GLEAM | Full Book Recap, Reactions & Analysis (Spoilers)

This week on FanCastic, we’re diving all the way into Gleam—and yes, we mean all the way. ✨

Join us for a full-spoiler recap of the entire book as we break down the biggest moments, shocking twists, character arcs, and everything in between. Whether you just finished reading or need a refresher before our upcoming fan cast episode, this is your ultimate deep-dive into the world of Gleam.

We’re talking:

• The scenes that left us speechless
• Characters we loved (and loved to hate 👀)
• Major themes and hidden details you might have missed
• Our hot takes and lingering questions

Consider this your official prep session before we start dream-casting these characters next week!

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This episode contains full book spoilers from beginning to end—so make sure you’ve finished Gleam before listening!

Grab your annotations, theories, and emotional support crowns… it’s time to recap.

🎙️ New to FanCastic? We’re a fan-powered podcast where we celebrate stories we love and bring them to life through discussion, analysis, and creative fan casting.

Don’t forget to follow/subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s fan cast episode!

🎙 Subscribe to FanCastic for weekly episodes about fantasy books, fandom culture, and dream book-to-screen adaptations. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Okay. Hey guys! Hey! Welcome back to another episode of Fancastic, the Fancasting Podcast, where we fancast all your favorite fantasy, romantic, and fiction. My crown is slipping. I am your host, Loretta.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

And I'm your other host, Emily, and my crown is not slipping. No, that means you're higher than me.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Well, it's because I have my headphones on too, and my bat wings. My bat wings are pushing my sunshine crown forward. And why are we wearing crowns? None of your business. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Don't ask questions.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

We're wearing crowns.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

We're wearing them. You might see us wear them in person someday.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Somewhere. But we're very gilded today and very shadowed today for a reason because um we motherfucking lied to all of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Sorry. We had like really good intentions and then we didn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

So here's what happened.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

So what happened?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

What happened was we read Spark of the Everflame. We both really like it. Then we jumped into the rest of it while we're I'm reading Plated Prisoner. And it just makes sense to just finish Plate Plated Prisoner and then move into Spark of the Everflame. It does not make sense to kind of go back and forth with you guys. So we had a little business meeting.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

We put our little planning hats on and little very LA got our little lappy tops out at a coffee shop.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

And then we got yelled at.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Get yelled at. Um rude.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So rude. Shout out, boy and the bear.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Here's the thing. There are so many coffee shops in LA that if you are not at a hundred, I will just go to the next one. Because there's one a block away from you.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

What the fuck were we talking about? Oh yeah. Anyways, our schedule, this is part of the reason why our schedule is a little all over the place, too. Is like we just like follow the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

We are both vibe-based readers, and that translates into vibe-based yappers. Yappers. We just like to yap about whatever occurs to us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah. So we did give you episode, two episodes, a recap and a fan cast of the first two books of Plated Prisoner. We've since made contact with the Raven Kennedy herself. So we were like, all right, let's just follow this vibe. And then we will pivot to Kindred Curse and bring Pen Cole into the picture who bitch. I'm really liking your work a whole bunch.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I have a is this the talk about what we're currently reading?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Let's do it. Perfect transition.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Um, because I have a bone to pick with Pen Cole.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Oh, girl, what is it?

SPEAKER_02 3:05

I'm a little bit ahead of you, and I just finished Heat of the Everflame, and I only started reading these because I was under the impression that book four was coming out in July, and that that would be a manageable time to wait.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Shout out Jamie, that girl that reads, you uh lied to us all.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yes. And in her defense, she apologized in the comments when Pen Cole called her out. But apparently that's not happening. And I am sorry that that that got that got spread around in a sash route, but I am devastated to learn that book four does not have a release date because the end of book three is fucking wild. Like, what do you mean other people have read this like years ago and they're still waiting? Like, it's crazy. I know you're getting there, so we'll do like a redacted version, but like literally so many things happen at the How when did when did these books come out?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Because I I do feel like Spark of the Everflame came out like a while ago. Like probably when Guild had come out. Guild had like first come out in like 2021.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Heat of the Everflame, Kindred's Curse Book 3 has been out since 2023.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Which means people have been living with this knowledge that I only recently have in my ha my head for like three years. Really two and a half years, because it came out in the fall. Ugh. Would be going crazy. Yeah, because so much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

We all those same people are the same people who are been waiting for Sarah J Mass to put something out.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

And like, I guess I kind of understand it because I'm also on the like reading fourth wing live bandwagon, which also ends with cliffhangers, but like this cliffhanger is a pretty big deal. I messaged in my like book club Slack channel at work, and I was like, I need an emotional support hug. Will somebody please come to my office? Oh my god. It's so stressful.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

What's crazy is like I actually cannot even fathom where it's going because I am in, I'm on chapter 15 of uh glow, The Everflame. Um I'm doing our Plated Prisoner audio and then whatever. Both on Glow. Great. I I don't know where it would go that would leave on such a cliffhanger that would make you so distressed. It's like, okay, redacted.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Like female main character, Diem, ends the book. Like the book is ramping up to the end. I'm like, okay, we got 15 minutes left. I understand where it's going, and she's in this pickle. And I'm like, okay, the pickle is the end. This is the cliffhanger of like how she's gonna get out of the pickle, right?

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

And then there's a death, and that it's a very emotional death. And then there's another thing that happens, and like that is fucking insane. That like, and I know that it's it I'm trying really hard not to display what it's like. Tell me nothing. Tell me nothing. But like if this thing happened to like a side character, the result would be really clear. But because it happened to the female main character, you're like, wait. Because she has all these, not because she's a female main character, but you learn that she has a lot of like things stuff that would prevent this from being bad. Yes. But you don't quite know how we're gonna get there. And so she is in not only the original pickle dealing with the death, but now she's in a second pickle that really I just cannot see my way. I like that's crazy. So I feel like sorry, I yelled a lot. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

No, you're fine. Yeah, yell. This is what this is for. This is our ranting recaps of our uh Instagram bio. I think that's where I wrote that. I I feel like Penn Cole has has been so underestimated. Or something, or or maybe because the books have been out for a while, we missed the hype.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

I don't know what it is, but when you gave me Spark of the Everflame and you're like, we should read this, I was like, meh. I like had no desire to read it. And like every other book I've read recently, I've been like, oh yeah, I need to read that like a lot. I had like had no attachment to it. Yeah. And I've said this to other people where like the the like checkpoints of the plot and the like general things that happen are not particularly revolutionary. Like the the things are are pretty basic. It's pretty standard fair for the classic genre. Classes, all that thing about it that just like really has me invested. Bro. Um, it's so good. I can't wait to talk about it. I'm so happy we deviated and we're talking for finishing Creative Prisoners, you have more time to finish. Yeah. Um, and so I have like I genuinely don't know who to cast as DM, so I'm really glad we have several weeks. I gotta do some deep dives into platinum blonde actresses.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I'm so excited. Okay, that was our little reading recap. We're both reading Spark of the Everflame series Kindred Curse, uh, different parts, you're all caught up. I'm getting caught up, and you've already finished Plated Prisoner. I'm trucking through. I'm uh about I'd say a a good third way of the through of glow. It's a biggie.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

This is a biggie.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Getting bigger and bigger.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Wow. And I've really, I really enjoyed this one. The books do get better and better. They do, for sure. And I think this is like a uh something that we'll touch upon as we get into our main event, which is our recap of Gleam.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah. I have it here so we can fact-check ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yes, and I have I do have one, two, three, four pages of notes to remind myself. And we do have an outline in front of us to hold us accountable because eight million things happen in this. First impressions changed the game for me. This is where I first like locked in and I started to Arn still drives me mental. I do not love her, I do not hate her, but I do not love her. And but as I'm learning about her, I'm starting to empathize with her more, and I think that is how things should be written. If you give me a character on a silver platter and say, this is female character, love her, I'm gonna say, I don't fucking know anything about her. No. But if you're like, this is the female character, and you're gonna gradually learn about her over the series of this many books that are probably, respectfully, Raven, a little bit improperly paced, you're gonna hold my attention more. So, like, for me, Gleam had me like locked in. And I think I texted that to you. I was like, Oh, oh, we're oh, we're going now. Yeah, I was like, game changer. Yeah, hello. Do you feel like it was like that for you too? Like with the series when you were first reading?

SPEAKER_02 10:11

I and I say this to people when I bullied them into reading the series, which is if you if you can get clue, I don't generally like saying, just watch the first season, and if you still don't like it, then stop. Like, I'm not giving you a first season's worth of my time. And I generally wouldn't say that about books, but I do try to encourage people to get to the end of book two. Um because I think the two cliffhangers there are pr not even cliffhangers, but like two revelations that you get are uh really just spark everything in motion. Um, for this one, I had already started to really love Aaron. Um, I think in the first couple books, she's not difficult to empathize with female main character because obviously we see Midas as abuse for what it is, but like trying to remember that she doesn't see it that way and like watching her. This is sort of like why it's the same reason I love slow burn romances. Like this to me is a slow burn character development of like seeing her start to realize he's getting me presence so I stay put, not because he loves me. Like seeing her like connect those dots and like really being in her mind of like undoing this abuse cycle that she's been in, and like little moments of standing up to him, and then like him responding with violence and anger and her being like, Cool, see, so that was a test, and you failed, and I'm gonna run away. And I really like watching that happen. And then obviously, we finally like we get all of this political intrigue. Um, I love the politics of this book. I think all of the people we meet are really good. It's really cool to see all of the main characters in the same space, like the wrath and all of the um kings and queens and RN. And the other saddles and stuff coming in to like where like everybody's in the same spot, so we get to see how they interact together.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

You're like seeing every everyday life, even though everyone's like not in their own correct kingdom, right? You're like seeing everyday life of everybody, and so it's like it's like the first two books were like there's these worlds and all these peoples and call the chaos, and then this is like the dust was settling, and so you're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, got it.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Yeah, and then like obviously we get one of the best like spicy scenes that I have ever read fucking finally in this book. Um, and it's unreal. I will talk about when we get to that point in the book.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

We're gonna kind of go through like a rundown, guys, of like the recap. Because of what we did with Guild and Glint, the first two, we're doing that with the rest of these, and like all of our episodes going forwards, guys, they're pretty big books that we we wanna do everything justice. We want to do the recap of like what we read and really give the book its moment. And then we want to come back and do the fan cast for these larger books. Now, there are some books that are smaller, like the first book of Spark of the Everflame. Well, we'll do both because we'll have time to do that. But these, I feel like like Gleam, it needs its own moment. So this is just the recap episode, guys. If you were expecting the fan cast, I don't know what to tell you. It's gonna say recap on everything you're clicking. So open your eyeballs respectfully. Really get it together. Really get it together here. Like you got two queens in your presence. Do you want to start us off with our rundown? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

So the book starts with um the first of many flashbacks to RN's youth. Um, she is a sex trafficking victim in a town called Durfort Harbor. Durf Harbor.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Why does it sound like the rural juror?

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Roger.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Durfer Harbor. We're after a great start. Jump in on any time, she said. Okay. And I regret it.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

So we meet her, and she is under the employee um of what did we decide his name was? Zakir West. Zakir West. We had to look that up before we started filming. Um, but his name is Zekir West. Yeah. And we find out that there's another sex trafficker named Bardin East who wants Aaron to be in his little saloon of other sex trafficking victims. Um, and then we come back to real time. And it is right after the end of book two in Aaron's chambers when we find out that Rip is slayed. Mm-hmm. And they're alone together, and nothing happens. But Aaron, our baby girl will be spiraling. She does not know how to handle this. He brings those guards back to life though. Yeah. So she he like entered her room at the end of book two, killed all the guards with his rop magic. And then in this one, she was like, I don't really like that you killed them. Valid. And he was like, Oh, okay. And then like sucks the rop magic out of them. Yeah. And this is important. Foreshadowing because it comes back later in the book. Sure do. I sure do. Foreshadowing, baby. Literature. Okay, so baby girl is spiraling. Her time in Fourth Kingdom really like emboldened her. And she is trying, baby steps, to stand up to King Midas. And she says things like, please, like, you are not locking me in this room. I will not be gilding nothing for you. And then that kind of doesn't work. He gaslights her and she's she's trying. Okay, she's a victim. She has a lot of like abuse to undo, and she is trying to stand up to him. But she does end up in the cage and she does end up gilding the whole castle for him. Because as we learned previously, Midas got no magic and he has to steal Aaron's magic.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

That lying little fucking shit. What a fucking shit. Of course a man is stealing what a woman has.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Right? What a bitch.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Her realizing it is like, I honestly was applauding her because that felt like a pretty fucking quick turnaround for a year of abuse and gas lightning victim to all of a sudden go, oh bitch, I'm awake. Yeah. Hello.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Oh, he locked me in a cage. Maybe that's not for my own protection. Which to like us, dear reader, seems pretty obvious. But like, yes. She was a I like I love the flashbacks in this for their also foreshadowing, but also just to like fully imbue the reader with the knowledge of how much RN is overcoming in book three's book three and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

And you care for her in a way because you see her now as this child who is she's a street performer, and then she hits puberty, and she knows as soon as that happens, her work is about to change. And you just you just have this knot in your stomach within like the f that first like chapter. Yeah. And anytime it comes back to her with those flashbacks, you're like, damn, dude. You're just a kid still.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Yeah. Do we know how old she is in these books?

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Um, okay, so she's 25 in guild. I and I think she says something where she like hits 15. I think she says it's like 10 years of being a sex trafficking victim and Midas is favored saddle, favored saddle, and used for her power and manipulated, and like 10 full years of that before she goes, oh shit. Like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Yeah. So we like I even referred to this mere mere moments ago as like a slow burn character development. But honestly, she's been doing this pretty quick of like, yeah, and I'm so proud of my baby girl. Yeah. Okay. Bullet points. We wrote them down so we don't get off track. Yes. Mist is pregnant. Mist is another settle. She is such a little twat. Um and she is pregnant with Midas' baby. And Midas decides to write a little letter to his queen Melina, who's still off in Fourth Kingdom, and say, Hey, go lock yourself in the castle for six months because you're gonna raise this baby as your own because you're barren, and I thought, and you're just gonna have this baby from this prostitute that I knocked up and deal with that. And she's like, nah, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Also, you put that in writing, you stupid stupid asshole. You wrote that down, you wrote that down to a bird. People read it, and so people are like, It's not him, it's your fucking fault. He got someone else pregnant, so it's your fault that you can't make an error. And she was like, Cool, so now I'm basically rendered useless. Thank you. Which he did on purpose because he's a dickhead.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Yeah, okay. While that's all happening, Aaron getting her little sneaky sneak on.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Um she's just sneaking around the castle. There was like one point where I where I wrote down where I was like, Does anyone care that Aaron's out and around anymore? Oh wait, yeah, no. That's not.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

So she must be sneaking and snooking around. She's trying to h hop the wall and yeah, and she forges an alliance with Brissa and she's like, yo, we gotta get out of here. We're gonna lead. And Rissa's like, give me a million dollars, basically. She's like, turn a bunch of stuff to gold, and then I will help you, I will lead with you, and we'll go together.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

And I'm bringing my friend Polly.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

My friend Polly, who is also kind of a twat, but in her defense, is on drugs, and that is not her fault. Addiction is an illness, even in fantasy worlds, and it's not her fault. And I'm glad that we saved Polly. Yes, sort of. Umsufferable. Um speaking of being insufferable, Queen Melina still not really doing it in this book. She is so self-absorbed and so out of touch. Why is she so mean to Gio? She's so mean to that poor little baby boy. Spoilers for a couple bullet points from now, but that poor little baby boy who dies trying to save this bitch who is so mean.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

He literally sacrifices himself after she's like, You're nothing more than a whore to him. And he was like, I will die for you.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

I'll die for you. I was like, You and all of that happens, just to it's really hard to stay on plot and not just talk about vibes. All of that happens because she basically Melina tells Midas to fuck off. I'm not raising your bastard child. And Midas says, Cool, I just met this ghost shadow assassin dude. I'm and I'm gonna send him to fourth, and he's gonna kill you. And I'm gonna tell everybody that you're dead. So she loses her kingdom, and everybody thinks that she was assassinated. So she does not have any control over Six Kingdom anymore. She is on the run with little baby Geo, an assassin who I don't know if you know this yet, but his name is Domic. Uh, we learn a little bit more about him.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah. He he's the one who keeps kind of like telling her these like visions and thingies and stuff. Yeah. And yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Yes, four. Yeah. Yes. But yes, we learn a little bit more about him, but I'll just say now that his name is Domek, so we don't have to keep calling him a shadow assassin. Yeah. Um, but he is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

He's tricky.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

He's tricky. We don't really know what he's up to.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

And like everyone's everyone rioted um at the palace too. Like they were like, you have all this gold, and and so the woman from Glint, that woman that shows up, that's like, How dare you? Like, you don't you haven't given us anything. You have your gilded palace, and this is the life that we lead, you dumb queen. And you'd think that would wake Queen Melina up to go, God, like I should do something. No, it doesn't. And so a riot starts and takes over, and it's kind of perfect timing for what. Midas want it anyways.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah, Midas is um getting a little bit lucky in the beginning of this book. He sure is. So not good. We don't like it. We're having really good segues, because I was about to say, speaking of riots, uh, we meet Riot. Riot literally, I was just about to be like, oh myot. So we meet Riot, who is Slade's half brother. Yes. And he's also fake rip because Slade is obviously Rip and Slade. Sometimes Rip and Slade have to be in the same place at the same time. And so Riot is fake rip when Slade is being Slade.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Right. And that that is in this one, and I fully missed it. Really? Yeah. I I they had said his name, and he had called him brother before.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

And I thought he was being like He also calls Osric and Judd brother. So like understandable confusion. And so I was confused. So it was like it's talked about. So we we learn about Rawlard Village, uh, which is in Deadwell. Yes. And it's in Fifth Kingdom, but it's on the border of Fourth Kingdom. And in the negotiations between Slade and Midas about like, are we going to war or not? What are we doing? The only thing Rip asks for, Slade asks for, excuse me, is Deadwell. And everybody's like, nothing's there. Nothing. Why? And honestly, at that, I was like, boy, you showed your hand because they don't think anybody's anything's there. So they're gonna go look. Slade. Yeah, does we want like a bunch of stuff, like a big area of land, yeah, and not this little tiny little cave neighborhood on a mountain where all of the most important things to you are.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Yes. That that maybe there's like maybe there's like a swirly blue castle in a cave, but we won't we won't know until Glow. Nobody will know. I do know. I know now.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I will say, just in case anybody is listening who has also read all of the books, I am talking about these books with only the knowledge that Loretta has. There have been a couple things that I've said so far that I'm like, I don't like that I said that, but it's a spoiler.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

And it probably went right over me because I don't know yet.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

But I'm trying really hard because you always make fun of me for doing spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

And I'm listening I it's it's made I don't make fun of you. It's like out of love. It's like my favorite quality about you because you just love you love it so much. It's so endearing.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

You're welcome. This is just a love podcast.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

We just really adore each other so much. So much. Strawlard Village. Okay, yes. So he wants Strollard Village, and Midas is like, well, obviously, I'm gonna go see what that is. And then there's a dinner with all of the kings and queens, and well, not all of them, but Midas, Slade, Fake Rip. He makes Arn come be a puppet and like perform and it's gross. And then this is also when we meet Queen Kyla, who is the queen of I want to say third.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Third kingdom.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Third kingdom. And she has a fucking freaky power where she can manipulate voices and she can make it sound like people are whispering, like she can like project her thoughts as like other people's voices. So you can think that like people are talking shit about you, and like they're not. They literally didn't even open their mouth. And she can also make her voice really loud and she hears she hears people talking quiet secrets.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

She picks it up. It's creepy, but she talks about her power like she's not proud of it because it's not a physical manifestation power, like rot and gold and those things. And so she's she like feels less than that her power is not good. Um, and she kind of talks about that a little bit. Like when we get to it, there's like kind of like a girl-to-girl, like a girl chat, and she is very open about that. And I was like, wow, I like how this character is I super liked how that character was written, like a lot.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

You can hang on to that. And then uh oh, at the dinner, we also meet Manu, who is Kyla's brother. Yeah, he's gay. And he's also sort of Kyla's advisor. And that's sort of it there.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Which I'm like, it's your brother, which is great, but I I don't know. He feels he feels pretty pushy. I he's a little bit red flag came up. I was like, you're really pushy. Like you are very pushy. Sure does. I wrote down that the dinner scene was so fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

And there's also a weird thing where like Riot has to carry her to the heart because she refuses to play.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

And it's like, it's like, and Midas like does like a trick of the hand.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Yeah, he like they have worked out this like sleight of hand magic where he'll touch a goblet and she'll like touch the bottom of the goblet, so she turns it gold, but it looks like he turns it gold. And I guess everybody in this kingdom is fucking blind because I don't really know like how they did like same. I I I need to see the video proof of concept, Raven Kennedy, because I have questions about the sleight of hand magic.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

Um, and then it also like does it work because Arn's just like, no. Dude, I'm not playing this game anymore.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

She's like, I don't I'm not doing this for you anymore. You can fuck right off. I love that vibe and kind of wish she like wrote it off to the sunset right away, but I think that then the book would have finished 300 pages sooner.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

And also like she's starting to like really care about Slade, and Midas suspects that she's banging Rip, which is not happening, and also that's the same person. Um He don't know, he's too stupid. He's too he dumb. He dumb. Uh, I think she also backs off because she doesn't want him to hurt. She doesn't know who fake Rip is at this point, but she doesn't want anybody to be hurt on her behalf. So I think that's why she backs off. Yeah. Okay. Crazy dinner scene. Crazy dinner scene, and then RN still be sneaks snorking around. There's like a uh vocal stim I'm getting from Parks and Rec that's like sneaking and snorking. Sneak snorking. Something Amy Polar said the sneaker has become the snort.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Okay. Listen, man, I support you.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Yeah, thank you so much. Okay, so she be sneaking, and then she falls out of her turret and her ribbons catch her um in a scene that's really giving like Doc Octopus from Spider-Man, like all of her ribbons is being like, ugh.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Listen, the Spider-Man trailer came out today, so that feels relevant.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Sure does. Yeah. And then Lou finds her and is like, what bitch, what are you doing? Why are you hanging from your turret? Yes. And then finally, Arn come gets down and then they sneak out because shocking, Lou has magic. Um, just like a little bit. And she can make people not look at her, which is fun when you're trying to be sneaking and snorking. Yeah. Um, and then they go to this I got off track. The bullet points didn't help. That's what happened after the sundown scene.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

No, I think it happens before. It does.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

You're right. Because there's a scene around the fireplace.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yes. So so that's the first scene where you think something's going to happen, where he brings her in from being tired. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. So her powers don't work at nighttime. Yes. And she's safe. And so she sneaks around. She tries to like sneak around during the day, at night, be safe, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

And Midas has made a rule that no one is allowed to touch Arn. And he does it from a like possessiveness, like nobody touches my girl kind of thing, but it's also because she will kill them if they touch her bare skin. Um and that would he doesn't, I don't think, care about their lives, but does care about his secret in that wood.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yes. And she, she kind she climbs, she leaves and like falls out of her turret and like falls out of that wall or whatever and catches herself. I believe it's after the dinner scene because she's she's real confused and pissed about how like fake rip carried her over, and actual King Rot Slade did fucking nothing. Like she was like, wait a second. Like something felt weird. And so I think she goes to be with them to like search for answers of like, what the fuck was that?

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

If I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

I think you're right. There are also multiple trips to the army camp. Like they may be going back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Which I found I uh this is where I got a I did get a little confused in this book because of that. Because it was like, you can't go anywhere, you can't touch anything, you have to do all these things. And you got guards on you, but she's like, doo-dee-doo, I'm gonna go hop over this wall. And and there's no there's no one else monitoring this camp of enemies.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

I think that I don't that I don't have an answer for of monitoring the camp, except I would say that like they are technically in peace talks. So there might be like a if you put guards on my camp, I'm not gonna peace treaty talk with you anymore. Yeah. And then in terms of like her room, I got the impression she was going out of like a four-story window, like insanely high. Most people don't know she has ribbons and that they have a mind of their own. So like there's no way she would get out of the window. And then also, once Midas starts figuring it out, there is a guard on the down there.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Yes, that's right. She does see like no one's been out there before.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Like damn it.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Um I do think it's crazy that she is fully made of gold and nobody is watching the castle to a point to go, the fuck is that?

SPEAKER_02 31:50

What's that gold thing fucking propelling down the turret? What's that gold bitch doing? Why's she doing that every day at four? Or maybe like Lou starts to always get her, like, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Something, yes. There were there are there were definitely some holes in those things, but again, vibreed, but I was like, I'm gonna look past it.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

If I kick my little feet and giggle, like it's a five-star read. And boy, was I kicking my little feet.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah. I was like, I want you to get to the camp. Go back over here, girl. She does.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

And she does.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah. And then are we at And then I think it's time.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Is it time for the sundown scene? I think it's time to talk about the sundown scene. The sundown scene is it's my second favorite scene in the whole trilogy. Um, or the whole what's a six trilogy called? A sex trology? A sex scene. I'll call it a series. Feels safe. I think it's gonna be like an SEX word, not because it's sex, but because I think that's the like Latin derivative six, like a sextant. Uh anyway, we'll go.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

I like it. Feels right for this series. Yeah, it feels good.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

It is my second favorite spicy scene in the entire series. Okay. And it is also the first spicy scene that I've read that flips to the male main character's point of view. I did not know that that was going to happen. I didn't spoil it for you.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah. I was so proud of myself. I did not know that that was going to happen. It's incredible. So the the spicy scene, you think this okay, so there's a teaser. You think the spicy scene is gonna happen after she has gilded the castle, and this is like pre-dinner scene. Sorry guys, we're going a little bit back. She's gilded the castle, she's tired as fuck. He carries her. You guys may remember this from our last episode. He carries her.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

It does happen in book three.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

And and he takes care of her, he gets her food, he gets her tea, he like has her sit by the fireplace, and like they just talk.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

And they have a really funny exchange of dialogue where she's super tired in his arms, and he says, You are very floppy, and she says, You are very hard. And he says, You have no idea. Yes, like it's it's like it's cutesy little like and I appreciated that.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

And then, yeah, she says like something about like a dainy dick or whatever. And I think that is part of the sundown scene, because he has her, he has her undress.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

We should explain we explain the sundown scene a little bit, right? Of like Aaron cannot be touched until the sun has set. Even like she will turn turn you to gold. She's not like she cannot control it, will turn to gold. Think Elsa from Frozen, but she comes to Slade's room slightly before sundown, and whatever are they to do before the sun sets.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Okay. And she doesn't go there to be like, knock knock, I'm here. That bitch is snooping around. She's sneaky snorking around.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

She is sneak snorking. I want to find that parts and right clip and send it to you.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

She's sneak snorking. This is probably this was my favorite part of the book. She's got her squirrely little ribbons rolling around in his black satin sheets. Smells so good. Because it smells like him, and her ribbons are like, hee hee hee hee hee hee hee. We love him.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

And she turns his pillow solid gold and it breaks through the bed.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

And she's like, fuck. And he's like, hey, what are you doing in my room? And she's like, yeah, like she's like, she gets so nervous. And it's it's so I think this is what makes it so good is like because you love a slow burn, I love a slow burn. Normally, the spicy scenes, it's a slow burn and then spicy scene. No, it's slow burn, slower burn, like teaser, slower burn, and then it finally happens. And then even as it's finally happening, it was three chapters. Yeah. It's long. It yeah. That's what she said. Three chapters. Um, and it was because of the sun down. Like you were like, he's like, I want to, and I can't.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

So he has sitting in a chair, like death gripping the arms of the chair.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Uh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

It's really good.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

And she's like standing there. Um, okay, I have I have two, I have two qualms with this scene, and that was it. Okay. One, he has her undressed. Now, this is my one qualm that I would really like you to change my mind on. Okay. Now, he knows a bit about Arn. Obviously, she is like a sex worker and has notoriously been looked at as an object. I found it very interesting that their first sexual interaction together is him sort of objectifying her.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

So, yeah. And it's it's not in a way that made me like mad or icky, but it was in a way that I was like, oh, I kind of wish he would have been like, what do you want to do? What do you want to show me? What you lead. But instead, it was a undressed for me, I'm gonna sit here and watch you. And then he just stares at her until he's allowed to touch her. And I I get that it's it's tension building, but it was a little bit confusing to me as the reader who is now even more aware of her trauma in this book, to then have that first interaction be him kind of objectifying her, which listen, I don't mind a good objectifying.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

I think there's like a to me, there's a little bit of a difference. And I'm was trying to think of the word I want to use while you were talking, and I I don't know that I came up with it, but like to me, objectifying is against the will of the person that you're objectifying. Okay. And then there's like appreciating what you're seeing in front of you. And I see it as that, and I think there's a lot of spicy scenes between the two of them where he also sort of realizes how little agency she ever had in any previous sexual encounter. Obviously, none of them were consensual, but like him wanting to, he sort of wants to reclaim that for her and like give her agency. My second favorite scene, which you are getting very close to because it is in book four, in a carriage. Get ready for that. Okay, Bridgerton. In a carriage, but I think I didn't see it that way. I saw it as him giving her, like, I'm not just going to lay you down on this bed and have my like have my way with you. Yeah. I want to see you, I want to take you in, and I want you to feel comfortable doing it. Because she also doesn't do what she's told. Like he says, like, undress for me, and she doesn't do that. Or she'll like flip her hair in front of her tits so you can't see them. You can't see it. And I think she like, I see it as a little bit more I want to see all of you because I love you and I like cherish all of you. And when I like he even says, like, when I say I want you, I mean mind, body, and soul. Like, I want all of you and I appreciate every like inch of you, and that is how I interpreted that scene. But I can see your way as well.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Okay, no, that makes sense though. Yeah. It was, it was like the only thing, and it wasn't like a wait a second, like mad. It was just kind of like a, huh.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

You're definitely not the only one that feels that way. Like a lot of people, especially like that I have seen, I was looking through some Reddit threads to see if there were any like hot takes to bring to this. And a lot of people, not a lot, a couple of people have said that like he's very presumptuous to say, like, when we're like, okay, if you say you're choosing me, this is what that means. But they also explain it. He talks about it a little bit later. I don't know if you've gotten there yet. About this, like, actually it doesn't matter because it's very common in fantasy books of the like fay nature being pretty like animalistic. Okay. So he talks about that as well of like, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Now, your our transitions this time are so the fuck spot on, or so in sync, because I was going to say, I did already get there in this next book. To the carriage. Not to the carriage. Okay, I was gonna go. I've gotten to we got to the carriage. I've gotten to the cave. Oh, the cave is so good. The first okay, the first Fay on Faye like interaction, and it is it is so animalistic, and she is straight up like screaming and is like that cave.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

There's like queens in a cave. Sorry, but yes, they're all so good.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

She's like, make it powerful. I don't want it to feel good, I want it to hurt. I want you to just go, like bite me and like scream. And they're just like at each other out of pure animalistic nature.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

I liked that more than I liked this.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

She's also in that scene though, like actively trying to punish herself for killing Midas.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

She's, and maybe, you know, that's a thing to talk about with my therapist, but I was like, oh. I'm a girl there was something, there was something about her power and her blatantly speaking of what she wanted. Yes. In that moment that I was like, and him being like, I will give you whatever you want. I l I'm gonna give it to you because you want it and you're asking for it. And I was like, now I don't want to spoil what's happening, guys, but that happens in this next book, and it's very early. So, and it doesn't give anything away. Obviously, they're fucking like hello.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

I also just want to specify there are several spicy scenes in a cave, and I definitely thought you were talking about a different one that happens in a couple of chapters later. And so when I was saying I really love that scene, I do love the one that you're talking about, but there is another one that I would put in my top three, which is the sundown scene, carriage scene, second cave with a pool scene.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Okay. Haven't gotten to a cave with a pool. This is the first cave in a blizzard. I I like them together. Um she did they break her his bed? They sure did. Yeah, they broke it in half. Yeah. They sure did. They broke his bed here in this first one. Then, so here's where so I loved this scene. I loved the details. I loved the squirreliness of her ribbons. I love what happened. Um, and I know you've been like waiting to like fully talk about this scene for so long. So I will let you go off on it too. There was something about it, the about the aftermath of it, that I was like, how does Midas not know?

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Yeah. I think, well, also because he a lot of times in these books, people know because they can smell it, and Midas is decidedly human. Um he doesn't have any power, so he don't really know. I don't think that Midas is so unbelievably narcissistic that it doesn't occur to him that she would be fucking somebody else in his castle. Yeah. Like I don't think that that even I think when he's mad at fake rip, he thinks that fake rip is putting the moves on Aaron. It never occurs to him that Aren would be interested. Would be interested in a like obviously Aren only loves Midas in Midas' mind. And I think he's just so willfully ignorant out of his own narcissism that it doesn't even cross his mind.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Cause I was like, dude, she's definitely gonna have a new pep in her step after this shit.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

And like, to be fair, he he he Ends that pep in her step pretty quickly. You sure do. Sure do. You haven't gotten to really talk about this scene though and how much you love it.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

I think that I cut we covered it. I mean perfect. Yeah. I think it's great. I really I actually loved seeing her like have her moment in a sex mo like in having sex like own herself a little bit because that the flashbacks that we see are all like just lay down on the bed. And like so getting her to like in the same way that we're slow burning her character growth in terms of like standing up to her abuse. I think we're slow burning her character growth in terms of owning her own body and her own autonomy. And like I just thought that that was a really lovely contrast to a lot of the other scenes that we see of her.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

And apparently they have a Fenty on site because she had some gold lace underwear that she did.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

I was like, damn girl. Okay. Yeah. Where did you get those, bitch? I was like, where did you get those? You've lived in an army camp for the last six weeks. I said, hmm.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

Where'd you get those?

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Where's the Victoria's secret? Where you got your panties? Where'd you get those panties, girl? But obviously, like Midas probably bought them for her, so she can make her wear them against her will. But I also love that of like, fuck that guy. I'm gonna wear them for the super hot king that I'm actively boning and that's true.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Unless she was like wearing them and just hasn't watched them. I don't know what that time period is.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

Well, don't rule this for me. Don't sell these.

unknown 45:27

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

I was like thinking about it. I was like, how long have you been wearing those?

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Don't have those thoughts. Don't let intrusive thoughts in. But I also just from a writing QV, I I really like switching to Slade's point of view. Um was driving on the 405 when that happened and was like, ugh.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

How did you not crash your car? I mean, I listened to mine loudly in my work parking lot, but I was around no other cars.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

So it was fun.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Important to know that when I was in my actual car accident, I was not listening to an audiobook. Uh so all good.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Right. It was pretty um his his POV was pretty pornographic.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Like us very forward. And it's it was fascinating to hear like the male character talk about like what they're doing instead of everything being done to the female main character, which is usually how the POVs work.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Yeah. And I loved it. I did too. I I appreciated that it would it felt very it felt very equality of women's rights. Yeah, women's rights. Like and and get boned by a hot king. Yes, you can. King Rat.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

You want to get dicked down by a king? We don't call it plated prisoner for nothing. We'll pretend it did and we'll move on.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

If her Pied Piper book doesn't have a dude with like a pipe-sized, like like like if the Pied Piper isn't the sexy male male main character, I don't know what we're doing, Raven.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

If the Pied Piper isn't hung like a recorder, I'm gonna scream.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

I'm gonna need the female or male, main character, love interest of the Pied Piper to like totally doot that dick.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

What's that song that we were all way too young to be singing? Whistle! The whistle songs came out when we were like toddlers. Yeah, that's gonna be the food song to the Pied Piper book.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Sorry. That can't go in here. That's gotta go. I gotta censor that. Yeah. Ooh, sweating.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

I was gonna say my hair went up, so I'm getting a little womb.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

Uh okay. Okay, back on track, bitches.

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Okay. Go.

SPEAKER_02 48:04

Here we are. All right. Queen Kyla. Okay, so Arn sneak snorking. She's sinking back in to the castle with Lou, and they are chatting about her little affair with Rip. With Rip. And they thought they said Rip because guess who's got her little listening ears out? But Queen Kyla. Queen Kyla overhears them and she's like, hey girl, we're just gonna have a little girl chat um about the fact that you are having an affair with King Midas, who BTW I am betrothed to now because Queen Melina died. I forgot that that happened.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

Big old reveal. Betrothed. She goes, We're gonna get, they have the dinner scene. Midas goes, hey Queen Kyla, let's have a little chat. Yeah. A little chit-chat. And then uh, and then Queen Kyla hears them whispering and is like, hey girl, girl to girl talk. Hey, heard you're fucking that guy. Yeah, I'm not gonna tell anyone because I'm going to marry Midas because Queen Melina's dead. And Arn's like, she's a excuse me. Uh what? Like, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Arin's like, I never liked her, but like that kind of bums me out that she's dead.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Like, he did that to her, and now she's really being like, oh my god, if he's willing to kill his queen, I'm fucked if he finds out what I'm doing. And then Queen Kyla's like, and also that bitch he got knocked up, I'm gonna kill her too.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

Yeah, I'm gonna kill everybody, and you better not tell anybody about this. What does she want Arun to do? Just keep her mouth shut, right?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Like she wants she wants Arn to keep her mouth shut.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

And like go away eventually. Like she wants Arun to get out of Midas' life, right?

SPEAKER_01 49:50

And then she's gonna be like, and when all this happens, you're gonna get the fuck out of here. And Aren's like, Great, say less.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

Said anyway, say less.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

Say less. I would like to go, anyways. You cannot kill Mist. So she's very worried about it. I did feel like I wrote, what? Marriage, girl-to-girl talk, yay or nay. Oh my god, she was gonna kill her. Is this woman well? And then I wrote, oh cool, she can talk to burbs.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

I don't know which woman you're referring to, and is this woman well? But honestly, any of them. Like it's Queen Kyla. Like yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Queen Kyla apparently has she can talk to she can like talk to birds ravens, like birds. It's very uh, very dark witchy of her, which is giving the crow inning. It is giving the crow inning. And then they then she's like, so keep your mouth shut. So Arn then runs to miss. She's like, and I think she tries to, doesn't she try to have tea with Rissa to be like, girl, here's what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

She tries to get into the saddle wing and just be like, everybody's gotta go. Like everyone has to leave. She's gonna die. Rissa, we gotta get out of here. Bring Polly, literally, if you must, but like, bitch, we gotta go. And Midas is like there. Like, Midas is in the saddle wing and drugs Arn, tries to rape Arn. Sorry, trigger warning. Um, Pink doesn't succeed. I think Arn like punches him or something. Like Arnold No, wait, hold on.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

No, not yet. Okay, so she goes to Mist. She tries to warn Mist, and Mist is like, she writes it down. Arn's dum dumb, she writes it down and gives it to Mist and is trying to tell her, hey, get out of here, they're gonna kill you. And then big hole thing, I texted you this. Digby. Midas has had Digby this whole time and starts using it against RN. And so when he is like, Why are you trying to hang out with these saddles? Didn't you wanna be good? Don't you wanna see Digby?

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Don't you want to see him? Also, sidebar, Midas takes out all of his daddy issues on the prisoners.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Yeah, and also like a random gardener or like builder, architect, unclear. That's an architect. He's an architect.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Yeah. He's an architect who reminds him of his dad who was building like statues, and he's like, he reminds me of my dad, and I fucking hate my dad. Torture the shit on him until he's dead. Okay, bye. Insane. Also, I just Midas is just a fucking human. He's really got everybody fooled. So because he's got Digby, that's where he goes to R and like, you fucked up. You want to see Digby. Let's go. Yeah. Come on. Like, and he brings her down there. Digby is like hanging on by a thread. She starts to like freak out and I was like, fuck you. And then he drugs her. And she's like, because he gives her he gives her food or drink or something when he's up with the saddles.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

And it's drugs with do.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

He's bringing her down there. And as he's bringing her to the dungeon, she's like, I don't feel well. The fuck is going on? And as she gets down there and sees Digby, she's like, holy shit. And then she's realizing something's wrong. And he, yeah, he drugs her. And like the guards are like grabbing at her. And then yeah, he he, trigger warning, tries to rape her. And Digby's like trying to save her, but like he is like basically incapacitated. And then he brings her out and keeps has Polly keep drug. Oh, he makes the guards shove more petals in her mouth.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Yeah. And there's also a scene where she has to like gild Kyla's clothes. Like he's making he's she's like so drugged and he's making her like touch clothes.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

Yes. So the the guards like force more petals in so that they like transport her. Then she feels like the sheets or something. She feels like the bed. And she keeps talking about how there's like heat down below and stuff. And like because dew just makes you want to like fucking.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

It's Molly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Yeah. Yeah. It's like Molly being used as a date rape drug. And it is an addiction. Polly's addicted to it. And and the dopamine that comes from that. And then she's talking about she's feeling like shells and whatever. And she doesn't know what it is until the next time she sees Queen Kyla at this ball that's happening.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Before we get to the ball, because a really big thing happens, which is they're back in the cell with Digby. And Aaron is trying to stand up to Midas.

unknown 54:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

And she's drugged, so she can't do it, do it very well. And Midas, Midas cuts off all of her ribbons with a sword, one by one. And we know that these ribbons have a mind of their own. They can move around. They are as much they're like cutting off 24 hands. And he cuts all of them off and leaves her just like bleeding, bloody mess from the back.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Literally hacked apart, fully butchered to the point where in the current book I'm reading, characters won't even look at it. They're like afraid to. Horrible. It's so grief.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

Even the medic who we love, Ho Jat, is like less. Yeah. Um, and this also made worse by the whole t the whole time she's like, where is Slade? Like, how does Slade not know that I'm in danger and is not coming to get me?

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Which I felt that way too. I did too. I said, Y'all have fucked. I feel like there should be some sort of bond where he senses you are in danger and something is going on. Where the fuck is he? And like we don't see him again until this ball. I kept being like, where the fuck's your romance? Yeah. Like, where's going on? What's going on? Or is like, is she so hidden that he doesn't know? Like, has he captured? Like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_02 56:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do find out, um, but I will not. Okay. Um, okay, and then bleeding, bloody, drugged out of her mind, Arn is dressed up and forced to go to a ball and stand next to Midas, where Midas is also announcing his betrothal to Queen Kyla, and also reveals a really truly shocking plot twist that I did not see coming. Me, neither girl. All. Which is that this whole time Midas was Barden East, who was the other sex trafficker from Durford Harbor. From from back when she was a teenager. Yes. The competitor. Yeah. Zakir East was gonna sell her to Barden. Zakir West was going to sell her to Barden East. And that was what inspired her to like run away and get on a boat. And when she's asking in her drugdown state to Midas, like, why did you pick me? Like, why did you ruin my life? And you realize that he's like always wanted her. Like from the moment that he saw her when she was 15 years old, this man has been obsessed with stalking her, chasing her, meeting needing to control her. And it's just so like grim serious that every terrible thing that has happened to Arn, including there's like another thing that you're gonna learn, it's all Midas. And it's this bitch cannot take anymore.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

Right before she realizes this, we get pushed to another flashback. She's running, she's got her coins, she's saved up enough coing to try to leave. Get on a boat. And she sees these cerulean sails with a sun on it and is like, I'm gonna go there, wherever that is. Like, that's where I'm going to go. And I think it is Third Kingdom.

SPEAKER_02 57:54

It is. Do you find that out? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

Yeah. And and I don't know like the details of it, but I was like, oh, Cerulean, like that matches Queen Kyla. And she is like going to go and she's sees Barden East and is like, uh oh. And he approaches her and is like, what are you doing here? You know, your guy is the Keir West. His man, his goons are right behind you. Yeah. You either come with me or you're going back to him. And she was like, fuck no, I'm making my own path. So she runs, jumps on a rowboat, and like the goons are like taking their shirts off and like ready to jump in and go after her. And she's like, I have money, I can pay. Can I go with you guys? Please take me to your ship. And I will talk to the captain. And this woman is like, I am the captain.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

How much money do you have? And she was like, enough? Which I was like, smart. And that's what like the pirate lady says. She's like, smart. Don't tell anybody. Like, okay, you can come with us.

unknown 59:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

So she goes, and you think she's free, and then he tells her.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

I knew. Like, I knew the whole time. I knew where you were going. I knew where to find you. I knew exactly where to find you. And I found you. And I tricked you. And I created this whole plan. And she she's supposed to be helping him like guild the ballroom as like a show.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

And she's like, I don't want to. And that's when he's like, listen here, you bitch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:33

This is what's going on. Every minute of your life for the last decade. Yes. And I will fuck you up with this knowledge. And it like shatters her love. Little twat. I never hated a male character like I hate Midas.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

And there was something, you know, in this ball scene, I was getting some, I was getting some real bad feelings for that little prince. I wrote Rut Row, scared for the little prince.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

And then the little prince kicked it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

Kicked it. Completely poisoned. Like, hi, Queen Midas.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

And then I was poisoned.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:08

Yep. King Midas. He asks he he asks uh RN to do the gilding.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:15

And she's like, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:17

Fuck no. And he's like, well, fine then. You're ruining it for me. Like, whatever. Poison the toddler. Yep. I don't know. Poisons the kid. Yeah. Announces the betrothal of him and Queen Kyla, and they're all excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

But he kills the kid with a poison that makes it look like rot. So he has framed Slade Ravenger, who is nowhere to be found. Right. As previously mentioned. Yes. Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:45

And all hell breaks loose.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

And then he's like, then he's. I think Rip is there though. Like someone is watching her.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

Slade shows up. So Slade, this is this is the scene that I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:57

And this is the this is the finale, y'all. Finale when all wrap this recap up.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

So like Slade shows up from wherever he was. And Midas is like, he killed the prince. And Slade's like, literally, what the fuck are you talking about? I just got here. Um and Arn gets out of her drug state enough to publicly stand and put her body in front of Slade and say, do not touch him. Uh I have had enough of your shit. King Midas, if you come anywhere near him, I will kill you. Um and I like could have lifted a car. I was so proud of her. Um, it obviously didn't go super well. Uh lots of shit happens. Throughout the book, she's referred to her magic as this like beast inside of her, which again, pretty common like romanticity trope of this like the beast rears its ugly head in this. The voice, the nightmare, the it's my godhood, as you learn in Everflame. Like the thing, the magic inside of you. Okay, so she is like, you touch Slade, and I will end you. And then Midas grabs her, or he's like, Okay, you can go. And everybody's like, Well, this is must be too good to be true. And she This is unexpected. Yeah, she's trying to leave, and he grabs her and puts a knife to her throat, and it's gonna kill her. And she releases all of her magic, and she turns everything gold. What I miss.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

But no, but remember what he says to her?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:21

Oh no, is I probably blocked it out. Is it horrible?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:24

When he goes, when Slate goes, use your ribbons, and he's Oh my god, he's lost. Lost that privilege. And there's one little tiny ribbon wrapped around her wrist. Slade like keeps it. He keeps it. And he he realized he didn't see.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:42

He didn't know. He didn't know. He said, use your ribbon. Because he's been trying to train her how to fight ribbons.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

Use your ribbons and deflect, even though he's got a knife to your throat. And that's why he's like, come on, like Aaron, do it. Like use your ribbons. And she can't say anything. And and Midas said, Yeah, she can't. She's lost that privilege. Yeah. And then shatter. She shatters.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:05

Yeah. And the gold takes over everything. She demolishes the building. She kills guards. She kills dozens of people. Kills Midas. She kills Midas. And it just like goes in his mouth and it drowns him. Melts everything. Yeah. Because everything she controls the gold that she's put out into the world. So it's not just coming out of her. It's everything she's gilded in the ballroom comes to life and like consumes everybody in the ballroom.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:35

She do be killing a lot of people. She did kill some people, but she needs to grapple with in later books. She she do be uh killing a lot of people, and she's she is hearing their screams.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

So most importantly, she killed Midas. She did. That man is dead. He is dead, dead, dead, deaddy, dead, dead. I was really scared that he was gonna like somehow come back, but he is real dead.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Real dead, but she does not know how to control that much power and cannot stop. And it's killing her.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

And Slade has to come and try to calm her down, and it doesn't work. And she tries to like push him out, and it's just like, let me die in this gold coffin. Like, I cannot control this gold. It's coming for you. I don't want you to die. And in order to save her and get her out, Slade rots her, which thank God we learned earlier in the book he can undo, uh, but he has to rot her to effectively put her to sleep and like calm the magic so he can carry her out of Fifth Kingdom. Yes. And it is so emotional, and that's like literally where it ends, right? They're like the wing on the birdwolf thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:45

The timber wing.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:46

Timberwing.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:47

I love a timber wing. I'm in Spark of the Everflame and they're called Gryverns. Uh but yeah, Timberwing.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:54

Mm-hmm. It's a timber wing, and he's like pushing the timber wing, and that's where it ends. And you don't know if like where everyone's going. Like he's just decided where we gotta go. Everybody's gotta go. And so when Glow starts, it's him basically giving orders to everybody of here's where we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:15

But he's just trying to get their get her out of there and try to get her to live. Yes. Somewhere that's where it ends. That's the cliffhanger is does she live or does she die? So much happens in this book. And what's crazy is the first half of the book isn't boring, but things are happening. It's still a little unevenly paced, but then this last half of the book just like goes and goes and goes, and you're like, I'm gonna have a fucking panic attack, Raven Kennedy, because like you're just you're just like slap, slap, slap, and you're like, Yeah, please give me a break.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

Why didn't you space this out? And it like does not slow down from here to the end of book. Book six. It is a fucking wild ride. Quick little note here. What do we miss?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:05

Osarik has a lip ring.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:07

Yeah, he does. Osarik has a lip ring.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

It's like dropped in there where they're like, hey, I want to bring my friend Risa with me. And he he calls her Rizza. And he's like, calls her Riza.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

And then Arn like notices his snarkiness because of his lip ring. And I was like, Undeser lip. What in the 2009 boy? Bring me the horizon, is this? And then he says, let's just kill her about Rizza. And I said, You bitch, I know what's gonna happen between you two. Yeah, I don't like that you just said that.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:46

Yeah. That stood out to me. We do learn more about Osric, and he's from First Kingdom, and he was a mercenary. Yes. Um, we still TBD on Lou, but we know that she got some magic. Also in this book, we found out that Judd was a wanderer with sticky fingers. He was an east. So it's like the little tidbits of people really meant a lot to me. I wrote that Miss deserves whatever she's got coming to her. She sure does. She does. I'm sick of this shit. Because then when Midas dies, she shows up and she's like, Oh my god, that's my baby daddy. And like Queen Kyla is like, that was my betrothed. Like, I hate you. Yeah, yeah. She's like, she Queen Kyla doesn't realize that it's always been Aaron's power. She thinks her brother puts Manu puts in Queen Kyla's head that Aaron could have magic. And her magic is that she takes other people's magic.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

And with her power, Kyla starts a whisper campaign. Yes. That Aaron is out here stealing magic powers and that also she murdered everybody, which is kind of true. But also, like Midas started it. So P.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:00

Yep. And so she's kind of like, this is what we're gonna do. And then Queen Kyla says, I'm going to show everybody how wonderful I am. I'm going to be a leader, and I'm gonna, you guys, it's okay. I've got and then that's the end of her story for now until we get into glow. Um, do you have a favorite quote? I think I do. My favorite quote, and I believe we have the same favorite quote, is and I've audibly gasped when I heard this, is you're not the villain in my story said by Arn. And Slade says, I am, but I'll be the villain for you, but not to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:46

Which was so sweet. Sweet.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

What a great way to write, like, no, I'm not the best person in the whole wide world.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:56

But I will always be good to you and I will defend you until my dying breath.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:01

I also, yeah, love. Runner up for me is when Slade says that Arn is always choosing Midas, and RN says, I don't choose him, not anymore. I choose me. And Slade says, good, because I'm choosing you too.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:18

Makes me really happy. It's also the first time Arun is like, actually, no. Like, I am a person and I am standing on my own two feet, and I am not choosing Midas. I don't know what I'm choosing yet, but like I do know that I'm choosing me.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

I do have big mad here. Something made me big mad. Do you remember what it was? It was the drugging. That whole sequence was just like, oh my god, give me a break, dude. Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:41

It feels insurmountable, like the amount of rage that I felt about Midas. Interesting because this is obviously the third book. So Midas has been built as this huge, like monolith of a person, and you're like, oh, he's not even final boss. Like, what is gonna happen in the next three books? Because he's dead. He's dead in the middle of the series.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:03

So, like, w where are we going? There's there's so much about this book that when I was going into it, I was like, okay, motherfuckers, let's go because of where Glint ended. I really appreciated the stakes of this third book. Like way higher. Yes. Now, is there still things in every romantic book that's like, what are we doing? Sure. Sure. Sure. It wouldn't be romantic without them, to be honest. We don't need it to always make sense. Like save that for your high fantasy Lord of the Rings. Like, you know, we're just we're just girls. We just want to be girls. That's uh that's it. That's it in the recap. Yeah. Before we sign off though, I do want to talk about something that we haven't talked about yet with Guild. Because we're a fan casting podcast, yeah, and we're gonna do the fan cast like we said next time, guys. Good thing because this was a long episode. I knew we had a left. Oh my god, I would start crying. Absolutely not. I would be like, I gotta leave. Please go. I gotta go to bed. Um, but before we do go to bed, there is an exciting thing happening with guild that we haven't talked about. The rights have been purchased as of 2022. This has already happened a while ago. The rights have been purchased to make it a TV series, a TV series.

unknown 1:11:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:32

Fun fact, I've learned today. The rights were purchased by Mandalay Television of Mandalay Entertainment, who is founded by former Sony Pictures Television boss Peter Gruber. I work for Sony. People did not know that and did not sleuth enough on the internet about me or haven't listened to any of these episodes. That is where I work. He used to work there in television. He now works for this Mandalay Entertainment. Unfortunately, and this is where I get worried. He also was the brains behind the I Know What You Did Last Summer television series that came out a few years ago.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:17

That was a series that our department had worked on even before my time when I started working there. And it was canceled after one season.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

Hmm. Okay. In the interest of my drinking game, I just have to point out that I know what you did last summer. The movie stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is also in 911.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:35

And who's in 911?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:37

Oliva Stark.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

Perfect. Take a drink, motherfuckers. Thanks for watching. She did it. Okay. And then the showrunner is Kate Rorick. Um I know that name. Yes. So she is actually one of the writers for Marvel's Cloak and Dagger.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:56

That's why I know that name.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:57

I like Marvel. Yes. So she is one of the writers for that. I feel like she will be a really good fit. Now, that showrunner was announced last March. So quite literally a year from a couple days ago. And since then, there hasn't been any development, but those are where the rights still lie. There hasn't been any changes. I don't know if what Mandalay works with with a streamer. My personal feelings is that it should end up on Netflix.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:25

I feel like Netflix is going to be the right home for it based on the series cadence. I hope that we get a little bit more development, but what's really hard at like shows like this is like they'll announce the rights. It goes into pre-production. Um, it goes into, you know, all of the phases of the writer's room. As of right now, there's no writer's room. Sure. There's no casting. That stuff's not happening yet. So it could be a bit. Now, is this series done done? Dun done. Yep.

unknown 1:14:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:00

So that's how I've heard her say is that she might write a like spin-off of a character who sort of just doesn't feel quite finished at the end, but it's a not a main character. Okay. It would be a spin-off of a character.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:15

That it it being finished is helpful. Maybe they're making it a way that it's going to make sense. Like they really have to get through all of it. Um, so I'm a little sad to not have anything to report within the last year. But I'm excited to see where this goes. I'm excited for our fan casting next week.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:34

Yes, which characters we're gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:37

Yes. Okay. Emily, take it away. Who are we casting next week in part two of this episode?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:42

So we've already done Arun, Midas, Queen Melina, Digby, Sail, Mist, Rissa, Polly, and Slade.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:50

Yes. And we will recap who those people are chosen by the popular votes at the top of that episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

And then uh for Gleam, we are focusing on the happenings of Fifth Kingdom, and we will uh cast the Wrath. So Lou, Judd, Osric, and Riot, as well as Ho Jat, Keg, Queen Kyla, and Manu. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:11

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Another full plate, guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:15

Long episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

Yes. Very excited. We'll see you guys then next week for our fan cast. Um, we hope you enjoyed this recap. Don't forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube channels. Hit us up on the Instagram. We really want to interact with a lot more of you guys. So get in there. We want to talk to you. We love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:36

Let's know if we cast it wrong or right.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:39

So make sure that you're following us on our socials. It's very important. And with that, we shall leave you and we will see you next time to all you she's, the he's, the they's, the gays, the shadow daddies, and the fays.

unknown 1:15:52

Goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:53

Bye.