The Curse of Dragon Tail Island by Jonathan Nevair

Your hosts discuss The Curse of Dragon Tail Island by Jonathan Nevair. They talk about characters that defy stereotypes, multi-villain plots, and the price of ambition. They also cover some of their favorite moments.

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Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Transcript

Hannah 0:04

Hello and welcome to Fiction Fans, a podcast where we read books and other words too. I'm Hannah.

Laura 0:10

And I'm Laura. And today we will be talking about the Curse of Dragon Tail Island by Jonathan Neve.

Hannah 0:17

But first, what's something great that happened recently?

Laura 0:21

So Hannah, something great that's happened to me recently is that I have a lot of new baby animals on my farm, so you know this, but some of the listeners might not know that I actually run a little hobby farm and I have a lot of goats. And a lot of chickens. And right now I'm. Getting lots of baby goats because springtime is when they kid and I've so far got four new baby goats and I also and adorable. And I also had put. About 28 days ago, I put some eggs in my incubator and I hatched out eggs, and now I have week old baby chicks that I've been enjoying a lot, and they're just so much fun. I really love baby animals, but especially goats and chickens, I cannot. Recommend goats and chickens enough to anybody who's interested in starting a hobby farm or looking for some great pets.

Hannah 1:17

I'm so mad that my town won't let me own chickens, but I do benefit from your chickens because you give me farm fresh eggs. So thank you so much.

Laura 1:24

They are great eggs. I'm so biased, but I really just can't go back to store eggs.

Hannah 1:31

Have you named any of the baby goats yet?

Laura 1:33

So not yet. One of the mothers is named Drama and so I try to go along those lines and I was thinking maybe like some kind of award names for them. Maybe like Tony and Emmy or something like that. That's that's a Oscar, those types of names. But both of them are girls, so I'm thinking maybe Tony with an I, Tony and Emmy, so. Got it.

Hannah 1:55

We'll see. Nice.

Laura 1:56

We'll see what their names end up being. Hannah, what about you? What's something great that's happened recently?

Hannah 2:01

I actually had friends in town this weekend and it was a ton of fun because, uh, I, we got tickets to see The Wiz here in Milwaukee.

Laura 2:08

How

Hannah 2:08

was it? I, I've never seen the actual like movie, so I kind of went in blind. But I really loved it so much. It was just a lot of joy in the theater and the music was amazing. I loved the man who played the Tin Man. I thought he did a spectacular job. I will say one of the things I found a little bit disappointing just from this production like choice, um. Instead of having like full on sets with backdrops, they just had a video screen, so like they would Oh, interesting. Shift the video screen when they would go down, and I don't know how the original play was intended, but instead of having like the yellow brick road, they have like dancers who like Dorothy dances with to like lead her down the way. And it felt a little like I, I felt a little cheated a little bit, but overall it was still a good time. It was nice to like go to the theater and we went to a matinee and. Apparently Milwaukee Theater has a tradition of like, if you buy a cup of coffee you get free refills. So I was able to like get a coffee and get a co cocoa during intermission. Nice. And it was spectacular and it was nice to see friends and I ate way too much food. Um, but you know, it was a good weekend spent by all. So.

Laura 3:15

That's great. Actually, the Wiz is one of those movies that I used to watch a lot at my grandma's house when I was littler. She had an odd collection of movies on VHS that she would let me watch when I was a kid. The Wiz was one of them. Oh, and she also had, I talk about this all the time, little Shop of Horrors. The one with Steve Martin that I was obsessed with that movie as a little kid and a couple of other ones. She had Cats The musical, she had the fan of the opera stage production musical. So I watched a lot of random VHS movies at her house that were mostly musicals.

Hannah 3:49

Most of the musicals I watched for like Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Kids.

Laura 3:53

I love that one as well. But that was not one that was at my grandma's house. That was one that I personally owned and watched maybe daily. Who knows?

Hannah 4:00

Very fair. So.

Laura 4:02

But what are we drinking tonight?

Hannah 4:04

I am drinking as all the great people do when they're recording late at night, a diet Dr. Pepper, which I feel like is an unsung hero of soda. Like,

Laura 4:14

you know what, a lot of people are big Dr. Pepper fans, and I think it's one of those just like universally loved sodas that,

Hannah 4:22

yeah,

Laura 4:23

or pop, depending on the region. I usually say pop, but I feel like generally you ask people what their favorite pop is and you don't. Always get Dr. Pepper, but I feel like there aren't people who are gonna be like bad mouthing Dr. Pepper. Right. It's generally well liked in terms of flavors.

Hannah 4:41

Usually when we're buying pop for the house, it's like Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper.'cause they both get sold at Costco, so it's easy.

Laura 4:48

Sure.

Hannah 4:48

Buy them in bulk. But, uh, I also like a good ginger ale though. I would say that's actually my favorite pop. So, but what are you cooking tonight?

Laura 4:57

You know, I am just drinking water, staying hydrated. I actually go just to take care of. I just came in from doing my chores, uh, taking care of my animals, so I've gotta stay hydrated and water has been my friend today, but I have been drinking this really. I'm not drinking at the moment, but I drank earlier in the day and I really have been enjoying this coffee from Equator. Coffee is the brand. Yeah, and I've told you about this, but it is the most flavorful and delicious coffee and they have so many different blends that I've been really en really enjoying. Me and my husband both have been enjoying this type of coffee, this equator coffee. So if you're a coffee drinker and interested in that, highly recommend checking that out.

Hannah 5:37

Good. Well, did you read anything good lately?

Laura 5:42

I have been reading some good stuff lately because I've been reading Laura Olympus the graphic novel series by Rachel Smythe, and so I've made it farther in the series, and this is kind of a Greek gods and goddesses retelling of. Hades and Persephone and their love story. It's a really beautiful graphic novel, uh, series. I really love the art style and it's kind of a modern spin on the Greek gods and it handles themes of abusive relationships, sexual assault, and a lot of things like anxiety, depression in a really unique way. And so I've been really enjoying the series. I think it just keeps getting better with each episode. It was originally a. Series on Webtoon. Mm-hmm. That was, uh, published. As a graphic novel series and it's incredibly popular and I totally get why, because it's so beautiful and really well done, actually. So I've been enjoying that a lot. How about you?

Hannah 6:41

Nice. Well, I have been following Lily and Sarah over on, on Wednesdays. We read podcast as they dive into the Dublin murder squad series, and I've been reading The Trespasser, which is the final installment on maybe one of my favorite of the series. Like I really. I really like the beginning. I would say it's, it's not my favorite because the ending, like the entire book leads up to these beautiful themes that I feel like kind of got dropped at the end for a like, oh, well, you know, here we go. Uh, this happened and now we move forward. And it's kind of like, well, nope. It felt like we could have gone deeper. And so, um, I felt myself being a little bit disappointed in the ending. But overall, the story is so great and the character of Antoinette Conway, the de detective who is. Biracial and a woman in a very male dominated and very racist department, uh, is trying to find her own way and make sure that she gets a name for herself. I just thought it was very beautiful. I'm very heartfelt in many ways, so I've been enjoying that entire series, but highly recommend that T

Laura 7:44

series is so lovely. I really have enjoyed it a lot too. The Trespasser is one of the better books in this series, for sure.

Hannah 7:51

It's, it's so much better than the one that came before it.

Laura 7:56

The secret place. Yes.

Hannah 7:57

The secret place was a

Laura 7:59

rough one. Although Facebook place, chef's kiss,

Hannah 8:01

chef's kiss. But the secret place could have stayed a secret. Let's, let's face it,

Laura 8:06

that should have remained more hidden. Yeah. We, we didn't need to know more about that secret. Mm-hmm.

Hannah 8:11

But yeah, everyone go check that out. Well, should we discuss the curse of the Dragon Tail Island?

Laura 8:18

Yes. The curse of Dragon Tail Island, first of all. Just shouting out the cover, what beautiful cover work we have here. We see our protagonist and some of the crew of, uh, the story that are depicted on the front here. We have Captain Jack. We have a beautiful orc. We have our Maj Marion

Hannah 8:38

Mage. Marion, can I ask up at the top? Was Maj Marion supposed to be a run at Maid Marion of Peter, of um, Robin Hood because it felt like it was okay. I, yes, Jack. So, and like there's a scene that was very much one-to-one. This feels like Robin Hood.

Laura 8:57

So actually I had the pleasure of beta reading this book and what did a delight because it's so much fun. But this is actually very much inspired by Robin Hood and Treasure Island.

Hannah 9:11

Okay, perfect.

Laura 9:12

The author was really looking to kind, he normally writes sci-fi and he was really looking for kind of like a little shift away from sci-fi to write something fun, kind of dive into some things that he really enjoyed, uh, outside of science fiction. And so he kind of tried out his writing traps at writing a nautical fantasy story, incorporating those themes of Robinhood and. R really just a fun, fun book.

Hannah 9:44

Well, and we could talk a little bit about what this book is actually about. Yes. Because it's about Captain James r Hawk, uh, AKA Robinhood a little bit, and his Jack. Mm-hmm. Uh, Jack and his salty scoundrels who are pirates who do good. Um, and the book starts. Kind of at a moment where he's trying to get his team to pretty much steal from the rich, give to the poor. And then something happens and we get dropped to 14 years later. And this is not a spoiler'cause it's within the first couple in the prologue chapter.

Laura 10:16

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Hannah 10:17

Uh, and we think that Jack May have been lost at sea or something, but then a, he's gone

Laura 10:24

missing.

Hannah 10:25

A no named Scarlet decides that she's going to hunt him down and get the team back together again. And through this,

Laura 10:32

she needs to Avengers reassemble everyone, and she's getting the team back together because she needs to find this, uh. Mysterious Dragon Tail Island and collect the bounty there.

Hannah 10:45

And the team includes uh, big rig who is a dwarf quartermaster that we have. Lana, who is half Orc,

Laura 10:53

ORC,

Hannah 10:54

and tho. And then we have other characters who are involved, including Scarlet's contracted, uh. Love interest and then an noxy named, um, cyan. And yeah, it's, it is a Mary tale of people trying to get together to go to an ancient island that no one wants to go to or no one can get to, and lots of stumbles along the way. So that's kind of where we sure find ourselves during this. So, um, but I did pick up on the. Uh, Robin Hood esque elements. Mm-hmm. But I don't think I necessarily picked up on the Treasure Island'cause I'm not a huge Treasure Island girly. So I don't know much about, I've

Laura 11:36

never read the book. I know the concept of what happens because I was big on Treasure Planet, the

Hannah 11:41

Disney

Laura 11:41

movie.

Hannah 11:42

Yes. I did watch that once with my husband. He loves that. It

Laura 11:45

is a very underrated Disney movie. I will say like, if you haven't watched it, go watch Treasure Planet.

Hannah 11:51

Very good. I actually did read the book, but I think I read it about. About fifth grade and it's just not one that sticks to top of mind for me. So I didn't pick up on the Treasure Island elements, but I, I like hearing that it's kind of a mix of old stories and you, you talked about how Navarra was, or Jonathan, we know him. Mm-hmm. Um, but you talked about how Jonathan kind of wanted to do a deep dive into a fantasy series to see what it felt like. And I'm really glad he did.'cause he has such same unique perspective where he's taking these elements from like traditional. Fantastical novels like, like Robinhood and Treasure Island, but giving them elements of like tabletop games and having, like Lana, the ORC has a very, like, he does such an effective job of creating this character who also subverts a lot of tropes that are expected of orcs in tabletop games or things I've heard. Mm-hmm. Who of people who do role play games. But like making her fun and having certain elements that play into that, but making sure that she's not a stereotype or you know, having the dwarf corridor master. I was just really impressed by like the character building he did with everyone and how for sure he made them unique individuals while pulling from things that we know about these types of characters and both subverting them and like paying homage to them. I thought it was really effectively done.

Laura 13:07

Yeah, I think it's really easy to kind of. Fall into this world that is created because even though it's very unique, a lot of it feels so familiar, like you're saying, that we don't have a ton of like characters that we're unsure of what they are or what's going on. We very much are dealing with. Familiar fantasy type creatures, but in a unique story because we don't get a lot of nautical fantasy that I'm aware of. I'm not aware of tons of nautical fantasy stories. We usually have, if we have a big series, they'll maybe be like one scene or a couple chapters that are related to, we have to get on our ship to do X, y, or Z. But it's neat to have a story centered around pirates.

Hannah 13:53

Right. Well, and a little bit of lost love because we do find out that yeah, Jack is in love with Maj. Marion father is the king by default because mm-hmm. Years ago, the queen was lost at sea and he is a relative of hers, and so he is in charge, but also there's lots of question marks going on there. So there's a lot of, yeah,

14:14

a

Laura 14:14

lot of red flags for sure.

Hannah 14:16

A lot of red flags with him. We, he's not on the. Paige very much at the beginning. Um, but he is kind of a looming person over the entire story. Mm-hmm. And so

Laura 14:26

absolutely.

Hannah 14:27

Well before.

Laura 14:28

Another thing that I would like to also mention too, it we're saying that a lot of this feels familiar and everything I. Do really appreciate in this story that although there's a lot of romance and a lot of familiar fantasy things happening, we do get a lot of action. I do think that the world is like, the imagery is excellent. Yes, we are exposed to these really unique settings. That I thought were very beautifully described in certain chapters. And also there are quite a few action scenes that were really captivating, honestly. Yeah. And I know you're not as big on action, Hannah, but I was kind of curious if you were able to kind of like get into some of those chapters like I did because I found them very fun from the beginning. We get a lot of action and there's a few chapters in the beginning. Actually, that I'm thinking of that are almost entirely action, and I found them to be so fun. It was almost like a movie in my head.

Hannah 15:25

He, well, I feel like Jonathan does such a great job at World Building in the first place. Mm-hmm. Like all of the books I've read of his, I've read a couple. Uh, and he's so effective at world building and just dropping you into the scene and making these big kind of action scenes or even just like in the mundane of here's the world you're in. It just, he invites you into this and it makes you want to stick around and hang out there. And I did find myself really enjoying the action scenes, not only'cause you're right, it feels like a movie, but also because there are stakes to the action scenes. Mm-hmm. And he kind of lets you know that throughout the entire book of like, no. No one is necessarily safe in these scenes and sure there is a lot of action pack and a lot of what's going to happen and a lot, but like he plays it off with a lot of humor too, where everyone's kind of having fun and they know what they're doing and they're capable. Yeah. And it's kind of fun to have this world where. No one feels like they're lost in it. Like people are joining in because they're capable people who want to join the crew, and that's so effective. And who doesn't love a get the gang back together again? Moment.

Laura 16:32

I mean, I love Avengers Reassemble.

Hannah 16:35

I mean, and they, and they did assemble. So it's great. And it's, I feel like there's, the pacing at the beginning is really good because like Jonathan. Gives us the time to re reintroduce ourselves to the characters 14 years later and have them like come together and hang out. So it is just really

Laura 16:52

nice. We absolutely get a lot of time to kind of get familiar with Jack in particular, and Scarlet, they're very much, uh, characters that we can attach ourselves to and get kind of absorbed in the stakes of the mission that they're on.

Hannah 17:08

Definitely. And I really liked Scarlet as a character. She was so fun. Scarla was

Laura 17:11

great.

Hannah 17:12

Yeah, I, I thought she was one of my favorites. So. Well, Laura, let's get into the spoilers, but before we do, who should read this book?

Laura 17:21

I think if you are a fan of Jonathan Neve's Other Works, if you have read the Lillian Renault series, if you have read the Wind Tide series, you will absolutely love the curse of Dragon Tail Island. So if you're a fan of Jonathan Neve's other works, you'll enjoy this and you will be pleasantly surprised to see that this very adept sci-fi author is also able to write fantasy. I also think anybody who's a fan of d and d. You'll also like this book.

Hannah 17:50

I also think a a little bit of, if you're fans of like heist books.'cause there's lots of just like, for

Laura 17:54

sure

Hannah 17:55

we have to make a plan. We have to execute the plan and we're gonna do it. And if you like that with a little mix of humor, it's great. And like we said, I had a ton of fun knowing that this felt very inspired by Robin Hood. So I think going into it, knowing that it'll. Make the experience even more pleasurable. So

Laura 18:12

I would also maybe throw it out there and say My cozy fantasy peeps.

Hannah 18:16

Oh

Laura 18:16

yeah. If you like legends and lattes, if you like Miss Percy, you will like this book. You'll very much enjoy the curse of Dragon Tail Island. There's enough romance, there are enough adorable creatures. There's enough found family vibes that you'll very much enjoy the curse of Dragon Tail Island, if you will, of CO's cozy fantasy.

Hannah 18:35

Well with that, let's get into spoilers. this episode of Fiction Fans is brought to you by sotia.

Laura 18:47

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Hannah 18:53

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Laura 19:00

You can find all the issues and more at patreon.com/fiction fans pod, and we really thank you for your support.

Hannah 19:06

The remainder of this episode contains spoilers. Okay. So I feel like we have to dive in first to, and I don't know why, but Bonnie Fitzwater as the sister slash Maine antagonist and the Evil King'cause they,

Laura 19:24

so yes. A lot of problematic things happening with these characters.

Hannah 19:28

Yeah. So we found,

Laura 19:29

find out a brief description of what happened earlier. You gave a brief description of what happens in the book earlier, but since this is full spoilers, go for it. Hannah. Tell us about Bonnie.

Hannah 19:38

So we meet Bonnie at the beginning of the prologue. Through the eyes of Jack and we find out that Bonnie is Ma Marian's older sister.

Laura 19:46

Sister. Mm-hmm.

Hannah 19:47

And she, Jack had Mary Adaptive

Laura 19:48

Swordplay. She has a high rink,

Hannah 19:51

she's the admiral I think of mm-hmm. The Navy. And she has ma jack, enemy number one. And they've had run-ins before for

Laura 19:59

reasons,

Hannah 19:59

literally stabbed her in the leg and. Throughout the rest of the book. She's kind of going after him pretty hard.

Laura 20:08

Kind of. She goes extremely hard after him. Yeah. She has him falsely imprisoned

Hannah 20:12

and we found out before the scenes of like the book, he was falsely imprisoned for murder because the king did not want him marrying Ma Marian, so. Mm-hmm. He had the, the, um, Robin Hood scene of, you know. The golden arrow being shot and he got to win the hand of Ma Marian through this and they had this epic love story. Mm-hmm. And then he killed people. That's

Laura 20:33

right. I forgot that. He's an adept archer

Hannah 20:37

and he, we find out that he was accused of murder. He was put away for it, and Bonnie kind of helps set, set him up with her dad because, oh. Believed the dad's story, that he was evil and shouldn't be allowed into their family. Pretty much. The

Laura 20:51

thing is though, Bonnie contains multitudes because she very much wants to increase her own standing.

Hannah 20:57

Yeah.

Laura 20:58

It seems And doesn't mind putting people out who get in her way.

Hannah 21:03

But it's also super'cause we find out, like through random scenes that like, oh, she has lovers who she kind of puts to the wayside, but

Laura 21:10

mm-hmm.

Hannah 21:10

In the end she kind of, she's

Laura 21:11

actually a very malicious character at times,

Hannah 21:14

but then she gets together with Marian and she's like, I'm really sorry for everything I've done and I've decided to atone at the. Very, and, and then she dies, like, mm-hmm. And it was really shocking to me when I got to that because it didn't, it felt so strange when she had done all of these bad things before that and then we kind of made the king the evil villain of it all when I honestly thought it was Bonnie throughout the entire novel. You

Laura 21:37

know what, they're kind of like a dual villain situation, honestly. Yeah, because, and it's a really neat way to look at this in. A fantasy, honestly, because I feel like we often have one big bad, but it's interesting to see the ways that other people contribute to the success of villains, if that makes sense. Yeah. So I think that that is an interesting way to show this storyline playing out in that. We can have people who maybe get involved with a bad person or a bad, the bad side, quote unquote, and maybe do change their minds in a tone. Maybe they don't. Maybe it doesn't feel genuine, but we don't often have somebody who just rises to a certain level of power on their own without some sort of assistance from someone like Bonnie.

Hannah 22:27

That's true. And I guess if we're looking at this from the, the one we know the most about Treasure Planet, there is supposed to be kind of that evil villain who does genuinely love the people towards the end.

Laura 22:40

Yeah.

Hannah 22:40

And I think that's probably what Jonathan was doing through that. Mm-hmm. Knowing that this is a treasure planet, or Treasure Island inspired book makes more sense when it comes to that. Yeah. But at the end, like. Bonnie died and I kind of didn't feel bad about it, even though she had atoned for her sins. I was like, well, she was truly doing like terrible things and putting people away in prison for a really long time.

Laura 23:05

I, I need to read Treasure Island because I think the takeaway that I have with Bonnie is very much a, people are incredibly complicated and they can have these moments like this, and I think that your feelings on this are very valid, Hannah, that Bonnie can be somebody that you're like, I don't care about this person. But I think it's really interesting just from the standpoint of looking at Neve's writing in this story where this book that should be, you know, easy Breezy, beautiful Cover Girl is very much a. Deeper story when you start to look at the characters through a more critical lens.

Hannah 23:38

Yeah, no, that's very fair. And I do think like everyone has different depths because there's a lot of loss in this book. Like we have, oh my

Laura 23:46

gosh. So, because I Bader read this book, I had created a long note where I was keeping track of all of my thoughts and. There's a character who is Scarlet's love interest in the book. Mm-hmm. Who has a lot of, adds, a lot of humor to Yes. The book throughout. And I really came to love Donnie. His name is Donnie, and he very much like is in love with Scarlet and just Yes. Follows her everywhere. He puts himself in danger, he tries to save her. He's doing all these things that he can to help her on her mission, and I was getting very attached to him. Nve just, I had a note that he, I had a note saying, haha, Donnie is great. Love him so much. Literally a page or two later, Donnie is killed.

Hannah 24:31

Yeah.

Laura 24:31

And

Hannah 24:32

Scott shocked, shocked, all of her closest friends throughout this book. Yes. And I think it's very effective because. I do think she's a mirror of Jack in a way where she's kind of starting out on her schwa, like swashbuckling ways. Mm-hmm. And she's kind of going into it like, I'm gonna go to Dragon Island, I'm going to get into the Thieves Guild.'cause she's part of the Thieves Guild in this. And like she wants to be a rising star. And she has this, um, creature, I, I forget what it is. Um, it's a Sprite at the beginning who she loses and then she loses Donnie and it's almost like she gets to talk to Jack through it because he's lost so many people throughout his life and he does have his two best mates with him still. But it's not at the loss of other people or him saying like, oh yeah, it's always been the three of us. He also has suffered, met for many years. And so he's able to kind of comme, like commemorate the people she's lost all along the way and give voice to them and help her through it. And I do think that that's a beautiful way to do this, to show that there is reality here. But it does. It never felt like, oh, these are are, it's also the side characters. I think

Laura 25:39

it's kind of sending a message that. Ambition a lot of times comes with a pretty hefty price. Yeah. And sometimes you pay the cost of the people that help you along the way, and Jack has paid that price. And now Scarlet is learning that she has to pay that price as well and is paying that price. Other people are paying that price for her in order to seek out this treasure, in order to seek out this glory, this fame to succeed. And it's. Heartbreaking, and like you said, a very hefty dose of reality.

Hannah 26:17

Yeah. I also really like that, like we have the character of Scarlet who's going through all this like trauma early on of, oh, this is what I want, and this is what happens sometimes when you're trying to get these things you want. But then you also have Jack and Marian who had this love, epic love story, and now they're in their forties and they're coming back together again. And they kind of have this moment where you don't necess, you kind of know they're gonna get together together because they're

Laura 26:45

sure,

Hannah 26:45

you know Robin Hood and Marian, but you also don't know because they have these conversations of like, yes, what we had was beautiful, but it also was a long time ago, and we don't know. Mm-hmm. And Marian has moments where she's like, well, you didn't even try to fight for me or tell me these things. You kind of just left me on my own. And she does come to terms with the fact that her father set him up, but it's not an immediate like, oh, now we are in love again. They have to find a way back to each other and even their first romantic moment, they're kind of just like, okay, well that was us, like getting it out of our system. It's like

Laura 27:20

I'm very much appreciate the awkwardness of it all. I also, you know, I like seeing older protagonists with mm-hmm. A love story. We right. Are often focused on like hot 20 year olds. It's nice to have hot 40 year olds who have like gone through some things and are maybe reconciling with each other after not. Truly understanding why they were split apart. I, because those types of things happen in real life outside of fantasy. Sometimes

Hannah 27:47

your father sets you up for, sets your fiance up for murder victims.

Laura 27:51

I mean, maybe not to That makes sense, but, but we do have couples who are. You know, they break up for reasons that maybe there's not the communication level that we have or mm-hmm something and we are getting back together and there is this awkwardness, a lot of that awkwardness, that uncomfortableness that came off of the page felt very realistic.

Hannah 28:11

Yes it did. And I appreciate that they kind of had a 40-year-old, they had 40-year-old conversations about everything. Yes. Where they would be like, you know, you saying that you were set up doesn't forgive you for deserting me and running away from our life and pretending you were dead for so long.

Laura 28:29

Mm-hmm.

Hannah 28:29

And then after she finds out that her dad did set him up, she's like, I'm really sorry that happened. You know, we can't take the rest of the world back. And then they kind of have sex and they're both like, I don't think we intended that to be anything deeply romantic. I think we meant that to be something sexual. And they both have. They're like, okay. And then when they fall in love, like it does happen through a more dramatic set of circumstances. Yeah. But that's the end of the novel after we've already seen them come back together in a very adult way.

Laura 28:55

Mm-hmm. It's not one of those Insta love situations. Yeah. Anymore we may have had when they were younger, this deep lust connection, love, but it's. Unique to see a book that's portraying the reconciliation of two people who are not instantly like throwing each other into their arms, each other's arms, right? And immediately embracing because they've just mis missed each other so much. I also think too, the scene where the two of them go off into their, uh, love section, their love, uh, their sex scene is their

Hannah 29:31

romance scene,

Laura 29:32

the romance of it all. It's actually one of the. One of my favorite scenes because of the imagery of the place that they're at. This like beautiful lagoon that they're in, that they Oh

Hannah 29:44

yeah.

Laura 29:44

Stow away to this place that only Jack knew about really. And he brings Major Marion there and it's just so beautifully described. I, I just really enjoyed the imagery of all of that.

Hannah 29:56

I also love that she had a higher calling that brought her to the ship. It wasn't like, well, I just have to help. Jack, and suddenly I'm on this adventure. Like she has a woman who loved and then lost and then she was like, okay, I'm gonna renounce my family and I am going to become the best healer that this world has ever

Laura 30:13

seen. Yes, that's actually a really good point that she has this very much. Deeper calling to help others. Mm-hmm. That surpasses any kind of familial obligation that she has to the crown.

Hannah 30:27

Yeah. And she like, she, even when she kind of walks away from that, because it's kind of like a nunnery almost, where you're mm-hmm. Committed to one goal. Mm-hmm. It's still with the like, well, you might have a higher calling than this particular calling, and that's okay. And I also liked that of like, you don't have to be stuck in one role just because that was the role that worked for you at the time. And I do think Maj Marion is one of the more interesting characters because for sure she's someone who isn't being. Like she gets really annoyed when people bring up her love story and her romance and she's like, yeah, I remember it. I lived it. And it wasn't at all, it cracked up to be guys. Like

Laura 31:02

people are pretty quick to like throw it in her face of, Hey, remember when you were seven your wild oats? You were quite a hell.

Hannah 31:10

And she's like, I guess, but Jack was pretty, you know, kind. Okay. And that is the thing. It is very funny to read a book about pirates. We're like, the pirates are just stealing from the rich to give to the poor. They're just like, mm-hmm You didn't earn the tax money you take. So we're gonna make sure it's redistributed to orphans, which comes full circle with a character named Precious. Who we find out is the long lost queen and she decides, no, we're gonna have a democracy and just overthrow everything. It's great.

Laura 31:42

Well, we learned that she actually has a blood tie to, she's a blood relative of the Queen who is lost.

Hannah 31:50

Because the king, the current king is evil. Nick Evils sin And he murdered his own family member pretty much. Yes. He set up the events of her death, so,

Laura 32:00

and he thought he had cut off her bloodline. Got no way with it, but he did not. And so precious, this adorable little orphan girl who actually has a connection to the members of, yeah. The crew. Yeah. Jack. Who, which, that was a twist that I did not, I don't know if I expected that coming. I,

Hannah 32:22

I'm not gonna lie. The second I met that orphan and I found out that there was a dead

Laura 32:25

queen, there had to be something with her, but I was just like, oh, that's how she's connected. All right.

Hannah 32:30

I was just like, oh yeah, you have a dead queen and you have a random orphan on a boat.

Laura 32:34

Fair

Hannah 32:34

enough. That girl's connected.

Laura 32:36

Fair enough.

Hannah 32:39

But yeah, I liked the character of Precious. I thought, I thought the world, like the world building was really well set up and it was just, mm-hmm. It was very good overall.

Laura 32:47

You know what I really loved, and I will not stop telling people about this, there is a creature that Jonathan created in this story called Xi. Oh, oh my gosh. Which are basically otters, who are like bards and they have these really unique abilities to like, so they. Eat this certain kind of kelp and everything that is only in certain places. I believe it's kelp, right?

Hannah 33:13

Yes, it is kelp.

Laura 33:14

Okay. And they also pass stories. They're like history through song and everything. It's such a beautiful creation and I love them being part of this fantasy world because when do we ever get otters in mm-hmm. These types of settings, but to have a human, like a human way to otter. Character that has these really unique, magical abilities. I could read entire series of, oh my gosh, Oxy. I just think it's such a great creation, and I became so attached to this character too, that I was just like, every time I was reading or I was totally in, I was like, I love it so much. This is the greatest thing ever. And then Jonathan did a bad thing.

Hannah 33:58

I know he, he took away some of my fav, most of my favorite characters. I do think he needs to pay for his crimes. But

Laura 34:04

yes,

Hannah 34:05

the thing I loved most about this was also the discussion of kelp in the world where

Laura 34:09

Yes.

Hannah 34:10

cause we were, I someone of us recently talking about this for another podcast I was listening to where they talked about. Taste and how taste can change.'cause like lobster used to be prison food and now it is a delicacy. And when it was prison food, it was seen as disgusting. And now it is this beautiful thing that people have to, you know, get this acquired taste for. Mm-hmm. And they kind of ne fair cutta does that with the noie where they're like, well. People found out we love this kelp and all of a sudden it was kind of this like delicacy that you could take from the ocean and they're taking our food source that is very important to us. And it is this reckoning of, you know, colonization of people. I was gonna say it's, it's colonialism. It's what It colonialism. And it just, it was so sad when I was reading that section'cause I was like, oh gosh, it's just bringing you down to like, you just want these otters to have their food sources and like it Yeah, it's so be He does it so well.

Laura 35:06

Yeah, I love the Noxy so much. Jonathan, if you wanna write entire series about it, feel free.

Hannah 35:12

I agreed. So, yeah. Any final thoughts on the curse of direct Andel Island?

Laura 35:19

You know what? I really love it. I will say my biggest complaint about this book, I think that this is a great book. It is very long. Mm-hmm. And I think that the biggest complaint I have is the pacing is a little bit off towards the end for me when we have. The beginning, and I would say the first 75% of this book, the pacing is excellent. Yes. When we get towards the end, I feel like the last 25% starts to pick up quickly, and I do wish that we would've had a little bit slower pace as we were going towards our end because things wrap up fairly quickly and there were some things that tied up a little too quickly for me that I kind of wanted a little more resolution for some of the events.

Hannah 36:02

I wanted Bonnie to have her come up.

Laura 36:07

Bonnie should have to pay for her

Hannah 36:08

crimes. I just did not like her as a character at the end. And I was just like, why did she get a redemption arc? And then, you know, but I do agree that the pacing towards the end felt a little too fast for me. Some of the action scenes were hard for me to focus in on. That's a little bit of a my fault. I have a hard time focusing on actions. Yeah. You and I are saying

Laura 36:26

opposite things about the action. Yeah. Because I. I really dug the action. There's actually a scene towards the end that is like a huge storm is occurring and everything, and there's tons of action going on throughout this storm. I actually dug that.

Hannah 36:38

Oh, good.

Laura 36:38

Uh, even though the. Pacing was very fast. Still,

Hannah 36:42

I am a hard action person. It's really hard to keep me focused. I don't know why IW There's something about action, different strokes

Laura 36:48

for different folks.

Hannah 36:49

Yeah. I sometimes want someone to come in at the end and tell me what happened. Like in a footnote where they're like a town crier came in and said all these things happen, and I would love that, but that is not something that you, that anyone else wants.

Laura 37:02

Hannah, did you have a favorite moment in the curse of Dragon Tail Island?

Hannah 37:07

I really liked the discussion between Scarlet and Marian when Scarlet's trying to convince Marian to come on board and. Give them this very important family dagger. And it's this moment where we know as readers to believe Scarlet, like we want, like all hope against hope. And Marianne has a moment where she's sitting there and she's like, I don't think I can do this. This is my family heirloom. This is the one thing I asked for leaving the palace and I don't know you well enough to actually trust you. And I think so many people do a scene like that really, really poorly. Where. Sure. There's almost a criticism laid on the person who's refusing to do this, and Jonathan did such a good job where I believed that. Marian had every right to say no in the way that she said no. She was very respectful. She was like, I wish I could help. I wish I could believe you, but I just don't think you've shown me enough at this point. Mm-hmm. And then when she does see more, she comes to them and she agrees to do it. And so she really had a foundation that she laid and then she followed through with it. And I just, I thought that was such an effective scene. And it was, I love two people having. A conversation with each other where you see both sides and you're frustrated'cause you know the right answer. But you know

Laura 38:25

sure.

Hannah 38:25

That both people have a, a reason for their position.

Laura 38:29

Sure.

Hannah 38:30

And then yours was the love scene, Laura, right?

Laura 38:33

I, I did actually really enjoy the imagery of the love scene. I think my favorite moments were towards the beginning of the book, the chapters where they were getting the gang back together.

Hannah 38:41

Oh,

Laura 38:41

yeah. Because we were kind of alternating chapters between Jack and Scarlet versus Marian. I found the contrast between the two I was in. Towards the beginning was not as interested in what was going on with Maj Marian, but I was very invested in the feistiness, the let's, we have a lot of action happening. We're going into different places. We're breaking people out of here. We're going into this place and getting this person. I really enjoyed getting the gang back together in all of those chapters. Towards the beginning, they were just tons of fun and fast-paced. Really enjoyed them.

Hannah 39:16

Amazing. Well, everyone, if you enjoyed this discussion and listen to all of the spoilers, make sure you, you are getting Jonathan Deaver's book if you haven't yet. Yes, the Curse of Dragon Tail Island. We both loved it.

Laura 39:28

And you can follow Jonathan online. He's on Blue Sky and on Instagram and maybe some other places too, but I know for sure Blue Sky and Instagram.

Hannah 39:37

That's where we follow him. So,

Laura 39:39

and you can follow him on his website too to see what he is up to@jonathanneve.com.

Hannah 39:44

Well, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Fiction Fans.

Laura 39:49

Come Disagree with us. We are on Blue Sky and Instagram at Fiction Fans Pod. You can also email us at fiction fans pod@gmail.com or leave a comment on YouTube.

Hannah 39:58

If you enjoyed the episode, please rate review, and review on Spotify and Apple Podcast and follow us wherever your podcasts live.

Laura 40:06

We also have a Patreon where you can support us and find exclusive episodes and a lot of other nonsense.

Hannah 40:13

Thanks again for listening, and may your villains always be defeated. Bye. Happy April 1st. Bye.

Laura 40:21

It's April Fool's Day. Woo. If you haven't figured it out, we are Hannah and Laura of our pod on

Hannah 40:30

Wednesday of On Wednesdays we read podcast. If you wanna go listen to Lily and Sarah, you're gonna have to go over there for this week's episode.

Laura 40:40

Hopefully we haven't lost all of the fiction fans, listeners this week, but we really have enjoyed doing a little switcheroo on you all and we hope you continue to listen to Lily and Sarah. We hope you pick up the cursor, dragon Tail Island, and maybe come check out us over@ourpod.com.

Hannah 40:57

Yep, O ww R Pod. Happy April Fool's Day, everyone.

Laura 41:02

Bye

Hannah 41:02

bye.