Ep 97 Glint by Raven Kennedy Review, Summary, Deep Dive Discussion | Plated Prisoner Book 2

Today we’re diving right into book two in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Glint. This book is the perfect journey story (both literal and figurative), and follow up to the polarizing book one. If you weren’t hooked by the end of Gild, we hope you’re hooked now, because these books have A LOT of important things to say. 

We give you our spoiler free star and spice ratings and faves and fails, then dive into the five sentence summary, the tea on the audiobook and all our unfiltered thoughts, and then discuss why and how fantasy books can help us process hard things like abuse and trauma in a safe, neutral space. And why Romantasy (and in particular Raven Kennedy) does that so well. 

Did we find Easter eggs? Do we have unanswered questions? What about plot holes? Are we excited to read the next one? We dive into all this and more, plus a smash or pass with our favorite treasure hoarder, and a luchador with a heart of gold. 

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Check out these narrator interviews? ⬇️

Anthony Palmini gives us the lowdown on what it’s like to voice act Rhysand, Kingfisher, AND Slade Ravinger! 

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Penn Cole talks with us about Strong Female Characters, Feminist Themes, and her debut bestselling Spark of the Everflame Series! https://youtu.be/7ukNImyoObw?si=7C3Y9kOUMN4hfcKb

We interviewed Callie Hart all about her NYT Bestseller Quicksilver! Watch it here! https://youtu.be/CED5s7qDBdQ?si=8xtIRO1IzX6Rsld4

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Transcript

Oh, I'm sorry. Five stars. It was hard, but get over it. Get over that. But like seriously though, a dinosaur egg sized our announcement, if you will. That's what our podcast is all about.

Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. And today we are continuing on our plated prisoner journey. Our first deep dive series of 2026. Today we are covering Glint, which is book two in this Raven Kennedy series. If you didn't know, this series consists of six books. So this why this is a doozy. We're really, you know, committing right here to our full deep dive. We started with Guild book one. Of course, that's where you start. And then in case you missed it, we had a special interview with narrator Anthony Palamini. So we'll have that link down below if you want to listen on into that because he is the voice of the famous King Ravager as well as some others. So you definitely want to check that one out. He does King Fisher and Quicksilver Brimstone Reand dramat dramatitized. I can't ever say that word. Dramatitized. That's not it. help me out. Dramatized dramatized version of the Acatar series. So, definitely give that interview a listen. So, today we're going to be continuing on this journey. We're so excited. I know. Literally though, like so excited. I'm trying to do this thing where I'm responsible and I make all my notes and I map everything out ahead of time before I start the next book because that's where we encounter the problems. Okay. There lies the rub. Yeah. where I'm just like they all I mean you guys know it's like they'll all eventually glob into one gigantic book and I'll be like where did this one end? Where did this one start? Like and then we start getting into like more of the really important details that then get like mushed together. So I'm doing good and today I get to start book three and I'm so excited. So yeah, it's I mean it's going well. Yes. Yes. Yes, it's going well. In case you guys didn't, you know, in case you don't, just to just to remind you, this is a partial reread for me. So, I've read through book three plus 20% of four, don't remember it, whatever. Uh, so right now is a reread. Liz, this is a full reread. So, you know, I'll drop off in that journey and everything will be new to me. So, I'll be joining some of you guys in that. And I I did want to say I can't obviously tell you I'm going to tell you something important but also it will not have any important information because I can't tell you anything important. So buckle up. That's what our podcast is all about. We talk for an hour and a half and say nothing. Here you go. Great. Um so there's a little section at the end of these episodes where we do talk about potential Easter eggs for future episodes. We give you a spoiler warning. Don't worry about it. Okay. I will say this, there was upon my reread of book two, which is the one that we're covering today, good old Glint. Okay. There is a huge Easter egg that I found that I cannot mention to any one of you. Oh, I know. Cuz that's hard cuz it's not like I can ear muff cuz I literally edit these. So, I'll hear it at some point. Yeah. So, you can't know. You can't know. No one can know. But I know. It's eating me up inside that I can't tell you guys until probably book five, I think. So, oh man. Okay. Well, if you want to talk about it, cuz Liz needs to talk about it. Somebody DM Liz. Okay. Please. You can DM her at the Real Life Vegan Wife or even Besties in the Books. No, no, don't don't do Besties of the Books podcast. You might look at it. Yeah. Yeah. So DM Liz if you've read through book five if you need to talk about it also cuz she found an Easter egg in book two and she needs to tell somebody. It's like this big. Like my arms are like as stretched out as they can get. It's the biggest Easter egg. It's like a What would you say? What kind of fish? A marlin. No, it's a dinosaur egg. Like dinosaur egg. It's a dinosaur egg. Easter egg. I I don't know why I went to fish when we're talking about eggs, but I mean fish have eggs, right? Well, yeah. That's very small. But they're really tiny. It's a little tiny fish egg nugget. A dinosaur egg bomb. Wow. Like that. Oh, dang it. Dang it. I really don't like to get spoiled, but I also wish I could know. I wish I could know it and then delete it in my head. I know. Me, too. But I'm zipping that lip and I'm not ruining this for you. So, hey, have you guys reread Glint and picked up on a huge dinosaur size egg Easter egg? If so, DM me because I need to talk about it. Anyway, moving on. Oh, man. Okay, moving on up in this city. Let's go. So, um first 15 minutes of the episode will be spoilerfree as per usual. We'll give you our uh star rating, spice rating. Um and then we'll move into the spoiler section starting with the five sentence summary and then break down our favorite themes, tropes, etc. from there. But before we get into that, we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Seriously, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and your book to come and hang out with us. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen favorite podcasts, including YouTube. We're also on Instagram and Tik Tok. That's Besties in the Books podcast everywhere except Fable, which is our virtual book club landing spot. You can search Besties in the Book Club there. And we've got the Plated Prisoner series on there. We're rolling those books out as we read them and release them. So you can read and follow along with the discussions for books one and two at this time. So enjoy. Mhm. Yeah. Enjoy it. Mhm. So Ashley Liz, we are foregoing our fave and fail of the week for just a big favorite announcement.

Sorry if I scared you listeners out there. A dinosaur eggsized announcement, if you will. Yes. Okay. Um, what say ye? What say ye? You guys, we have officially been invited and accepted the invitation to Romanty BookCon Los Angeles 2026.

This is a huge, huge goal that we've had. We are so excited, so honored, so grateful. What are we going to be doing there, Liz? Well, we're going to be hosting two author panels. Mhm. I'm so excited. It's going to be amazing. Hey guys, Kaylee Smith is going to be on one of our panels. Oh, you know, they couldn't have picked better panels for us to host with the theme. Let me just say you guys Yeah. My gosh. So, um, one of them is going to be about mixing romanty and horror. So, that's the one with Kaylee Smith. Um, which as you guys know since we read them for book club, Fantasma, Enchantra and then, uh, the other panel is going to be about essentially like world building, like expert level world building. Um, and one of the authors on that panel is going to be Laura Salassa, I think is how you say her last name. She's the one who wrote Pestilence that we also read for book club. So, we I mean among I think there's going to be four authors on each panel. So, we've got a lot to catch you guys up on once we all is said and done. I'm so excited because we'll be able to like bring back so much fun stuff to share. Um, but yeah, so we'll be hosting those two panels and then they actually just asked us to host something else. What is it? There will be an inflatable dragon race on one of the nights and they asked if we'd be interested in MCing said dragon race and I emphatically said absolutely we will. Okay, so we are so excited. If you are going, please look for us. We would love it if you come and said hello. If you're interested in still going, as far as filming right now, there are still some ticket levels available, so you can check that out. It's going to be at the Builtmore in Los Angeles. We went last year and had such a blast. We went as regular attendees last year to see what the scene was. It's our first book con, so we set it. We loved it so much. We obviously set it as our goal to be able to at least host one panel. So, when this offer came through, we were so excited. We've been on a high ever since. I was sick last week and you know what? That's what like got me better. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that's amazing." I mean, really, it's it's like I was texting Ashley about when we got the email. Um, you know, we had just finished filming our episode where we talked about what our 2026 goals were and like literally it was like the next day I think or something like that. You were like, "Check the email." We checked the email. I was like, "We already I think it was like the seventh of the month or something like not like a week." And I was like, "Oh, we've already hit a major goal for 2026 and it's been a week. How cool is that?" So, thank you guys because without you, we wouldn't be able to do this. So, cool. So cool. Seriously. Oh my gosh. Come dance with us. Academy. Yeah. Come dance with us. Come have a ball. Come have a ball. Have a ball. We get to wear ball gowns. Like, come on. Ball gown. Let's go. So excited. Ball gown. I know. So excited to see some friends that we made last year again, you know, meet some more of you guys, some more authors, just so many amazing things. It's such a vibe. If we have a whole romanty like BookCon review on our channel, too, that we did a few weeks after we went and just just what a vibe it is. It's such a safe space for lovers of fantasy, romance, everything. Everybody's just having a good time and so we're so excited. Yeah. Yeah. No, what I said was like literally ever since Wicked, every time I think of a ball gown now, I just think ball gown. Ball gown. Ball gown. I'm like it's like just in my brain forever now. So that's great. But yeah. Yeah. So on that note, we will be bringing you all of the info from that later on. But let's get into Plated Prisoner book two. Glint. Let's do it. Let's go. The people are spoilerfree star and spice writing. Yes. I think I went first last time, so you go ahead and take the wheel. Oh, I'm sorry. Five stars. I think I think at this point it's just going to be like, do you even need to ask me anymore? Like I don't Yeah. Okay. Well, it's five stars. Hey. Yeah. Um I feel like I'm curious to hear your take on this because it is very much a journey story, which I know sometimes cannot be your favorite. So, we'll see. Um I can hate a good journey story. hate a good journey story indeed. Um I love a good journey story, so it tracks. Um yeah, the first time I read this, I rated it a five star. I did go back and look at it because I was curious to see if it would be the same rating. This time it was an emphatic five stars again. I felt like the storytelling was excellent. the without giving anything away, the growth of Aurin, our main character, in this book is huge and is kind of the main point of this book, I think. Um, and I love the way that it's written. And again, Raven Kennedy with those last lines there at the end, screaming, screaming, screaming. Yeah. So good. So good. We're two and0 for amazing final sentences in these books so far. Dude, literally keep it coming. Keep it coming. Um, so yeah, five stars. Resounding five stars. Um, I did rate this a two spice. Um, again, it's not Oh, really? Yeah. Huh. Okay, we'll talk about it. Do you think it should be more or less? I don't remember any spice. Oh. Uh, there is a scene between, it's not between the main characters, it's between side characters. I don't want to give anything away, but I think a two is pretty solid when I thought about it. Yeah. Great. We'll talk about it in the spoiler section. I will say I pretty Oh, okay. I remember now. Got it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, two, I would think two because the frequency is minimal obviously, but it is a open door explicit scene. Yeah. Okay. Um, it is consensual though, so that does make it different than book one in that way. Okay. It might not be between the people we want it to be between, but it is consensual. So, hey, there you go. Yeah. Um, okay. So, what progress progress? So, what did you rate this book? Well, okay. So, when I first read this, so a little background, right? If you remember from the first episode, I struggled with the first two books in this series. So hopefully this will give you guys some hope out there who also are struggling with these first two books. It all changed with book three. However, with the reread, everything changed. Okay, so my first time I read it, it was probably a three or four star. I don't know. I was struggling with the journey. Everything felt like it dragged. Now rereading it and I know where things are going. It's a fivestar, baby. Mhm. Mhm. So now I it didn't feel like it dragged this time. So I was it might have been a me problem last year. I don't know. It might have been because I was struggling with the characters and now because I know that this is just the groundwork being laid down, the bricks, if you will. I am obsessed. I see I see you. I see you characters and I love you and you're great. Well, some of you suck, but that's all right, too, you know. And woo. Yeah. Woo. Five stars. It's a journey story, but it's not a journey to nowhere. It's a journey to somewhere important. I know when I read it the first time, I felt like, when are they going to get to where they're going? They're just at these camps and Aren's just running around the camp the whole time. And here we go. This time, I could see the intention with every action. It didn't feel meaningless anymore. Yeah. And I even highlighted it because I think in the fable chat, you know, one of the comments was, "Wow, I feel like a lot has transpired in such a very short time." And they actually say at one point that it was two months. So this book takes place during the course of two months. And I thought that that was really useful because it really helped to put things in perspective. A lot can happen in two months. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. So if anyone was But then then when I got to that part I was like geez that was only two month or that was that was already two months. Like cuz Yeah. Exactly. Cuz so much happened. So much happened. Yeah. Cuz and it didn't feel like it dragged at the same time. So yeah. Yeah. I think that was a perfect amount of time for what happened to happen. Okay, that being said, should we get into the spoiler section with our five sentence summary? Let's go. Imagine I have symbols. Crash, crash, crash. Golden, golden symbols. Okay. Spoilers up ahead. If you don't want to hear anything else about book two, you can save this to your playlist. Listen to it later when you finish the book and catch up and then keep on keeping on, baby. All right, let's go. Let's go.

All right. Just a little light gong just to get us in the mood. Okay. So, five sentence summary of Glint by Raven Kennedy. Ain and the rest of the saddles are traveling with all of Fourth Kingdom soldiers to Ranhold Castle with the intention of confronting Midas and using her as a bargaining chip. However, Commander Rip lets Aaron sleep in his own tent, and everyone seems to be treating her fairly well for a prisoner, even Rip's Wrath, or his right-hand warriors, Lou, Ozri, and Jud, who even help her start training to fight using her ribbons.

One Mhm. Back in sixth kingdom, Molina essentially steals back the throne in Tindle's absence, convinces Lady Helena to support her ruling, and is working on convincing the other nobles to support her right to the throne. However, in her attempt to gain the peasants's favor, they turn on her and blame her for their poverty. And on Molina's way back from her failed humanitarian stunt, I put that in quotes, she runs into someone named Loth Pruin, whose carriage was in their path, who's someone who collects rare and priceless items and who can show someone how to gain their greatest desire using his magic. He does so and magically a map to the seventh kingdom appears that was destroyed hundreds of years ago.

two. Rissa and Aurin make a deal that Rissa will keep Arin's secret that she got some of Midas' power when he guilded her and now she can turn things to gold sometimes if Ain gets her enough gold for her to buy her own freedom as soon as they get to Fifth Kingdom. Ain also finds out Mist is pregnant with Tindle's baby. Three. Oo. Yeah. Ain accidentally throws Hojat, the healer, across the room with her ribbons when he startled her and interrupts a training exercise in which Rip makes her fight him, causing her to release some of her power. And she admits she's Fay and actually from Anwin. Afterward, Rip kisses her when he catches her sending a messenger bird to Midas, even though he already knew, even though Midas already knew and he did nothing to retrieve her and she's left bewildered by it. So Rip offers her a place to stay in his kingdom, but she rejects it. Still wanting to go back to Midas for Aurin. Fourth army surrounds Ranhold Castle and is poised to attack when Midas asks for Arin in exchange for a meeting with him. Arin is promptly reunited with Midas, who apologizes profusely and promises to keep her safe by keeping her trapped inside an even smaller and darker cage. She panics and tries to free herself, accidentally turning her body double to gold, before Midas locks her in his room and leaves to make a deal with Commander Rip that his army will depart in exchange for Deadwell, a remote mountain town that no one wants. And in the last second, King Ravager bust into Midas' rooms, finds Ain, and introduces himself as Slade. Rip and King Rot are one and the same.

So freaking good. so freaking good. Oh my god. Oh my gosh. It's like listen, when you know what's going to happen and it's still and it's better. Oh yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. There's something so satisfying about that, isn't there? Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you could do a reread and you're like, "Oh, blah blah blah. Okay, cool. I knew that." No, this was still getting me good. Get me good round every turn. That's why I'm so excited for book three because we know what happens and oh yeah, I'm waiting for it. I'm like, "Yeah, let's go. Let's go, baby. Let's go. It's go time." Okay. So, why don't we just kick it off with three tropes that you loved? Yeah. All right. Well, enemies to friends. Mhm. Basically with everyone in Fourth Kingdom. Yeah. Uh, you know, I had that on there, too. Yeah. Great. She's scared of everybody. They're awesome. So, hey. Yeah. Yep. Uh, hidden identity, obviously. Literally, I put that one, too. I mean, hey, it's like there are there aren't a lot of traditional tropes, I would say, in this one since it's very much like a journey of kind of a little bit of self-discovery. Yeah. Um, so it it's not a surprise that we love the same things. I mean, hello. that moment I do I think I remember being surprised when it was okay here's this is what it was okay I remember everybody talking about Slade before I read this right everybody's like Slade Slate Slade and I'm just like where's the Slade guy you know cuz at first you're like is this Midas this guy sucks and then okay must not be him okay is this Rip maybe that's his first name maybe it's Ravager King Rot aka you know and it's both of them what could be better. Yeah. What could be better than one, but two in one? For sure. An identity. And of course, uh Horin's secret identity. You know, it's unraveling right now. We know she's had it. So, now it's unraveling and we know she's from this place. So, yep. Loving that. Mhm. And then the last one I put is character development. So, even though we still have a long way to go with Orin, we are finally seeing we finally the veil has been cracked. She can see her cage for what it is and I'm ready. It's go time. Yep. Mhm. Um so yeah, I put hidden identity and chosen one. So kind of same thing. Um because yeah, like not only did we obviously figure out who Ravager, Slade, Rip are, right? It's like we're also figuring out Yeah. that Aaron is full fay. She's told us she's from Anwin. We're not really sure exactly how her history has all played out yet. like we're still waiting to find that out. Um, enemies to friends, of course. I love the wrath. Like literally that plays into my third one, which is found family because we're going there and I love Lou. I love Ozri. I freaking love is it Jud? Jud? Yeah. I always forget his name. But yeah, it's like they're all great and I feel like the dynamic that they have with each other and then with, you know, quote unquote Commander Rip is like just so funny because they're all just friends and she's thinking like, oh, they must all fear him and hate him and they're like actually they super respect him, but they're all buddies, too, which I it's the best. It's the best. It's like what we love about so many fantasy things, you know, so many found family and fantasy. It's what we love and we love to see it so good. Yes. So, what about a trope that you hated or maybe didn't love? Oh, hated though it was necessary. I want to change the thing. Betrayal. Midas's final betrayal. Throwing her in there. Yeah. I mean, we'll talk about that, but during parts that we didn't like because I feel like I have a lot to say about that. But yeah, um I put actually um more so with like the saddles. I just put women hating each other over a dude. I freaking hate it. I hate it so much. I get it, especially in this circumstance because there's a lot at stake, right? But it's just uh it makes me so mad dealing with like all the cattiness of how much they hate her when it's like she's trying to help you too. Like she's doing the best she can. She's also a prisoner. Like there's a lot going on there. Yeah. But then they see special treatment from their eyes with her again. Totally. She's not in there with them. Yeah. So, it's a both and situation, but it does bother me sometimes, like especially with Mist where I'm like, "Girl, why you got to be so mean?" But then we find out what's going on with her and you're like, "Oh, no. Not good." Yeah, totally. So, what about like a micro trope that you liked or disliked? I don't know how to word this. Maybe there's a word for it. You let me know. Um, like giving space to grow. Like I like that nobody's forcing Orin to see her cage for what it is, right? Because they don't they also don't really know what's going on, but they kind of like just are guiding her, you know, the whole friend group that's forming and Rip. They're not forcing her to look it in the mirror yet, you know? So, whatever that would be. I mean, I just feel like that would probably be some kind of like, you know, a subheading of found family cuz it's like they're trying to like support her and like induct her into the group, but you can't. It's like the same as with, you know, now we know Slade. He's He doesn't want to force her to be part of his court. Yeah. He gave her the offer. He gave her the olive branch. He's told her, you know, I want you to join us. You're more than welcome here. Like, you can have your freedom. Like, all this kind of stuff. But he needs her to choose that for herself. Like, he doesn't want to repeat the same things that Midas has done to her. He's giving her the option of free will, which she's never had before. Yeah. So, yeah, I feel like that's got to be somewhere under the umbrella of like found family somehow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. supporting characters. I put like micro trope unique powers. Yeah. Like I love the gold and I love the idea of rot. Like I feel like it's very interesting. Mhm. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Different kind of take on magic and it's kind of interesting to see like where's that going to go because we have like a we have a lot of dark and light symbolism happening. Um okay. So themes. Why don't you hit us with some themes? All right. Um, and this one positive camaraderie. I don't know again what you were just saying how it's not that they fear their commander or their king as we know now both. It's not that they fear him, they respect him and they are all a part of a team. And then same thing community, you know, um, and compassion, just compassion overall for her situation and everything. Yeah. No, those are all really good themes. I feel like they go really well with um it's like yeah, we're on a literal journey, but it's like really a symbolic journey, too, because she in those two months a lot changes within her. I mean, she gets up the courage to tell Midas like I don't want to be in a cage anymore and I don't need to be in a cage anymore. Like I can, you know, defend myself. I can protect myself. like I can take what comes. And he's like, so it's like she figures out that actually like him putting her in a cage under the guise of her own protection is actually not real or true. It's like that's being shattered. And I love that whole process. I mean, it's really terrible and very traumatic for her, but I think that I just I love the way that Raven Kennedy wrote it. It's really impactful, I think. Yeah, totally. So I put for themes uh regular people being caught in the middle of ruler schemes for power. Yeah. So we notice this a lot with Molina, right? That she's essentially usurping Midas and in his absence and is trying to manipulate the town's folk or whatever you want to call them um to just to gain favor. not necessarily to help them or to make anything better, but just to give herself more power. Um, and this plays out in a lot of different ways in this series, but I thought that was important to note. Um, also I did write a little quote down here uh that Molina says, actually, "My father used to say that people are just an unlit wick ready to catch." And I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." H maybe some foreshadowing perhaps. Um, my second one was being brainwashed into being grateful for your own abuse. Um, I feel like that's a huge one, you know, especially I just made a note here, the flashback to Midas gifting her her cage for the first time and her thanking him for it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It was very symbolic though. It's like she's been so just mistreated in the world so far that to her young eyes a cage is safety. Yeah. And it and you know we don't want to completely like detract away from the fact that Yeah. like I'm sure being in a cage at times was probably better than whatever else was going on out there, but that doesn't mean that it's good or that she should be grateful for it. Yeah. or that it's even the best option. Uh yeah, I mean listen, he's a king who's supposedly like the most powerful in the kingdom and she's surrounded by a ginormous castle. There's no reason in the world he needs to keep her in a cage. Like he could just keep her in the castle at the worst. You know what I mean? Like hello. Yeah. Like that's crazy. Yep. Um that's horrible. And then I put propaganda. Yeah. Um because we actually see that a lot with specifically Commander Rip and Slade. You know, it's like they call you Commander Rip cuz you rip people's heads off and they're all just like snickering like, "Oh, okay." You know, we find out why. I don't want to give anything away, but we do find out why they call him that later on. So, I don't want to give anything away right now. But yeah, it's just interesting how we see. I mean, it's explicit, right? we've got these kingdoms that are all, you know, separate, kind of out for each other at this point. Um, and or out for themselves against each other at this point. And it's kind of interesting to see how each one is so like a caricature of themsel, but especially King Ravaging because he's just so formidable. So interesting. Yeah. Why would they make him out to be such a bad guy when perhaps the evidence to prove that it might not fully be there? Well, as far as I know right now, I love that they are kind of embracing that propaganda and like that's fine. They're using it to their advantage, you know? It's like they want to make this um character of us. That's fine. We'll use it, you know? Yeah. Shows you also how you can use propaganda to serve the greater good sometimes. Yeah. It can be twisted twisted back. Yeah. It's a It's definitely a both and situation because they are using it, you know, we'll find out even more in the future like for good in certain ways. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Okay. Let's see. What do we have next? Oh, okay. So, I looked up the Goodreads ratings for this one. So, I had briefly told you guys before, each book does get a higher rating than the last one. They just kind of keep going up and up. This one has a 4.15 on Goodreads out of about 284,000 um ratings. So, not bad. Better than the first one for sure. Yes, for sure. And I think that's because we get the character growth. We can see what's happening. You know, it's very good. Let's keep it going. All right. Liz, what's your favorite part in this book? Um, I have to look at my notes because I literally loved like so much of this. Yeah. Okay. I just put I had two. I Whatever. I can't choose. All right. Yeah, it's fine. Um, I put the fight circle with Rip because I just I always love that moment when, you know, we see that trope a lot, right, in romantic books where they're training the FMC who doesn't know how to use her power. You know, the MMC is trying to essentially go to her to like get it out of her and that's what happens. Yeah. Um, but I just love that moment between them. That was really important. Um, and similarly, I put I loved her conversation that she had with Lou. Um, and during the quote section, I'll definitely make sure to share that. But Lou has a lot of wisdom. Yeah. And, um, I really like that she never once has been rude towards Aurin, catty towards Aurin. um hasn't acted superior or you know like a know-it-all or like separate from her. It's like from the very beginning she was like grab the other side of that barrel like you're coming with me and you're going to get inducted into like she's she's a girl's girl right off of the bat and like that made me love Lou from like literally the first second she was chills. Yes. Yeah. Um what was your favorite part? Well, bouncing right off of that, it's literally seeing people in Fourth's Kingdom and in the circle at this camp treating her with genuine kindness for the sake of kindness, for nothing else. They don't want anything from her. And I think this is the first time that we've seen in Orin's life that a female has been kind to her, a male has been kind to her without wanting to sleep with her, you know. So, I'm loving this moment for Orin. I think it's very important that sometimes you could just be friends because you could be friends. Like we don't need the cattiness. You don't need to try to get something out of somebody. And I think that her seeing this is so important for her character growth and development cuz as far as right now it makes sense for her to be in a cage. Everybody sucks. But maybe everybody doesn't suck, right? Maybe. Yeah. It's just her world is expanding big time. Yeah. So that was my favorite moment is seeing that. Yeah. Oh, I maybe is that the quote that you have from Lou? So, we can insert it here if that makes sense. I don't know. From Lou, there will always be someone who will try to make us choose option one, but don't don't lie down and make it easier for the world to keep you under its thumb. Own your [ __ ] and choose yourself. Yeah. Was that the one? Yeah. So, I put the full quote down there. So, she starts it off though with, "We're women in a man's world." I'm sure you know how that is. And she says, "I do." And she says, "Good. Then you know that we have two options. The first is we can conform and be what they want and act to please. It's the safe option." And then she says, "What's option two?" And then she goes into what you just said. Yeah. I mean, hey, this whole book, when I was looking at my quotes, I was like, the whole book was highlighted. I was like, listen. Yeah. I can't like I really had to like dig deep to like choose like five that I wanted to share because I kid you not when I say this whole book was like quotable. We just be reading the book off to you, you know. Yeah. Which maybe we should just Hey, it's story hour. Hey, we're but we're no Anthony Palamini. Okay. So, just go listen to it start to finish. My least favorite part was how well Raven Kennedy wrote the scene where Aaron goes back to Midas expecting him to welcome her with open arms, be so happy to see her, you know, devastated that they've been separated for two months and just want the best for her. and he apologizes profusely and then tries to put her right back into a smaller but doesn't hold her. Still keeps her at a distance. Yeah. Because she's gross basically cuz she's gross cuz she's like been not showering enough and like whatever cuz she's literally been on the road for two months. Okay. Like and he doesn't know that she was treated well by them either. So, like for all intents and purposes, like she could have been an actual prisoner this whole time and he's still like, "Ew, you haven't taken a bath, so like stand over there." Yeah. Like even though she could have been tortured for the last two months for all he knows. Like he doesn't know what happened. Um so it's hard to really convey like this was my least favorite part because it made me feel so like devastated and icky, but at the same time like it was so important of a part because it was like pivotal in her character development. Um, you know, it's times like these in books that really I start thinking in the moment about the author um, a lot because like and I know nothing about about Raven Kennedy's real life whatsoever. So, I'm not trying to like, you know, postulate or like make anything up, but it makes me wonder genuinely in moments that are written as well as this moment if you could write that that well without experience. Um, and it really just got to me cuz it's like that sickening feeling when she realizes that she was never in the cage for her own safety. Yeah. Ever. Yeah. Um, and it was all about control and it was all about what does he say? I don't What did he say? He said something like he just wants her for her power. Yeah. I can't remember exactly. something I need. She said something like, "I need something from you." And he says, "Well, I don't need you. I just need you for your power." And that's when he like walks away. And it was like, yeah, it was like he finally I think I commented something uh in the fable chat that was like, "Hey, uh, this moment is reminding me a lot about like a recent thriller that we read and talked about." Not to say too much. Yeah. But it's like this switch that that you can see happening that it's like, you know, I'm one of those people and I think you are too, right, where you're reading a part in a book and you're watching it play out like a movie, right, in your mind. And it was like that switch when the facade that Midas puts on that face of trying to convince her that he's a nice guy who's doing this for her own protection falls and you see that he's actually evil. Yeah. And for the chilling Yeah. But I feel like the way that it was written was so just spot-on, accurate, believable, and it just reminds me of why like reading fantasy can be such an important way to process situations like these. Um, yeah, just yeah, my least favorite part because yes, it was chilling, but at the same time, one of the most important parts thus far, I would say, in the series. Yeah, the moment I think this we can say it this way without being spoilery. If you watched The Housemaid, the recent movie, there's a moment in that movie that is what Liz is describing that you can actually like see it. That is the feeling that you get when you're reading this, too. Woo. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And it's like that second when your whole perception of not just your perception of that person, but your whole perception of your reality surrounding the life that you've created with this person shatters. And it only takes a second. Yeah. And um because they've shown you deeply behind the veil who they really are at the core of themselves and that's what happens during that chapter and yeah, it was really important. Mhm. Yeah. So what about you? What was your least favorite part? Literally all that and I cannot say it as eloquently as the So, she does say I wrote a couple little quotes down about it. She does say, "I've been bending over backwards for so long that I forgot I even had a spine." Yeah. And I feel like that was a really important That was like it things were clicking. Things were starting to click and she's like, "No, I'm going to fight back. Like I can't You cannot shove me back in there. Like I can't go back in there. Like I don't want that." feel the puzzle pieces clicking into place like with each like other paragraph, you know? Yeah, that was another chapter that I felt like I was highlighting everything in cuz it's her moment that she figures it all out. The manipulation, he's incredibly quick wit and he uses it not for being funny and good, but being a horrible person. He can change it so fast. He can manipulate her so quickly. that that horrible moment. She accidentally turned her body double gold and she feels horrible and he instantly knows how to use it against her because obviously this has happened once before and it shattered her and he knew he knew her weaknesses and how to use it against her because he's been watching her. He knows her and he knows how to get to her and he knows how to keep her in that cage. And I'm glad to see that she's trying to get out of it and she's not just completely shutting down. She's still trying when the book ends. Yeah. Well, and you can see the mind games. Like I just pulled up um you know the quotes that I highlighted from the chapter. You can see the mind games that he's playing with her because he says, "Oh, well, if you don't want to get back in the cage, that must be because you betrayed me." Yeah. Like she instantly flipped it on her. Yeah. And it says he's agitated, cheeks reen, eyes lit with that temper. I tried to subdue. I failed miserably in keeping him calm and open to what I have to say. So that puts the responsibility on her to keep her abuser calm. And then he says, "But if you didn't betray me, then prove it. Get into the cage." Yeah. And it remind I'm getting chills right now. It reminded me of like, you know, in the Salem witch trials when they were like, "Well, if we tie all these rocks to you and throw you into a stream and you don't float, then you're a witch. But if you do float, you're a witch." Right? It's like literally he's like, "Oh, well, if you didn't betray me, then prove it and lock yourself back up into the cage again." It's like, "No matter what, you can't win." You know, and she says, "I changed my mind." And he says, "I didn't give you permission to change your mind." Oh my gosh. Yep. Yeah. And then he mocks her when she says, you know, I can you listen to me? I am a strong I'm stronger now after these experiences that I've had for the past 2 months. I think that I would be okay to be outside of the cage. And then he mocks her and he says, "When I found you, everything was okay." Yeah, exactly. You know, and he's just beating her down again and just trying to manipulate her into thinking that that's her best option. It's just it's Yeah. It's the whole afraid of her own self as well. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Brutal. Brutal. I mean, she even says, "He wouldn't hold me for comfort, but he'd hold me for control." Yeah. It's like Yeah. It's exactly what you were saying before. It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's important. It's important. And like you said, this is a a way that people can digest past trauma. I hope they're not experiencing right now, but if they are, see the red flags in a fantasy setting. It's just a little bit hard or easier to digest those things that are going on when we can be removed from it. But we can see we don't want these things for our characters. We sure as hell don't want them for ourselves, you know, and recognize red flags when you're in situations that you need to get out of. For sure. Well, and it's like it's a very literal translation, right? It's like Midas is literally wanting to keep her in a cage, right? It's like that's very literal. Okay. like you know that type of subtle manipulation where you know lots of times people find themselves in a position where they're they are very isolated and alone. Mhm. Isn't as literal as a cage but it is the same type of um kind of like erosion of agency and like separation from friends and family and isolation from things that you enjoy like things like that. So I feel like there's a lot of parallels. Yeah. I mean, Midas isn't trying to squash the bickering and stuff that goes on between the saddles and her, you know, he wants everybody to be an [ __ ] to her. He wants that. He wants her to have no friends. He wants her to think that the world sucks and this is your best situation. How often do we see that in real life? People ask because then she thinks that she needs him. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yep. So, what about uh least favorite and most favorite characters? All right, change it up here. Favorite characters. I love Lou, Jud, and Ori. Love the crew. I love that they're called the Wrath because it's so like it makes it sound so like formidable, and they are. Yeah. But I just I love the balance, you know? It kind of just reminds me of any great found family, right? Yep. Yeah. And I I'm liking Rip, guys. I am. I'm giving him a chance. I like him. Not that I didn't like him the first time, but I just wasn't emotionally invested and I am now. So, he's a good dude. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good start. It's a good start. I mean, really, we don't know a whole lot of about him at this point, right? I mean, and I think I still was pretty skeptical of everybody also, just like Orin was like, or who's going to turn on her, you know, everything. And it doesn't seem to be that way. Seems like they want her for her. They want her to make her own choice cuz Rip could have been like Midas and been like, "Well, you made the wrong choice. You're still staying. Sorry." You know, yeah. I'm going to throw you into a different cage. Fine. And he knows she'll see. And if she doesn't, well, then I don't know what to do for you. You know, if you still don't see it when you go back. So, yeah. Who's your least favorite character? Midas always and forever. He's the worst. Yeah. If you had to pick a second, who wasn't Midas, who would you pick? I don't know yet. Uh maybe Molina's little like, you know, the advisers. I don't know. They're stupid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They kind of suck cuz right now I'm on the fence about Molina. I want her to do good. I'm happy that she's usurping them. She's kind of a dummy, but she's also been sheltered, so I hope she can rise to the occasion. We'll see where it goes. I don't know. So, hey, um she's not on my list yet of anything. Yeah, she's on She's on my watch list. On your watch list. She should be. I mean, that's the thing. She's intentionally uh not good or bad right now, right? She's like I mean, she kind of sucks, but she's also like I think has some good intentions and also bad intentions. Yeah. We have to see how it pans out. Yeah. Uh yeah. Favorite character? I put Lou. She's my favorite character right now, but I also do love Jed and Ozri as well and Rip for sure. Um, I also love Rissa. I think that she's really smart and I'm excited to see where that goes. Um, yeah, least fave. I mean, hello. Like, obviously Midas is literally one of the scariest in my opinion, uh, you know, villains that we've read about. Um, because he's personal, too. I think that's the thing. We read about a lot of like, you know, villains who want power or want to take over the realms or like whatever, but he's specifically terrible to her. Yeah. specifically. It's like it's so gross. Um, but I also put Molina question mark because I feel like in this book her behavior sucks. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, nothing compared to Midas and she wants to screw him over. So, I'm like, well, yeah, that's nice. Yeah, he deserves it. Um, but also she's very uh there could be better ways to do what she's trying to accomplish. So, but she's figuring it out. Yeah. Do we get into the quote section? Let's do some quotes. Let's ping pong. All right. All right. I've worn a crown my entire life and I'm finally going to wield it, says Queen Molina. Let's see. Because they didn't let her be a queen cuz she doesn't have magic. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Um, let's see. This is from RIP. I can't wait to see the rest of you when you let it go. When you finally let that out, your fury is going to light up the spirit you've shadowed. He looks like someone who's won, boasting in superiority. I hope you burn so bright that you scorch your golden king down to ash.

So good. So good. After all, I've been lying to myself for years. Pretty lies cover up a lot of ugly truths. M

sometimes he murmurss, things need first to be ruined in order to be remade. Yes, but I'm looking now. I'm looking. I'm not romanticizing the 15year-old self that I was. I don't like what I see. 15 15 years old. 15. And she's supposed to just be cool with the choices that were made when she was 15 for literally the rest of her life till she dies. Okay, makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Uh let's see. Maybe ignorance isn't a vice, but a reprieve. And a reprieve into ignorance is something I've done myself many times. Oh my goodness. So this is the big moment for Aurin cuz like I said, I highlighted a lot in that chapter. This is such a pivotal moment in her growth. My mind blares with that realization in my head and with it everything, every single tattered pain, ignored doubt, shoved aside feeling, they all come barreling out. I let him put me in a prison.

Yeah. She was 15. Yeah. Literally, like just to piggy back off that, I put, "How did I mistake an owner for a lover?" Yeah. Truly, truly. Oh my gosh. So, let's see. I have one more. I mean, I have a billion more, but I have one more I want to say. Okay. No, Orin. You're the one that needs to burn. You need to spark to life and fight. Stop letting him dull you. Stop letting the whole [ __ ] world trample you. He shouts, making me flinch from the vehement demand. If you tried, you could shine brighter than the [ __ ] sun. Instead, you've chosen to sit back and wither. Oh, yeah. Oh, rip. Oh, yeah. Um, so this is that quote we were referring to. So, he hesitates a moment and then says, "I love you, but I don't need your forgiveness, precious. I need your power." That's what it is. Boom. Mhm. Okay. So, this is one funny bonus one because we got to brighten up the mood a little bit over here in the books. Okay. Soldier says, "Commander, I must insist that you don't touch King Midas' favored." Ostrich, I must insist that you shut the [ __ ] up. Yeah, I know. I love it so much. Yes, I love that this found family that's forming has that winty witty banter we all love and they're fun and they're silly and again, they're showing a other types of people in the world and not everybody sucks. I will say without giving too much more away that Ozark ends up being one of my favorite characters in this whole series. I can see it. He's great. He's such a good character. Okay. Can't wait to see where his arc goes. You all will love it. Trust me. Turn. So, stop the show. I'm reading. Let's go. I know. I literally was texting Ashley before this. I was like, I can start book three today. Yay. I'm so excited. Yeah. Okay. So, let's just talk about it really quick since you didn't remember the spice. How was how was the spice? Unre unremarkable. Unremarkable. Yeah. Yeah. I would say I mean at this point it's Molina and her male saddle, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean it's just it's like transactional. They're not in a relationship. They're not like it's not a significant um storyline at this point or relationship. So, we don't really have any spice in this book that is going anywhere interesting. Like, we still haven't gotten there. We're not at that point yet. We're in the very preliminary beginnings of trying to figure out who's going to be together. Yeah. And I felt like any other spice wouldn't have made sense. Yeah. No, I agree. I 100% agree. I love a good spicy romanty and I'm perfectly fine with the fact that up until this point, literally all we have gotten was one whisper of a kiss between Rip and Aaron. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Mhm. Um everything else has been tensionbuilding um banter mostly with him poking and proddding her to try to get her to see the reality that's in front of her eyes. but then also um her own power. Yeah. And I think that's very intentional too with Raven Kennedy to not have them go farther than that kiss as well because we sometimes we have to read about characters that have that okay now I slept with this guy and I need to figure out those feelings also and is that manipulating the way I feel about Midas? We don't want any of that. for what it is without

she did. Well, and I think that's intentional with Slade, too. He doesn't want her, you know, running from Midas directly into his, you know, quote unquote protection or into his arms. like he recognizes, you know, cuz at this point we're living under somewhat of the assumption that Slade probably knows more about what she is, right? He's fa he knows something. And so he knows what she's capable of, at least to a degree. And so he needs her to like step into her own independent power before he wants her to even try to think about like a romantic relationship moving forward with someone else. You know, she needs to come to that conclusion on her own. So I appreciate that about his character. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So, hey, Ashley, would you read the next one if we weren't doing it for the podcast? Uh, yes, I did. I will. Let's go. What about you? Let's go. Yeah. I mean, you were you were waiting for the day that we could reread it. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Like literally this I've been waiting for this day for a couple years. Yeah, for sure. Here we go. We're here. Yeah. Did you listen to the audiobook at all this time? Yeah, I did. I think majority was Kindle this time, but I'm very much like I have all of them on Kindle and all of them I mean they're all on KU. So, um I have all of them on Kindle and then all of them on audiobook as well cuz I got them during the last Audible sale. And um so I'm just fully bouncing back and forth, bouncing back and forth. Um just whatever is convenient at that time. The audio book's great. It's excellent. Yeah. Yeah. No notes, no complaints. Yeah. Yeah. I did Kindle this time and then I had purchased the audio for Gleam, I think is the next one, for uh back when I was reading these. So, I will be switching to audio for the next one fully. Feel like we'll get more of um Rip's voice in this one, too. So, hey. Um excited for that. I have some audio Audible reviews. So, it gets a 4.7 out of 4.3,000. Hello. That's really good. 4.8 out of five for performance. Huh? I didn't understand that statistic. He said out of 4.3,000. I don't know what that means. 4,300. Okay. All right. Great. That's what I thought, but I was like, wait, what? Well, weird cuz 4.7 4.3. Yeah. 4,300 roughly. Reviews 4.7 overall. Performance 4.8 out of five. Story 4.7 out of five. And uh someone gave a shout out to Sir Anthony. Anthony or anything Anthony is in. I always listen to it. makes everything so amazing and alive. Lily is also so amazing. This book is so good. Slowburn my rip. Yeah. People said even better than the first book. Excellent story and voice actors. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. See if there's any more. It's so I wish Audible would um let us do like one star and stuff, you know, but it doesn't. It just lists as most recent. Oh, okay. So, that's what sucks. But it's okay. Listen, who if you're rating this book, the audio book, I mean the book in general, but the audio book a one star. Like, are you okay? Yeah. I want to That's why I want to read it. I don't know. I can't find the one stars. I There might not be one stars, but in general, Audible doesn't let you sort that way, which is really annoying. But I know, right? Are you okay? Are you okay out there? Dude, have you listened to another audio book? It's like in the scheme of audio books, you don't get much better than this. Let's be honest. Yeah. How was this as a followup? Like how was it as a book, too? Great. In my reread, great. In my first read, it was hard. So, I see you guys that are struggling. It was hard. Okay. So, you can relate to that. Get over that. But like, seriously, though, yeah, in a not me way. Get over it. Keep going. You're doing it wrong. Trust me, I did too. Oh, boohoo. Like, put on the Audible. Listen to Anthony Palini in your ears. Like, okay. Like, we don't feel sorry for you. But no, seriously. Ain. Ain is a really difficult character at the beginning. Like, I get it. But now we know why, right? She's manipulated. She was stunted. Literally, she had nothing to help her grow as a person until she got out of her cage. No. Can't fault her for that. Yeah. um 15. Literally, I think this is the perfect book to because it didn't move the plot along too fast. It accomplished what it needed to accomplish as far as character development for Aaron goes and a little bit of relationship building with her and the wrath and with Rip. You know, to go back to what we were talking about with book one being a really hard struggle and slog for a lot of people, I do not know that there would be a way to show Aurin's growth of her literally breaking free from the cage that holds her without first establishing why she's in that cage and how much that has stifled her power, her personality, her perspective, like all those things. It couldn't have been possible to do that. Well, yeah. Like what? Like what what would I feel like that would have been too oversimplified and would have ruined her character arc if Raven Kennedy was like, "So, you know, she's been in a cage for 10 years and now we're just going to blow right past that and like start at the good stuff." No. Right. You need to know why. You need to know how far the manipulation went. You need to know. You need to see all of this. Yeah. I couldn't I couldn't change a thing. I wouldn't, couldn't, won't. Shouldn't, won't it? So, stay the course, my friends. Yes. Trust the process. Yeah. Just do it. Just do it. So, do you have any last words to say? Plot holes, unanswered questions you feel like need addressing, etc. So,

is it that Midas has no magic at all? He's using Orin. Feel like that's safe to say at this point. Yeah, cuz what power does he speak of? It's not her ribbons that she mostly hides. You know, what would be his vested interest in keeping her trapped if she did not have power that he needed? He even admits it. He admits that he just needs her power. What does that mean? Um, that's huge. The other big question is, well, I have a couple. What's going on with Molina in this weirdass map? Okay. Mhm. Yeah. What's going on there? We thought that that didn't exist anymore. What's happening with that? Okay, that's important to kind of take a mental note of. Yeah. The other one is why in the world would you know RIP King Ravager be negotiating with Midas over what is it called now? Basically like that freaking mountain town in the snow out in the middle of BF. Okay. Like what's there? What's there? Let's see. I want to specifically talk about what it's called because I can't remember. Dead well. It's called Deadwell. Dead well. Yeah. Why? Why? What's up there? Why? It's not It's not nothing. I'll tell you that because why would he want it if it was nothing, Anna? Yeah. So, maybe keep that in the back of the mind, too. What strategy are we perhaps um going to look at with that? Yep. any Easter eggs you picked up that you want to mention? Okay, we've said this quote before, but I'm going to say it again in this one. And if you know, you know, but this is a very important quote, and it's not spoilery because Rip says it in this book, book two, Glint. I can't wait to see the rest of you. When you let it go, when you finally let that out, your fury is going to light up the spirit you've shadowed. He looks like someone who's won, boasting in superiority. I hope you burn so bright that you scorch your golden king down to ash. Yeah. So, it's the same quote I said earlier, but it's like, yeah, literally. What? Hm. Interesting. Interesting. What could that mean?

We'll just leave you at that. Okay, we go. Well, there was one. Okay. So, there's one more little um Easter egg. Okay. That I noticed that was not the gigantic dinosaur egg. Okay. Um the quote is, "The sun flees and my gold touch magic flees with it." So, like last time when I was like, "Hm, does the sunlight have anything to do with her power?" It's kind of seeming like there is a direct correlation there. So, what does that mean? Yeah. So, also keeping that in mind. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Something's up. Do you have any bonus questions? I couldn't think of any other ones. Okay. So, what about you? No. I feel like that pretty much like sums up this book. It's a journey to Orin figuring out what she wants in her life and being locked in a cage for the rest of it. Yeah. Not Not it. My prediction would be the next one. Okay. She's decided she doesn't want in this cage. How is she going to escape from it? Mhm. gone. Like, how pissed is Midas gonna be that freaking rip rip ravinger slate is there, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And he's thinking like, oh, okay. Like, I got off easy. I gave him this weird freaking mountain town out in the middle of nowhere no one cares about and he's just going to leave with his army. Well, is that what's going to happen? Is it? Well, they know they could stay for like a week or whatever. A little rendevous is. Yeah. So, but Schmidas is pretty possessive, pretty crazy. But he also doesn't realize what he's up against here because he's just a dummy. So he's pretty delusional. Yeah. Yeah. It's worked in his favor for a long time. Manipulative. So it is that is something that I'm curious that I think that I am probably going to pay more attention to the second read is um how did Tindle get here? Mhm. You know what I mean? And it's like that's another really interesting piece of the story because he was not I mean we know that he took the throne essentially from Molina by marrying her. But how did we get here? So that's one of the things that I do appreciate about these books is the really interesting flashbacks and like little pieces of lore. There wasn't necessarily a lore section like I did last time for this one that I thought was um particularly important, but I will continue to put make those little notes in there if I feel like we need them in the future. But that's definitely something I'm gonna be paying closer attention to like how because he it's not like he's from a long line of royalty. He's not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like a nobody. He's like a nobody that somehow got to where he is by um shockingly stealing power from women. Oh yeah. Well, what a surprise. What a theme. Um okay. Okay. Well, if you feel good about Glint, book two in the Played Prisoner series, then I think it's safe to say that we could close the chapter on this one and get started on book three, which is Gleam, right? Gleam. Yes. Gleam. All right. Mhm. How about an unhinged smasher pass? Let's go. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. You have one for me? I do. Okay. So, Ashley has mentioned a couple times that she went and saw the new Anaconda movie. So, it got me thinking, okay, about Jack Black specifically. Oh, okay. Uhhuh. So, this version of Smasher Pass is a choose your adventure. Choose your Jack Black. Go. Okay. I have to pick a Jack Black. Pick a Jack Black. Oh, he's so great. I love him. Like to hang out with him someday. Um, not as a smash, but if I have to pick a smash. Um, it's hard because we just did Bowser. Bowser. Is it cheating if I say Bowser? Cuz he's the voice of Bowser and then he's a turtle dragon. No, you have to pick human. Jack Black playing the human character. Okay. Well, let me look at his IMDb cuz I might forget somebody. See, that's funny because I immediately knew who I would pick. Oh, but I can't tell you till after you tell me cuz I don't want to ruin. Okay. Yeah. Okay. You got it. Nacho Libre. Let's go. I don't know. Oh, no rhyme or reason to me. What can I say? He's great. He's romantic. He loves her with a passion, you know. Yeah. Let's go with that. Mhm. See, I picked his character in the holiday because he's such a sweet baby angel in that movie. I love him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That went through, too. But I still didn't love that he kept going back to her. And he's also kind of a dummy and he doesn't see what's right in front of him either. Like neither of them do. So I think for me it's like everyone's so obsessed with Jude Law in that movie and he's just never been my cup of tea. I was always Jack Black in that for that movie and so it bothered me. You know I've only ever been for Jude Law in that movie. Anything else though I'm like for Jude Lawrence. Yeah. Jude Law. See you know I love Jack but his character does bug me a lot in that movie. That's why see Jude Law's character just like is there's nothing about his character that like I necessarily like. Like I'd be like, "Okay, I'm going back to the US. Goodbye." Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, what do you have for me, dude? He was in Water World. Wait, Jack. Watch that. It says says he was in Water World. We were already talking about watching Waterorld when I come down there to visit you next month. So now we have to what if that's his best character and we didn't even know it. I'm sure he's just a little like side character. It's like down low on the list. Sometimes that's all it takes. Yeah. And I I couldn't pick like School of Rock or anything just because his character like I love School of Rock. It's one of my favorites, but you know, he's also kind of a schlub. That's just, you know, uh yeah, that's good. Good. Good dude. 10 out of 10. Okay. Uh, mine for you is I don't think we've done this before. Smog. Dragon from the Oh, the dragon with Benedict Cumberbatch's voice. Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash. No further questions, your honor. Goodbye. We need the gabble. Yeah, literally. Like I got a gold gabble right here. Yeah. He's grumpy. He's old. He's got gold. He's like I said, Benedict Cumberbatch's voice. like he's literally in Middle Earth like I don't know. Hello. I do really want to slide down a pile of treasure also. Mhm. You know, a good slide like cling cling cl. Yeah, but also like that kind of like incorporates his tail a little bit too though. Oh yeah. Guide me. Make sure I don't run into anything. There you go. It be so fun in there. Yeah. Yeah. A cave of wonders. Cave of wonders. Great. I'm right there with you. Yeah, smug for sure. I do have to say before we sign off that I did have my paperback um indie version of Glint here sitting next to me that I was going to use it had had I needed it for anything. I hadn't looked at this, but the dedication of Glint is dedicated to those who see no bars but still feel caged. Fly.

I know. Raven, thank you. Thank you for this. Truly, truly. So, on that note, yes. Do you feel good about closing this chapter, moving on to the next? Ready to move on. What about you guys? Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today, and make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen your favorite podcast, including YouTube, and we're also on Instagram, Tik Tok. Go search Besties in the Books podcast. We're everywhere, including Romanty BookCon LA 2026. So, we hope to see you guys there and we'll see you next Tuesday. Bye.