Ep 99 Gleam by Raven Kennedy Review, Summary, Deep Dive Discussion | Plated Prisoner Book 3

Today we’re diving right into book three in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Gleam. This book has one of the most satisfying character arcs we’ve ever read, culminating in an ending we never saw coming. If you enjoy a good feminine rage story, prepare yourself to experience one of the most impactful instances of that trope in any Romantasy we’ve read to date! 

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 and inspire us to believe in our inner strength and ability to grow into the powerful beings we’re meant to be. 

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 fave and fail about Wuthering Heights, Lord of the Rings, and Molly Moonplume.

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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

I'm so emo. Like, oh my god, this is crazy. Like, Lord of the Rings, Harry freaking Potter, dude. Obviously, you know, you grow up, you realize Eric Gordon is the way, the truth, and the life. Okay, if you still haven't read it yet, what are you doing? Read it. What are you doing?

Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast, guys. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. and welcome to another episode covering the plated prisoner series by Raven Kennedy. We are so so freaking excited to talk about this book in particular today, Gleam, which is book three. We have already covered the pretty controversial mostly DNFED book one, which was Guild. And then, you know, a couple weeks ago, we shared with you our thoughts and opinions in the deep dive on Glint. Things are ramping up and now today will be Gleam. And make sure you're subscribed because of course we're going to go into the other third. Well, we're going to stop here. We're like, we're good. No more. We're only covering the first three. Then you're on your own after that. Never. We would never abandon you. Do not worry. Hold fast, sweet chariot. We will be bringing to you, let me make sure I get this right. Glow Gold and Goldfinch, of course. You know, and in case you missed it, we'll be linking our interview with none other than Anthony Palamini, the voice of Slade Ravaging, among other voices in this series, and other popular series you might know, such as Quicksilver, Brimstone, Reand from Acatar, and other amazing amazing voices. So, check out that interview if you haven't yet. It is so good. I mean, here's the thing. If you've made it to book three, then you know you now know the the voices, right? Like if you are also listening to the audio book, you know what you're in for. If you've uh read, you know, the book with your eyes, perhaps now you're like, hm, interesting. I could see how also doing the audio might be worth it. So, we'll talk a little bit about that obviously as we get into all the details about the audio book, ratings and reviews and all that. But we did want to say Gleam book three is a reread for both of us. So I This is my second read of the whole series. This is your last full reread, right? Cuz you only made it fully through book three and then a little bit into book four. Yes. Correct. Yep. Okay. So we will definitely share with you guys our spoiler-free spice and star ratings and then we'll also share with you what we rated them the first time. So to see if that changed. Um, but yeah, first 15 minutes or so will be spoiler-free, faves and fails, all that good stuff. And then we'll get into all the details about why I mean, I can't speak for Ashley. I can just speak for myself, but why I think this is the book that really makes this series like one of my favorite series of all time. Like, it changed the game. It did. Changes the game big time, you know? So, this is the book that we're like, seriously, get to it. Just get to it. Trust the process cuz we've all been there and we're all there now. I hope. I hope you have. If you haven't, pause this video, save it to your playlist, watch it when you catch up, cuz then you'll know. And come back and comment to us. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I should have listened to you sooner cuz we've all been there, Liz. I apologize from the deepest depths of my heart. I was wrong. I get it even more now with the reread, you know. But even just getting through book three last time originally, I I got it. I get it. I mean, I love this book with all of my heart and soul. So, before we get into talking about why, okay, we just wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and your book to come and hang out with us and see what we have to say about this whole beautiful, wonderful story so far. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen to your favorite podcasts, including YouTube. We're hanging out over there on the video screen and then also on Instagram and Tik Tok, Besties in the Books podcast everywhere. You'll get announcements over on Instagram a lot of current reads like this series. We ramp you guys up, try to get you guys reading ahead of time and then also some things that are coming up like our bonus series including Withering Heights and other classics. I just have to interject with the fact that it's like it's completely off the rails bonkers and I'm loving this journey. But furthermore, you know, when I saw the preview for the movie come out, I told Ashley, I was like, "We have to read Withering Heights." Like, that this has to be a thing, right? And so, I'm so glad because everyone is reading it, literally. Okay. So, I definitely heard, you know, some controversial things about the movie, about how some people don't necessarily agree with, you know, how it's being portrayed, etc. Um, and I don't know cuz we haven't seen it yet, right? It still doesn't come out for another month or so as we're filming this, but I think if nothing else, it got a whole heck of a lot of people, us included, to read it. Yeah, which is a good thing. So, hop on that train with us. The Fable Chat for that will go up uh soon if it's not already up. So, what a time I be alive. There's so much speculation. You know, only the trailer's out so far. We're only like a few chapters into our read, but I'm so curious to see. All I can say is like I wanted to comment in the fable chat mid chapter this feels like a fever dream and then it literally turned into a fever dream. Yeah. So I was like what the hell is happening right now? So you get get it cuz you'll be surprised. Yeah. For truly. Yeah. And I Yeah. Yeah. I've been letting some people know too, like when I've been talking to some friends about reading it, that um you know, I'm reading a chapter of the book and then I'm going to the free spark notes and reading those and then doing the chapter analysis spark notes, too, because I want to make sure that I'm like not misunderstanding anything and I'm like not missing anything. And I think that's really useful, too, because it is written in such a way that it's like you're like, "Wait, is this really happening? Is this being imagined? Is this a flashback? Is this current time?" And so, yeah. Mhm. It's been useful. Oh, I need to do that. I need to I forgot that you said that. So, I should do that just in case. Need some clarification. The summaries are only like a paragraph or two, you know? It's like it's easy to digest. So, it's like it's like back when we were reading the Bible and you'd have to have a summary at the bottom cuz it's like what are they saying? Yeah. And like now I get it how things are lost in transitation over years and years cuz this is only 200 years old, 225 years old and I'm like what the hell is happening? in a good funny way, but like it's just so I can't even say flowery. It's so Joey with the thesaurus. Yeah, totally. Totally. That's so good and funny and like it's a classic and so we're so we were so not expecting this. So it's funny. Yeah, join us. So hop on that train. Yeah. Okay. So should we just get into our faves and fails of the week? Let's do it, guys. Let's talk about it. Okay. Uh, well, I'm just I'm gonna start. Yeah, do it. I'll start. Um, my favorite of the week, hands down, other than reading this book, okay, will be going to the theater for the Lord of the Rings 25th anniversary and watching all three of the extended editions. So, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so like 12 hours of Lord of the Rings over the weekend. Um, literally, cuz I haven't done that since our local theater did it when The Hobbit came out. So that was like over 10 years ago already, you know, which is crazy to think about. Um, but yeah, I hadn't seen him in the theater in that long and it's just I had forgotten how freaking good they are in the theater. Yeah. Like, you know, cuz you watch them. We all have big TVs now, right? So it's like you watch it on your big TV at home and you're like, "Wow, this is so good." No. Like, I'm sorry. Yes, it's good, but like it's so freaking good. like watching the battle scenes like on the big screen is just unmatched and to this day like I just am obsessed. So that was great. That was my fave of the week for sure. In a world of like constant distractions that we are in now in the year 2026, it's almost like a form of self-care it feels like to go to the movie theater where nobody can reach you. Your phone is put away. Leave me alone and let me watch my stories because there's no other time. How many of us are like on watching Netflix but also scrolling on our phone or like somebody's asking us something, somebody's texting us, like that's the only time you could do it. And hey, pro tip, Lord of the Rings is like the extended editions are like 4 hours long a piece. So if you want a break, even if you just want to go take a nap, the guy behind us uh for Return of the King was literally sleeping off and on and snoring and it kind of annoyed me, but at the same time I was like, I get it, man. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. You like, I'm trying. I'm try I'm out. Yeah. But no, I was like fully enthralled like the whole time. Even though I've seen those movies a million times. Like my husband would ask me when I come home like, "How was your movie?" Like cuz he thinks it's weird, right? You've seen it like 50 times. Like like who cares? And I'm like, "No, dude. It was so okay. Top Gun. Okay, we see you. We see you. We know what you're watching over and over again and listening to. It's the same. I mean, it's not in my opinion, but like, you know, for them. Hey, I love Top Gun and Maverick, but no, it is not the same. It's not. But I mean in the fact that like something for him to relate to. You know, you'll watch Top Gun over and over. Watch We'll watch Lord of the Rings over and over. If they were playing Top Gun, he would go watch it. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. That'd be cool. Yeah. So, that was definitely Oh, I do want to also say this because it cracked me up and I had like a I was laughing at myself. Okay, that's where I was at. I was laughing at myself. So, I had, if you guys follow us over at Besties of the Books on Instagram, you know, we try to do two truths and a lie to get you guys to know us better. And so, I did one about Lord of the Rings. And one of mine was that, you know, I didn't have a crush on Aragorn until I was in my 20s, which is true. When I watched it when I was, you know, like 12, 13 or whenever it came out, he was a little old for me, right? I was like, "Okay, VGO Mortensson, I don't really get it." I was much more of a legalist lady, right? Which makes sense. Okay. So, obviously, you know, you grow up, you realize Aragorn is the way, the truth, and the life. Okay. And um but now going back, Legalolis is hot again to me. I was like, this is bizarre. It's like I've gone full circle where I I mean, Aragorn's still like the goat, but yeah, I will say that Yeah. like I got kind of icked out by by Legololis for a while and now we're back. Yeah. Yeah. So, we can have an appreciation for all of the above. Yeah. Truly. And I love that for me. But I did laugh. I was like, "Oh, he's cute. Oh, that's funny. That's weird. Where did that come from?" It's always the on for me, baby. Yeah. I mean, the witch king, you know. Yeah. Yeah. The whole thing was just I I always really liked the nause. What does that say about me? Yeah. you know, I mean, I can't I don't remember like if I had any like Legololis crushes in particular or Yeah, definitely not Aragon yet. So, yeah. Yeah. Um, one of my friends had commented on how uh Why am I blanking on his name? Farah, it's Phamir, right? Boramir's brother. The redheaded looking one. Okay. He how he looks like my husband with long hair and now I can't unsee it. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, I don't necessarily completely agree, but like I mean when you look at a guy's face that big on the big screen for that many hours, I'm like maybe kind of and now I can't unsec it. Yeah. Um but yeah, so that was kind of funny. My fail is that because I was at the movie theater for Okay, so it's a 20-minute drive to the movie theater, 20-minute drive home. Each movie is like four hours, whatever, right? So this is a commitment. So, my fail is that I spent so many hours going to the movies over the weekend that I didn't spend all of those hours reading this book. Yeah. I'm like, what's gleam? Okay. And so, I had to like really crunch it. But, it was it's such a good book that it was so easy to binge anyway. So, it didn't even matter because I was like, I just want to like I can't stop reading. Um, so yeah, that's definitely my fail that I was like, well, spent all my reading time watching movies, which is unlike me, but hey, this was important. Yeah. Is an important one. Yes. Okay. So hard not like constantly bothering you for updates cuz I'm like if Liz isn't talking I know she's in her reading hole. So it's good. I can't interrupt it. And then I think I finally No, this morning you you gave me an update yesterday like late last night. And then this morning I finally caved when it was like okay are we filming or what? Yeah. Well, yeah, cuz I was getting If you guys have read this book, you know, once you get into the last like 15% though, it's like crazy. It's like crazy crazy crazy. So, I'm like I was very in it and then yeah, you texted me. Ashley and I kind of have like this telepathy thing. Like literally like when you texted me is what the minute to the minute, okay, is when I had picked up my phone to text you. Uh and so like I immediately text her back like, "Okay, I'm like it's fine. I'm almost done." But I was like in that final stretch and it was so good. Yeah, it was so good. Okay, so what do you have for your favorite of the week? All right. Um, well, my fail, you just gave it to me. Thank you so much. It usually sparks something in my brain if I'm on uh if I can't figure it out, not seeing Lord of the Rings this weekend. I kind of forgot about it. I told my daughter a couple weeks ago, my 10-year-old, cuz she watched the first one with me last year, but we were both sick, so we watched it like over multiple days. And um I'm like, "You're going to do it. You're going to watch it with me." She's like, "Okay, cool. That sounds good." She's like, "But I don't remember anything about the first one, so we'll have to start with that." I'm like, "Okay, no problem." And uh problem, I forgot about it. And then you had told me and it was already late on Saturday, so like, "Okay, I can't watch that." And then it was like the oldest showings were messed up. So it just didn't work out. It didn't work out. Didn't work out, you know. Uh I wanted So you said Return of the King is your favorite. Indeed. Two Towers is my favorite. So that's the one that I was like, I'll try to get that in. I mean, still I didn't cuz Return of the King. I remember watching that on the big screen and my eyes were bloodshot when I got out of there. Anyone else? No, it was I mean it's a doozy. It was a doozy. Yeah, it was great. So I do I do um wish I was able to do that, but here we are. It is what it is. There'll be another time, I hope. So, my fave though is going to dog beach last week all by myself with my dog. It was so lovely. Honestly, I think I saw you posted about it. It looked nice. So cute. It was such a beautiful day. It's crazy. It was like almost 80° in January. It was weird. So, I dropped off the kids at school, made the trek, and it was so lovely. She got to run around. And I just like literally walked the beach probably like I don't know, however long the dog beach is, a mile or so back and forth. It was just so nice. Got some vitamin D and everything. So good. Very uh grounding, if you will. So, help me reset and then uh yeah, came back to life after that. Yeah. So, nice. Yeah. I definitely am looking very much forward to being in Southern California here in a few weeks. Yeah. Very, very much. Yeah. Although, I will say the weather here for the last I feel like I need to knock on wood for real. Um, the weather here for the last like week or so has actually been quite It's been cold, but like pretty nice. So, I'm enjoying that. So, that's good. Yeah, definitely. All right. So, shall we get into our spoiler-free star and spice rating for Gleam, book three in the Play of Prisoner series? Let's go. Let's do it. Okay. Okay, why don't you go first today? Okay, so I do believe I do declare that the first read this is when it became a five star for me. Mhm. Okay, so with my reread as it stands today, Infinity Stars for Gleam, but for Gleam, yeah, glam gloom infinity. Oh my gosh. So, I always wonder because I've yet to reread I'm going to give sorry like Sarah J. asses example or other fantasy favorites like of more recent years. I haven't reread anything yet, right? So, I always think in my head, huh, I wonder if it will like not hit as hard cuz you know what's coming. Okay, and we're still spoilerfree here, so I'm not going to give everything away yet. But even though I knew things were coming, oh my gosh, it just made it that much better. I don't know how I don't know what magic is in there, but it it made it even more satisfying, even more I think because we're picking up on every little detail this time. Like we're really really paying attention. We're not having like I think you said it in one of the last episodes covering this book series that you're not having to like shuffle what's Fourth Kingdom, what's this, who's that, who's you know who people are now. So you don't have to pay attention to those details. Instead, you can pick up like the subtext better. So, or just like experience like what the characters are going through as they're going through it without having to like mentally catalog all the details in the background, you know? Yeah. I will say before this podcast, I was not a rereader generally speaking. Like I had reread a couple books like, you know, if I had read them in college um that I had also read in like English class in high school, you know what I mean? Like Yeah. or there was like a couple by Chuck Palanuick that I had reread um because they were like short and I wanted to like write something about them or whatever. But yeah, I wasn't really a rreader until we started rereading things like Acatar and Crescent City for the podcast. And I will say across the board anytime, this included, I have reread a book that I really loved originally. I have loved it 10,000 times more the second time. I've never reread a book and been like didn't hit as harder. Oh, it was, you know, I knew it was going to happen, so it fell flat. No, it's like better somehow. I think that's what I've always been worried about, so I don't. But then, I mean, the proof is in the pudding cuz it feels like, especially when there's plot twists and things like that and ah, you're like that maybe it won't feel as good and impactful. And it does. I think there's so much going on in fantasy though that it's like I think it'd be one thing to like read a thriller and be like oo the big twist right at the end and then reread it. You'd probably be like me I knew it was going to happen. You know what I mean? But I feel like with fantasy it's like you're watching these characters unfold. And yeah, there's a lot of twists and turns, but it's part of this really huge story and this really big world. And so I think that it's like you're it's like watching your favorite movie over and over again, right? You're going to notice something different every time. So yeah, I first time I read this, I rated it a five star this time. Yeah, infinity star is the like the only rating it deserves as an infinity star. Like I don't know. Um I loved it so freaking much. And I will say it was like I think I texted you like I'm so emo reading this book cuz like literally now that I know how everything plays out. There's so much foreshadowing and there were so many Easter eggs in this book that um I mean there was a few things that in particular Slade said that I literally like made me cry even though like the first time you wouldn't have even like known. Yeah. Like you would have been like, "Oh, that's a nice thing to say." but you wouldn't know like really what it means deeply, you know, and so I was like, I'm so emo. Like, oh my god, this is crazy. Like it's going to like literally tear me up. So, it already is. Um, but yeah, so definitely a five-star Infinity Star. And then I gave it a three spice. Would you say that that's pretty accurate? Yeah, for sure. And this is definitely, just for anyone who's been following along, this is definitely the book where the spice takes a turn and you do end up with spice that you will enjoy, not just spice that's moving the plot forward. Um, that is potentially very triggering. So, there are some triggering things in this book as well, so make sure to check those warnings. But, you get some good spice in this one. So, enjoy. Yes, I'm pretty sure my comments in Did you see my comments in the fable chat where it's like there's this one particular chapter, I can't remember which one it is now. I probably should have bookmarked it for you guys. Um, but I just put I am unwell and then I read like more of the chapter and then I went back into the fable chat and I typed all in capitals I am unwell and then I and then I left and I came back after cuz this chapter is long, okay? And then I just wrote I am unwell. I'm like, "Girl, like this." And I'm just sitting over there on on the couch and I'm like, "Oh my god." And I'm just like squealing, right? And my husband comes out and he's like, "Are you okay?" And I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm fine." And he was like, "What's going on?" I'm like, "Nothing."

I'm like, I love that feeling, you know what I mean? When I'm like, "Oo, like making me blush." Like even though we read like all the things, but still, you know, so good. Mhm. So, do you have anything else to say for the spoiler-free review portion or shall we just get into the five sentence summary? The last thing I will say is if you haven't read it yet, do it. Please trust us. For the love of all the crows, just do it. I know. Literally, because you will be so happy. You'll be so happy. That's the thing. It's like, okay, yeah, there will be outliers. There's always outliers, okay? There's always naysayers. There's always outliers. But I would say if you are a fan of any of the romantic books that we talk about on this channel, like literally at all, you will be so freaking happy with this series. So, just do it. We're just trying to watch out for your happiness. We just have your happiness in mind. Okay. Literally, life is hard. Read this. Yeah. That's it. And we get the first, especially the first book, it is hard. We get it, but you'll get it. Just try I mean, if it's too triggering, we get But like Yeah. It's different if it's triggering. That's different. Like, we're not trying to convince you to read something that's going to traumatize you, okay? Like, no. Like, but we're saying if you're okay with those triggers and you're not wanting to read it because you think that for all the reasons that we talked about during our guild episode, okay, we don't need to get back into that, but just keep going. Yeah. Trust us. It won't stay horrible forever. No, that's the point. Yeah, that's the point. And that's the point of this book. There's a huge transformation that happens here that we will talk about. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, without further ado, let's get into some spoilers.

Great. I I saw like my life flashed before my eyes when I when I wrote this five sentence summary because I was like, "Okay, this one is up there with like uh Heat of the Everflame, Brimstone, like those ones that just really make my brain hurt." And I have been really good and I've taken detailed notes and I feel like that almost made this worse because then I was like, "Wait, but which stuff do I use?" You know what I mean? I'm like, "Ah, but all this stuff happened." But no, it did help. But truly, like I said, my life flashed before my eyes because I'm like, four, five, and six are much longer and now I'm afraid. Okay, you had texted me like, "Okay, I can't start at the original time we were going to do. I don't know how I'm going to do this." And I was just like, "Oh, okay." You know, I get her brain's a little broken. I totally forgot you had to write the summary. And I was like, I didn't send encouraging words because it would have been stupid of me. So, that's good. I didn't because I wasn't using my brain yet. I'm just like, "Oh, it just took me like 10 minutes to like jot everything down, like favorite, least favorites." I'm like, "And then you said something about your brain being broken." And I was like, "Oh, the summary." That girl, do you not highlight quotes when you're reading? It's not that hard. But like I mean, I get it cuz sometimes we finish a book and we're like, I need to I need to like sleep on it, you know? And you literally had to like burn the midnight oil, wake up, and keep reading again. So I was like, "Oh man, she really broke her brain there." You know, like I get it. But then I'm like, "Oh, now I really get it." So, thank you for doing it. Yeah. No, it's it's great because I was actually thinking about this. I was like, "This is great because then it's like, you know, next time if um you know, this is a completed series at this time, but there are a lot of side characters that um you know, seem like someday maybe they'll get their story told, which would be really cool. And I feel like it'll be great to be able to go back and actually like utilize these summaries to remember what happened if we don't decide we want to reread the whole thing again, you know, which hey, maybe. Yeah. Okay, so five sentence summary. We're in the spoiler section. Mhm. Officially. Okay, here we go. Ain finally settles into her fury and resistance to being caged by Midas, but realizes she has to play his games and pretend to still love him in order to plot her escape with Rissa, Paulie, and Digby, who is being held in the dungeons as a way for Midas to keep Aarin in line. She does so by sneaking out to conspire with the Wrath, even though she remains upset with Rip for deceiving her about his identity as both Rip and Ravaging, and by looking for blueprints to the castle in the secret library, where she finds a book about the fay and a bond known as Pure. I don't know how to say that word, but it's spelled P A Y R. One. Meanwhile, in Six Kingdom, Molina receives a letter from Tindle telling her that Mist, one of his saddles, is pregnant and commands her to pretend it's hers so that they can finally have an heir. When she refuses, he sends a messenger to spread discord in the kingdom that causes an immense amount of rioting and unrest. And in retaliation, she makes Puin her spy master and tells her guards to execute anyone who tries to storm her castle. But the desperate but the desperate angry towns people do so anyway and Molina is forced to flee with Gio and Puin while Midas' soldiers take back the city quell the rebellion and tell everyone Molina has been killed while his assassinhood kills Gio and continues to hunt her two

Midas goes into a rage that Orin left her room and says she needs to stay locked up and compliant making her guild the castle for 4 days straight. However, when he leaves her to talk with Prince Nibbon, she becomes so weak she can no longer walk and Rip comes to help her. They have their first moment where he asks if she'll choose him, and she says that she can't. She needs him to prove she can trust him first. But after Midas hits Aurin for embarrassing him in front of Queen Kyla, Slate explains, and Orin realizes that he cannot simply kill Midas because deep down inside she has to make her own choices and recognize that she still cares for him and that would make her resent Slade. Meanwhile, Midas discovers that there is a village in Deadwell, the territory he traded for a truce called Draward that Slade has kept hidden for some reason. Three, these are so long, but sorry guys, it's all important. Okay. Aren goes to Slade's room to tell him she wants to be with him, and with the help of L's magic is able to sneak out to Fourth's camp to plan their escape. But as they're sneaking back into the castle, they run into Queen Kyla, who is a master of voices, who had overheard them discussing their plans and essentially explains that she's marrying Midas to strengthen her kingdom. Plans to kill Mist and her baby, and wants Ain to leave with Slade, otherwise she'll kill her, too. When they get back to the castle, Midas asks Arin to help prep for the ball, and in return, she can finally see Digby. He secretly drugs her with dew before taking her to the dungeons where she finds a barely alive Diggby. And Midas cuts off her ribbons and keeps her heavily drugged, only releasing her to guild things at the ball where she tells Rissa to escape with Polly and where seeing Slade helps her remember what's happened through her drugged haze. four.

Terrible. Brutal. At their confrontation at the ball, when Aaron refuses to gold touch for Midas, he tells her that he was Ban East, the sex trader and competitor to Zakir, her slave owner, and that he orchestrated her quote unquote rescue after following her when she escaped because he had discovered that she had valuable magic. He poisons Prince Nan to death, and Slate is instantly blamed. But before he can retaliate and break the treaty, or Midas can throw him in the dungeons, Aaron decides to confront him with the truth that she's leaving. In a panic, Midas pulls a knife on her after pretending to let her go. And Aaron realizes and unleashes her power in an uncontrollable rage, turning all the gold into molten lava, killing Midas and many others before Slade breathes his rot into her to get her to stop herself from burning out her power and dying by putting her in a stasis between life and death. Bye.

So crazy. That is the moment that was all worth it, right, dude? Freaking there, man. Dude, I know. Woo. I don't know that I've ever, and we'll talk about this in our favorite parts, obviously, but I don't know that I've ever read a feminine rage uh transformation scene in a book that impactful in like ever. Like, it might be in It's probably like in the top three scenes like I've ever read. Yeah. Yeah. Of that nature. Mhm. Oh, and Miss Raven has such a way with words. She does. She really You literally feel like you're watching it happen in the best way. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, the visual of all the like molten lava gold just like uh wrapping around Midas and Mhm. killing him. Oh, so good. Okay. So, why don't we just get into three tropes that we loved? Mhm. What were yours? Revenge. Uh yeah. Okay. No. No. goes without saying, I'm sure. Okay. And so, stepping into one's power, which can be called awakened powers or powers unlocked. So, we got a new set of powers from Orurin that she wasn't sure about yet or she had no idea about. So, it usually triggers and reveals dormant strength. So, that's what we're seeing in that moment. Like to the nth degree, you know, like Yeah. Yeah, cuz you're reading it and you're like, "How is she going to get out of this?" Like the sun already set. Like, what's going to happen? Well, well, it's a perfect example of you kind of assumed this whole time that Ravager is going to come in, use his rot, and essentially, you know, quote unquote, save her or, you know, kill Midas or whatever. And then that's not what happens. That's not what happens. Which like which is great cuz we don't want that. We want her to save herself and it will put a target on his back even more so if he does that. So it's perfect. It was perfect. And then of course we officially now have enemies to lovers and slowburn come to fluition. Yes indeed. So I put fem rage and revenge. So that was my number one because how could it not be in this book? Um, I put found family because we are starting to see like with the wrath, you know, with Lou, Ozri, Jud, um, even with Rissa on the side kind of trying to figure out what's going on with her. Like we have a lot of like moving parts going on right now. So, love that. Um, and then I put multi-pov because I love a great multi-pov and it's starting to really build with having like Molina's story. We got some of Slade's direct POV in this one. Um, obviously we have Arens. We had some of Midas' even though all of us wanted to like throw the book out the window whenever we were necessary and it was great because it made us hate him even more. Yeah. But it was still like I don't want to be in his head. Get me out of his head. It's gross. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um, so yeah, those were my top three favorite tropes. What about one trope that you did not like? Yeah. I mean, obviously it's very necessary, but it just was so heartbreaking. Just control. Yeah. At at any at all costs. Any and all costs. The way Midas tries to gain control and other people, too. It's horrible. Oh, yeah. I I put cuz I tried to pick something that wasn't like just something that Midas was doing, right? Because it's like we we obviously hate him on so many levels. I and this is kind of tangentially related, but I just put the guard always getting the short end of the stick. I felt so bad for poor Diggby and obviously we felt so bad for sale and I'm just like it's always like the it's like the side character guard who just freaking I don't know. It always like does something to me where it makes me so sad where I'm just like that sucks. Yeah. Yeah. That's an opinion of mine that changed from the first read. So the first read I'm like, "Yeah, Digby." And then the second read I'm like, "You know what? F Digby. I'm sorry." Like, "You got to leave. Like, stop putting your neck out for him cuz he also watched you for years get treated the way he did." And I know they only know as much as they know and whatever, but you know, like, okay, time to run. Cut run. You know, for sure. Yeah. I think like I don't necessarily think that she should have put herself through what she went through to save Diggby. Okay. I don't necessarily agree with that. However, I do understand I think on a certain level that Digby did what he did because of the fact that otherwise Midas would have just killed him and he would just been dead. Yeah. Or would have had worse soldiers around her guards. Yeah. Exactly. So it was like to in his mind it was like well at least if I'm the one guarding her, you know, then that's a better situation than X, Y, and Z guarding her or whatever. Like yeah, not that it's right at all. Like he was part of the problem, too. But I could kind of like empathize with his situation a little bit. So I did feel sad for him and obviously sad for sale. RIP. Yeah. Oh yeah. What about a micro trope that you liked or disliked? Okay. How about sentient appendage harm? I mean, yeah. This reminded me of a scene from a very popular book series where someone loses their special appendages and it was sad and horrifying. Oh yeah. Um Oh, man. So, and even more brutal now that like I've come to not cringe at them anymore. Mhm. So, I definitely was feeling it more in this read. Like, no. Stop doing that. And then you reminded me that there's 24 of them. Holy moly. Just the way that she wrote that scene too with just like she's drugged. She's not coherent. She doesn't know what's going on. She thinks that, you know, Midas is wielding the sword against Diggby. She thinks he's going to kill Diggby and then she realizes in that last second that he's actually about to like literally chop her limbs off. Like horrifying on so many levels. Yeah, it was terrible. Um, but the writing was just, it's exactly what you're saying. It's like you felt like you were watching it, like you were there. It was like so real. Um, I put my micro trope was very unique powers because I love Arin's powers. It's really interesting and different. I love Slade's powers. I feel like similar similar powers have cropped up since this book series came out with MMC's who do similar things, but I feel like when I read this the first time, I hadn't read anything else really like it. um very unique. And then obviously at the end of this book, you have Ravager literally breathe his rot into RN. So like what is that gonna do to her? Yeah. Right. Like what might that create? So yeah, very unique powers for sure. Looking forward to seeing where that goes. Mhm. Yeah, definitely. Even some of the other people that we have, you know, like uh Queen, what's her name again? Yeah, Kyla. Her powers are super cool. Kyla. Yep. Yeah, very interesting. It works so much in our favor. But yeah, Lou and then um that shifty guy. Oh, yeah. The assassin. Yeah. Yeah. And then something's going on with that that uh guy who's hanging out with Queen Malia, too. Um yeah, I mean uh I made let's see. I made a list of everyone's names so that I would actually remember. So maybe I should look at it. Okay, so the assassin's name is Hood. So, the guy who can kind of like disappear, reappear, we don't really know the full extent of what he can do yet. And then um the other guy who is traveling with Molina is Puin. Yeah. So, the guy who can, you know, show you your like deepest desire or whatever. And when he shows Molina her deepest desire, the map pops out, right? And now they're the only two traveling together because Gio was killed. So, where's that going? Yeah. Oh, poor Gio. Oh, I know Gio didn't deserve it. But he also like I felt like obviously he died and that sucks, but like being stuck with Molina though, too. I was like, he deserves better at this point, you know? He's like chopping wood and cooking food and like she's complaining. I'm like, "Oh my god." Yeah. Give it a ride. I guess I just wanted I just I'm trying. I'm like, Molina, come on. I'm hoping for a character arc here. I don't know if it's going to happen. You seem pretty terrible. Mhm. Yeah. Right now, right now she has the only redeeming quality she has is that she hates Midas, right? Like that's pretty much it at this point. Yeah. We'll see if that changes. Mhm. So, what about themes? Were there any in particular themes that you wanted to bring up? I mean, of course, political conspiracy is huge in this one. Yeah. And rebellion. That's what I put. Political unrest and rebellion. Yeah. Mhm. Multiple players are at work here. There's political unrest throughout the land. So, obviously, different royals and people are trying to gain more power during those times. That's what happens. A game of thrones, if you will. Yes, a little bit. Yes. Especially now that um you know that is uh what kingdom are they in right now or where are they in? So, they were in I thought they were in fifth kingdom. Are you talking about Nan's kingdom? Yeah, cuz Nan's dead. Yeah. So, Nan's dead. Midas was supposed to essentially kind of take over it. He's dead. He's dead. Um the I guess they're Don't they do still have a queen, but she doesn't have power. So, the mom, Nan's mom, I don't remember. Is she like hovering around like have they even talked about her? I don't remember her. I remember it came up. I want to say it came up a couple times. Or maybe maybe not. But, um and then uh yeah. So now queen, so many names. Enter list character list. Kyla. So the other queen, Queen Kyla is there maybe hanging around. We'll see. Is she going to do something about that? Who's going to take over? Is there somebody else that they can have? What's going on? Yeah, cuz we haven't even met We haven't even met the leaders of all of the kingdoms yet. So no, that's the thing cuz there's six and we've only met what, four or whatever. So yeah, we still there's still areas of opportunity for people to pop out of the woodworks. I guess you could put it. And what's up with Seven Kingdom? Seventh Kingdom, you know, that he's saying is out there to Queen Malia. Is it out there? Is it gone? Didn't it get sucked into the void? What happened? H interesting. Interesting. What's going on in Drawler Village? What is that? Why did Ravender want it? How did that come to be? Yeah. Lots of questions. Yeah. Yep. So, of course, we get a lot of trauma, abuse, and manipulation. Rud brutal. So, are those your three? I also have reclaiming identity and agency. Yes. For oneself. Huge. I have some others, but you go. I want to take them all. Uh, well, I put rage consuming you as retaliation for trauma. So turning into or trying not to turn into what you hate as a way to survive. So I felt like that was like a big theme for me reading this book because she even mention she even mentions that at some points. Um she says, "I have to escape before I finally snap and become the monster I'm trying not to be. And the only way I can drown out that demand for violence and bloodthirst is to focus on my plan." So it's like she's trying to like she doesn't want to just turn into Midas, but it's really what Midas did. Yeah. Yeah. But it's hard not to turn into Midas when you have to. It's like how do you defeat someone or free yourself of someone like Midas without resorting to the same tactics that that person used to uh subjugate you to begin with. Right. And so I liked that theme a lot. Yeah. Oh, it's heavy. Um and then I put unlearning or deprogramming deception, gaslighting, and abuse. Um, so like rebuilding trust not just for others but for yourself also. So that was huge in this book. This was like I feel like this was the book of like a full like recognition of her situation, a transformation and then you know um yeah I mean a huge retaliation moment. Like how is she going to deal with that later? We have to assume right that like she's going to have to confront like what she's done because she didn't just kill Midas. She killed like a lot of people. Yeah. like a lot of people. Yeah. Um and then I put Yeah. Same thing. Political unrest and rebellion. So I pulled two quotes. Unfortunately, once a rebellion lights, it can catch as easily as a spark on dry grass. So that's kind of where we're at right now. And then um the other piece of that, so quickly people will turn a blind eye to the misfortunes of others. It's the dark voice in their ear whispering, just leave it be. Don't get involved lest it happen to you too. which seems fairly applicable at this time in the world. Um, so yeah, political unrest and rebellion. Where is that going? Yeah. Yep. Did you have any other themes you wanted to mention that I didn't say? Um, just the use of drugs as a mean to control a population. So, we're seeing that going on with the dew. Hopefully that's all freaking golden molten to the ground and we'll never see that again. Yeah. So sad. Yeah. Let's see here. Okay. So, let's just get into the overall Goodreads ratings because we've been mentioning it in every one of these episodes just so you can kind of see how it builds. So, book three, we're up to a 4.37. So, pretty good. That's a lot better. A lot better. We're at 262,638 ratings as of this morning. Hey, go rate it a five star if you read it so we can get that number up because, you know, our question is, is it popular enough? And I would say, you know, obviously people who are reading it are really liking it, so let's make it more popular, shall we? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. What was your favorite part of this book? You know, honestly, it was watching Aurin be able to bend and manipulate that gold and the way she just brutally ended Midas. Yeah. With the crown curving into him. That was a little bit Game of Thronesy for sure. I know about that part. But it was so much better and it went in and then she gave him that final gold kiss of death, if you will. And it just it was just all uphill from there. right there. Yeah, for real. Yeah, it was very satisfying moment because I was remembering Okay. Right. Because this is a Midas story reimagined, a retelling, if you will. Very That's a small short poem, you know, fairy tale. So, I almost forgot. I was explaining it to my daughter Midas cuz she was asking me, I don't go into detail what this book's about, but she was asking me what the book's about. I'm like, "Oh, it's a Midas retelling." And I was remembering, "Oh, yeah. In Midas, the original fairy tale, gold does eventually consume him. He act he accidentally gold touches himself or something like that. He turns into gold. Yeah, it's coming back to me now that you're saying it. I haven't thought about that. Yeah, cuz I was thinking about the story. I was like, "Oh, he has this power." But then I forgot how it ended and then I remembered. I'm like, "Oh, so that was glorious about his greed like taking over him." But we're seeing it it played out obviously in a different way because he doesn't actually have the magic but yet it's still he still becomes that gold touched king statue frozen forever. Yeah. All because he was consumed by his greed. So that was a pivotal beautiful full circle moment going back to the original dark fairy tale. I love that. Yeah, good point. Yeah. Um yeah, my favorite part was the same part. I mean, okay, so I just put a quote because I feel like this encapsulates, okay, like the vibes, just in case you're wondering. Okay, I don't hear what Slade says back either, or note the agonized hesitation on his face as my eyes flutter closed because there's thunder in my ears. The furious, feathered, snapping beast is brooding on a storm and I'm ready to watch it rage. Wings opening, teeth gleaming, her eyes as gold as mine. and her screech. That call that ruptures like lightning. It doesn't shatter a sea, it shatters me. The scorching threat opens up in me like a crack in the earth. And maybe Midas can feel it too because his steps stumble. My mouth opens with a decadent inhale and this anger. It's like a breath of fresh air that I never let myself take before. But I'm breathing in now and I feel like I like the taste. And I'm like, girl, like there's a lot of imagery here that I think is important to note. I didn't include it in the summary because it doesn't make sense to put it in there, but there is a lot of bird imagery happening or like she talks about her beast. It's always like a winged beast with like, you know, it has a beak, but it also has, you know, um I don't remember exactly how she describes it, but like really sharp teeth um and claws and things like that. So, I'm kind of wondering where that's going to go also. Yeah, because it's mentioned often. And obviously Slave calls her Goldfinch. That's her nickname. So yeah, you know, God, and he was just cowering and pleading and, you know, trying to trying to like pull her back in a little bit with the like, "Please don't do this." But it's like, take it like a man then, you know, like you did this to yourself, you know? You you had it good. You could have just treated her good, but you didn't. You had to try to control her in a way that was abusive and horrific. So take it like a man, then. Of course he didn't cuz he's a freaking coward. Scared little boy did. He got smaller and smaller in my like visual of him as a character. Like literally Yeah. Go. Yeah. Little tiny little fly on the wall. Flick them off. Then cover them in gold. Cover them in gold. Yeah. For real though. I mean Yeah. A satisfying death there hasn't been in a book in a while for me like this. You know what I mean? Like I mean for real. The revenge was great. Mhm. So, what about your least favorite part? We probably have the same least favorite part, too. I can't imagine it would be different. Probably. Yeah, the ribbons. Yeah, that was just a brutal time. Yeah, it was. It was. Um, and his quote, oh, that makes me want to rage so hard. Midas is cutting her ribbons and says, "This hurts me more than it hurts you." Ooh, what? He says a lot like that. He says a lot. Oh, it's so bad. Um, this is my hope. I do not know truly because I've only read through book three. So, this is my hope and I'm sure you guys can agree with me. Um, so she mentions something about they're coming off like a lizard's tail. And so, if we know anything about lizard tails, they grow back. Takes a while, but call them little fay, little creatures, if you will. But I'm hoping I'm hoping that they grow back for her. Especially like some of our other favorite characters who have had loss of appendages and they have come back sometimes. Yeah. So, don't say anything. Don't tell me. Don't make any mention, but I hope they do. Yeah. Yes. So, what about your I mean, because that was obviously my least favorite part as well. Um I don't think there could have been a worse part. That's when that's when I appreciated Digby Digby again though is because he's still like he's on death store and he's still with his little bit of energy he has left trying to stop it. Obviously he can't but he still tried. Yeah. Yeah. In his own way. That was an emotional moment for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Um what about your favorite character of this book? For the first time yet it goes to Orin. Good job Orin. you are now a favorite. Yeah. Um, okay. So, I put like honestly R and Slade, I love them both. It's like it was hard for me to choose cuz they're so both so great. Um, I did also put a little asterisk here because I didn't mention him in the plot summary. Um, but it he is important. I'd say minimally in this book, but more so moving forward. But Riot, who is um Slade's brother, who stands in as his lookalike um oftent times so that he can maintain that he is two different people, right? Yeah. Um we don't know why he does that or anything like that. All we know is that he has this brother Riot who oftent times will dress up like the RIP version of him as his commander. Um, and I I do like Riot because he has a funny sense of humor and I feel like he adds like he's just a grumpy and I like that about him and I like their like interactions, you know, like their little brotherly interactions. Yeah. So, what about your least favorite character? Like I mean obviously Midas is the worst, but who would you choose if not Midas I guess? Yeah. Okay. So for me, cuz I had to go through that list of like obvious guards that were forcing drugs down her throat. Okay. Okay. I know that like their hands are tied, but come on. Give me a break. Um and also being a part of cutting off her ribbons. Yeah. Okay. Like that. There's something about there's something different obviously about Digby standing watch, making sure people don't attack her in her cage versus actively contributing Yeah. to her removal of appendages, drug, excuse me, drugging, everything like that. Um, so I do want to say this, uh, a quote that you guys all might know. Unfortunately, in these times, I was just following orders. Hey, that was also something that the Nazis said. Uh, I was just following orders was not a legal defense during the Nuremberg trials. So, something to something to think about. Something to think about. Um, I'd say when, you know, Aurin does wake up from her haze, um, and realize that she killed them too, I don't think she'll be sad about it. How about that? I think they had it coming. I would agree with you. Um, on most disliked character award. Yeah, I can't because she even tries like we have those soldiers. Those were her guards for that those couple weeks that she was there before this, you know, and they had like a small amount of rapport. It's not like some random I mean not that that's okay either. It's not you know any guard that does it was not good but you know at some point you you you got to intervene. You can't just stand by forever. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. They seemed very like I mean the thing is it's like I also didn't feel like they were just inherently evil. Like it was a good example of they recognized what they were doing was not right and they just did it anyway. It's not like they were also like inherently evil and hated Ain and wanted to harm her. You know what I mean? They were just blindly taking orders from Midas, this complete piece of crap like madman essentially. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Um, so same. And I did struggle also with Molina in this book, but I think that that is intentional, but I would never give her in comparison to the other options the worst character award for this book. Yeah. But yeah, she was definitely annoying and insufferable. Insufferable for sure. Yeah. Figure it out. Wake up. Breathe the room. Something. Any of those options will work. Come on. Yeah. Like the fact that they're even helping you anymore when you're not even a queen at this point. Like, come on. You've been usurped. Well, I mean, that's the thing. She was usurped already. Then you she got it usurped again. I mean, that's got to be like tough breaks. Okay, we get it. Like, that freaking sucks. Like you're living in a serious like man's world right now and like you're getting screwed over big time. Like for real, but like at the same time like read the room. Well, like be nice to them. They these five people that are helping you, however many it is. Like they didn't have to do that. Just be nice. Stop pushing around. Stop being mean. And Gio loves you, you idiot. Yeah. Gio, you freak. I don't know why. None of us know why, but he does. Okay. So, like, take what you can get. Yeah. for real. So, okay. Hey, this was another example of I just like highlighted every quote in the entire book. How about you? Yeah. Yeah. Same, same, same, same. I know your name. So, we'll have to try to whittle it down. And some of them hopefully are overlapping so we don't take them. We don't keep you guys here past five. All right. Yeah. You want to just go back and forth? Let's do it. Okay. Does anyone need to release a goldfinch or does she do it herself? Oo, well, we know in this case what happened.

I loved this. So, there was a conversation between Slade and Orin about him being the villain for her, and that's okay. But I love right before she kills Midas, she says he says, "I told you I'd be the villain for you." And she says, "Yes, but so will I.

I know. I highlighted that one, too. Yeah. So good. Okay, so this is one probably my favorite quote in the book. All right, here we go. We all have our edge, Arin. One day, you're going to find where yours is. The darkness of his essence brushes against my skin like a whisper's caress. You're going to find out just how far you can be pushed until you're tipped over. And when that happens, when you find your edge, just promise me one thing. My voice comes out like a croak, a single tear dashing down. What? Don't fall. Time stands still as he leans in and places a kiss on my temple. Lips turning to a whisper in my ear. Fly. And I'm like, what does it mean? Imagine imagery. Yeah. Mhm. So good. This was great. Orin is talking to Midas. You can't cut off the strings of your puppet and still expect it to move for you. Mhm.

Oh, on that same Here we go. In the same vein. Let me go, Arin. He pleads, his voice high pitched as he struggles. You don't want to do this. I feel my head tilt. Feel my creature blink. Oh, but I do.

Yep. So good. And then Arin also thinks in her inner monologue, "He may wear the crown, but I was the one who made it gold." Boom. rescended. Give me that. Okay, Idiot. So, this cracked me up because I had just watched The Lord of the Rings. Okay, and I hadn't pieced this together last time. Um, okay. So, it's the quote where he's talking about, "I'll be the villain for you, not to you." And in response, Aren says, "All my life, men have had me, but I have never had a man. The barest of breath sucks in through his teeth, a stillness passing between us like a fragile pane of glass. I am no man. That's what Slain says to her. I was like, "Oh, that's so good." What a line. What a line. What a classic time. So good. There comes a point in your life when you have to choose between having regrets and the possibility of making mistakes. I'd rather make those mistakes than live without ever taking a chance because I've missed out on too much already. Taking chances can be like walking through a mudslide where every inch of you gets stained. But regrets are stagnant pools of deprivation, and I've been waiting in them for far too long. That was a good one. I highlighted that one, too. So good. So good. You want to do one more each? Okay. It's going to be hard, but let's do it. Okay. So, the classic, instead of being afraid of the world, I can make the whole damn world afraid of me. Oh, I was like, I love it so much. I love it. Okay. It's hard. Uh, got to pick one or else we'd be highlighting the whole book, as you say. Yeah. Literally, though,

because there it is, the ugly truth that he never wanted me to know. That power doesn't just come from magic. It comes from your own grit. And I have both. Mhm. Yep. She's awoken. And I love it. I know. Okay. Before I forget, also because I totally forgot to mention him last time during our favorite characters portion. Manu, I forgot to talk about Manu. I love him so far. Kyla's brother. He's such a good character and he's like a good like comic relief character. His husband as well. What's his name? Um, Keon. He was great, too. I love their dynamic. I love that they like seem to understand Aaron a little bit better and like see her as a human being, which is rare. Okay. Um, so yeah, I just wanted to throw that little section in there right now, too, that I did really love the characters and I'm excited to see where that goes also. Yeah. So, all right, let's talk about the spice, Ashley. Uh, how was it? Excellent. Top tier. Like, literally no notes. I did not pay attention enough in the first read. Got to admit this time, sublime. Sublime. Literally. Okay, it's god tier. Like there's no there's no notes on it. Like I feel like, you know, we read a lot of romance. I read a lot of dark romance. Like it's when I'm driving in my car literally like screeching about a book that I've read already. Yeah. Okay. Like that's when you know it's good. When I'm literally sitting on the couch giggling like a school girl uncontrollably blade and my husband's like, "What the heck's going on?" Like, for a book that I've already read before, like, you know that it's good. Like, the spice is top tier, it's worth the slow burn of, you know, two and a half books or whatever you want to say. Totally. And I love the way she did it where they had to wait for the sun to set and the anticipation that built. And it's fun little pre-time if you will, you know. We'll just we'll just put it this way. They can't touch while she still has her power cuz she might guild him, right? Like she'll turn him gold. Like she'll touch every turn. Yeah. Exactly. We don't want a situation over here. Not Rowan. No. Yeah. Rowan between two kings. What was his name? Rowan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the golden penis we heard around the world. Uh, yeah. So, no, we do not want that for Slade. How sad. So, literally, they have to wait for the sun to set and he just has her basically he sits in a chair and just watches her. We'll just leave you with that and that builds. I mean, you know, you read it, right? If you still haven't read it yet, what are you doing? Read it. What are you doing? Slade is We can't We try to do it justice, but we ain't doing the whole thing justice over here. Okay. No. No. There's no way. There's no way we could. No. Literally. The Raven Kennedy, how did you do this? How did you create how did you create Slade Ravaging? Explain. You know what I mean? Like it's like a what a phenomenon. What a time to be alive. So, just enjoy that. Yeah. Spice, god tier, little compares. Yes. Truly. Um and still I would say a three spice. So it's like because of the fact that this was building, so you really only had maybe two very explicitly spicy scenes, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. The rest of it was more like um like slowburn banter, that kind of thing, which obviously we love as well, you know? So that makes it better. Yeah. Um okay. Well, that being said, obviously we're reading the next one. If you were reading it on your own without the podcast, you'd definitely be continuing. I mean, this book was like phenom. Yeah. Yep. Freaking duh. Freaking duh. Uh, how is the how's the audio book? Okay, I got to be real. So, okay, the first Okay, Kindle for the first one. Second one, I don't know what I did. Um, third one, what did I do? Okay, I got it. I got it. I remembered it now. Okay, two first two Kindle. Third, I'm like, "Okay, it's time to treat myself with a little bit of Anthony Palamini." And listen to this. Okay, great. 10 out of 10. Obviously, amazing. I got to tell you, I was chomping at the bit to start book four here and I'm like, "Okay, I finally I have the paperbacks of those cuz my Barnes & Noles was out of the first three." So, I have that. I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to physically read the next three." Okay. And then I had to do stuff around the house today and Liz wasn't ready to film yet. So, what did I do? You started it. I started the Audible and it was so good. And right now it is a lot of Slade's POV. So, Mhm. enjoy that little treat in your ear. So, what is it to say about the audio? 10 out of 10, baby. So, baby again. And we'll just have ratings on Audible yet. So, we'll talk about that in a second. So, tell us I need to go rate it. Yes, we do. Well, I was just saying, you know, I was like literally squealing in my car. Okay. So, you know how like sometimes you're like stopped at a red light and you're like kind of like turn it down a little bit. You're like, "Yeah, like when I have to go through the car line to pick up my kids." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just like subtly like I just did turn it down. Maybe turn it right now. Yeah. I was stopped at several stop lights yesterday. Did I turn that down at all? No. And you want to know why? Because I was like fully enjoying myself. A, but B, because I was like, if anyone around me is privileged enough to hear this right now, you're freaking welcome. Yeah, you're welcome to know. You need to know. It's like the Dulu like reader, you know, like book podcaster in us that like wants someone to like roll their window down and be like, "What is that?" And then I'll be like, "It's the plated prisoner." Go pick it up. You know, it's like I just want everyone to know and have it in their ears because yes, the Audible is a gift from above. Truly, it is, you know, and I I guess the last two books, um, Gold and Goldfinch were not out on all platforms for audio until quite recently. So now they're everywhere. So now you can listen to the full series on Audible everywhere. Nice. So that's exciting. Mhm. I wonder if that's why this one doesn't have as many ratings. Maybe it hasn't been out as long. Maybe cuz there is there is two there's been two for each book so far. So the other one has less but this one has 5,000 and some change ratings but it's a 4.8. So hey that's pretty good. Pretty good. Who's that person? Who are those people out there who are like rating it less than a five star? I want to know who you are and I want to know why. Okay, this is I take personal offense to this. I will be reporting you to your manager. Here's a four star. Narrators needed an editor. In what world? First of all, I'm sure they did because they literally usually film it separate. I don't know for everybody, but narrator and then they spliced it together. Anyways, um so what? Hey, what? No, like what? Like what do you mean? What do you mean? Like they could do better. Okay. What? Literally. Literally. And narrator. What? How? Okay. This is what they said. I don't want to read it because they're dumb, but I'll read it. Um, $30 for this book is the most expensive book I've ever purchased. Well, first of all, there's a lot more expensive on out there, including Harry Potter, for no freaking reason. Okay? Like $60 for an audio book. So, give me a break. Anyways, so you would not expect perfection, right? No. Throughout the book, the narrators butchered very common words very often. Every time it was like nails on chalkboard, hey, what if you're pronouncing it wrong? Ever think about that? This is a fantasy land. Hello. Yeah. Also, sometimes narrators do pronounce it wrong, but that's okay because we're all human. We all pronounce stuff because we all cuz it's all made up. Literally, these two could have read anything and I would have been like, "Sign me up." Yeah. Read how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm here for it. I will listen with open ears. Okay. Also, shout out to Lily Drake cuz she does a great job, too. Literally. So good. She sounds exactly like how Ain should sound. Literally. Literally. That's it. Literally. Literally. So, everybody else is five stars. So, okay. Here's another four star. But it was about the book, so it doesn't matter. Okay. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Yeah. It's not even about the audio. They don't even explain themselves. So, it doesn't help. They're just commenting on the book. Nothing about the narrators. So, so basically what we're trying to say is that the audio is five stars. If you rated it lower than that, you're wrong. And don't listen and try again. Yeah. Yeah. Keep it to yourself and try again. Yeah. I mean, hey, I went right into the next one, so I can't be I mean, that's what I'm going to be doing literally after this. So, yeah. Yeah, I'm right there with you. As soon as I get time, I'm going to do the both the both. Yeah, the immers the kids are calling it immersive reading. So, yes, I have heard that has been coined now. I'd like to tell I'd like to tell the world. This was the first one that I heard it from. do that where she you were like, I wish I could have subtitles for this audio book. Oh, wait. It's called the book. It's called the book. Um, I will say though, reading book three, Gleam. Mhm. The way that it this was written made me want to see this as a TV show or a movie so dang bad. Also, I will say, and I went on a whole rant and rave to my husband when I came home, and he he agrees. Okay, that's what's interesting and fascinating. He agrees. He read Throne of Glass last year, all of them. Okay? And my husband watches a lot of fantasy. Like majority of what he watches, I would say, is fantasy, sci-fi, and he wholeheartedly thinks that they should turn Throne of Glass into a show. And that's exactly when I was watching just like the epic 12-hour long saga of Lord of the Rings. I was like, imagine if this was Plated Prisoner or imagine if this was Throne of Glass. Like literally how I would never recover from this. Being able to see that scene of her freaking turning everything gold and killing Midas like on the big screen. I would never recover from this. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, there's the PSA. Not because she likes my brain. town and she wants to rule and she wants to be the king of everything. No, because he was a freaking [ __ ] and he was the worst and he was and he deserved it. That's why. Yeah, she killed her abuser. That's what happened. She killed her abuser and he had it coming. So, okay. How would you rate this book or compare it just we've read a lot of fantasy series at this point as a middle book cuz we're looking at book three out of six.

Do you even need to ask? Yeah, I do. Okay. It was great. No, I mean affinity stars. What more could you for me? You're like, "Actually, it wasn't that good for a middle book." I don't know. Could have been better, but I could have been better. Not even. Not even. Not even. Yeah. I I don't know. I dare say it would be hard to find another middle book that's at this caliber and this level. Okay. I have to go back for a second here to your making movie adaptations and shows cuz it's haunting my brain every step of our week, every day of my life. Did you know? Not so fun fact, but truth bomb. They did not think Lord of the Ring was going to be successful whatsoever. Okay. You want to know how I did know that? You want to know why I know that? Were you the one that posted it? No. Okay. No. Um uh what's his name? The director? Peter Jackson. Uh Peter Jackson. Thank you. Okay. It's remarkable. I can't remember his name. Okay. The extended editions came with a introductory conversation from Peter Jackson for every movie. The first one was literally 20 minutes long. Okay. Before the 4-hour long movie started and he talked a lot about that. Wow. So, it was pretty hilarious because just listening to him like kind of ramble for 20 minutes. But that was something that they talked about. Yeah. Cuz fantasy is not quote unquote a good seller.

Lord of the Rings, Harry freaking Potter, Twilight. All of these f I'm going to scream it until I get one every week. I don't care. I understand their big budgets, but they work out. I mean, yeah, Twilight wasn't, but like something like this would be a big budget production. I get it. Hello, Game of Thrones. How many miniseries actually work out so well? And our

I'm sorry. Sorry if you're tired of hearing it. But until they start giving it to us, I don't care. I'm going to be screaming it from the mountains. Yeah. It's It's like when you think of like Epic. I'm like, it's not just because we're in the fantasy space. You know what I mean? It's like literally everyone has heard of or watched movies. Like most people have seen at least one of Lord of the Rings or at least one of Harry Potter or Twilight or like it's like not just like mega fans works over some of these. You can go and still take tours. It's not even dead the fandom obviously 25 years later. That was the 25th anniversary you went to. I will say it was the 25th anniversary and Lord of the Rings was freaking packed in Eureka, California. Okay. Love that. Love it. So, and I'm sorry, when was the last time you went to a movie with more than 20 people in it? You know what I mean? Like, at least in my town. Never. Like, not anytime recently aside from like Wicked, you know what I mean? And so, it's like to see a packed movie theater where everyone's pumped to be there. That's what we need. Okay. Like, uh, whatever. We'll get off our soap box because we know you guys agree. Okay. And if you don't, why why are you listening to us so much? That's weird. Doesn't make any sense. Um, but yeah, like they need to turn this into something. I can see it. Yeah, you can do it. Literally, just do it. I can see it. So, do you have any unanswered questions, plot holes, things like that that you feel like you want to mention or discuss before we move on to the Easter eggs that I want to mention? Yes. Um, obviously we don't know what's going on yet and it's not mentioned following the book, but wouldn't Queen Kyla have heard the whole exchange and interaction between Midas and Aurin? They're like at the top of the stairs essentially of the ballroom. I just feel like if I was about to marry this king that I don't really know too much about, I'd be listening to every conversation I could. And I know there's a lot of people in the room, but she can harness her power in. So yeah, that's her that's literally her power. Yeah. I don't know if this is a plot hole yet. I don't know what's to come of it, but it did bother me. But I mean, obviously, she's not going to bumrush them. Everything happens the way it does. It wouldn't make sense for her to jump out. So, I guess I'm hoping that something goes on with that because hey, um what she should be able to hear heard that he doesn't have the power. So, you know, I feel like M there's or not Molina. There's a lot to Princess Kyla or Queen Kyla that we don't know yet. Yeah. Yeah. Fair. Fair. Um I mean it could be a plot hole, but it might not be, you know. Yeah, it might not be. Yeah, there's a little quote also that led me to this as well. Your heartbeat, she says. What about it? Says Slade. His tone is horsearo, breath gone ragged. It sounds like mine. Oh, that was a moment. That was a moment I was kicking my feet. I'm like, "Oh, what does that mean?" Well, yeah. It's like that could be like, "Okay, they're both fay, right? Maybe they have similar heartbeat or could be a coincidence. It could be faded mates." Yeah. Hey, hey, you never know. Yes. Um, unanswered questions that I had is, you know, they're all things we're supposed to have questions, right? We still don't know what's going on with Molina and the map and freaking this dude. Okay, we don't know what's going on even with Aurin at this point cuz we're like, "Okay, uh, so Ravager just like puts her in some kind of middle between living and dead kind of like zombie state. Like what's going on, you know? Like we need to know about that." Um, what else? We still don't know, Drawler Village. What's going on there? Why it's so important? Um, yeah. What's Kyla going to do? That's also on my list. What's she going to do? What's she plotting? Cuz I mean, she explicitly I mean told Aurin, I'm basically just marrying Midas to advance my kingdom's reach. You know what I mean? It's like it's like for her this is political strategy. I don't think it was ever anything more. Yeah. Um, so yeah, those were my I guess she might not have listened because she's like, h, she knows. Like, well, and maybe that's what it is, too, now that we're talking it out because she obviously had overheard the conversation that Aaron was having with Lou and knew that she was leaving and so she's like, I don't got to worry about her. Like, she's in love with this other dude and she's going to leave anyway. Like, whatever. She's not going to be my problem, you know? True. Um, so maybe that's as simple as that. Yeah. It's like it's not a threat. I'm not going to waste my energy on that. Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe she knows more than we think she knows. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. I hope so. Um, okay. Did you have any Easter eggs or foreshadowing moments that you wanted to just uh briefly mention?

Is it going to be a faded mage situation? That's what I'm like wondering now because Slate has that darkness about him and Aurin has a light about her. So that's a bit of a ying and yang I feel. So that's what I'm seeing. A brewin. Well, and we know they're both faviously. So are we going to get that trope? I'd love to see it. Well, in the book that she found in the library. Mhm. Mhm. The description of the two fa people in the picture kind of looked like them. Is that a coincidence? I don't know. Seems like probably not. Yeah. Authors don't write nothing for no reason most of the time. Yeah. Mhm. I mean, unless you're one particular author. Most of the time. Okay. There's one more thing I wanted to say. See, see guys, there we go. I left you guys with a quote in our last when we were covering uh Glint and so now I get so we got the foreshadowing from Slade telling Orin I hope that she soarses and flies and kills her king basically. Okay. Yeah. So then he says I knew that she could burn brighter than the sun if she only stepped out of his shade but [ __ ] even my faith and her strength and it match up to just how magnificent she really is. Mhm. So that's like those two quotes like like a puzzle together colliding. Yep. Mhm. So I put I loved this. She's talking about his eyes. Slade's eyes. It's a deep green color that reminds me of the moss that blanketed the rocks at the lagoon in Anwin that I once snuck off to. It reminds me of the summer grass on the hills where my mother's horses grazed. It reminds me of the trees that stretched to the sky down the streets of Briel. It reminds me of home. Interesting. H I wonder what that could mean. Okay, then there's also uh this is so much better than a cage. A smile plays about my lips as I breathe in the breeze. I think this what this is what it must be like for a bird before it lets out its wings and flies. Oo, interesting. And then one big Easter egg that I put. I'll just leave you with the quote. I will say nothing. Mhm. I am incredibly aware of his arms around me, of the way he doesn't falter as he holds me up as if he could hold me for eternity and never let go. On page 202, I'll just leave you guys with that.

Okay. All right. So, do you feel good about this coverage of Gleam book three? Yes, I do. I feel good. I do, too. I feel like I I love talking about this book. It's just such a delight. Mhm. In every way. Well, if we're feeling good about Glee, then should we wrap this up with a smasher pass? Let's go. Okay. So, let me see. I found a very random one for you that just popped into my head the other day when I was listening to my musicals playlist. Beautiful. Uh, I think I already know what you're going to say, but we'll put it out there for the people because I want to find out what they're gonna say. Okay, so Rock of Ages, you've seen it, right? I'm sure. What? Nope. Haven't seen it. What? This is like blowing my mind. How have you not watched that? Cuz I live under a rock, Liz. But that came out like forever ago. And you love musicals. We need to watch that. We need to watch it when I come down there. Okay. Um, for anyone wondering, it's essentially the same plot as Burlesque, only it's different. Okay. Well, then you won't know who it is. You're going to have to Google it because it's very self-explanatory. All right. One of the main rock characters in Rock of Ages is played by none other than Tom Cruz and he is Larry US. And I love his character. And so, for that reason, he is a smash for me cuz it's so freaking funny. That's what But you haven't seen it. So, we're going to have to probably like re uh revisit the topic like later. It's like it's such a

such a vibe. Tom Cruz is always a hard no for me for Scientology reasons. Um Okay. But as a character, I don't know cuz I haven't seen it. I know. I feel like we need to watch it and then report back. We need to find out what the people think. I mean, he's hilarious. If I pretend this isn't him, just he happens to have a similar face, then it would probably be a Smash, I'm going to guess based off your reaction. He's just like, is he traditionally attractive to me? No. But this character is so funny and he does all of his own singing and I'm like, dude, that's hilarious. So, we'll have to find out what you guys think. Honestly, this is probably why I haven't seen it. I probably was like, "Uh, TomTom Cruz, get out of here." I like Tom Cruz. Like, is he crazy? Yeah, but that's okay. I don't know. It's fine. You do like a good running Tom Cruz. It is true. As if you could outrun me. All right. For you, I don't think we've done this one before, but I was just I'm like, "Oh, he's kind of fascinated with trinkets and treasures and stuff." So kind of gold adjacent adjacent Thanos. Um I mean he sucks cuz he's like literally trying to destroy the entire universe. Yeah. Uh so that's hard because he also kills like a lot of people I like. But it's a smash. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. But it is. Okay. Tell me if it's still a smash when I tell you this. Thanos looks like a jacked up Fred Durst from Limp Biscuit. I mean, Fred Durst was also a smash. That's true for you. I forgot. Okay. Well, it's even more of a smash now. He literally when I was googling it, I'm like, dude, he literally looks like Fred Durst. He even has this weird wrinkly skin goatee. Yeah, that's weird. I don't really like that. But what is that about, by the way? It makes me very uncomfy. I don't know. Can't look at it too much. I mean, here's the thing. It's like I really do struggle because he did kill a lot of people that I really do enjoy, but that is in a fantasy land that is not real. Well, yeah. All of our smashes are passes passes. I feel like, you know, he's got that like crazy vibe as far as we know. I mean, I'm like I don't know a lot of the lore though. You know what I mean? But I don't want to get like too far into it. As far as the movies go, I mean, but he does suck with his This is I'm going back and forth because he does suck because he like abuses his daughter. So, okay, never mind. I've gone full circle. Because of that reason, we're going to say pass. But if he didn't do that, then it would be a smash because we love a good villain. Yeah. But because of that, I cannot in good uh faith move forward with that. Is this the actor that plays Hellboy? I don't know. Okay. Anyways, there we go. Oh, pass. It's a Fred Durst that's jacked up. So, and it's weird skin goatee for me. Yeah, that's weird. I don't know. I don't get it. Yeah. A lot of folds on that face on the chin only. Um, and I don't know anything about the lore because I haven't seen any of the movies. So, I'm only basing this on things that I hear. And I heard that he wants to destroy everyone and everything. So he does, but it's like it's like that could go one of two ways. You know what I mean? Because it's like we love a good villain if we find out that they have a interesting origin story or like backstory, but he might just be evil. I don't know. So I don't know enough. I don't know enough. But I think I know now those things are like coming back to me. I'm like I don't think I could justify a Smash. So he's a pass. But yeah. Yeah. Fair. Fair. Well, there you go guys. Make sure to tune in to our Instagram weekend smasher pass poll. So you too can vote for your faves and not faves and hard passes. Make sure you subscribe and follow everywhere you like to listen favorite podcast including YouTube and Instagram, Tik Tok. We're at Besties in the Books podcast if you want to join us on our next read for Glow, right? Okay, Glow. It is on Fable on Besties in the Book Club. So you can join along on that read and then tune in for the episode which will be in two weeks. But next Tuesday will be a different episode in case you are not done or you're taking a break or whatever. There you go. Yep. All right. All right. We'll see you guys next Tuesday. Bye.