over who liked it i like i like twilight [TS]

00:52:21   too so i did like this this is another [TS]

00:52:26   1i wasn't was not really looking forward [TS]

00:52:27   to reading i like to answer justice but [TS]

00:52:30   I wasn't particularly fond fond of [TS]

00:52:32   ancillary sword and I was kind of afraid [TS]

00:52:34   this was just going to be more of the [TS]

00:52:35   same and if it hadn't been nominated for [TS]

00:52:37   an award i'm not even sure i would have [TS]

00:52:39   never gotten around to reading it but I [TS]

00:52:41   felt like this was much more to my taste [TS]

00:52:42   because in addition to the political [TS]

00:52:45   machinations that we sort of had before [TS]

00:52:47   we got some social machinations [TS]

00:52:50   involving a eyes and that is what i am [TS]

00:52:52   therefore in this series i love i love [TS]

00:52:55   the first book so much because in [TS]

00:52:57   addition to being an introduction to [TS]

00:52:59   this universe it was an examination of [TS]

00:53:01   what it means to be a person and what it [TS]

00:53:03   no it's sort of a look at an AI from the [TS]

00:53:05   inside and i love that there's some of [TS]

00:53:08   that and in the middle book but I think [TS]

00:53:10   much of that was framed around a [TS]

00:53:11   character that I really didn't like and [TS]

00:53:13   here we get to see more ships and their [TS]

00:53:15   interactions with each other with people [TS]

00:53:18   with a space station and i love that [TS]

00:53:20   there are social differences and [TS]

00:53:21   hierarchies even within the world of a [TS]

00:53:23   eyes and and then you get the fight for [TS]

00:53:26   your rights for a eyes and and robots [TS]

00:53:29   you know that's that's hardly a new [TS]

00:53:30   thing in sci-fi but I feel like the way [TS]

00:53:32   it's done here is fresh and interesting [TS]

00:53:33   and and tied up with galaxy-spanning [TS]

00:53:36   politics and while I wasn't sure I [TS]

00:53:39   wanted to read this book before i [TS]

00:53:40   started it now i am interested in [TS]

00:53:42   reading pretty much anything else that [TS]

00:53:44   set in this universe so i guess i will [TS]

00:53:46   also give a recommendation if you if you [TS]

00:53:50   like this university want to read more [TS]

00:53:51   there is a camera novella or novelette [TS]

00:53:54   called the nail under which is set in [TS]

00:53:56   the same university doesn't have any of [TS]

00:53:58   the same characters but it first [TS]

00:54:00   appeared in Andromeda spaceways inflight [TS]

00:54:02   magazine in 2008 but it was an issue to [TS]

00:54:04   of uncanny magazine last year so you can [TS]

00:54:06   read it for free online [TS]

00:54:08   Sean what did you think of ancillary [TS]

00:54:09   mercy so I really love the ancillary [TS]

00:54:12   series altogether [TS]

00:54:13   I these books are like my jam [TS]

00:54:16   they're just really good i taught [TS]

00:54:18   ancillary justice in the fall and just [TS]

00:54:21   had a blast teaching that book was a lot [TS]

00:54:23   of fun i will agree that ancillary sword [TS]

00:54:25   is not as strong and I think that answer [TS]

00:54:29   mercy is actually a stronger booked an [TS]

00:54:30   ancillary sword and I think part of it [TS]

00:54:32   is what Erica you were suggesting which [TS]

00:54:34   is that it really digs into this [TS]

00:54:37   question of self for personhood for [TS]

00:54:40   breakfast in particular at this book [TS]

00:54:43   felt to me and and I had been awhile [TS]

00:54:45   since our finances are stored so maybe [TS]

00:54:47   I'm totally off base but it felt to me [TS]

00:54:48   like this was a wreck at his or her most [TS]

00:54:52   vulnerable i get to be careful there [TS]

00:54:54   because there are the pronoun issues you [TS]

00:54:55   can either they're there is ok there at [TS]

00:54:58   all there isn't using the book at all [TS]

00:55:00   right there is not using the book so [TS]

00:55:02   they would be book she [TS]

00:55:04   yeah but yeah but any case um yeah I i [TS]

00:55:08   love the vulnerability for the character [TS]

00:55:10   in this particular book i also liked how [TS]

00:55:12   let's be honest I find the pressure to [TS]

00:55:15   be like the the funniest alien species i [TS]

00:55:18   have read in a long time I kept cracking [TS]

00:55:20   up every time that Prescott was asking [TS]

00:55:22   about eggs and just want to get eggs [TS]

00:55:25   once the fish sauce fish sauce and eggs [TS]

00:55:28   and I'm just like this is like these [TS]

00:55:30   books have never really been funny right [TS]

00:55:32   that they've always been kind of that [TS]

00:55:34   they've got this kind of dark almost not [TS]

00:55:35   quite grim darkie but little that dark [TS]

00:55:37   tone to it and suddenly this book was [TS]

00:55:40   just every time the pressure said [TS]

00:55:42   something I just was just laughing [TS]

00:55:44   because it's always funny the press [TS]

00:55:46   corps weird and it's wonderful and it [TS]

00:55:49   brings some joy to this book so I [TS]

00:55:50   overall I just I really love that I love [TS]

00:55:52   the plot in the idea i like how it sort [TS]

00:55:55   of brings us to a conclusion for the [TS]

00:55:56   series based entirely on what was the [TS]

00:56:00   big concern that wasn't I think fully [TS]

00:56:02   addressed and silver justice which is [TS]

00:56:04   who is brac can a ship and AI ship [TS]

00:56:08   become a person and what does that mean [TS]

00:56:12   in the context of a universe of sort of [TS]

00:56:15   xenophobic crazy clone mutated humans [TS]

00:56:19   yeah you know my eyes is insane [TS]

00:56:24   both versions all versions [TS]

00:56:26   fit her ash that's part gets the Emperor [TS]

00:56:31   amazing yes the Emperor the the two [TS]

00:56:33   different versions of the Emperor [TS]

00:56:34   warring this is this the problem with [TS]

00:56:37   ancillary mercy is that I'm so excited [TS]

00:56:39   but it came out i pre-ordered it and I [TS]

00:56:41   read it immediately when it came out [TS]

00:56:43   which means there's nothing of what [TS]

00:56:47   happens it although looking at my [TS]

00:56:49   Goodreads I gave it five stars so I like [TS]

00:56:52   this when i read it and as i miss the [TS]

00:56:54   big g two people talk about things are [TS]

00:56:56   coming back to mind so like the tea set [TS]

00:56:58   they find floaty and this technology and [TS]

00:57:02   it kind of pays off i think this book [TS]

00:57:04   because they find this tea set and all [TS]

00:57:05   kinds of stuff happens and you know it [TS]

00:57:07   means something and then destroyed [TS]

00:57:09   Hawkins that was in this book right [TS]

00:57:11   there is not yet another book yeah good [TS]

00:57:13   yeah i was getting my books mix up so i [TS]

00:57:17   really liked it i think Jason you've [TS]

00:57:19   talked about this before how she kind of [TS]

00:57:20   and lucky the first book is kind of you [TS]

00:57:23   know a huge scope and then it seems to [TS]

00:57:28   describe seems to focus more and more as [TS]

00:57:30   the trilogy goes on which is an [TS]

00:57:32   interesting choice and so but i enjoyed [TS]

00:57:36   yeah it it starts out you think that [TS]

00:57:38   it's going to be this really wide wide [TS]

00:57:40   wide screen epic about the the overthrow [TS]

00:57:45   of this Empire and these these two [TS]

00:57:47   different warring versions of the [TS]

00:57:48   Emperor and in ancillary sword it's a [TS]

00:57:51   smaller story i always joke that the end [TS]

00:57:53   of ancillary justice is setting up star [TS]

00:57:55   trek the next generation but ancillary [TS]

00:57:57   sword is deep space nine they spent all [TS]

00:57:59   the time kind of on a on a space station [TS]

00:58:01   instead of on their ship and ancillary [TS]

00:58:04   mercy I was also surprised because I [TS]

00:58:07   thought perhaps we have left the station [TS]

00:58:09   behind and would tell another story and [TS]

00:58:11   instead they go back to the station and [TS]

00:58:13   the whole book takes place once again [TS]

00:58:16   with these characters around this space [TS]

00:58:17   station but what happens in the third [TS]

00:58:20   book is that you get that little through [TS]

00:58:22   the cracks you get the sense of what's [TS]

00:58:24   happening what's the backstory why you [TS]

00:58:27   know why is this all happening and [TS]

00:58:28   what's going on in the rest of the [TS]

00:58:31   Empire so you do in that way i feel like [TS]

00:58:34   the mistakes rise in the third book or [TS]

00:58:38   at least your awareness of the stakes in [TS]

00:58:40   improves that uh when you're talking [TS]

00:58:43   about a eyes and what they mean and you [TS]

00:58:45   know are they able to make these [TS]

00:58:47   decisions on their own and and what what [TS]

00:58:50   are the ramifications for the whole [TS]

00:58:51   Imperial Raj I think that's all really [TS]

00:58:54   interesting and I i like the payoffs I [TS]

00:58:57   feel like this is a book that that uh on [TS]

00:58:59   its own it's fine but it you know she is [TS]

00:59:02   and Lackey is bringing a lot of the [TS]

00:59:05   character beats a lot of the the the the [TS]

00:59:08   things that happened at the end of this [TS]

00:59:10   are paying off our knowledge of these [TS]

00:59:12   characters over the at least a book if [TS]

00:59:14   not two books and I think that's really [TS]

00:59:16   strong that that I'm it's much stronger [TS]

00:59:19   because it's a third book and that it's [TS]

00:59:22   using our knowledge of these characters [TS]

00:59:24   effectively so i liked it i didn't i [TS]

00:59:26   didn't love it I you know I think the [TS]

00:59:28   first novel is vastly superior to both [TS]

00:59:30   of the the the next to it does not that [TS]

00:59:32   they're bad but that the first one had a [TS]

00:59:34   telescope and a and a and I don't know [TS]

00:59:38   an originality to it that the these feel [TS]

00:59:40   a little less like to have but but still [TS]

00:59:44   I thought it was good that was well done [TS]

00:59:45   and I like this universe and I like I i [TS]

00:59:48   agree with Sean the the whole thing with [TS]

00:59:50   the ambassador [TS]

00:59:51   we haven't actually met the press corps [TS]

00:59:53   right it's just they date like raise [TS]

00:59:55   humans themselves and then send those [TS]

00:59:57   back to us to be their ambassadors [TS]

00:59:57   back to us to be their ambassadors [TS]

01:00:00   and they aren't very good at translators [TS]

01:00:02   yeah they're not very good as humans we [TS]

01:00:05   don't know who they are no trouble with [TS]

01:00:07   their own identities [TS]

01:00:08   yeah it's kind of hilarious and yet [TS]

01:00:10   brilliant in that way so yeah so I [TS]

01:00:13   thought it was good into the to the [TS]

01:00:14   trilogy and I liked it but but you know [TS]

01:00:17   not as strong as the first 1i think yeah [TS]

01:00:19   I think maybe stronger than second [TS]

01:00:20   although some of them might just be my [TS]

01:00:21   expectations i really expected to go in [TS]

01:00:23   a different direction that it did and it [TS]

01:00:26   turns out this is a story she wants to [TS]

01:00:27   tell about brac and everybody you know [TS]

01:00:30   instead of Arden and and two-star want [TS]

01:00:32   and I you these characters that we focus [TS]

01:00:34   in on and not about like how the how the [TS]

01:00:37   Civil War of this Empire is going to be [TS]

01:00:41   seen in a you know in a big on a big [TS]

01:00:43   screen [TS]

01:00:44   it's not about that is really going to [TS]

01:00:46   read one read the first three the first [TS]

01:00:48   one [TS]

01:00:48   also it'll make more sense history maybe [TS]

01:00:52   the third one and then read the second [TS]

01:00:53   yeah that would be a crack and fresh [TS]

01:00:56   yeah like chronological at all no all [TS]

01:01:00   right let's move on the random but Ron [TS]

01:01:04   says next we should discuss the grace of [TS]

01:01:06   kings by ken loo who would like to talk [TS]

01:01:10   about the grace of kings [TS]

01:01:12   please not even the grace of key please [TS]

01:01:14   not any ideas that so that so this is [TS]

01:01:16   the book that I i attempted but did not [TS]

01:01:18   finish i abandoned grace of Kings seem [TS]

01:01:22   that will tell you where I rank it out [TS]

01:01:24   of seven it would be number seven [TS]

01:01:26   but yeah yeah I'm going there [TS]

01:01:30   ok that's it this is not the one that I [TS]

01:01:32   didn't finish i did finish it out [TS]

01:01:34   I almost stopped a couple of times it it [TS]

01:01:38   it but i ended up i ended up quite [TS]

01:01:40   enjoying it but it took me awhile to get [TS]

01:01:42   into it and I think Sean is going to say [TS]

01:01:44   too long and i'm going to agree one [TS]

01:01:45   hundred percent with that if he does but [TS]

01:01:48   it is it's it's not exactly my kind of [TS]

01:01:51   book which is something that I just sort [TS]

01:01:53   of realized early on and and decided to [TS]

01:01:56   go with anyway it is very much a story [TS]

01:01:58   of events [TS]

01:01:59   this is a recounting of a great upheaval [TS]

01:02:01   in the history of a land so there are a [TS]

01:02:04   lot of characters but I didn't feel like [TS]

01:02:07   I was getting to know any of them very [TS]

01:02:09   well nobody had much of an inner life it [TS]

01:02:12   was it was a lot more like [TS]

01:02:13   leading characters in a fairytale who [TS]

01:02:15   are just doing things you know which [TS]

01:02:17   ones are good you know which ones are [TS]

01:02:18   bad for the most part you know which [TS]

01:02:20   ones doubt themselves but I didn't feel [TS]

01:02:22   like I knew most of the characters and [TS]

01:02:24   the few that i did I don't really care [TS]

01:02:26   about very much but but by the end i was [TS]

01:02:30   interested in the events and and I was [TS]

01:02:32   quite fascinated by this book's [TS]

01:02:34   treatment of women i didn't feel like [TS]

01:02:36   there were enough female characters for [TS]

01:02:38   me to really really get into it but [TS]

01:02:40   there are paragraphs and exchanges that [TS]

01:02:43   made me want to stand up and Cheer this [TS]

01:02:46   this is very much not a world in which [TS]

01:02:48   women and men are are simply equal but [TS]

01:02:51   the women in this story have exactly as [TS]

01:02:53   much in her life and agency as the men [TS]

01:02:54   do which you know the inner life not so [TS]

01:02:57   much but women are not taken to task for [TS]

01:03:00   operating within the boundaries of the [TS]

01:03:03   society that they live in which was kind [TS]

01:03:05   of nice there's there's one nice [TS]

01:03:06   exchange between two of the female [TS]

01:03:08   characters soto angea in which g is [TS]

01:03:11   hesitant to try to influence her husband [TS]

01:03:13   to do something because quote unquote [TS]

01:03:15   received wisdom tells her that it's [TS]

01:03:18   improper and soto turns around and [TS]

01:03:20   points out that their society simply [TS]

01:03:22   won't allow her to become a statesman [TS]

01:03:24   herself or take to the battlefield you [TS]

01:03:26   can't do any of these male roles so why [TS]

01:03:28   shouldn't she be able to use the only [TS]

01:03:30   power society has left her which I [TS]

01:03:33   thought was kind of a nice little point [TS]

01:03:35   and it you know she says sure society in [TS]

01:03:38   the ancient texts would look down on on [TS]

01:03:41   you for that but those ancient texts are [TS]

01:03:44   simply another way of subjugating women [TS]

01:03:46   so I like that the book recognized that [TS]

01:03:48   it treated women kinda loudly like this [TS]

01:03:50   society did and eventually we there is a [TS]

01:03:53   female character that totally blocks the [TS]

01:03:55   system but honestly I feel like that [TS]

01:03:58   ends up mostly being in the negative [TS]

01:04:00   column for me because if you are still [TS]

01:04:01   introducing new characters with fullback [TS]

01:04:04   stories on page four hundred that is a [TS]

01:04:07   problem in my eyes so so that was so [TS]

01:04:10   while i ended up liking that character I [TS]

01:04:12   was kind of annoyed that we were getting [TS]

01:04:14   somebody brand-new that I was supposed [TS]

01:04:15   to like that late in the game and then [TS]

01:04:18   there's also a really interesting and [TS]

01:04:20   straightforward discussion of polyamory [TS]

01:04:22   that was very non-judgmental not [TS]

01:04:24   judgmental and quite lovely so I felt [TS]

01:04:26   like [TS]

01:04:27   there were a lot of of bits and pieces [TS]

01:04:29   in this book that I quite enjoyed you [TS]

01:04:31   know social commentary type things but [TS]

01:04:34   the story itself just sort of right out [TS]

01:04:37   like a an overly long fairy tale which [TS]

01:04:39   by the end I enjoyed but it's pretty far [TS]

01:04:42   down my list as far as the ones that i [TS]

01:04:44   liked of these Scott this is I I looking [TS]

01:04:49   at my Goodreads once again I consult the [TS]

01:04:51   back of train exactly i gave this [TS]

01:04:54   five-star so clearly i like it and uh [TS]

01:04:56   this is kind of a book that appeals to [TS]

01:04:59   me once i started reading it I knew that [TS]

01:05:01   I was going to like it because I do like [TS]

01:05:03   these stories where the characters are [TS]

01:05:06   just kind of cogs in the gears of [TS]

01:05:08   history and every so once in a while [TS]

01:05:10   they try to you know to push out from [TS]

01:05:13   their boundaries and try to affect [TS]

01:05:14   events so i agree with Erica that it's a [TS]

01:05:17   lot of kind of recounting events and [TS]

01:05:19   battles and battle plans and mechanical [TS]

01:05:23   whales and other American didn't mention [TS]

01:05:25   this but I there and so just kind of [TS]

01:05:30   like it spoke to me reminded me a lot of [TS]

01:05:32   KJ Parker's the engineer trilogy which [TS]

01:05:36   is the story about this guy who really [TS]

01:05:39   wants to get his revenge he sets off [TS]

01:05:41   this elaborate kind of revenge plot and [TS]

01:05:46   it run me that just because the events [TS]

01:05:47   kind of happened there are two main [TS]

01:05:48   characters and they they're both trying [TS]

01:05:51   to you know through different means [TS]

01:05:54   recreate this empire that falls like in [TS]

01:05:57   the first maybe 200 pages of the book [TS]

01:05:59   energy forever is a long book so i [TS]

01:06:02   really liked it appeals to me on that [TS]

01:06:03   level it's not everybody's cup of tea [TS]

01:06:05   clearly because there are lots of [TS]

01:06:07   characters and lots of stuff happening [TS]

01:06:09   that surely could have been cut out but [TS]

01:06:13   i enjoyed and I think can lose a really [TS]

01:06:15   good writer so I enjoyed the whole thing [TS]

01:06:17   Sean you suffer than so yes Erika you [TS]

01:06:22   are correct that i am going to say that [TS]

01:06:25   good god this book is too long too long [TS]

01:06:28   this they look to be totally Frank when [TS]

01:06:31   I look at the books i'm staring at them [TS]

01:06:33   right now and they all have very [TS]

01:06:34   beautiful covers but all of these books [TS]

01:06:36   could do with cutting minimum 15 [TS]

01:06:40   changes some cases upwards of two to [TS]

01:06:44   three hundred pages could go you can [TS]

01:06:46   guess which books need to lose those [TS]

01:06:48   crazy Kings i really like this book and [TS]

01:06:51   I understand why is because i had some [TS]

01:06:53   difficulty getting into it as well I I [TS]

01:06:56   felt like where the book should have had [TS]

01:06:58   its meat sometimes it left them out like [TS]

01:07:00   there would be scenes where like a [TS]

01:07:02   chapter would end it's like and by the [TS]

01:07:04   way they beat the battle and they just [TS]

01:07:05   wanted and then they went and had tea [TS]

01:07:07   and I'm like what but you just set this [TS]

01:07:08   whole chapter up was leading us to the [TS]

01:07:10   battle and then you'd like let you know [TS]

01:07:12   what what happened like depend who died [TS]

01:07:15   who lived right what we have done went [TS]

01:07:17   on in this whole scenario is that we [TS]

01:07:19   don't need to know that so it I felt [TS]

01:07:21   like at times think there are some [TS]

01:07:23   choices that I think I don't think i [TS]

01:07:25   would have made if I were a legitimate [TS]

01:07:27   writer and with getting published like [TS]

01:07:30   ken loo just in terms of what was not [TS]

01:07:33   shown versus what was shown and there [TS]

01:07:35   was just a lot going on and I think [TS]

01:07:37   you're right Erica like introducing [TS]

01:07:39   characters so far into the book is sort [TS]

01:07:41   of like no we just we need like I should [TS]

01:07:44   deal with the character speak at first [TS]

01:07:45   like let's get them to an end point and [TS]

01:07:48   if there's a second book then you can [TS]

01:07:50   introduce this other person i will say [TS]

01:07:54   that this book does tho have some super [TS]

01:07:57   memorable scenes i did overall enjoy it [TS]

01:07:59   the scene eric already brought up that [TS]

01:08:02   scene ism is really amazing and the one [TS]

01:08:04   that actually the Technic the sort of [TS]

01:08:06   early counters with gia when she's sort [TS]

01:08:10   of like pissing off her suitors and her [TS]

01:08:13   mom's getting so mad at her cause she's [TS]

01:08:15   like like go write me a poem and like [TS]

01:08:18   this like guy goes and writes a poem and [TS]

01:08:20   it's terrible and she's like write a [TS]

01:08:21   poem on the spot insulting him and he [TS]

01:08:24   runs away and a half and I just like I [TS]

01:08:26   loved her attitude and the character it [TS]

01:08:29   it was a lot of fun to read her [TS]

01:08:31   character now when she was actually [TS]

01:08:32   there and I also like the general who [TS]

01:08:36   had like his kite battle which is this [TS]

01:08:39   the most insane thing just to imagine [TS]

01:08:42   just up there floating around and it's [TS]

01:08:44   like bring it on and then he said John [TS]

01:08:45   like ninja style in the sky it was [TS]

01:08:48   really cool so I mean overall I really [TS]

01:08:51   did enjoy it but I do great like it's [TS]

01:08:53   just there [TS]

01:08:53   there's there's meat that needed to go [TS]

01:08:56   well no I would say fat fat needs to go [TS]

01:08:58   there needs to be some some of that and [TS]

01:09:00   maybe some areas could have done with [TS]

01:09:01   more beat just to give us a little bit [TS]

01:09:03   more it seems like again because there [TS]

01:09:05   aren't personalities to latch onto into [TS]

01:09:08   to kinda endear myself too i'm having [TS]

01:09:11   not really really hard time with it and [TS]

01:09:14   and yeah i'm i'm a very people driven [TS]

01:09:17   person I'm not like a war stories driven [TS]

01:09:19   person so it just might not be for me [TS]

01:09:21   yeah yeah well I is there i agree with [TS]

01:09:23   you uh I IE i have i have some serious [TS]

01:09:26   problems with the way this book is [TS]

01:09:27   structured because essentially he [TS]

01:09:29   introduced us to a lot of characters ok [TS]

01:09:31   that's fine he said it's a very set up a [TS]

01:09:33   very interesting a world interesting [TS]

01:09:35   history you have the the you know this [TS]

01:09:37   these disparate kingdoms that are kind [TS]

01:09:39   of brought together into this one empire [TS]

01:09:40   but then the the Emperor dies and things [TS]

01:09:43   fall apart and there's a war to decide [TS]

01:09:45   who's going to be in charge of it and [TS]

01:09:46   that's all very interesting and I'm okay [TS]

01:09:49   with tracking lots of characters out [TS]

01:09:50   there were a lot of really interesting [TS]

01:09:51   characters that we meet along the way [TS]

01:09:52   but this book tends to do this thing [TS]

01:09:55   where it just is constantly it's just [TS]

01:09:57   choppy it's choppy there are speed bumps [TS]

01:09:59   constantly where you end up with you [TS]

01:10:02   know you're following these characters [TS]

01:10:03   and your phone thread there a lot of [TS]

01:10:04   characters but it's ok you're going to [TS]

01:10:06   be able to hold it together and then he [TS]

01:10:08   just sets off on it's literally like let [TS]

01:10:11   me take you over to my table over here [TS]

01:10:13   where I'm staging a naval battle and i'm [TS]

01:10:17   going to tell you where all the ships go [TS]

01:10:18   and we're going to zoom out all the way [TS]

01:10:20   away from the characters and because hey [TS]

01:10:22   who doesn't like describing made-up ship [TS]

01:10:24   battles that have that did never happen [TS]

01:10:26   but are are in great detail for this [TS]

01:10:28   book and it's actually one of the [TS]

01:10:29   reasons that i dislike so much military [TS]

01:10:30   science fiction is that the author seems [TS]

01:10:33   to be just so enamored with the [TS]

01:10:35   specifics of the thing that he's [TS]

01:10:37   invented and I don't care and that [TS]

01:10:41   happened repeatedly in this book to the [TS]

01:10:42   point i tried three times to pick this [TS]

01:10:44   back up and read it and I couldn't do it [TS]

01:10:46   because every time we would get [TS]

01:10:48   somewhere would be like yes we're back [TS]

01:10:49   to the characters and we're gonna see [TS]

01:10:50   how all this affects them we would then [TS]

01:10:52   then go to another zoom out giant battle [TS]

01:10:56   strange shorthand where sometimes you a [TS]

01:10:59   as was previously said you expect things [TS]

01:11:01   to have [TS]

01:11:03   ok we set this all up now we're going to [TS]

01:11:05   see what happens and instead it's just [TS]

01:11:06   skip [TS]

01:11:07   dover like oh but that's not important [TS]

01:11:09   and then something else that doesn't [TS]

01:11:10   seem important at all or could be read [TS]

01:11:12   related to characters we care about in a [TS]

01:11:15   shorthand to explain what happened that [TS]

01:11:17   are instead given this huge scale and [TS]

01:11:20   scope like I'm reading a supplemental [TS]

01:11:21   material for a role-playing game or [TS]

01:11:23   something like that so no offense to [TS]

01:11:25   supplemental material was gonna say [TS]

01:11:28   supplemental material is a great great [TS]

01:11:29   way to put it because i think i think i [TS]

01:11:32   had that thought as well that I ended up [TS]

01:11:34   scamming a lot of those battle scenes [TS]

01:11:36   you were talking about yeah i did have [TS]

01:11:38   the thought which I had forgotten about [TS]

01:11:39   until you said that while I was reading [TS]

01:11:40   it that I wish that there had been some [TS]

01:11:42   appendices to the book you know I [TS]

01:11:44   would've been fine with having all of [TS]

01:11:45   that information available to readers [TS]

01:11:47   who are in love with this world and want [TS]

01:11:49   to delve into it and and find out all [TS]

01:11:50   that stuff but some of the history and a [TS]

01:11:53   lot of the battles I i thought would [TS]

01:11:54   have made great appendices 44 detail [TS]

01:11:57   hounds whereas you know people like me [TS]

01:12:00   who really care more about the people [TS]

01:12:01   could maybe get through it more easily [TS]

01:12:04   yeah I think I think it's think the [TS]

01:12:06   battles that are here to cut those back [TS]

01:12:08   and put more focus on some of the sort [TS]

01:12:11   of diplomacy scenes and then actually [TS]

01:12:13   give us some meaty battles that really [TS]

01:12:16   that way it's sort of like a build-up we [TS]

01:12:18   get this kind of build up to actual [TS]

01:12:19   battles and we have to see the [TS]

01:12:21   characters being developed in all the [TS]

01:12:23   all the rest of I think that would be [TS]

01:12:24   much stronger because I I do feel like [TS]

01:12:26   the best moments in the book has nothing [TS]

01:12:28   to do with battles with the exception of [TS]

01:12:29   the general kite guy which I have I will [TS]

01:12:32   remember that for a very long time [TS]

01:12:33   because it i want to see that in a movie [TS]

01:12:35   someday but I had some of the most [TS]

01:12:39   memorable scenes are scenes where it's [TS]

01:12:41   it's not characters talking about war or [TS]

01:12:43   in war it's about sort of the culture [TS]

01:12:46   it's the scene erica was raising right [TS]

01:12:48   about discussing the role of women it's [TS]

01:12:51   GF screwing with her suitors it's the [TS]

01:12:55   people together talking about their [TS]

01:12:56   future children of those those scenes I [TS]

01:12:59   felt worth those are much better scenes [TS]

01:13:02   and i would have liked more of those two [TS]

01:13:04   sort of have that at it would maybe it's [TS]

01:13:07   just because I'm a SAP and I just kind [TS]

01:13:08   of want some more romance in this book [TS]

01:13:10   no I don't think I want more of anything [TS]

01:13:12   in this book but i do think it would [TS]

01:13:13   have been a better book if they had just [TS]

01:13:14   taken out a [TS]

01:13:16   I'll some of the scenes that are the [TS]

01:13:19   zoom back and let me tell you about this [TS]

01:13:21   naval battle and things like that and [TS]

01:13:23   just didn't have them but I guess Erica [TS]

01:13:26   that is one way to approach this book [TS]

01:13:27   which is to just do a lot of skimming [TS]

01:13:29   and I didn't do that and that's why i [TS]

01:13:31   could never get through it i feel bad [TS]

01:13:34   air [TS]

01:13:34   I don't abandon books very often but no [TS]

01:13:36   Jason it's okay we still love you you [TS]

01:13:39   know that short man yeah it's been [TS]

01:13:41   reading the books you don't want to read [TS]

01:13:42   yes God told me to stop twice before I [TS]

01:13:45   find license to women don't put it on if [TS]

01:13:48   you're not you know if you don't like a [TS]

01:13:49   book just stop reading but I think the [TS]

01:13:51   problem is that i liked it enough to [TS]

01:13:53   keep going for a while and then I would [TS]

01:13:54   just hit these speed bumps be like why [TS]

01:13:56   am I reading this [TS]

01:13:57   yeah I know what that's like that's why [TS]

01:13:59   i started the audiobooks no let's move [TS]

01:14:03   on and talk about raising Cain move [TS]

01:14:07   third book in the tales of the Terran [TS]

01:14:09   Republic starring Kane Reardon also [TS]

01:14:12   referred to in the for the past two [TS]

01:14:14   years when we talked about the two [TS]

01:14:15   previous books in this trilogy as Johnny [TS]

01:14:18   square jaw super amazing guy came rear [TS]

01:14:21   who's good at everything and everybody [TS]

01:14:23   loves him and what do I have to do to [TS]

01:14:26   stop reading these books [TS]

01:14:27   well I think maybe just do you just need [TS]

01:14:30   to be able to stop it life's too short [TS]

01:14:31   hand maybe Jason needs to tell you to [TS]

01:14:33   stop twice the completest yeah that's [TS]

01:14:37   why I powered through it is because i've [TS]

01:14:39   read the first two books and I was [TS]

01:14:40   halfway through when I thought you know [TS]

01:14:41   I just get to the end of this trilogy I [TS]

01:14:44   really should probably do that and so I [TS]

01:14:46   did and so I got to the end what it [TS]

01:14:49   wanted what people think of raising cane [TS]

01:14:51   cane I should I explain it yeah I should [TS]

01:14:53   explain it this is the third book in the [TS]

01:14:54   series is about this verb in the galaxy [TS]

01:14:56   there are a bunch of alien races but it [TS]

01:14:58   turns out in the last book of the series [TS]

01:14:59   the book to that one of the alien races [TS]

01:15:01   is not in a like an iron lung because [TS]

01:15:04   they've got weird but weird chemistry [TS]

01:15:06   but in fact I swear they're humans who [TS]

01:15:08   what who were taken from the earth or [TS]

01:15:11   something like that a long time ago and [TS]

01:15:14   have gone off on their own and they've [TS]

01:15:15   got all a whole like martial culture and [TS]

01:15:18   they're mean and and they don't have [TS]

01:15:19   love and they're they're genetically [TS]

01:15:21   engineered and they are for those who [TS]

01:15:23   read lois mcmaster bujold they're [TS]

01:15:25   basically to see the Candance it's kind [TS]

01:15:27   of a lift from see ganda [TS]

01:15:29   they're very similar in so many ways [TS]

01:15:32   except with less art they don't have as [TS]

01:15:34   much of funky sculpture as the seeghe [TS]

01:15:36   and ins but there any of the apps but [TS]

01:15:38   they are our families intertwined dinner [TS]

01:15:40   breeding and genetic engineering is key [TS]

01:15:42   and what they do and they're very much [TS]

01:15:44   focused on their on their uh you know [TS]

01:15:47   wars and internal power struggles and we [TS]

01:15:51   spend a lot of time with them in raising [TS]

01:15:53   Cain like half the book is through the [TS]

01:15:55   perspective of these newly introduced [TS]

01:15:58   characters with confusing names who are [TS]

01:16:01   kind of unpleasant yeah yeah the other [TS]

01:16:04   half is a cane reared and having a you [TS]

01:16:08   know super smart professional people [TS]

01:16:10   start to explain something and then him [TS]

01:16:13   say no no let me guess [TS]

01:16:15   and then he gets it exactly right there [TS]

01:16:16   like amazing cake Reardon be so amazing [TS]

01:16:20   i didn't ya i have many issues let it [TS]

01:16:25   out [TS]

01:16:26   yeah well you can you can bounce things [TS]

01:16:27   I'm sure that some of these world with [TS]

01:16:29   it with you yeah this is a book that [TS]

01:16:31   easily could be 200 pages shorter you [TS]

01:16:33   just took out every scene where it [TS]

01:16:35   explain something we don't need for [TS]

01:16:37   example the great of the one that stuck [TS]

01:16:41   with me because it's the point which I [TS]

01:16:42   actually stopped in the book with and [TS]

01:16:44   and then I'll explain later where I [TS]

01:16:45   should have checked out but I didn't I [TS]

01:16:48   there's a moment when the like this [TS]

01:16:51   right robotic alien guy is explaining [TS]

01:16:54   what these weird spin diliman mille [TS]

01:16:56   floating Skeeter hug monsters are and is [TS]

01:17:00   explaining like the whole evolutionary [TS]

01:17:02   cycle and their reproduction cycle like [TS]

01:17:05   everything about them and my spot is [TS]

01:17:07   likely why there are you running you [TS]

01:17:09   just crash landed your ship you're [TS]

01:17:11   running away from people who want to [TS]

01:17:13   kill you [TS]

01:17:13   why are you talking about the skier but [TS]

01:17:15   just get on it just get on it and go to [TS]

01:17:17   the place you need to go and hurry up [TS]

01:17:19   you just spent like six hours talking [TS]

01:17:21   about Skeeter bug giant Skeeter bug [TS]

01:17:23   who's got like a penis in its ankle or [TS]

01:17:25   whatever happened and now and now like [TS]

01:17:28   in the whole time Reardon you're dying [TS]

01:17:29   you're dying because like you can't [TS]

01:17:31   breathe this crazy air lot of showing [TS]

01:17:32   your work a lot of showing your work in [TS]

01:17:34   fact I i highlighted past the book I [TS]

01:17:36   like highlighted passage that i'd like [TS]

01:17:38   to read to you now Sean I think you'll [TS]

01:17:39   really enjoy this half a day before [TS]

01:17:42   monoliths shifted out an Aboriginal [TS]

01:17:43   craft shifted in near planet to it was [TS]

01:17:45   an eric or prize they seized during the [TS]

01:17:47   fleet actions in Sigma Draconis our [TS]

01:17:50   servers on board the tow co shift [TS]

01:17:52   carrier already orbiting planet to the [TS]

01:17:54   guy an ass qu learned of these last [TS]

01:17:57   rithi invitation from that price ship [TS]

01:17:59   they relayed the news to us using a [TS]

01:18:01   trickle code protocol single seemingly [TS]

01:18:03   random signals sent over the course of [TS]

01:18:05   several hours he pointed to GJ 1230 so [TS]

01:18:08   knowing that these envoys are making 4 [TS]

01:18:10   beta equal a we can be relatively [TS]

01:18:12   certain that they must pass through this [TS]

01:18:14   system or one slightly further along [TS]

01:18:16   there are whole chapters like this [TS]

01:18:18   people [TS]

01:18:19   whoa yes I read the book I have no idea [TS]

01:18:22   what that means it's it's like their [TS]

01:18:25   point in the Bookroom like I'm really [TS]

01:18:26   digging this like yeah there's a lot of [TS]

01:18:28   fun right now like there's some stuff [TS]

01:18:29   going on this is fun and that it's like [TS]

01:18:31   to go ahead as you know Bob there [TS]

01:18:33   yesterday that's happening mr. board and [TS]

01:18:35   brew and as you know i am reading yes i [TS]

01:18:37   dunno i know all the things that has let [TS]

01:18:39   me see instead of you how did you know [TS]

01:18:42   and he wouldn't be so bad if like they [TS]

01:18:45   were if the only time they did that was [TS]

01:18:47   they were explaining things that were [TS]

01:18:48   kind of pertinent to what was happening [TS]

01:18:49   at that moment but like this this [TS]

01:18:51   particular book was the one that bugs me [TS]

01:18:54   the most of all of his books because I i [TS]

01:18:56   do enjoy his books but this one is [TS]

01:18:57   really bugging me it's because he [TS]

01:18:59   explains things that we don't need to [TS]

01:19:01   know [TS]

01:19:01   yeah we did we showing the work right I [TS]

01:19:03   put a lot of work into this thing so I'm [TS]

01:19:05   gonna make you understand how much work [TS]

01:19:07   I put into it but it's not even like [TS]

01:19:09   it's yes it is like showing your work [TS]

01:19:11   but it's like showing the work that like [TS]

01:19:14   you you're like giving us your cliff [TS]

01:19:15   notes like for your own world and like [TS]

01:19:17   you just threw them in there like I have [TS]

01:19:19   a character say this that should go as [TS]

01:19:22   dropping i love it that's not the point [TS]

01:19:23   at which i almost checked out for this [TS]

01:19:25   book the moment I always checked out was [TS]

01:19:26   when Dora the Explorer showed up [TS]

01:19:28   I'm not even joking yeah it's true [TS]

01:19:30   there's a reference to dora the explorer [TS]

01:19:32   and this is set some 200 years in the [TS]

01:19:34   future and I'm sorry but nobody's gonna [TS]

01:19:36   freaking remember Dora the Explorer 200 [TS]

01:19:38   years they are not have that same sorry [TS]

01:19:41   i had that same thought you could it was [TS]

01:19:42   as if he was explaining to somebody from [TS]

01:19:45   30 years it was like as if it was set 30 [TS]

01:19:47   years from now and no yeah it wasn't [TS]

01:19:49   used to be this kitchen but it's [TS]

01:19:50   hundreds of years in the future might [TS]

01:19:53   just make something up [TS]

01:19:54   yeah it's like it's [TS]

01:19:55   uncle the ninja dude and like that's [TS]

01:19:58   what I look like I look like Blanca and [TS]

01:19:59   tell me what drunken that's what I [TS]

01:20:01   Swiper no swiping reference seriously [TS]

01:20:03   yeah seriously there there's some stuff [TS]

01:20:05   where it's like GE I don't believe you [TS]

01:20:07   know what the future is yet and you need [TS]

01:20:10   to maybe spend more time on the internet [TS]

01:20:12   because it will help [TS]

01:20:14   Erika Eileen did you did you look at [TS]

01:20:16   this book or just no hassle no i haven't [TS]

01:20:20   read the first two just left to stone [TS]

01:20:22   and just forget it [TS]

01:20:24   I mean look at the title yeah okay oh [TS]

01:20:26   it's it's a partner named with guys on [TS]

01:20:28   these were charged it and they're doing [TS]

01:20:30   pretty pretty good [TS]

01:20:31   um I i did try to read this book I [TS]

01:20:34   didn't they didn't have it at the [TS]

01:20:36   American public library but i was able [TS]

01:20:37   to go to the trouble of getting an [TS]

01:20:39   interlibrary loan to try to read this [TS]

01:20:41   book I'd finished all the rest of them I [TS]

01:20:42   was like you know i'm just going to go [TS]

01:20:43   for it and I'm going to read this one [TS]

01:20:45   even though it's the third book in a [TS]

01:20:46   series you know it's i will i will let [TS]

01:20:48   that go and if there's stuff that goes [TS]

01:20:50   over my head [TS]

01:20:50   that's that's fine but i think the [TS]

01:20:52   paragraph that you read their Jason [TS]

01:20:54   illustrates why is like mm I think this [TS]

01:20:59   is not for me i don't think i even made [TS]

01:21:00   it through two chapters before I just [TS]

01:21:02   said nope life's too short and I put it [TS]

01:21:04   down and I feel very good about that [TS]

01:21:06   decision so i've only read these three [TS]

01:21:08   books by Charles canon but what I'll say [TS]

01:21:10   is i really like the I i really like the [TS]

01:21:13   first half of the first book I actually [TS]

01:21:15   kind of like the whole first book [TS]

01:21:16   because it although it was weird as we [TS]

01:21:18   said two years ago in that it has these [TS]

01:21:20   great tonal shifts where you originally [TS]

01:21:22   think it's going to be almost like an [TS]

01:21:24   Indiana Jones space archaeologists kind [TS]

01:21:26   of book almost like one of the like a [TS]

01:21:28   jack mcdevitt Alex Benedict kind of book [TS]

01:21:30   where he discovers these aliens on this [TS]

01:21:32   planet and and there's evidence that [TS]

01:21:34   they've been there a long time they come [TS]

01:21:36   back in this book actually it's kind of [TS]

01:21:37   a nice bookend at the end they come back [TS]

01:21:39   and and that's pretty cool and then and [TS]

01:21:41   he sort of gets swept up in events and [TS]

01:21:43   there's this whole kind of like enclave [TS]

01:21:44   of aliens from all over the galaxy who [TS]

01:21:46   are trying to understand who the humans [TS]

01:21:48   are and what they should do with them [TS]

01:21:49   and that's kind of interesting in a [TS]

01:21:51   different way it's almost like a David [TS]

01:21:52   Brenner or john scalzi kind of a kind of [TS]

01:21:55   vibe to it i thought was you know a [TS]

01:21:56   mishmash but really interesting kind of [TS]

01:21:58   stuff and and here's the funny thing [TS]

01:22:00   about this I powered through and i kinda [TS]

01:22:03   like the last third or have two third of [TS]

01:22:06   this book because I really think again [TS]

01:22:09   and is very good at his eyes show is [TS]

01:22:13   work too much but like I appreciated how [TS]

01:22:15   he created these alien races and they [TS]

01:22:17   all have very weird and interesting so [TS]

01:22:21   social views and societies societies [TS]

01:22:23   that he's built i think is I think his [TS]

01:22:25   background world-building of who these [TS]

01:22:27   aliens are in this galaxy is actually [TS]

01:22:29   pretty good I think I thought it was uh [TS]

01:22:31   I think you once you get far enough [TS]

01:22:33   along you start to see like oh you did [TS]

01:22:36   put in a lot of work on under a bun on [TS]

01:22:39   who these aliens are and how they work [TS]

01:22:40   and and I thought it paid off at that [TS]

01:22:43   point that work that he did the problem [TS]

01:22:46   is that the book that I think he's [TS]

01:22:49   writing is not the book he's writing [TS]

01:22:50   because he he's writing a book about an [TS]

01:22:53   amazing military and political leader [TS]

01:22:55   named Kate Reardon and a lot of tactical [TS]

01:22:58   and and hardware detail about the [TS]

01:23:01   engagements that are going on i think [TS]

01:23:04   the end where there's this whole action [TS]

01:23:06   set piece that set down on a planet and [TS]

01:23:09   they're there are a limited number of [TS]

01:23:11   people on the planet and then the the [TS]

01:23:14   attackers come down and then there's [TS]

01:23:15   sort of another force that's trying to [TS]

01:23:16   do this desperate maneuver to get down [TS]

01:23:18   to give them some backup [TS]

01:23:20   I thought it was actually really well [TS]

01:23:21   done and was exciting and interesting it [TS]

01:23:23   is sort of like a Rambo on an alien [TS]

01:23:25   planet because there's just a lot of [TS]

01:23:27   gunfire but I thought it was pretty well [TS]

01:23:29   done and and that he kept the trilogy [TS]

01:23:31   kind of well by going back to the planet [TS]

01:23:33   where it started for this sort of key [TS]

01:23:35   bit of information about how the aliens [TS]

01:23:38   on that planet are connected to these [TS]

01:23:39   other aliens that we've been dealing [TS]

01:23:40   dealing with the whole series so i [TS]

01:23:42   actually found the last third of it [TS]

01:23:45   pretty good last half to third but i [TS]

01:23:48   like the problem with the entire second [TS]

01:23:50   book the first half of this book is so [TS]

01:23:52   much explanation and detail and about [TS]

01:23:56   other things that I just don't care [TS]

01:23:57   about especially like the military [TS]

01:23:59   hardware and details of the cast tactics [TS]

01:24:01   and this whole other race they are the [TS]

01:24:04   not the record though I don't even [TS]

01:24:06   remember what they are but that the ones [TS]

01:24:08   were in cheney the ones the ones that [TS]

01:24:10   were the humans that are pretending to [TS]

01:24:12   be something else and they're not [TS]

01:24:14   interesting [TS]

01:24:15   um and I they have that they don't care [TS]

01:24:18   about them they're jerks and they're not [TS]

01:24:21   good villains they're just [TS]

01:24:23   and boring villains so yeah so I'm [TS]

01:24:26   conflicted i actually got to the point [TS]

01:24:29   where i was forcing myself to get [TS]

01:24:30   through it and I kind of broke through [TS]

01:24:32   to a place where I I i actually liked [TS]

01:24:34   the last part of this book but it was [TS]

01:24:36   kind of too late [TS]

01:24:37   are you sure it wasn't Stockholm [TS]

01:24:38   Syndrome I i am actually it was funny [TS]

01:24:40   uated it brought me I I thought about it [TS]

01:24:43   Erica I thought about it but it reminded [TS]

01:24:45   me of the first part of the first book [TS]

01:24:46   so it's like I you know when they're [TS]

01:24:48   down on that planet you know when he's [TS]

01:24:50   dealing with the there's there's a [TS]

01:24:52   really nice like that they're landing on [TS]

01:24:53   the planet and their these like strange [TS]

01:24:55   like elephant like creatures that live [TS]

01:24:57   in the river and one of them sort of [TS]

01:25:00   saves can reared in accidentally and and [TS]

01:25:04   I thought all that stuff was actually [TS]

01:25:06   pretty good it was just all of the [TS]

01:25:08   orbital mechanics that get to that point [TS]

01:25:10   where they're on the planet that made me [TS]

01:25:12   want to throw the book away it's still [TS]

01:25:14   not very good but I parts of it i [TS]

01:25:16   thought were pretty good [TS]

01:25:17   unfortunately the last half of the third [TS]

01:25:19   book of the trilogy is a bad place to [TS]

01:25:21   get to really get it together it's like [TS]

01:25:24   this second but better [TS]

01:25:26   I don't see how people like these books [TS]

01:25:28   I just don't think they're good yeah [TS]

01:25:30   yeah yeah yeah I i guess but that's my [TS]

01:25:33   that's my problem is is that he's trying [TS]

01:25:36   to do something like it like I said he's [TS]

01:25:37   trying to do a book that I don't want to [TS]

01:25:38   read and the part except part of it is [TS]

01:25:41   the book I want to read but it's not the [TS]

01:25:43   part that he seems to want to focus much [TS]

01:25:44   most of his attention on he likes cake [TS]

01:25:47   rooted cocaine written talking about [TS]

01:25:49   don't you talk about your perfect [TS]

01:25:51   character who has no flaws it's ken [TS]

01:25:54   rudin his only flaw is that he has no [TS]

01:25:56   flaws [TS]

01:25:57   mr. he cares too much here's to no money [TS]

01:26:00   yeah I had giant scatterbug he does he [TS]

01:26:05   does his heart is too big it actually [TS]

01:26:07   has its it's a physiological problem is [TS]

01:26:10   a large party passes out of time [TS]

01:26:12   ok the the random tron made our next [TS]

01:26:15   book our seventh and final book of this [TS]

01:26:17   podcast the winner uprooted by Naomi [TS]

01:26:20   Novik know you've known often for her [TS]

01:26:23   out her series of books about dragons [TS]

01:26:25   this is not about dragons although it [TS]

01:26:28   starts out [TS]

01:26:29   amusingly with a character called the [TS]

01:26:31   dragon who you are as to assume as a [TS]

01:26:33   dragon until you realize it is not a [TS]

01:26:35   dragon it is [TS]

01:26:36   just a guy this is a story about this is [TS]

01:26:39   a again a fantasy story there i said it [TS]

01:26:42   about a young girl in the village who [TS]

01:26:44   finds a was taken away by wizard and is [TS]

01:26:48   taught about magic and learns about the [TS]

01:26:51   dark forces that are kind of conspiring [TS]

01:26:52   to threaten her home and the entire [TS]

01:26:54   valley where she grew up as well as some [TS]

01:26:56   interesting things about the wider world [TS]

01:26:57   in which she lives and that's uprooted [TS]

01:26:59   what people think of uprooted yay i'm at [TS]

01:27:03   this point it was it it was very close [TS]

01:27:06   to being my favorite was kind of back [TS]

01:27:08   and forth i didn't know if this was my [TS]

01:27:09   favorite or not so I was I was quite [TS]

01:27:11   pleased when this one because I just [TS]

01:27:13   loved the book i could see i could see [TS]

01:27:15   very early on what kind of story it was [TS]

01:27:17   going to be it was this you know hapless [TS]

01:27:20   nobody has great powers and doesn't [TS]

01:27:22   realize it and then learns to use those [TS]

01:27:24   powers under the tutelage of a great [TS]

01:27:26   magician [TS]

01:27:27   so from the very first chapter i knew i [TS]

01:27:29   was going to enjoy the book [TS]

01:27:30   even if the book itself stocked be just [TS]

01:27:32   because i love that kind of story so [TS]

01:27:34   much and i will cut it a lot of slack [TS]

01:27:35   that I won't cut other types of stories [TS]

01:27:37   but what I didn't know what [TS]

01:27:40   but what I I didn't know after chapel [TS]

01:27:42   chapter one and then discovered later to [TS]

01:27:44   my delight was that this is it was an [TS]

01:27:46   excellent example of this kind of book [TS]

01:27:48   because I thought she turned the tropes [TS]

01:27:51   on their ears just enough to keep it [TS]

01:27:53   interesting but not enough to make it a [TS]

01:27:55   different kind of story would still that [TS]

01:27:56   basic story so for example her mentor [TS]

01:28:00   turns out to not be a very good mentor [TS]

01:28:02   and she ends up having to actually teach [TS]

01:28:04   herself and figure things out on her own [TS]

01:28:06   for the most part and you know the [TS]

01:28:08   mentor then end up learning a little [TS]

01:28:10   something from her as well of course [TS]

01:28:11   that second part there is kind of [TS]

01:28:13   standard but but but I enjoyed that it [TS]

01:28:15   was it was a thing that I love done in a [TS]

01:28:18   slightly different way which is great [TS]

01:28:19   and I adored the magic at one of the [TS]

01:28:22   things that that gets me the most about [TS]

01:28:24   good fantasy book is having a system of [TS]

01:28:27   magic that appeals to me and stays [TS]

01:28:30   consistent and works throughout the [TS]

01:28:31   course of the blog and in this case I [TS]

01:28:34   thought that was that was kind of great [TS]

01:28:35   this there's a spooky forest and there's [TS]

01:28:37   something evil at its heart you get [TS]

01:28:39   different kinds of magic practitioners [TS]

01:28:41   and a whole bunch of bureaucracy in the [TS]

01:28:43   capital that surrounds everything [TS]

01:28:45   including the magic [TS]

01:28:47   and even took one of my other favorite [TS]

01:28:49   story tropes and nested it within this [TS]

01:28:51   one which is the the plane country [TS]

01:28:53   dweller who has to go to the big city [TS]

01:28:54   and then is baffled by the the different [TS]

01:28:56   pace in the style of life there [TS]

01:28:58   I mean just really it was one thing that [TS]

01:28:59   I love on top of another on top of [TS]

01:29:01   another so yeah I love it [TS]

01:29:04   anybody else Selena I liked it but I [TS]

01:29:06   have problematic spoilers so I thought [TS]

01:29:09   his body than when I have a new podcast [TS]

01:29:12   and i'll try to talk around didn't be [TS]

01:29:15   gentle [TS]

01:29:16   it's a it's a little one so i might just [TS]

01:29:19   barrel ahead and you can send me or hate [TS]

01:29:21   me all its fine I don't care and it's a [TS]

01:29:25   letter if you can stop with me if the [TS]

01:29:27   radars quality answer so I liked I liked [TS]

01:29:31   all the things that Erica talked about [TS]

01:29:33   it there is a really strong theme of [TS]

01:29:34   friendship and and belief in sisterhood [TS]

01:29:38   like believing in one another and [TS]

01:29:39   sisterhood that I really really [TS]

01:29:40   appreciated and and also like this it as [TS]

01:29:45   someone who's very protective of her [TS]

01:29:46   friends seeing that mirrored in our main [TS]

01:29:49   character was kind of nice to see you [TS]

01:29:52   know like like I will die for you type [TS]

01:29:55   type protectiveness and in and I I like [TS]

01:29:59   that she's powerful I like that she's [TS]

01:30:01   kind of on this journey of discovery and [TS]

01:30:04   and all that stuff but I mean here's the [TS]

01:30:07   spoiler she and her mentor end up [TS]

01:30:11   becoming infatuated with one another i [TS]

01:30:15   wouldn't say like falling in love but [TS]

01:30:17   there's some kind of infatuation there [TS]

01:30:19   and at no point did i find that [TS]

01:30:21   believable he was horrible we saw him do [TS]

01:30:25   nothing but insult her and be verbally [TS]

01:30:28   abusive and actually can physically [TS]

01:30:30   abusive and then she she ends up like [TS]

01:30:35   there are feelings and I don't know that [TS]

01:30:39   i did not appreciate that aspect of it i [TS]

01:30:41   think you gotta I think you you can't [TS]

01:30:43   discount the fact that they become [TS]

01:30:45   deeply magically entwined and in [TS]

01:30:47   aftermath as that is when that this [TS]

01:30:49   happens so it's I guess it's up to you [TS]

01:30:51   to determine whether becoming like don't [TS]

01:30:53   kind of like inside one another souls [TS]

01:30:55   while casting missed this you know crazy [TS]

01:30:58   spell that takes a day [TS]

01:31:00   to tell or whatever it is is that it you [TS]

01:31:03   know was that a very special moment that [TS]

01:31:05   lay their souls bear and made them [TS]

01:31:06   attached to each other in a way that you [TS]

01:31:08   know non-magic people can understand or [TS]

01:31:10   I think if you discount in there like [TS]

01:31:12   come on but consider what went before [TS]

01:31:14   it's easy to to write it off but I kind [TS]

01:31:16   of went with it just because they died I [TS]

01:31:19   accepted that what she was basically [TS]

01:31:20   saying is that this spell that the cast [TS]

01:31:23   together was incredibly intimate and it [TS]

01:31:24   basically connected them in a way they [TS]

01:31:26   never been before I can go with that I [TS]

01:31:28   can I can I i can totally go with that [TS]

01:31:31   and i'm with you and I say see that too [TS]

01:31:33   but he continued to be abusive and [TS]

01:31:36   that's what that's what I was like okay [TS]

01:31:38   jerk right so you've seen it to one [TS]

01:31:41   another souls she is a very kind-hearted [TS]

01:31:44   and compassionate woman and there's like [TS]

01:31:51   he's physically abusive and I'm i just [TS]

01:31:53   can't I can't I can't I you know what I [TS]

01:31:56   will admit that I struggled with that a [TS]

01:31:58   little bit too i think that it was I [TS]

01:32:02   mean he was still awful towards the end [TS]

01:32:04   but he was much much less awful so i can [TS]

01:32:07   see i do think that there was a bit of a [TS]

01:32:09   Redemption arc for his character and [TS]

01:32:11   maybe it would have been a little bit [TS]

01:32:13   better they played up that the [TS]

01:32:14   redemptive angle a little bit and made [TS]

01:32:16   its it better for me but for me I I [TS]

01:32:19   struggled a little while and then I [TS]

01:32:20   ended up landing on the side where I was [TS]

01:32:22   mostly okay with it simply because this [TS]

01:32:25   is it's it's a fantasy fairy tale story [TS]

01:32:28   and it's it's the story of of someone [TS]

01:32:31   who know learns to use their powers and [TS]

01:32:32   I just I really wanted all of the the [TS]

01:32:35   bows to sort of tie up neatly at the end [TS]

01:32:38   in the way that a story like that is [TS]

01:32:39   quote/unquote meant to and of course you [TS]

01:32:41   can break those rules and stuff but i do [TS]

01:32:43   like it when you have all of those sort [TS]

01:32:45   of happy-ish at least endings so for me [TS]

01:32:48   I feel like the book might have felt a [TS]

01:32:50   little bit inconclusive or unclaimed de [TS]

01:32:54   diff CD didn't get that sort of a [TS]

01:32:56   glimpse of of possible happiness at the [TS]

01:32:59   end there so that was that was why I end [TS]

01:33:02   up being okay with it but I very much [TS]

01:33:03   see your point [TS]

01:33:04   Scott what you think or what is [TS]

01:33:05   goodreads tell you that you thought at [TS]

01:33:06   one point in the past [TS]

01:33:08   well this is also gave five stars and [TS]

01:33:12   this is a example of why I read [TS]

01:33:14   nominated books because i had heard of [TS]

01:33:17   this book obviously she and whenever [TS]

01:33:20   he's a big author i have not read any of [TS]

01:33:22   her work before this I read about this [TS]

01:33:25   book and I thought this is totally not [TS]

01:33:27   something I like so i'm not going to [TS]

01:33:29   read it and now it was on you know [TS]

01:33:31   nominated for a nebula so I thought I [TS]

01:33:33   guess help read and so i read it and i [TS]

01:33:35   really liked it totally another book I [TS]

01:33:37   would have ever read on my own and now [TS]

01:33:41   it has inspired me actually inspired my [TS]

01:33:45   wife to read all of her a Napoleonic [TS]

01:33:47   dragon boats the camera and exactly i'm [TS]

01:33:51   and so i'll be reading those at some [TS]

01:33:52   point as well because she said they're [TS]

01:33:55   good and I based on this book I think [TS]

01:33:57   that she's an excellent writer i did not [TS]

01:34:00   have a I didn't notice the physical [TS]

01:34:04   abuse stuff so i didn't have a problem [TS]

01:34:06   with it maybe that's just because I'm a [TS]

01:34:08   dude and I didn't notice that i trow but [TS]

01:34:12   i totally notice that you know the the [TS]

01:34:14   he was you know mentally abusive and and [TS]

01:34:17   yeah but i just took that as he didn't [TS]

01:34:20   understand the way that she used magic [TS]

01:34:23   and he was trying to put her into his [TS]

01:34:25   magical system and it just wasn't [TS]

01:34:26   working and it was frustrating to him [TS]

01:34:28   yes more of a reflection of that and [TS]

01:34:31   then once they started you know [TS]

01:34:32   realizing like when they were trying to [TS]

01:34:34   make the what was at the B and the rose [TS]

01:34:36   or whatever they they figured out they [TS]

01:34:38   click well she figured out how to click [TS]

01:34:40   into his system and it made like the [TS]

01:34:43   crazy garden appear and that's when they [TS]

01:34:46   started I felt like they started [TS]

01:34:47   clicking a little bit more but he was [TS]

01:34:49   still resistive of it because that's not [TS]

01:34:50   how magic works [TS]

01:34:52   yeah everyone clearly you know there are [TS]

01:34:55   different ways to get to the same path [TS]

01:34:57   and I like you know the Falcon and all [TS]

01:34:59   that stuff [TS]

01:35:02   and going to the capital i thought it [TS]

01:35:04   was all great it was and enchanted me [TS]

01:35:05   i'm beginning to end and one thing to [TS]

01:35:08   point out with with his personality sort [TS]

01:35:10   of i do like that she never she never [TS]

01:35:13   actually softens or capitulates to him [TS]

01:35:15   he's his personality he's got flaws he [TS]

01:35:18   he's not very empathetic to the fact [TS]

01:35:21   that she uses magic differently like [TS]

01:35:22   Scott said and she doesn't really ever [TS]

01:35:25   give in to him he's the one that [TS]

01:35:27   actually has to sort of come running [TS]

01:35:28   back to her in the end so I I appreciate [TS]

01:35:31   that as well but she doesn't like go off [TS]

01:35:33   on some sort of you know what waterworks [TS]

01:35:35   type quest crying and panting for him [TS]

01:35:38   yeah Sean would you think of this one [TS]

01:35:41   well as you may recall earlier i had [TS]

01:35:44   said there was a book that I didn't [TS]

01:35:47   finish because I didn't want to finish [TS]

01:35:48   it and that would be this but uh huh no [TS]

01:35:51   process of elimination [TS]

01:35:52   yeah because we have got that but soon [TS]

01:35:56   because i actually finished raising [TS]

01:35:58   raising cane as much as I may have [TS]

01:36:00   ranted about that but that this scene [TS]

01:36:03   that we've already mentioned was the [TS]

01:36:05   moment which I just checked out and [TS]

01:36:08   there's already a lot of stuff going [TS]

01:36:09   against I'm not really big into fairy [TS]

01:36:10   tales it's just not my thing [TS]

01:36:12   the only fairy tale book i can think of [TS]

01:36:14   that i enjoyed is a house in the stag by [TS]

01:36:16   cage baker but i don't really like fairy [TS]

01:36:20   tales it was already kind of had that [TS]

01:36:21   going against it but the moment there's [TS]

01:36:23   like that little romantic tingling like [TS]

01:36:25   I just felt so uncomfortable and I just [TS]

01:36:27   stopped because I just I can't I can't [TS]

01:36:29   do that like my tolerance for that has [TS]

01:36:32   since Game of Thrones as ended I don't [TS]

01:36:35   really have a tolerance for any kind of [TS]

01:36:37   skeevy that kind of thing anymore so [TS]

01:36:39   that was the point which I just I just [TS]

01:36:41   stopped i wasn't i wasn't already into [TS]

01:36:43   it and it made me feel uncomfortable in [TS]

01:36:46   a way that i didn't find interesting and [TS]

01:36:49   so I just I just cut and ran and went [TS]

01:36:52   like when read something else [TS]

01:36:54   so yeah I don't really have much to say [TS]

01:36:57   except that all right yeah sorry please [TS]

01:36:59   don't i know what people are gonna [TS]

01:37:00   probably like there's gonna be people on [TS]

01:37:02   my doorstep trying to kill me but it's [TS]

01:37:03   possible please don't don't don't don't [TS]

01:37:05   go to sean's house [TS]

01:37:07   yeah my cat will fight you so uh this is [TS]

01:37:13   my favorite of the seven I thought it [TS]

01:37:15   was great [TS]

01:37:15   I thought it was one of these so so [TS]

01:37:18   sorry Jean I I thought it was um I still [TS]

01:37:21   am watching Game of Thrones by the way [TS]

01:37:22   so people can come to my doorstep and my [TS]

01:37:25   cat will probably not fight you but he [TS]

01:37:27   might be on you know which may be just [TS]

01:37:30   as good [TS]

01:37:31   yeah really don't want that trust me [TS]

01:37:33   wanna lottery so i like Scott would not [TS]

01:37:37   normally read a book like this i have [TS]

01:37:39   bought the first book in the temporary [TS]

01:37:41   series i just haven't gotten around to [TS]

01:37:42   reading because i think and dragons [TS]

01:37:43   Fantasea whatever but i really liked it [TS]

01:37:46   I I i like that it was a fairytale [TS]

01:37:48   framework but was a lot more than that I [TS]

01:37:49   really love the idea of the forest [TS]

01:37:52   reaching out to did as this force of [TS]

01:37:53   darkness to destroy the towns in this [TS]

01:37:56   village and and then something we [TS]

01:37:58   haven't talked about is the end of this [TS]

01:37:59   book really is he [TS]

01:38:00   it is it's the heart of darkness people [TS]

01:38:03   like it is a journey into the heart of [TS]

01:38:04   darkness the this scary forest and [TS]

01:38:07   what's a thot at the heart of these [TS]

01:38:08   trees that are the source of the evil [TS]

01:38:12   that is that is investing this world and [TS]

01:38:15   especially this this village and there's [TS]

01:38:18   a victory although i would say unlike [TS]

01:38:20   unlike updraft there's a victory that's [TS]

01:38:22   a partial victory there's there's some [TS]

01:38:24   costs and there's some upkeep that needs [TS]

01:38:26   to continue happening but in the end [TS]

01:38:27   Agnieska the the main character finds [TS]

01:38:30   her place in the world [TS]

01:38:31   it's a place that she chooses she's [TS]

01:38:33   protecting her valley i like the journey [TS]

01:38:37   we talked about two different magic [TS]

01:38:38   systems i like the could I like the idea [TS]

01:38:40   that this guy is it is an arrogant [TS]

01:38:43   wizard he changes you know although [TS]

01:38:45   although women that he takes when [TS]

01:38:47   they're 16 leave the village after [TS]

01:38:49   they're done with their that there 10 [TS]

01:38:50   years because they there there they've [TS]

01:38:52   they've seen too much and they want to [TS]

01:38:54   move on to something else but she [TS]

01:38:56   challenges him [TS]

01:38:57   she's got she's special in a way that he [TS]

01:38:59   can't he doesn't notice right away and i [TS]

01:39:02   love that like she puts him on the [TS]

01:39:06   defense because she knows stuff about [TS]

01:39:08   her magic and he doesn't and I'll i [TS]

01:39:10   think that's delightful ders there are [TS]

01:39:12   several places where he is brought low [TS]

01:39:15   by the fact that you know he keeps [TS]

01:39:18   disregarding her skills and disparaging [TS]

01:39:20   her and she always surprises him and I [TS]

01:39:23   think that's also delightful and so I i [TS]

01:39:26   like the mythical qualities of it I like [TS]

01:39:28   that there's this additional political [TS]

01:39:29   the calculation that's happening with [TS]

01:39:30   the prince and the king and the queen [TS]

01:39:32   who was kidnapped by the wood a long [TS]

01:39:35   time ago back in the capital [TS]

01:39:38   I think that's an interesting digression [TS]

01:39:40   it reminded me a bit of the Goblin [TS]

01:39:43   Emperor which I like the lot so yeah I i [TS]

01:39:46   liked it i was i was really surprised [TS]

01:39:48   how much I liked it and so yes if the [TS]

01:39:50   fifth season is 1b or 2i i would i would [TS]

01:39:54   rank uprooted number one I was happy [TS]

01:39:56   that 1i i was surprised at how much I [TS]

01:39:59   liked it and it was it was another one [TS]

01:40:01   that was really beautifully written [TS]

01:40:02   again I will [TS]

01:40:03   yes you know i will definitely read more [TS]

01:40:05   of her books just based on this 1i just [TS]

01:40:07   just can't get past that one thing [TS]

01:40:10   yeah understood I I like I said I I [TS]

01:40:13   tried to reason I gave Naomi Novik the [TS]

01:40:16   benefit of the doubt that you know that [TS]

01:40:17   especially as a woman writing this book [TS]

01:40:19   that she had a particular point of view [TS]

01:40:22   about this relationship and so I decided [TS]

01:40:24   to go with the idea that this uh this [TS]

01:40:27   connection was happening that sort of [TS]

01:40:30   changed everything between them because [TS]

01:40:32   it was this surprise connection that [TS]

01:40:34   they found you could very easily say [TS]

01:40:36   that it was a much older man who comes [TS]

01:40:39   in steel sixteen-year-old girls and [TS]

01:40:41   although they only accept they all [TS]

01:40:43   insist that he never makes a move on [TS]

01:40:45   them and his is you know he's just a [TS]

01:40:47   jerk but he he doesn't do anything [TS]

01:40:49   untoward toward them [TS]

01:40:51   the fact is that that happens with them [TS]

01:40:54   and you can you could very easily read [TS]

01:40:56   that as this is really gross i'm not [TS]

01:40:58   going to read anymore i think that's a [TS]

01:41:00   totally fair reading of it i decided to [TS]

01:41:01   go with it and and decide that the [TS]

01:41:03   author didn't intend it that way but I [TS]

01:41:06   can see both sides of that that's fair [TS]

01:41:08   now and just be clear I'm not suggesting [TS]

01:41:10   that this book was like the last season [TS]

01:41:13   of Game of Thrones huh [TS]

01:41:15   no I suggesting they're on the same [TS]

01:41:17   scale I brought that up as my that for [TS]

01:41:19   me was the moment where my tolerance [TS]

01:41:21   level went all the way down to the [TS]

01:41:23   bottom because I felt so uncomfortable [TS]

01:41:25   after that particular moment everybody [TS]

01:41:27   knows about at this point that i [TS]

01:41:28   couldn't could I can't take it right now [TS]

01:41:30   like I don't have the mental space fair [TS]

01:41:32   enough so yeah it'll probably come back [TS]

01:41:35   later [TS]

01:41:36   um should we try i would like to go [TS]

01:41:39   around out ask people how to rank Vera [TS]

01:41:43   the books from from from best to worst [TS]

01:41:46   or worse the best depending on how you [TS]

01:41:48   want to handle it [TS]

01:41:49   Scott do you have a list uh I i will [TS]

01:41:52   have a list right now uh I will go best [TS]

01:41:54   to worst [TS]

01:41:55   ok i guess so barska uprooted the fifth [TS]

01:42:02   season Chris of Kings ancillary mercy [TS]

01:42:06   updraft raising King okay Colleen [TS]

01:42:11   favorite to least favorite would be I [TS]

01:42:14   think the fifth season updraft oh and [TS]

01:42:22   then I don't know between uprooted and [TS]

01:42:23   barsky and because uprooted really was [TS]

01:42:27   beautifully written and and then while [TS]

01:42:32   ancillary mercy and the grace of keys [TS]

01:42:34   because i couldn't read it and then I [TS]

01:42:35   didn't read the six months all right [TS]

01:42:37   Erica haha i had kind of to almost times [TS]

01:42:43   but I've managed to sort of break them [TS]

01:42:45   out a little bit so some favorite to [TS]

01:42:47   least favorite I am going to put the [TS]

01:42:48   fifth season at the top and the only [TS]

01:42:51   reason that operated comes in at second [TS]

01:42:53   is because of that relationship it but [TS]

01:42:55   that was that was enough for it to to [TS]

01:42:57   bump it down from being completely tied [TS]

01:42:58   to being just almost tied and then the [TS]

01:43:02   next two were almost at I as as well [TS]

01:43:04   actually no that's not true [TS]

01:43:05   next one was ancillary mercy because I [TS]

01:43:07   quite like that that was pretty easy [TS]

01:43:08   with the next to that we're kind of a [TS]

01:43:10   tie between bars and updraft i decided [TS]

01:43:13   to put bars just the hair above updraft [TS]

01:43:16   simply because of Jason what you were [TS]

01:43:17   saying about how how it ended but I [TS]

01:43:20   really just I liked all of those very [TS]

01:43:23   very much and then a few rungs down we [TS]

01:43:26   have the grace of kings and then and [TS]

01:43:29   then yeah it was then that one doesn't [TS]

01:43:30   finish raising Cain p.m. [TS]

01:43:32   k & Reed and Sean more about you sure so [TS]

01:43:35   bars gets off the list because obviously [TS]

01:43:37   i didn't i didn't finish it no not from [TS]

01:43:39   lack of trying [TS]

01:43:42   so my list from top to bottom goes [TS]

01:43:44   ancillary mercy grace of Kings updraft [TS]

01:43:48   fifth season uprooted than raising Cain [TS]

01:43:50   alright well i think i think fifth [TS]

01:43:53   season maybe our maybe our overall like [TS]

01:43:55   total point [TS]

01:43:56   it's winter if we were true choosing a [TS]

01:43:58   winner among us but so for me it's [TS]

01:43:59   uprooted and then the fifth season than [TS]

01:44:02   barska updraft ancillary mercy raising [TS]

01:44:06   cane and Grace of Kings because i [TS]

01:44:08   couldn't finish it and it's not like we [TS]

01:44:10   didn't try so wow yeah you tried several [TS]

01:44:14   times valiantly and it did never happen [TS]

01:44:17   so but you know here's what I'll say [TS]

01:44:19   when you when you have seven books and [TS]

01:44:21   you decide to read all of them turns out [TS]

01:44:23   there's a some good books in there [TS]

01:44:25   yeah I hope you all had a had a good [TS]

01:44:28   time reading some books that mysterious [TS]

01:44:30   cabal in the science-fiction writers [TS]

01:44:31   association nachos for us [TS]

01:44:34   oh yeah yeah they chose some good books [TS]

01:44:37   yeah i think so should we do yeah pretty [TS]

01:44:40   good [TS]

01:44:41   alright well thus thus ends our survey [TS]

01:44:43   of the nebula nominees for this year I [TS]

01:44:46   but it was fun to read those books it [TS]

01:44:48   took awhile but because that's a lot of [TS]

01:44:50   books but it was good it was good i'm [TS]

01:44:52   glad I did it and I it's given me more [TS]

01:44:54   books to read anyway I'd like to thank [TS]

01:44:55   my panelists for joining us on this [TS]

01:44:57   adventure of reading some or all or some [TS]

01:45:00   combination thereof of the nebula [TS]

01:45:02   nominees Sean Duke from skippy and fanti [TS]

01:45:06   and many other places thank you so much [TS]

01:45:08   for being back on that's three years in [TS]

01:45:09   a row for you thank you you're welcome i [TS]

01:45:11   I'm sure the torches and pitchforks [TS]

01:45:12   outside our normal and not people ready [TS]

01:45:15   to push down your door for your for your [TS]

01:45:17   opinions that ok I i drink their tears [TS]

01:45:20   okay good good as you should as you [TS]

01:45:23   should lean sims thank you so much for [TS]

01:45:25   joining us on the on the book club and [TS]

01:45:26   taking on this is a large assignment i [TS]

01:45:29   was so happy to do it [TS]

01:45:30   that was a lot of fun Erica and sign [TS]

01:45:32   thank you as well for reading many many [TS]

01:45:34   books [TS]

01:45:34   yeah I genuinely loved almost every one [TS]

01:45:38   of these so I'm am so pleased that you [TS]

01:45:40   encouraged me to do it because if I if I [TS]

01:45:42   hadn't done it for the podcast i doubt i [TS]

01:45:44   would read most of these books scotland [TS]

01:45:45   ltd as always you are my partner in [TS]

01:45:48   reading books that are nominated for [TS]

01:45:49   awards [TS]

01:45:50   thanks for being here yes and I read all [TS]

01:45:52   of them you did Lou you get the gold [TS]

01:45:55   sticker nebulous actually is there [TS]

01:45:58   really a cool sticker next time i see [TS]

01:45:59   i'll give you gold sticker [TS]

01:46:01   don't write checks you kick it's a [TS]

01:46:03   euphemism a gold sticker is a punch in [TS]

01:46:05   the arm band [TS]

01:46:07   yeah congratulations it because me [TS]

01:46:09   flashbacks to Catholic school and thanks [TS]

01:46:11   everybody out there for listening [TS]

01:46:12   check out these books I hope we've given [TS]

01:46:14   you some ideas of some of these books [TS]

01:46:16   that you might want to read based on our [TS]

01:46:17   descriptions of them will see you next [TS]

01:46:19   week bye everybody [TS]

01:46:23   [Music] [TS]

01:46:48   [Music] [TS]