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

• Loretta Anne Miller & Emyli Gudmundson • Season 2 • Episode 20

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This week on FanCastic, we’re diving into a full recap and review of Glow by Raven Kennedy, book four in The Plated Prisoner fantasy romance series.

If you’re searching for a detailed Glow recap, Plated Prisoner breakdown, or a spoiler-filled fantasy book discussion, this episode has you covered!

Join us, Emyli and Loretta, for a cozy, book club style conversation as we break down the entire story, from major plot points to our favorite moments, character arcs, and everything that left us emotionally wrecked. We also share honest thoughts on the series so far, plus some real life chaos and laughs along the way.

This episode includes full spoilers for Glow and books 1 through 4 of The Plated Prisoner series, so be sure you’re caught up before listening.

In this episode:

  • Full Glow recap and plot breakdown
  • Plated Prisoner series discussion (books 1–4)
  • Favorite moments and standout scenes
  • Character analysis and reactions
  • Honest review of Glow
  • Weekly life updates and personal stories
  • Preview of next week’s fan casting

FanCastic is a fantasy romance podcast where we recap popular BookTok reads, share fan casting picks, and give unfiltered, book club style reactions.

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

SPEAKER_02

Good morning, good morning. We've got our coffees. We're in our cozies. I'm missing a nail. I don't know when that happened. You love that. And you just wake up and you're like, I've been declawed. It's like in my bed somewhere. I'll find it tonight. You'll find it. Hate that for me. Hey guys, welcome to another fancastic episode of Fancasting Podcast where we fancast all your favorite fantasy, romancy, and fiction. I'm Loretta. And I'm Emily. Hello. And we're here on a Saturday morning because the full moon does be a full moon in this week.

SPEAKER_01

Full mooning, and we could not get our shit together.

SPEAKER_02

My internet was out on Wednesday, our normal recording day, and my brain couldn't even clock that in the moment. And I texted Emily and I said, Hey girl, my power's out.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, Isn't Spectrum internet?

SPEAKER_02

But then I got home and witchcraft is real, friends, because I accidentally manifested that the power was out.

SPEAKER_01

You brought that upon yourself.

SPEAKER_02

That video when I was like, and then I realized I was driving in my garage recording, and I was like, oh, Emily is gonna kill me if I'm like I was like, but there's no Emily wasn't a car accident because somebody was looking at their phone instead of looking at the road.

SPEAKER_01

So I am the general eC mo against texting and driving. But you weren't driving very slowly in a controlled environment. It's true. You get a pass. You weren't on the 405 doing 70 miles an hour on your phone.

SPEAKER_02

You shitty little white car.

SPEAKER_01

Shitty little meh.

SPEAKER_02

We had like no power. And then I was doing a full moon workshop. Shout out Hi Lady Joe. Um, she did like a she's created like a bookish coven. You should join the next time. Okay, cute. It was so fun. She did like this beautiful bookish like meditation of finding your female main character and like bringing them to you as they were like a deity. Mine is mine was Diem, of course. And like seeing what messages they have for you. It was so lovely. It was so great. And like she's got like this very relaxing voice. It was like I was able to like trance out, and then Sean picked up Taco Bell. I played with tarot cards, I did some Etsy witch spells for some people, and uh we didn't record the podcast because I did on Wednesday instead of recording the podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, what'd you do? I went to bed at 9 p.m. And I was so happy about it. That's the dream, dude. Because usually, okay, when we film on Wednesdays, usually my Wednesdays are Pilates at 8, work from home all day, nap, film. And it's great. But this week, because we went to the Hollywood Bowl last night, I had to work from home on Friday, which means I had to go in the office on Wednesday, which means I had to do 7 a.m. Pilates, full commute, full day in office, full commute home, no nap, and then would have had to record, which I would have done because I love doing it and I knew what I was signing myself up for with Hollywood Bowl. But instead I went to bed at nine and it was fucking delightful. So honestly, thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. You're welcome. And this whole week has been cuckoo bananas, though. Because then, like, yeah, then I did I did Taco Bell and Tarot on Wednesday night. And then on Thursday night, I had to go to a super top secret screening at the lot for something that I'm not allowed to talk about beyond I was at a screening. Went to that and then yeah, work also working from home on Friday. Friday is like a half day because it was Good Friday. And so like half the people are were were working on Friday, half the people are not working on Friday. And so I'm like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01

Where is everybody? I don't know what's happening.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, but it was so nice that we got to go to the Hollywood Bowl at the end of the week to top it off and decompress.

SPEAKER_01

Good luck. We love Ben Platt and Rachel Ziegler. Yeah. And one of my favorite musicals. Uh Jason Robert Brown.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, let's just jump into this and knock it out. Um and and enjoy the rest of our cozy weekends. It's like Easter weekend, and for those who celebrate that. Um, zombie weekend. Okay. Happy Zombie Weekend. So we're here today, guys, to do our recap of Glow, book four of the Plated Prisoner series as we're continuing through Ourea, which I typed out the other day for a caption, and it just dawned on me that it looks like Oreo.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know it was spelled with an O. I don't know. I didn't know how I thought it was spelled, but it wasn't like that. I thought it was an A-U sound, like Aurin and Aria. Like I thought it was.

SPEAKER_02

See, and I think Ourea. I thought it was O-R-I-A, like Orea, and it was like E. I did find this really cool handy dandy map that has helped me a lot. And as I have started gold now, and surprise, we're in a whole new world. We sure are. I was like, where the fuck are we? So I pulled up that map and I went, oh, we're we're down here now.

SPEAKER_01

We crossed a little bridge.

SPEAKER_02

We have crossed a bridge into the Feylands. Which are real apparently. Which are real, apparently.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, so I feel like sorry, I know we're talking about Glow, but the last two books are like a whole different series of books. Like I know it's the same characters, but it's it's wild to me how how much shit happens. And you have two whole new books left. So like, dude, a lot happens in Aaron.

SPEAKER_02

It like, I'm already locked into it more than I was for Glow.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, I'm gonna say right off the bat that glow is is my least favorite out of the series so far.

SPEAKER_01

Get your shit together.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was a lot of girl get your shit together. It was it would the pacing was just it was so long for um not for like the majority of the action happening in the last three and a half hours of the audiobook series. And so that didn't jive with me and my brain well. But this, this one locked in. I mean, it is like, this is what it feels like to fall. Anyways, I'm in this land. And I was like, oh, we're just we're just uh going right on through.

SPEAKER_01

Worship me here. Like, what the fuck is happening?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, like she's like they like I'm at uh she's realizing that she's they know her as a different name. I don't know how to pronounce it, begins with an L. It's like Liris something.

SPEAKER_01

Liari Uber.

SPEAKER_02

Liari Uver, the golden one returned, or the lost golden one.

SPEAKER_01

And it's really funny. My mother is also reading Plated Prisoner. She might be done by now. Um we talk about everything but certain scenes, and we just pretend that they don't exist and we just move right on. And but she texted me and she was like, How she reads with her eyeballs, and she was like, How on earth do you say this word? I cannot figure it out because she knows I listened to the audiobook. And then I had to text out Liari. Yeah. And I was like, I don't know, I don't know. Make it up.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and like the names for um like Keg's family, which we'll get to. Like I was yeah, I was like, barley, as in like, oh my god, yeah, because of distillery. So I was like, distillery. Keg distill and barley. I was like, okay. I love that. It's very Pacific Northwest.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. It's giving Portland. It's giving.

SPEAKER_02

It's it's giving Portland, it's giving microbrewery, it's giving flannel. Um, I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Looks like a lumberjack, probably couldn't lift an axe. It's giving, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's giving IPA. Like, I think that's great. Um uh yeah, okay, so let's get let's just get into it.

SPEAKER_01

Um you just read it, so I feel like you should talk through because I am apparently terrible at recaps of scenes.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, okay, you are not. You are not. You read them all together. You read them so fast. So, like, okay, so for who we're casting, we've had to adjust for our next week because Domek's like not in this one, but he is.

SPEAKER_01

He's in it, but you don't know who he is yet, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02

Like, but I know who he was because we've his name has been present, and I like I knew I was like, there's a shadow assassin that keeps appearing to Melina or like is with Melina and keeps like being like, don't trust these people. Like, don't do this. And she was like, I don't know what you mean. And I also fully forgot about Priam because I hate that guy. Well, and that's who I thought it was. That's when I was like, I was like, the guy that's with Melina, and you were like, oh, Dominic. I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I didn't realize his name was Pruin.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, okay. So I forgot about Pruin and I put Domic too far ahead.

SPEAKER_02

And Pruen's like giving me like weird, um he's giving me like weird controlling vibes, which the fact that at the very end of this he has tricked her.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say, you know he's evil now, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And so he has tricked her, and the twins have done that too. So, anyways, that's the end of it. And just kidding. We're gonna work backwards. We're gonna work backwards. Yes. Okay, so okay, we start off glow with um uh Queen Kyla realizes that King Midas is dead. She's like super upset, she's causing a scene and is like, I'm gonna use this to my advantage. Aaron did it. She stole his power and she's gonna steal everybody's power. So she starts her little whisper whisper campaign, and everyone starts to believe that and like think that Aren is this like evil person, and that's what's spreading through uh uh Fifth Kingdom. It's like spread to Fourth Kingdom, and like people are whisper whispering. Um Slade has thrown Aaron on the back of his timber wing. Argo Argo, Argo, Argo get cute. He's like a wolf dog bird lion dragon. Um I love him.

SPEAKER_00

I'm obsessed. He's so cute.

SPEAKER_02

And he brings her to Deadwell, like is like, where I'm gonna heal you, like, this is gonna be fine. He tries everything. There's a piece of rot that like won't get out of her, and he's very worried about it. He orders everybody to like not follow him, and they were like, Yeah, dude, fuck you.

SPEAKER_01

Like obviously we're following you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Your team, and Judd has the good sense to be like, Ho Jat's gonna come with. Let me go get the doctor. Let me go get the doctor.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like Slade, what are you gonna do? You haven't- I mean, what is your plan here, sir? You need a medical professional.

SPEAKER_02

Love he's going to heal her with love. Like, it's like, no, dude, like, use your brain. So they get there, they're working through it, they finally look at like the damage that Midas caused from her ribbons, that she doesn't have that privilege anymore, motherfucker.

SPEAKER_01

Kill him.

SPEAKER_02

I know he's dead, but like, oh that guy. Ugh, I hate that guy. And then Hojad is like, yeah, we're gonna heal these. As they're healing, she starts to see that they're falling off of her. So she's like losing pieces of them, and it's like really sad and painful throughout this whole book. She keeps acknowledging, like, I will have nothing, I won't have my ribbons, I just got like connected to them. They end up in a cave uh early on where they have this like very animalistic, like fay going at it. Mm-hmm. Sex, because she's like wakes up as like just like powerful, and she's like, I gotta get this shit out of my system.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so they go through that, which I liked. I really liked just how she was like, This is what I want. And then of course she's like, Oh my god, it's because of I killed a bunch of people and I have a lot of trauma.

SPEAKER_01

I liked it until Slade figured out what was happening, which was that she was using it to like punish herself for the fact that she murdered a bunch of people. Yeah. Which Slade correctly then stopped.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, and was like, Whoa, okay, we should this is supposed to be fun.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Right, like this this is not a healthy cop coping mechanism. Uh if you want to like be together, let's be together, but don't use it to hide your pain.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we can bang and also process your emotions properly. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02

So they bang and uh then we get a flashback of Slade.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah, baby Slade and Baby Riot. And those voices. Those voices gave me dead, man. You're so good at so many things. Um, baby voices really stressed me out.

SPEAKER_02

Like they sound like south bar characters, respectfully. I was like, Cartman, Butters, what are you doing here?

SPEAKER_01

So little wrong for me as a voice actor that it was jarring to be like, what? Huh? Hello. Luckily, we're few the b the flashbacks are few and far between for baby riot.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I love the flashbacks because they're so helpful to character build, but I was like, god damn it. Can I I don't want to listen to these guys? And like I said, I was listening to this on like 1.8 speed, so it was like and I was like, oop, gotta slow that down. Like I was like, like, I gotta slow this down so I know what they're saying. Um, but in the flashback, we learn that uh Riot is uh Slade's brother, you know, officially he's always called him like brother, but then we were like, oh yeah, he's actually his brother. We learn that um uh Slade's dad, whose name is Stanton. Stanton Call. Stanton Call. Stanton Call. He's a breaker, so he just breaks shit as his power. He's Faye, um, yeah, including bones. He keeps breaking Slade's bones as punishment. Sure does. Disgusting.

SPEAKER_01

Motherfucker. This motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02

And then um Slade's mom, Alora. Alora? Alore, Allure. Yeah. Just Allure, um, is from Oria. So she's she's Orion and um uh he treats her like dog shit.

SPEAKER_00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02

Uh all of Slade's life. He's like, My son is gonna be powerful, and you better give me a powerful son. And so you see a lot of this like daddy issue trauma and mother-son relationship. Uh, then we get to see Melina again.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02

So we see where she is. She has been brought as it's been told she's gotta go save seventh kingdom. So she's like on her way to Seventh Kingdom where she's like, there is no such seventh kingdom. What the hell are you guys talking about?

SPEAKER_01

Has this compass that's showing her her heart's desire, and that is to save the world, and apparently. Yes, and she's like to save the world.

SPEAKER_02

So Molina has joined Prun's cult. Uh, this is an MLM, and he's like, follow my compass. And she's like, sure thing.

SPEAKER_01

Sure thing. It's just a real testament to her um, I think, arrogance at this point in the story that like she is the only person that can save this thing, and like clearly I'm doing a good thing because the compass wouldn't show me where to go if this wasn't like truly my heart's desire to save everybody, and just how easily she's spoiler alert, manipulated um by like her own arrogance is fascinating.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and it's like because she was so cast aside by her own father of like not having power and not being powerful enough, and she had to marry Midas to find that sense of power and then was manipulated from him. She's like just doing whatever she can to be like, this is my thing. And it's like bitch, you've fallen into this.

SPEAKER_01

Sweet baby girl.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. You're doing it again. Like you got a pattern. Um, so that was kind of a cool thing. She gets to Seventh Kingdom, sees that there is a castle, there is people there, and she's like, What is going on? Like it's a little shitty, but she's like, Wow, there are people, and she meets two twins, uh, which we are not casting, but but I pictured Cole and Dylan Sprouse.

SPEAKER_01

And see, I went in like a Michael B. Jordan Sinners direction. Love.

SPEAKER_02

I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Is that they're supposed to be hot? Maybe probably. I thought they were like, because they're Faye, and Faye are always hot.

SPEAKER_02

I think they're supposed to be hot, but like again, the voices, he says them at the same time. And they very sing songgy. Like that.

SPEAKER_01

And then it's like doubled up because they both they talk in unison. Yeah, it's a little stressful.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, what in the sweet life of Zach and Cody are we doing here? Like so that's who they were in my brain. And I guess they're hot. They're like hot now, uh, sorta.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but you say sweet life, and so I picture them as children.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, not into it.

SPEAKER_01

Zach and Cody is fine.

SPEAKER_02

The ugly bowl cuts, like their real names? Dylan and Cole. Dylan and Cole, yep. Welcome to the Tipton Hotel, Seventh Kingdom. Our this is Mosby, Pruin. Um, wow, I know a lot about the Zach and Cody show, apparently. Yeah. I remember a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, and then who this day called a gear shift in my car a Prindle because of London Tipped in.

SPEAKER_02

No. Prindle. What's this say? It's the Prindle.

SPEAKER_01

Funny. It makes perfect sense. She's reading it.

SPEAKER_02

She's smart. London Tipped In was underestimating. She was. Um, okay, so then we get to RN feeling weird about Drawlard.

SPEAKER_01

Uh because it's a weird ass place.

SPEAKER_02

It is. Nobody really talks. Everyone kind of feels off. I was like feeling off listening about it. Yeah. Um is it ever really brought to light as to fully why? And that has to do with the rip that happens, correct? Okay, great. Do you know?

SPEAKER_01

Hold hold please while I figure out how to ask this in a non-spoilerly way. Do you know who the people in Drawlard Village are besides the villagers of Draward? I don't. Great.

SPEAKER_02

I don't.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, because we learn um they're all there for a reason. They're all specific people who are there for yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Specific. Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense because it Orin's Orin's feeling weird about it. And then she gets to meet the parents or meet the mom. And Alora who I thought was dead. Yeah. It's shocking.

SPEAKER_01

I first of all, I'll just say this. I'm a vibes-based reader. I am not trying to solve the puzzle. So I am often surprised by plot twists, as I would think the author would want me to be. I feel like I'm doing them a service by not trying to guess. Um, and obviously, Slade does not have a mistress. R and you're a fucking idiot. I don't know why you were thinking that. But like, who is he talking about? I think it was gonna be some like obviously not a mistress, but some like important person. Never in my life did I think it was his mother. Right. Um yes, I also thought that Stanton had killed her, and like that's why Slade was here, or like because clearly you have to figure out why Slade is not in Anwin anymore. I didn't know that yet. So I was like, clearly, his mother was murdered and he ran away or something. Like, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02

Um, when you like don't know, and then then you're you're even still like, how is she here? Like, how does it happen? She's not really talking. Like Arn is like, hey, like, can I help? And he's like, she's got her routine, like just leave her alone.

SPEAKER_01

She's not gonna talk, but she's very she's so sweet and like I love it. I think this is one of my favorite like micro tropes, is when um like the really like scary, morally gray, I'm gonna like kill everybody, like has a mother figure who just like pats their little cheek and like it's just it's really I just like it, it's really sweet.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and like you you already get the sense when you meet her that he has gone through hell and high water to save her.

SPEAKER_01

To save her, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so you're it like already that starts to be like, well, what happened? What happened? And I'm really happy that we do get an insight as to what happened. And it's after she meets the mom, she's like, What is happening? Like she feels a little off too. Like what's the thing?

SPEAKER_01

Is off. I don't know. Yes, yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02

And so he's like, Okay, we get another flashback of him. He's like, I'm going to explain like why I'm called Rip. This was a crazy flashback. Yeah. Like I was, I think I was cooking when I was listening to it, and I just turned off the stove and just sat there and like listened to it. It was so vividly written. Slade is like tra has been training his powers with his dad. And we get like several flashbacks of like his dad mistreating his mom. And in this one, he wakes up to like a big thing happening. He hears his his dad screaming at his mom, and then there's another voice of another man there, and he's like, What is going on? And he goes to check, and his dad, Stanton, has caught Allure with another man. And at first I was like, Oh, a lore. You, you, g what are you doing, girl? Like, why would you obviously like he treats her like garbage, and Slade says this like you treat garbage garbage garbage garb Treat her like shit. What do you expect? She wants somebody who loves her. I was like, stand up for mom. She's been seeing this man forever. Forever. For 11 years. Yeah. And there's a certain sibling.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I'm so glad you're saying because when you said Riot is Slade's brother, I was like, you know he's his half-brother, right? But I couldn't say that out loud.

SPEAKER_02

But I didn't until then.

SPEAKER_01

Until this moment. I don't think you're supposed to.

SPEAKER_02

No. And it was, I I think that's when I stopped cooking because I was like 11. Wait. Riot! Yeah, and he's his half-brother. So Riot's dad is actually this other man. James, John.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not gonna lie, I don't remember his name's very basic name. Also the it's also the reveal that Riot is human. Is human. Because both Allure and the Cook are human.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Danton is obviously Faye.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. And it's like why Riot's not going to have those powers and there's like a like a sadness within him.

SPEAKER_01

It's like a lot of his like, I don't want to be in Slade's shadow anymore. I don't want to be fake rip. I'm my whole life I've been told I wasn't as good as Rip and as good at well, Slade at the time, but I want to be my own person. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And I hope he gets that. Like I hope he gets to, I hope in these like last two books he kind of gets to find himself a little bit because this shit's pissing me off. And you're sitting there being like, I can't say shit right now.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know nothing about it.

SPEAKER_02

The look on your face is like, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

unknown

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

Um, so that flashback was wild. And like his dad goes nuts and um starts like going to is going to kill this man and going to make Allure watch him destroy this man. And Slade loses it and quite literally rips a hole, a like portal in the world and scoops up his mom and everybody that's there.

SPEAKER_01

Chris, but you do know who the villagers are, because it's all of the people that worked in his his dad's house. His ho oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, are the village Draward villagers. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I think that it was probably said then and I missed it. I just know that everybody who was there came with. And that's why they're a little bit off.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and they can't leave Drawlard Village because they're like there's they tried, like people tried and they died if if they got too far away from the rip.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They're stuck there and they can't leave, and they're very distrustful of outsiders, obviously. And that's also why Riot is so close to them because they like raised him because Stanton had didn't want anything to do with them, and Alora couldn't really like raise him the way she wanted to.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Okay, so then so then when we meet Keg's family, were they part of that too? Or Keg is from elsewhere. They're from Fourth.

SPEAKER_01

So everybody in Fourth Kingdom is separate. They were probably born in Aria. I was sorry, I think if there was an exception, I don't know. Um, but Fourth Kingdom is far far enough away where that has nothing to do with the rip. It's like the, I don't know, 50 to 100 people that are in Drawlard Village were all the staff of Stanley Hall's home's home estate.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, and that's why he's like, so I need to protect them because his mom is there, those people are there. Okay, that makes so much sense. That makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_01

Um, because I was just thrown by the fact that I was like, you just you ripped a ripped a hole in the world.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, and that makes sense for the end of this and where what's going on in gold right now. That makes so much sense. Okay, got it, got it, got it. Cool. Um, yeah, and it's very, it's very intense and very violent.

SPEAKER_01

Uh it's also how he is two people. He like rips himself in half as well, and how he has the slade and the rip. Yes. Um, because he rips his rips, his fee and human selves into like I don't know, complete entities that he can flip between.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, which is cool. Like, what a safe power to have. Like glad you found that accident. What a happy accident. So then he when he he tells Arn about that, and she's like, oh wow. So she says, let's go to a cave. Yeah. Um, let's go to the other cave scene. And yeah, the better one. The with the pool. Yes, where she like this is where she like undresses and like services him and is like, I see all of you now. You said that you see me and now I see you. Thank you for sharing with this. And they have, I think, now we'll get to the carriage scene. But I really liked this one because this one too. It's really tender. Um I feel like each of their each of the spicy scenes between them is a different vibe, which I like.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's fine and how I'm like not sick of like, oh my god, like they're doing it again. Like, damn, dude. But it's like for different reasons. I mean, I did kind of feel like that because I was like, oh my God, I can't listen to all this at work. Um so I like this one was so like special.

SPEAKER_01

Like she was just like She's like, This is true love, right? Like this is what true love feels or this is yeah, I don't remember what she said.

SPEAKER_02

Is this yeah, she she like is laying on his chest and is like, is this what this feels like? And he says, what? And she says, love. True or yeah, true love.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And he said, Yes, I think so. Or yes, yes, it is, or something like he like reassures her, which is so special.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, she learns how to control her powers.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah. She can like pool gold in here, she can ungild things, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01

So now she's like playing with like I'm not gonna touch and touch things during the day without turning them into statues, which is wonderful. Yes, which is like what she goes from like, I can't do this, this is horrible for so many chapters to yeah, I got it. Like when she decides that she's fine and can control it, she's like, I am a master of this.

SPEAKER_02

Why is the the first half of the book is her being like, I'm never going to be able to do this. I killed so many people. I'm I hate me. And then she's like, look, I can make pools in my hand. Boop-ba doop-doop.

SPEAKER_01

I will say we didn't talk about this. I think it was earlier in the book, but when we were talking about her ribbons and like her sadness about the ribbons, the scenes where Jud has to literally teach her how to re-walk again are really emotional. Yeah. I don't know why. Those like really got to me when she was trying to figure out why she couldn't even do the basic fighting, and Jud was finally like, oh, because you have no balance. Like we have to start, like you literally have to relearn how to walk.

SPEAKER_02

You had like appendages taken off of your body. Like we're helping you do things. Yes. Yeah. Like, yeah, I I I and I feel like the I wanted this is gonna sound horrible. I don't know how to uh word this. I wanted more of that trauma discussed and explored and growth through rather than You wanted more of that trauma than the Yeah, then I because then I feel like she would I feel like through the pacing of the book, Arn would take two steps forwards, one step back. And I was like, girl, we gotta move on now. Like we now, like, how about we channel that and we do something good and we learn to control this and we know what our mission is and we're gonna do better. Like everybody needs to let their guilt go for a minute, or they're gonna cause more problems, which is sort of what happens. They go to Brackhill and it's main castle, and they know that Manu Manu has sent word that he's gonna come visit and be like, hey, we gotta handle this. I'm your pal.

SPEAKER_01

I'm your little buddy. I'm just gonna take you to court and help you be on trial for mass murder and regicide.

SPEAKER_02

And we're gonna get through it. Like, and I'm gonna prepare you. Like we're friends. Oh yeah, we're just gonna like I'm looking out for you. So they know he's coming. They wake up in the morning and RN is gone and Slade.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you're just gonna jump right past the carriage scene.

SPEAKER_02

You can't know us before because she's in town.

SPEAKER_01

But what do you mean she's gone? She gets kidnapped after the carriage scene.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, no. He thinks she's kidnapped first. Oh remember he wakes up and he's like, Where is she?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, she's on the roof. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And every everyone's running around the house being like, You can't skip the carriage. I won't, I won't, I won't. We have 35 minutes dedicated to it. Um they are like freaking out.

SPEAKER_01

I love that Bigby is the one who's like, seriously, you can't figure this out.

SPEAKER_02

Literally, like he's like, hello?

SPEAKER_01

Like, she's been happy inside her entire life. She left. She's outside.

SPEAKER_02

You told her she she didn't have to be confined, so she said, okay, I'm gonna go outside. She's on the roof and she's just like looking at a burb, sunbathing. She's just like, I'm not used to this. Like, this is just lovely, and like I'm ready to like let the sunshine. She can't be out during the day because she was gilding everything and she couldn't sit on the roof. And now she just was taking it in, and he was like, All right, let's go into town. Like, let's do a little shop. Let's get let's get you some jewelry and some dresses. Yeah, let's go shopping. Which we love. We love doing that. So he he takes her into the town. It feels very um Valeris-y. It does, yeah. Like like a cute like shopkeepers and and they have um their version of Rita's, which is uh uh the burnt cat tavern. Is that what it's called? They literally call it the burnt cat tavern.

SPEAKER_01

I was like remember that too.

SPEAKER_02

Why? Why? Yeah. Well, I don't want to know. What are you guys serving there? Let's know. Like, no animals were harmed in the making of this story, probably. Hopefully. Jinx. Okay, so they're doing a shop and he's like, Do you want this bracelet? And she's like, nah. And he's like, I'm gonna get you this bracelet because it's a black stone with like silver and it's him, and she puts a little gold over it and like makes it their thing. And she overhears I have a problem with this scene, so she overhears men talking about her. And that uh the rumors like she's like uh jumping from king to king, she's taking their power, she's a whore, all these things, like um like not wrong. That's definitely what's happening, but like in not in a bad way. She can hear these people talking about her, and I assume she's standing next to Slade while they're purchasing this bracelet, and he's not doing nothing. And she's like, I was like, Slade, jump in there and be like, shut the fuck up to those guys.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I was like, you're their king. He didn't hear because she then has to explain it in the carrot about why she's upset.

SPEAKER_02

That's and that's why I was like, wait.

SPEAKER_01

Which I don't know if it makes sense that he doesn't hear, but I assumed that he didn't hear.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, apparently he's just very invested in the jewels he's purchasing. He was very focused on his transaction. He was shopping. Um he was in shop mode. Uh but I was like, why is how can he not hear this? Isn't she like right? Aren't they like right there?

SPEAKER_01

Like I also for some reason assumed she like wandered off a little bit, like she wandered away. Like I for some reason I convinced myself that it made sense that Slate Slade did not hear that interrupt.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe she like popped over to like the next booth or something or whatever. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

I was like I'm not saying you're wrong. It like definitely like I was a little bit like, how is she alone? Like, how is she like allowed to be alone at this point?

SPEAKER_02

Like that's kind of what I was thinking too. I was like, whoa, like she went to the roof and you almost like burnt your house down trying to find her. But wandering around a very public open-air forum is fine. Is fine where people are blatantly talking shit out in the open about her, like, guys, um, that was a little meh for me. But then we get to a carriage. He said, I I bought you this bracelet. Let's go into a carriage. And Emily, this is your fave scene, so I'm gonna let you take it from here.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like I've really worked this up. I there are other scenes that I like, but here's why I like This is a good one though. So, okay, every time every time I describe this scene, I have to say, like, yes, they are they're obviously fucking in the carriage, and it's great. And if you like exhibitionism, wonderful. Love that for you. That's not why I like the scene. I like it. No one ever believes me that that's not why I like it. Okay. It's okay. I mean, I do like that as well. That's an added benefit that this is happening at the same time. But the conversation that they're having is really wonderful. Um, because she is obviously internalizing everything that those men in the market said about her jumping from king to king, um, which is true. She was has always been attached to a man her entire life that she can remember, whether it was not Bardanese, but like her trafficker or Zephyr. Zephyr West, yes, or Midas. And now she's jumped right into bed with Slade. Her words, because she's being self-deprecating, but also true. And how does she, and she's having all of this stress and anxiety, but like, how do I know who I am, like on my own? And like, can I stand on my own? Am I are you just another Midas? Are you like, what is what am I doing? And like freaking out about this like commitment-esque that she's made, which I think is pretty relatable if you've made like if you're married or committed, or like this you've committed your whole life to like be with this person now. And I think that's pretty relatable to panic about it a little bit. And so is. Yeah. And his reassurance to her is just so caring and thoughtful. And it's never like, um, well, why would you need to figure out who you are without me, like without me? I'm never going anywhere. Like you have me. Like it's not dismissive, it's not um like gaslighting. It's if you she says things like, What if I want to go climb a mountain? Or what if I want to make out with a stranger in a bar? What if I want to sleep with somebody else? What if I want to learn a new language? And he repeats all of them back to her and is like, if you want to climb a mountain, I will carry your backpack. If you want to make out with a stranger in the bar, I will help you pick him out. Like I will be right there with you. And I just, it's really, it was really nice to see him like validate her anxiety and not try to assure her that she didn't need to be anxious. Like I sort of expected him to say, like, don't worry about that. Like, you're gonna you never need to know how you are on your own because you're never gonna be alone. I'm always here for you. And instead, he was like, if you want to be on your own, like I will miss you when you're gone. But I hope that you feel empowered to do what you want to do and then come back to me. Or if you want me to go with you, I'll go wherever you want to go. Like we'll figure it out together. And to me, like that is a really wonderful representation of what it means to be in a partnership of like supporting your partner in whatever they want to do, even if that means for like a little bit they want to do something alone and they want to or figure something out on their own and putting their happiness first and their like your support of them first. And also the sex is really hot in that scene. So it's a great scene. So that's why I like it. Thank you for letting me get that out because people always think fucking, but I really just love the representation of their relationship.

SPEAKER_02

No, and there's like um I I started to look at like some of the Reddit threads, and someone was like, Is this them being like saying that they're into like polyamory? And it's like, no, that's not it.

SPEAKER_01

Like he's saying I support you.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, she is her own person, which I texted you about this because I was like, I the only thing I don't love about it is like all of a sudden he like pulls her onto his lap to like talk to her, and then she's like, and I felt his hard length, and I was like, um, I thought we were having a lovely conversation, and now he's his like dick's hard. Like, I was like, come on.

SPEAKER_01

I understand why you don't like that. I saw him as like, I need to get this girl out of her head for a second and like stop panicking, and I'm gonna calm her down, and I know this will work, yeah, how I took it. But I do understand that like that conversation could have been had sitting in the carriage. Yeah, and I was like, oh, this is lovely.

SPEAKER_02

And in my head, I was like, okay, somehow this is going to lead to sex because I know they're in the carriage and I know that this is going to happen. And so it felt like that was the only um way to make that transition was to be like, and he's turned on, and so we're gonna do this. And he was like, if you like look at all your subjects out there, look at these people and like look, and she's like, Oh my god, they can see us. And he's like, they can't, like, but you can see them. So look at them and grab that loop.

SPEAKER_01

It's our version, it's um Raven Kennedy's version of put your hand on the put your hands on the headboard and hold on is sure it is. Put your hands on that loop and hold on.

SPEAKER_02

And hold on. And he fucks her uh in the carriage while people are directly outside and the see them. They can't see them, they can't hear them, but the thought that they could is like something that interests her, which is a real thing. Exhibitionism is a real thing for people. We don't kink shame on this podcast. We do not kink shame on this podcast, not at all. It is like a little exciting to be like, ooh, like, could we get in trouble? Like, um, not for me, because I'm sure for me exciting. Yes, I'm a Gemini and I'm like, I don't want to get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01

I mean I'm a Sagittarius, and I feel like m some would be adventurous enough to try that. Um that my Capricorn moon is pulling me back away from that for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Said you. Nope, we're private. We're private people. Um, so that was like a very, very big scene for their relationship, too. I think that that was why did I say relationship like that? Relationship. Gross. For their relationship. Um okay, so then from there they meet Keg's fam, and we get Regent One, Regent Two, and Regent Daughter, which is Warwick, Iseli, and Barley. And she's like, Barley, I know that name. How do I know that name? Do you have a brother named Distill and also Keg? Oh my god, they are brewers. They make ale.

SPEAKER_01

This is why when we were casting Keg, I said we know we're gonna learn some stuff that implies he's younger than you think he is, because I think Barley is perceived as quite young and it means meaning like 20s or something. So he can't be super old. Like they have to be reasonably around the same age.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yeah. Um, so I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense. Um now it Barley is his sister, and then Distill is his brother, and then his parents are like uh bigwigs in the regents. They're like running stuff while Slade is gone to make sure. So um it's very important that the family stays there. So um thank you guys uh for probably kicking my ass uh on yesterday's fan cast Friday, where I have Del Roy Lindo. Um it's fine. I haven't looked all wrong sometimes, Lorena. It's I turn the comments off.

unknown

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_02

Um uh yeah, so they meet them and they're very important. They're going to be present for this dinner. Manu arrives, Manu's like, Hey, um, you're gonna go to this court thing called a conflux, and we're gonna judge whether you killed him and the prince and you steal people's powers. It's totally fine.

SPEAKER_01

No need to worry, it'll be so valid. It's gonna be so fine. We have all sorts of rules, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02

Totally fine. Um, he also advises her that she can testify to create her own narrative. Like she will have a voice. Don't you worry, liar.

SPEAKER_01

Spoilers, she does not.

SPEAKER_02

She does not. She has no say at all. Then we get a little bit of a peek into what's going on with Fourth Kingdom. Their supplies have been cut off. So so someone, and I I assume that this was Queen Kyla.

SPEAKER_01

Sort of. Um, it's one of it's either one or two, king king one or two, that Kyla like convinces them to do that. Okay. But what I think it's first kingdom has the like because fourth kingdom is a swamp mostly, so they can't grow farmland. And I think first it's either first or second kingdom. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02

Second kingdom is a desert, and then probably first has the like vegetables. I don't know. Foresty farmland. Right. So then they find out their supplies are cut off and they're like, oh fuck. Like, what are we gonna do? We have people to feed, so this is a problem that's going to be brewing in the background. Um Brewing. Then like a brewery. Yeah. Um Oren is then Orin. Arin is then kidnapped by Manu. But a fucking dick. I like I was like, was is this really necessary? Like you had to kidnap.

SPEAKER_01

She was gonna go. Like she was gonna go. He didn't want her to go, but she was gonna go. Like she wanted to support. Be done with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Like I'm going to face this. I don't love it, but sure, I'll go. Kidnaps her. And then Rissa is stabbed.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, she is.

SPEAKER_02

And Osric loses his mind. He says, one of my favorite quotes was, We still have mistakes to make. Like you can't be dead. He's like shaking her, which I love this, but shake her.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Like, which I was like, please, sir.

SPEAKER_01

She's a projet has to be like hot shit.

SPEAKER_02

She's not like she's not dead. Like, please. She's okay.

SPEAKER_01

I also love the like in my head uh camera cutaways to Judd and Slade being like, do they know each other? Like because happening.

SPEAKER_02

I kind of feel like us as the audience, like, we know what has sort of happened. Like Rissa has Rissa kissed him uh in this, like they connected um on at the camp.

SPEAKER_01

The moment those two met each other, you were like, oh, they're end game for sure.

SPEAKER_02

For sure. Like you knew right away. And I think I said that last time and I was like, I'm into them. And you were like, mm, because I didn't know Rissa was gonna get got and she gets stabbed. She's fine. Uh apparently she's in like a coma.

SPEAKER_01

She's definitely not fine. She's decidedly, but she's alive. Like, but she's alive. Yes. She's alive. She's in a coma.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, damn, like that must have been some some stab to the heart. Like she's she's working through it. So Osric had uh Menti B and was like really upset about it, rightly so. We apparently know more about their relationship than has been shown to us at this present moment. Oh, and then Arn wakes up in the handmaiden's tale.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I don't like this. Like, let's scrub you through your your clean shit.

SPEAKER_02

I it's really stressful. Yeah. I got a I got a big whiplash from this because all of a sudden there's these these they're called uh temptress maidens, I believe. I don't like that. Or maiden temp something. They're maidens. It literally was like handmaiden's tale to me. Like it was like, we're gonna scrub you clean. They're like scrubbing her, but they're like very gentle with her hair, but they're like trying to scrub her skin and like whatever, and they were like, it's fine, and we need to cleanse. And she's like feral. Like she's like, you need a cleanse. I hate you guys. Um, so she gets put through what's called a clearing. And then all the monarchs from the kingdoms um are gathering for the conflux. She is going to like be put on trial. She has to stand on these ruins that start to drain her magic, and she's like leaking her gold, and she can't control it, and she's worried that she's gonna like destroy everything because of everything that happened before. Queen Kyla gives evidence this bitch. What the f evidence uh that is AI manipulated. Um, and they find Orn guilty of stealing Midas' power and killing him. Um, she also they also are convinced she stole King's Rot's power too, because as her gold is leaking, there's a black swirl in it, so they can see that his sum of his power is there. And the evidence that Queen Kyla gives is like a manipulated playback.

SPEAKER_01

Basically, it's a deep fake, is what it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, it is. It's a literally a deep fake. Like, and she like splices it together to make it sound like Midas was like, Aaron, please, no, like you're welcome to leave. Go ahead, go be with who you really love. And it's like, that's never happened. There's nothing she can do, and she's sentenced to death. So, Manu, fuck off. Oh, it'll be fine. Don't even worry about it. And of course, Mr. Mans arrives and rots the fuck out of everything. This my boy, I think I wrote yuck next to it because there's two guards and things start to change. She hasn't seen Slade yet. King Rot at this point. She hasn't seen him yet. And all of a sudden, they these guards like start to melt and decay in front of her.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, uh ew. I know you hate body horror, but I love it. I love King Rot just like dissolving people who have wronged his girl. I so good. Like my notes are going, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I hate body horror, but you she could see, so she's like, oh, he's here, thank God. Um, but she's also like, I deserve this. Like she's she's going through a lot of like a lot of like I did kill that guy. I did kill him. I do deserve it. That's not like it's not untrue. It's just manipulated.

SPEAKER_01

Arya needs to learn about justifiable homicide. 100%. Defense of self and the third person. Justifiable homicide.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. Like no idea what was going on. She was abused. Yeah. Um, that's like uh it's like goodbye, Earl. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you just gotta take him out. Uh we wouldn't do that to our husbands, not at all. Um, she's oh she's in a cage. She's put back in a cage. See this sorry. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01

No, I was gonna say, like th scenes like this where she's in a cage and she's freaking out, and there are other similar scenes to come. Kind of unrelated but similar. This is why I will have started to defend the pacing of the first book because I do feel like you need to know why she reacts so strongly in these moments because of how much torture and like huh?

SPEAKER_02

I remember you saying that. Yeah. You being like, there is a there is a reason we need to know why the cage was horrible.

SPEAKER_01

Very strongly to cages and cage-esque situations in the future in really strong, impassioned ways. And I like I think you could just say, like, like I think you could take a somewhat lazy writer way out and being like, and I flashed back to being in the cage with Midas and I lost my mind. Or you could give us all of that information and we as readers can make the connections ourselves. And so I think it's like a little bit, it gives it has a little bit more faith in the reader to understand her trauma and her like PTSD. And I I kind of like that better than the writer being like, hey, remember how she was in a cage for like a year? Well, that all of that trauma is coming back up and now she's gonna react.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't feel like Raven Kennedy's writing is repetitive at all, which is I don't either.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And I feel like she really trusts the reader to like follow along, pay attention, open your eyeballs, like use some critical thinking skills and like go on this journey. I'm not spoon feeding you this journey.

SPEAKER_02

You're totally right though. It's like a lot of it is a lot of info dump, but it's info dump so that, yeah, when this shit happens, we go, uh, and we can clock it.

SPEAKER_01

Like you clock her immediately of like there's a scene you haven't caught yet where the moment she figures out what's happening, you're like, oh no, she's gonna lose her mind. Like she's gonna like she's gonna destroy everything if she can. It's so reminiscent of like something that happened to her in the first book. Has already happened.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Um, so she's in this cage and they are her death sentence is stabbing her. Oh, I'm gonna have a moment with six swords. I when they said that, I went, the six of swords is the death of something and the beginning of something else. It is new beginnings, it is moving forward, leaving the chaos behind, and you're going to grow into another human or another entity, and you're going to open these horizons. The symbolism of this and now where she has landed in the beginning of gold, I went, holy fuck. Like, I don't know if Raven Kennedy does tarot or if she's a witchy gal.

SPEAKER_01

Seems to be specific for that to be a coincidence. I mean, it is there are six kingdoms, but like there didn't have to be six kingdoms. Like, it seems like there was a reason for her to do that.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and technically there's seven. Like, you know, so it's like I was like thinking, like, is this a is this a tarot reference? I loved it. I mean, it was like a horrible moment. Obviously, she's yeah, but the symbolism is delightful. Yes. And so she's getting stabbed by these things coming at her. Um, do you ever remember that like game with the marbles and the little uh like sticks, and you like pull a stick out and you try to like not have the Kerplunk it was called. I really thought you were describing Hungry Hungry Hippo for a second. Very similar. No, I don't like it was called Kerplunk, and it was like this like tubular thing, and you put all these marbles in with all these like little sticks, and you get to pull one. It's like Django with marbles. It was like an 80s game that my sisters had. So neither of us are to be alive at that time. Yeah. That's what it was like feeling like. It was like feeling like those like going in, and that's how I pictured it. If anyone knows what a Kerplunk is and uh visualizes it. Thank you. Um, okay, we're almost at the end. I have to say that all of this happened.

SPEAKER_01

But you didn't say the biggest thing, which is that Rip arrives and he does a thing. He does a thing. Okay, yes. So she's she's getting stabby stabbed. Applaud Raven Kennedy for actually stabbing her. Like, I feel like a lot of authors are afraid of like doing like harming. I mean, she's going to be stabbed, and then like miracles.

SPEAKER_02

They miss her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We'll actually stab Arn six times. Like, she is stabbed.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. She they have stabbed her. Uh, and then um blah blah blah. So when Slade is rotting everybody, he's losing his shit, and he was like, What do I do? Then we get, you know, this is why we had the flashback and why we know that he can do this. Um, he tries to break Arn out, but he can't. And it's so sad. And he rips a portal in into Anwin, which is the Fey Lands, and he has to push her through or she will die. He does not know if he will see her again. She he does not know if she's gonna survive. And he says, I will find you in every life. And I was like, Oh my god, I was keeping same. They truly don't know if they are ever going to see each other again. Like, that's it. And he was like, I have to do what I have to do to save you, and I know I can do this. Go and I'll I'll find you if I if if it's meant to be, which you know, we know where this book is going. They're gonna be faded mates. Okay, then Riot and Slade, they head back. This threw me for a loop-de-loop, too. Okay, so they head back through the portal um in Deadwell. Um, they find that all of their people, they're gone. Yeah, a nobody there. Yeah, gone. Ghost Town, hello, the rip, gone. Slade's power, nada.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Goodbye. Crazy. It ends there for them. That's it. Arn's through going through uh in one to Wonderland. She's like down the rabbit hole right now. Slade is like, oh fuck. Like, I I have a he's where I'm at right now in gold, he's like being hella emo. He's he's this is gonna be his emo book, and I'm gonna really enjoy it. He's gonna turn on some my chemical romance and just like you know, rock out and be sad. Um that's it. Let murder some people. Yeah. Um, not that we enjoy that we do in books. And then we get the epilogue. It ends there. We get the epilogue of Queen Melina. She realizes she's been working with Fay, Pruin, and these twins, Fasa and something, Zach and Cody. Yeah. She um accidentally has helped them find a bridge.

SPEAKER_01

Accidentally, girl, you went into this with your whole ass chest. You knew what you were. Sorry. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

They gave you a compass. They why they had the compass, and you didn't sit there and go, what are you leading me to? Yeah. Why do you have the compass of what my heart desires?

SPEAKER_01

Like, also, why are you helping me? Like, I again, this is the testament to her being blinded by her own ego of like, did you never stop to wonder what Pruen is getting out of this like fucking journey marathon he's on? Like, why is he going through all of this trouble to help you get your heart's desire when he doesn't even fucking know you? Literally.

SPEAKER_02

And I was like, girl, wake the fuck up.

SPEAKER_01

Which is welcome up until this point.

SPEAKER_02

This is why I'm like very excited to know the this the shadow assassin is it we know it's this man named Domic.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I feel like he's gonna be like, um, excuse me, bitch. Wake the fuck up.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Which I thank God. I am so excited for the texts that I know I'm gonna get for you about Melina's journey.

SPEAKER_02

I I feel a redemption arc. Well, she's okay. She's got power.

SPEAKER_01

She sure does. Finally.

SPEAKER_02

This is how it ends. She accidentally helps them open a bridge. Oops. Oops. Um Do you like that I wrote that? I went, oops. And she has ice power. She realizes as she crosses this bridge, and they're like, are they they're crossing the bridge? Or he's crossing the bridge. Okay, so and as they're like there, all of a sudden she's like, the fuck is going on? And she literally becomes the winter queen from Narnia. She sure does. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like becomes her. And so I'm feeling a redemption art coming. I'm feeling, I'm feeling like she's gonna hopefully. I can't control my base. So, like I I I So that's what happens, guys. That's the end of it. That's our recap.

SPEAKER_01

But we did it. Good job.

SPEAKER_02

We have a few minutes left to just talk a little bit about w where this is going. And like, like I said, this wasn't my favorite because I feel like so much of the book stayed in the same place. And I was like, can we fucking move? We can get it together. Hello. From her going missing to the end, the last 3.5 hours of the book.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, ooh, I really think it's giving, it's giving Sarah J. Mass, where like the last hundred pages of a book is like a sprint to the end, and like literally so much happens. It feels like it's written like that, which is odd to have in the middle of a series. I think it's like, yes, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and granted, it did what it's supposed to do, where I jumped right into gold because I was like, well, where the fuck is everybody going?

SPEAKER_01

Like now I gotta know what's doing this in real time and you would have to wait. I would be pissed.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, because gold and goldfinch came out like a year or two after. Yeah. I would have been pissed. I would have been so mad. I'm so glad we didn't have to do that. I'm enjoying gold so far. I'm I'm hearing a rumor mill that goldfinch is painful. I'm also hearing a rumor mill that there might be a character getting a spin-off.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Okay. She has said that. That the once she's done with the Pied Piper duology, she wants to write a spin-off of one of the characters that you know already, but I'm not sure who it is.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I don't know. It's I when I go on Reddit and I'm going through anything, I have the spoiler blocker thing on, so I'm not seeing anything, but I can see like a spin-off series confirmed, and I was like four and it was like blocked off. And so I'm like, okay, that's good. Cause I don't know, I don't want to know like who survives and stuff like that. Like I I want to know like somebody's gonna go, somebody's gonna go. Yeah. And that's uh that was our our recap of it. Any what any other uh thoughts?

SPEAKER_01

I just want to know who is telling you that goldfinch is painful because I'm gonna fight that person. I I liked it. Is it is this Reddit?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah and I think they meant and I think they meant like um I don't know if they meant painful, like hard to read, or like painful as in will hurt your feelings or cry.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, because I cried in Goldfinch a couple of times. There's also like um, you might not believe me when I tell you this. You have not yet met the big bad of this book series, like the main, you have not met the final boss. Just to give you a glimpse of how much is about to happen in the next two books that you're reading. You have not met him yet. You may have heard about him, but I'm pretty sure you haven't met him.

SPEAKER_02

Um how is that possible if we're gone? We've gone through four books.

SPEAKER_01

I I know. So, like a lot, it is like a lot. I wish it was, I wish the book we just read was a bit shorter. I wish book one was a bit shorter, even though I am a staunch defender of the pacing. And I wish that golden goldfinch got a little bit more time to breathe. I wish it was half in Aria, the whole series, half in Aria, half an Anwin, um, as opposed to like four in Aria and two in Anwin.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Like that would, I would have, I think I would really like that. Cause as soon as I realized, oh, we're all right, we're just we're in a whole new world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Except like Slade and Melina and some other people are still in Aria, so gold is like half and half. I wish we had basically I just wish we had more time in Anwin. Um but if we get a spin-off, it would be in Anwin.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. There's a lot of um, there's a lot of POVs uh now possibly many. Yeah, it kind of feels like it's more I would cut. I like them all. Yeah. Well, and I like I want to know what's going on with Osric and Rissa, but at the same time, it's like, are you going to add to the full story? I maybe, I don't know. There's still two whole books left that apparently Raven wrote Gold and Goldfinch together and then split it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, because again, Sarah J. Mass didn't want the the glue. Right. And so she split them. But yeah, I mean, I'm still just enjoying the series. Raven Kennedy is creeping on our stuff and commenting every once in a while. And maybe she wants to fan cast with us. Speaking of fan casting, okay, so next week we will be fan casting this one. Emily.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Do you want to uh tell everyone who we'll be casting next week?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Uh we are finally casting Riot as he's starting to come into his own um in this book. We're also gonna cast Baby Riot and Baby Slade from their flashbacks. We'll cast their mom, Alore, uh, as well as the rest of Keg's family, Isali, Warwick, and Barley. Uh, we're gonna cast Pruin. We're not gonna cast the twins, though, because we hate them. Uh, and we will also cast Stanton. Yes, Riot's. Slade, Riot's dad.

SPEAKER_02

I think picking his dad would be is gonna be real fun. Question on our riot casting. Yes. Clarifying question. Now, I picked someone and you picked someone, and the fans picked the someone else.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they sure did. Who I thought that was a joke, but you know what I think? The fans are right though.

SPEAKER_02

I think the fans are right. Now, should we be casting our riot off of that person? Correct?

SPEAKER_01

I think so. I think we have to go with the winner. So I think our slade is Ian Summerholder, and we have to just go from there for the riots and the babies.

SPEAKER_02

I know exactly who I'm gonna do it as someone who I always thought they looked similar, and I cannot wait.

SPEAKER_01

Amazing. I can't wait to see who that is because I have literally no idea who looks like Ian Summerholder.

SPEAKER_02

I lit I okay, so I feel like for Torrance Coombs, who I had, I have no idea who I'd cast. For Ian Summerholder, I know exactly who would play Riot. And I feel like for Sebastian Stan, it would be Tom, Tom Doherty.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, 100%. They look like brothers.

SPEAKER_02

There's someone that from the early aughts, like the 2000s, that I was like, are you guys the same person? Like I fully thought they were the same actor. I feel like you'll I feel like there is a very good chance.

SPEAKER_01

If I think about it hard enough, we'll come up with the same person. Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_02

I think so. If if if you think of the popular shows during the CW era, I think you will find exactly who it is. Huh?

SPEAKER_01

No, no, you can't don't tell me.

SPEAKER_02

No, I won't tell you. I won't tell you. It'll be a surprise. And it'll be a surprise for everybody else.

SPEAKER_01

Uh somebody, but I and they look similar, but he doesn't look like intimidating enough. Would you describe your actor as intimidating? We're gonna do like a guess who version.

SPEAKER_02

I would describe him facially could be recent roles he's playing. Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, the actor I'm thinking of hasn't done anything recently. So okay, definitely not the same person.

SPEAKER_02

There is someone who is he okay, so who I'm casting is uh a major character in a show right now.

SPEAKER_01

Currently. Oh, currently I'm thinking of then. Okay. You said early 2000s CW and my brain went Jared Padelecki.

SPEAKER_02

And oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm not gonna do it because I don't think it's intimidating enough, but I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_02

That is a good one. Um early 2000s, they were in a show, a major show from that. And then they kind of were like very quiet. And then this other show, which is on a seasoned right now. I don't want to give it away. I don't want to give it away. Okay, okay, okay. But they're on a major show. Okay. A big major show. Uh and they're the uh the Worst character. Like Ian Summerholder. And they look like Ian Summerholder. Like they could easily be siblings.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I think you'll find it. I have faith in you. Okay. I'm so nervous.

SPEAKER_01

All right. I'm on it.

SPEAKER_02

And if you, if we, if you do find it and we have the same one, I'll buy you brunch.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. That's the that's the bet. That's the bet. Okay. Find it. And if I don't get it, I have to buy you brunch.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Love that. Okay, guys. Well, thanks for listening to our recap of Glow, and we'll see you next week for our fan cast. Joining us on Saturday cozy morning. We'll be recording next week at uh the proper time. Proper time. We'll have alcohol and coffee. Correct.

SPEAKER_01

Um never water, just alcohol and coffee.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Sometimes an energy drink if I have more shit to do after we record. You don't go straight to bed. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'm like, I'm like jazzed, and so I gotta gotta That's fair.

SPEAKER_01

I do have to like walk by my house a couple times to calm down.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Because we have a lot of feelings.

SPEAKER_01

I like amp myself up, right? I I have really big feelings about these books, Loretta. Same. Same.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Okay, guys. We'll um we're gonna sign off and wrap this bitch up. I've been calling our listeners our fam cast. It was a typo, and then I liked it. So like it.

SPEAKER_01

Let's keep it.

SPEAKER_02

Our fam cast. Our little fam. Okay, so fam cast listeners, our fam cast. We will see you next week to all you she's, the he's, the they's, the gays, the shadow daddies, and the face.

SPEAKER_01

Nailed it.

unknown

Nailed it. Bye.

SPEAKER_02

Bye.

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Loretta Anne Miller

Host
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Emyli Gudmundson

Co-host