Ep 101 Glow by Raven Kennedy Review, Summary, Deep Dive Discussion | Plated Prisoner Book 4

Today we’re taking a DEEP dive right into book four in The Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy: Glow. What happens after the FMC realizes her power and lets her feminine rage free? And how does our MMC navigate that? This book is all about that transition… but just when we thought we could relax a little we’re thrown another major curveball and the rug is pulled out from under us (and every character) once again. 😳🤯

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, believe in our inner strength and ultimately (with the right support system) rise from those mother-effing ashes, baby! 

Did we find Easter eggs? Do we have unanswered questions? What about plot holes? Are we excited to read the next one? DUH!!! We dive into all this and more, plus a fave and fail Ashley’s birthday, small business support, mystery finger injuries, and good old fem rage edition, and a smash or pass with clicking noises and a gold… member? 

Don't be shy, subscribe! New Podcasts every Tuesday!! (And sometimes Friday!…)

• Shop our Merch line | *  https://besties-and-the-books-shop.fourthwall.com
  
  

Check out these narrator interviews? ⬇️

Anthony Palmini gives us the lowdown on what it’s like to voice act Rhysand, Kingfisher, AND Slade Ravinger!  | https://youtu.be/zcCyrlZ5Jcc?si=2k7ULbRPgZl_5pUJ

Check out these author interviews? ⬇️

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

Check the official Follow Up Author Interview with Lindsay Straube of the Split or Swallow Universe all about Between Two Kings! https://youtu.be/OW1cxXTVcTc?si=oOxVIzbIheET_bNE

____

Shop Bookish Merch we are wearing:

Ashley is wearing: a Twilight Vintage style t-shirt from LambComedy | *  https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT9JWeP68q2yk-I0EzA/ 

Liz is wearing :  “Climb the Mountain” white tshirt  from  @shopsecondbreakf

Finding Fantasy Reads
Fully narrated fantasy stories to help you find your next favorite fantasy author!

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Transcript

Fine, I'll stay in Fourth Kingdom, but I'm going to the brothel. Okay, leave me alone. This is a sentence cuz Liz says it's a sentence. I'm just going to do Slade's voice, and everyone's eyes will glaze over and no one will notice. Except this lady. Except this lady. Good luck, especially from here on out.

Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. And today we are continuing our deep dive series journey plated prisoner by Raven Kennedy. And what is it today? It is glow. Holy smokes, guys. Holy smokes. So good. Spoiler alert. It's so good. So we, if in case you missed it, you know, we're deep diving our series. We have, of course, brought you book one, which was Guild Brook book two. Let's This is like a test for me. I'll try not to look. Book two, which was Glint. Book three, Gleam. And now Glow. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. I'm getting And then the next ones are Gold and Goldfinch.

I'm really looking forward to I'm looking forward to rereading those. But I mean, this book even took me out as a reread. And so I'm like, whoa, those those last two are really going to get to me. So I'm excited. Yeah, I'm excited. Yes. So we're so excited. And in case you missed it, uh hello. We got to interview the voice of Slade Ravaging, King Rot, all the male characters that come on page. What a treat. So, the Sir Anthony Palini was interviewed on our channel here. So, go take a look at that one if you haven't yet. Go take a listen, I should say. What a treat. What a great time. I like how you call him Sir Anthony. It makes him sound like he's a knight witch fizz. Yeah. I mean, he is. He's dubbed. I will never not. It is Sir Anthony Palmini. He is a knight of voices. Yes. Here. Here. A night of the good voices indeed. Yep. So, okay. So, as we said before, Glow was a reread for me. A full reread for me. I will say that. Um I mean, uh I loved it even more this time, if that's even possible, and I probably will love it even more next time when I read it. Yeah. Um and then this was mostly a first time read for you, right? You had only made it like a few chapters in the first time. Yeah. Like it was literally the first 20% cuz I remember rereading it now like I knew where the drop off was like. Okay. Yeah. And now I'm in new territory now officially. I'm coming in to the new place. To the new place. To the new places. Um you know this book Glow in my opinion as someone who's read the whole series is definitely where the series takes a turn to set us up for the epic conclusion. The thing that is interesting about that is that, you know, if you guys have been following Raven Kennedy for a while, you know that Gold was supposed to be the final book. Um, and then she was like, "Actually, no. I have more of a story to tell. It's now going to be Gold and Goldfinch." And so, we had to wait for those two books to come out. And I did total it out. So, between the two books, it's 1,380 pages for the two books that are left after this one. Um, and so even though this is where we take the turning point to set us up for, you know, this epic ending, it's actually a lot of story left. Um, so it's an interesting thing because I feel like the tone does shift significantly in this book for the rest of the series, but we still have a long way to go. So, I'm excited. I'm excited. Yeah. So, before we get into discussing this book, which I think you can probably already tell me and Ashley are obsessed with, 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 hang out with us and hear all about this deep dive for Glow. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen favorite podcasts, including YouTube. And we're also all on Instagram and Tik Tok. Besties in the books podcast everywhere. And if you want to jump on a Fable and chat along in a spoilerfree way, chapter by chapter, it's a little playet, you can do a virtual buddy reads over there. Fable besties in the book club. Search it there. That's where we'll be. And if you haven't read this book yet and you're just hanging out, we're going to give you a spoiler warning. First 15 minutes, spoiler-free. We hang out, we chat, fave fail style, and uh we'll give you a warning. We'll give you a spoiler-free book review. And then we'll warn you when it's time to skate. Yeah. So, all right, let's just start off with our fave and fail of the week. All right, let's do it. Okay, what have you been up to this week? What's going on? Well, my fave of the week, well, it was my birthday on January 27th. So, woohoo. Here, here. Fun time. Fun time where I didn't want to do nothing except the things I wanted to do. So, it was great. Yep. Made a plan this year. I was like, "Hey, I had a very successful year last year that I enjoyed doing nothing except what I want to do, and I'm going to do it again." So, what did I do? Woke up, had some cold brew, and a special donut. I don't like donuts, but there's this place called Parlor Donuts near me, and they're the only donuts that I like. Coconut cream filled. Yeah. Excellent. Oh, it's so good. And then uh we came back, we watched a movie, finally watched Sinners, so Oh yeah, there we go. Definitely it was while uh you know has vampires in it. Not I was worried that I'd be like super gory, grossed out, terrible. It was, but it was not like it was fine. I was fine. Marked safe. So it wasn't safe from sinners. I'm not marked safe from uh Michael B. Jordan being a twin. Yeah, that was really, dude. Phenomenal acting all around. So trippy. The acting it was the whole reason why I mean it is though. It's one of those though that's like so good. It's like okay it's not the same but it's like watching Parent Trap now like knowing that it's the same person. It takes me out but in like a good way but like I'm not It's like whoa. I can't believe the filming that has to go in in have them side by side. Like that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. and what it takes for like the actor to be different to be that different like that's so fascinating. Oh man. Excellent, man. Dude, great movie. Uh my fail. Okay, I'm not going to I don't want to go on Depression City here, but um we got a lot of effed up stuff happening, you know. So doom scrolling would be a bit of a fail because it comes to a point where okay, this is no longer healthy and I need to get off my phone. Well, okay. Let's just pose the question to the people in a light-hearted way. Okay, try our best. What is where is the line in good old 2026 between informing yourself of the world's happenings and doom scrolling? Where does one end and the other one begin? I don't know that it's even really possible to know that anymore. So, in your defense, it is very hard. I mean, yeah. And hello, like generations have been doing it with it just wasn't called doom scrolling. It was watching the news 24/7. It was reading every single newspaper constantly, you know. So, just different a different different thing. It's just at our hands. It's right there. We're getting popups on our notifications. And then what do you do? You go, "Okay, what's happening now? Oh crap." And then there you go. So I had to like stop myself on certain days and be like, "Okay, that's enough for today. I gotta move on." So it's a fail in the way that like I mean it's our country that's failing us. Hey. But um hey um it's it's making me like feel unprepared for like your visit you're coming down for. I mean at the time of filming this it's already done. What's done is done. But we have you know we have a lot going on. In case you missed the announcement, we're going to romancy con. We're super excited for that. So, we have some stuff we got to prepare for with that. We got to edit videos. We got to like do stuff while the world is burning. So, it's hard. It's hard to find that balance and I'm sure a lot of you guys can relate of like being informed like you said trying your best to like do what you can and also live a life and make dinner and do the laundry and not fall into the pit of despair cuz that's what they want and we're not going to do that. Right. Well, yeah, but then it's also hard like I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just I think I'm trying to like hopefully it helps you guys feel a little bit more seen in what you're going through right now because I feel like a lot of us are on the same page. It's you know it's like I was trying to explain to my husband, you know, I'm sure a lot of you guys can relate. It just feels really dystopian. It's like as a small business owner, you know, it's like uh I have to go to work and be happy to be there and pretend everything's great, you know, and basically like, "Hey, let's do facials and eyebrows all day long and create this really like, you know, relaxing, you know, quote unquote safe space for people to come and, you know, feel good about themselves when it's completely insane. Like the outside world is just completely insane. Um, and that feels really like it feels fake, but there's like kind of no way around it really because I'm not going to like every time a client comes in, I'm not going to be like, "Oh, so you're feeling like [ __ ] right? Cuz we're all feeling like [ __ ] So, let me do a facial on you now and pretend like it's like a fun time." You know what I mean? It's like that's not how we can exist. I mean, I certainly have clients who would rather sit here and vent about what's really going on than pretend like it's not happening, but I also have a lot of clients who want to use it as an escape. It feels very weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So, yeah. And then as a mother, same thing. Like you finding out information, meanwhile, they're like, I want like a peanut butter and jelly. I'm like, okay.

That's going to come with a side of tears. No, no. You have to like snap out of it in a way. Uh, it's a lot. It's a lot. So, if you're feeling this, you guys, we're right there with you. It's a dis dystopian feeling, like you said. Yeah. Whiplash in a way. But we just have to do we have to do the little things we can do to resist and give ourselves joy. And that's why we're still here talking about things like the Played Prisoner series, which actually do have a lot of parallel themes to the real world. So, yeah. Hey. Yeah. Mhm. So, all right. What about you? What's your fave or fail? We want to end on a high note. Yeah, we'll end on a high note. I'll start with my fail. I picked a I picked a light-hearted fail because um you know, the the fails are a plenty right now. So, we're just going to pick something easy. Okay. So, I don't know if you guys can see it. Um I'll send Ashley a picture to insert. You guys love that. Yeah, I have another finger problem. Apparently, this is just a thing. Um, I literally needed to, you know, how you have the electric toothbrush that, you know, you have to switch out the head on the electric toothbrush. I literally pinched my finger skin while putting that on in between the toothbrush and the new thing. And I literally had like this crazy blood blister on my pinky from that. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And like at the time I'm it may have been a quote unquote after dark moment. So I wasn't like fully aware of how bad the situation was and my sister was over and I was like I just pinched the absolute crap out of my pinky with my toothbrush and we were like cracking up about it. But anyway, so that's my uh my fail of the week light-hearted edition cuz it was pretty funny and you know uh not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it was pretty hilarious. Yeah. Um, my fave of the week is that, you know, if you guys hadn't heard, we up in Arcada, California, where I live in Humble, had a pretty devastating fire happen um kind of over the Christmas time holiday and two of our local bookstores burned down um which was horrific. And um in a really great act of you know community coming together, a lot of the other local businesses in Arcada were you know donating part of their proceeds or doing fundraisers this last weekend um for fire relief efforts. Um so really really cool. So um my sister and I and Rinda uh we went out and did like a local shopping day. We went to like Mia Bella Cupcakes, which we've gone to before to get cupcakes from Oh, good. They made it. I was worried about that and I forgot to ask you. They were the next block up. So, they did they had like a special fire relief cupcake. They were donating like 10% of like all proceeds to it, which was cool. Um, you know, we went to Wildflower Cafe, which is my favorite like vegan vegetarian place. And then we hit up like all the like little boutiques around the plaza and got a lot of really cute little like trinkets and, you know, I got some cute clothes and stuff. So, that was definitely my fave of the week with the highlight being we went to the Minor Theater. Um, which if if you guys don't know this, I don't know if it's still true, but I'm pretty sure it is, is the oldest still running theater in the United States. So cool movie theater. Um, and so we went there and we saw Send Help with Rachel McAdams. And the way I'm telling you guys this right now, okay, first of all, if you like the Plated Prisoner series and you and you like a good fem rage story, go watch this movie, okay? And Rachel McAdams, too. A dark side to her, huh, dude? Literally, the the way I came out of the theater and I told my sister that is the best movie that I have seen in ages that wasn't obviously a you know, something I've rewatched, you know. Yeah. Um, best new movie I've seen in a long time. Like, aside from like Wicked. Okay. And so, I'm obsessed. I'm going to go see it again. I'm going to see if my husband wants to go see it with me again. Um, you'll love it. It is definitely a bit gory. I will say though, less gory than I thought it would be. Yeah. So, that's good. And I feel like it's very like the kitsy, intentionally funny more. And that's what makes it so good because the writing was just top tier. The acting was top tier. The social commentary was amazing. So yeah, go watch it. Yeah, Infinity Stars, go watch it. Yes. Do your homework. Go watch it. I'm going to do it. Yeah. Let's do it. So yeah. So that was my fave of the week for sure. Sweet. Good. Okay. Good. Good. Here. Here. Fem rage all around. We can't get enough of it right now cuz it helps us feel seen in these trying times rather than being gaslit into thinking we're overreacting. Yeah. So, that is why it's important. Yes. Okay. Very much. So, that being said, what were your spo what's your spoiler-free review of Glow book four in the play of prisoner series? Dude, five stars. Five stars. It's kind of like the what happens after that big feminine rage show of power moment that we saw in the ending of book three. And we get to see so many different point of views right now, people's backstories. So, this is like that another middle book that's setting us up for more. It's like this feels like we're just beginning right now, even though we're not. So, I'm loving it. Cliffhers. Get get ready for a cliffhanger, guys. Straight up. A big one. I know. We had to take We had to take a break for book club book. And I I told Ashley, I said, "I'm sorry, but we have to. We have to." I know. So hard. Been so tempted. It's been like four days and I'm like, "H I know. I'm going to start gold uh tonight." So, I'm excited. Um, I feel like, you know, and we'll talk about this more in the spoiler section, but I feel like, you know, for for quoteunquote middle books Mhm. you can't do middle books better than a book like this. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like because you are you hit a huge crescendo right at the end of book three and then you expect a lull and it's not. It's like everything that's in here is perfect and it's in there on purpose and intentionally and I just never felt like it slowed down which was great. So, five stars for me. Infinity stars. I love this book so much. I will say I was just reading reviews before doing this preparing for this episode and a lot of people do struggle with the first I want to say 30% of this book. Um, somebody even said 300 pages because I feel like it slowed down so much. And it's like, but no, it's all intentional. If you're struggling right now, if you're listening to this and you're like, keep going. Like, don't give up. Don't stop now. Trust us. And you need these backtories and you need to know these things. Well, it's also like just to give a little bit before we get into more details about it, you know? The way that I read this book is just because you've had a breakthrough, we'll say, you know, without giving any type of spoilers, just because you've had a breakthrough or this character has a breakthrough in their reality that forces them to, you know, kind of seek power within themselves to move forward in a different way. doesn't mean that that internal struggle or that guilt or you know that cognitive dissonance for relearning their whole reality is now magically solved. Yeah. And so I think that the beginning of this book is that mental emotional journey that is necessary to then move us forward in a way that makes sense. It otherwise it would feel weird like oh everything's great and fine and then we can just move forward and it's good. like that wouldn't feel real to me, right? Like realistic, you know? Yeah. So, I agree. Yeah. You just you it's so necessary and you need to look at it as the internal work needs to happen just as well as the external work for us to have a character that's relatable in the way that I think that most of the characters in the series are. Yeah. Or else it'd feel disjointed and weird, you know? I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah. Same. So, um Okay. I do have a question though. So, I rated this a three spice. Um, I, you know, I feel like it almost it could it almost could have been a four almost if there would have been a little bit more frequency, but I stuck with a three because I feel like the spicy scenes were all very um like everyone in this book I felt like was a plot mover in a really big way. like um and so in that way also we've been dealing with kind of non-consensual things in the past and stuff like that. I feel like this book was all entirely consensual with spice. Am I Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, um so Three Spice, does that sound okay? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think so. So, we'll settle on the Three Spice and five stars all around. Yes. Yes. Here. Here. Mhm. So, should we get into the spoiler section? Let's go.

Spoilers coming. Save it to your playlist. Watch it later if you don't want to be spoiled. Here we go, guys. All right. Well, this five sentence summary is the best I could do. Good luck, especially from here on out. Okay. Yeah. Because if you have to know anything about this series, it's that we have not only several different POVs happening at this point, we also have several different timelines happening at this point, too. So, I'm like, "Oh, I have to do a five sentence summary where we have flashbacks and then we have like this person over here and this person over here and this person over here." So, I did the best I could. It's crazy. It's definitely more than five sentences, but we've got some run-ons in there. So, we're sticking we're keeping our story to five sentences. Okay. Even though that's not what it is. So, we're just going to be in denial and Yeah. proceed. Mhm. Here we go. All right. You ready? I'm ready. Ready. Okay. Five sentence summary of Glow by Raven Kennedy. In two significant flashbacks, Slade at the age of eight years old manifests his FA power and begins training relentlessly with his terrible, abusive father, Stanton, aka the Breaker. one of the strongest fay in existence who helped the king destroy the bridge to Lamria in order to one day rescue his mom Allure an Orion that has diver powers that essentially allows her to see prophecies about people and his little little brother Riot from his evil father's clutches. Then when Slate is 15, Stanton finds out that Allore has been having an affair with one of the servants, Jack, and Riot is actually his son. So Stanton kills Jack and Slade fights him, resulting in a power collide so strong that it opens a rip in the world that transports many of them to Ora in what Slade made into Draward Village.

One good old Stanton. I was so hoping that's what was in Jard's village. Some kind of like portal. That's essentially what it is. Yeah. All right. Well, here we go. Mush me luck on this. Okay. In her incapacitated state, Slade flies Arin to Deadwell, a secret village in the snowy mountains built into cliffsides at the edge of Fifth Kingdom, where he meets Riot, Lou, and Digby, and later Jud and Hojat. Ozri or Ozrich is over in fourth with the army having a thing with Rissa, who kissed him despite her better judgment. That's in parenthesis. In order to address the fact that she won't wake up, when Gold begins uncontrollably leaking out of her, Slay takes her to a remote cave where she does wake up. They fight, have sex, and then she remembers what she did and pleads to be punished. But Slade refuses, saying she deserves pleasure. So, she shoves down all of her feelings, deciding to process them later until Hojat insists on cleaning her wounds. And Aaron has to face the trauma. Slade tells her he had to rot her, and some of the rot won't leave her. But she isn't upset and immediately begins tra training with Slade and Jud in order to control her gold and become strong without her ribbons. Ain tells the story of her escaping from Zakir on a ship just to become a wandering homeless girl until she stumbled upon a town called Carnith and an old woman named Millie who took her in like her own until one night when a man broke in and Orin's power manifested killing him. But when Millie realized it was her brother, it was too late and Orin's power had become uncontrollable, killing anyone. The next or killing everyone. The next day is when Tindle found her as part of his master plan. her thinking he was her just chance savior. I'm two two I'm telling you I'm laughing because it's like this is a sentence cuz Liz says it's a sentence. It's just no periods involved grammar be gone. Okay. Just wrote an entire paragraph and just connected it with like dashes and semicolons and just called it a day. Yeah. Hey, cuz it's all important, guys. It is. It is. Okay. All right. They do get That was the longest one. Okay. All right. Slate and Riot capture and kill the last of Midas' spies, but gain no added intel, while Lou is in six spying, and Jud is in first trying to negotiate a trade deal. Later, he receives a letter from Queen Kyla and all the other royals demanding Aren stand trial at a royal complex for stealing Midas' power and killing him. And now, since they're harboring her, wait. And now the other kingdoms are sabotaging forth by not honoring their trade agreement since they're harboring harboring her. So Aaron digs deep within herself in order to summon and control and ultimately master her power. And we find out that in order to keep the people of Draward alive, including his mother, who she meets, Slade has to feed the Rip with raw magic and can only leave it for eight weeks at a time. So they leave to Fourth Kingdom and Brackill Castle to meet Manu, who attempts to convince Slade to give Orin up to the complex. But before he can give his final answer, Manu and his henchmen kidnap her and stab Rissa, leaving her for dead, not wanting any witnesses.

Three. Yeah. Ain is taken to Walmart Castle in Second Kingdom for the complex where she is subdued and tortured by the religious cult leader of the Gathering of Temperance and the Queen of Second Kingdom, Isol Marowin. then taken to stand trial in a cage that strips her of her magic, literally making it pull out of her with streaks of what looks like rot woven into it. Kylo uses her magic to replay what happened the night of Midas' death, but manipulates it in her favor and Arin is found guilty and her sentence is execution. Meanwhile, Slade and Argo travel for days trying to reach her until Argo is shot down in the desert. So, Slade gets there with the help of Riot and his Timberwing. Slade rots everyone aside from the royals who are protected by the prince of second kingdom shield magic and uses his raw power to create a new rip to Anwin which Aaron jumps through before it closes and Slade and Riot immediately leave to Deadwell so Slade can go through the other ripe to find her but it is closed and everywhere is gone or everyone is gone.

I know. Meanwhile, Molina has been traveling with Pruin to Seventh Kingdom per the map that is magic produced from her greatest desire. When they finally get to the ruined Caval Castle amidst a frozen tundra on the edge of the world, she loses all hope until they step inside the ruins and meet Friano and Fasa, the twins who reveal the castle in its true form. Glorious but cloaked to look deserted. They've been waiting for the rightful era of Arya to help Seventh Kingdom be restored to its previous glory. And they have magic to help Molina manifest hers and assume the throne. So she makes a deal in blood for it right before the assassin finds her and warns her to leave this place. And she realizes the twins used her blood to restore the bridge to Laamria so the fay can destroy humans once and for all. Five.

It was crazy. That was a lot. Hopefully that helps if you guys need a summary because I think I managed to keep all the major points in there. Hopefully. Yeah. Well, holy smokes, Batman. Holy smokes. I know. Literally, though. That's why I'm like I don't know. I feel like a lot happened in this book. I don't know how you could be bored by it to be honest. Yeah. I think that maybe the whiplash of the pacing having coming off of book three and then the book four, you know, but that's that again it wouldn't it wouldn't make any sense to not you're not curious about what's happened to Slade, how he got there. He's Fay, too. You're not curious of Orin's previous story, you know, like or what's going on with Molina up there in the freaking frozen tundra or what's going on with Ozark and you know like Yeah. Like like you're not curious about any of this stuff. Come on. Like we have to go. You know, honestly though, it's like I know we compare this to Throne of Glass a lot, but it's very similar in the way that there's so many POVs. There are a lot of people who just aren't interested in all the POVs in Throne of Glass either. And it shocks me because I just that's not how my brain works. Like the more characters, it's like the more the marrier for me. I'm like more characters, more story. Great. I need to know what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. That's how this feels to me. Yeah. Love it. Okay. Well, there's the long-winded five sentence summary in air quotes. Do that what you will. Yep. All right. Well, Liz, let's get into some tropes. Some trope action. What were three tropes that you loved in Glow in particular? Burn the world for each other. Ooh, it's a twist. It's a twist. Normally, it's burn the world for her, right? Well, we've got uh two She can too. Formidable forces here meeting together. So, loved that. Um, we're gonna stick with found family because it's just growing and we're getting to know these people better and I love every one of them so much. Um, especially can't wait to see where all this goes with uh Oric and Rissa. I love them. Yeah, I can't wait to see where things go with Ori and Rissa. I love them so so much. So, yeah. And then um you know Riot I think I feel like we are getting to know Riot's character better because of the flashbacks that we're seeing to his enslaved childhood which is also really important to developing his character as well cuz he's a little tough to figure out I think. Yeah. Um and then I put trauma healing because that's what we're doing. It's like you know Slade is he's there as a very strong anchor for Ain but he's not doing the work for her. She has to do that for herself. And I really appreciated that about this book, too. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's the main point. Yeah. Cuz I also put healing and acceptance, you know, being a big part of that is like not letting your past weigh you down, but choosing it, you choosing to use it to empower you and do good and everything. And then of course, found family. Officially for me, I think this is the first time I'm mentioning found family because it is solidified. I think we're all, not all of us, but some of us are kind of skeptical of everybody because everybody sucks most of the time in the first three books. So, it's like, well, let's make sure, you know, make sure everybody's cool. And so, obviously, officially, everybody's cool. Not everybody, but her found family is. And we love them. We love them. Yeah. Yeah. It's like burn the world for all of you. It's like, you know, protect the people that you love. Yeah. Yeah. And then I also threw in there, trying to think of like outside the box differently of the other books, fa tricksters. I know you don't always love that, but I kind of I kind of enjoyed that twist with you about the the twins up in the Yeah. Yeah. It irks me every time. I don't know why. I just I'm like h like I remember the first time I read it I was like of course. Yeah. Yeah. I know it's a it's a bit of a trigger for you but um I don't know. I like it because to me it's not too much of it. And this in this case it's just enough to be like a nod to fairy tales, you know? So, and I'm curious to see where that goes now. And we all knew she was a dummy and gonna fall for it. So, hey. Yeah. Yeah. Molina has a very interesting character arc. I'm excited to talk about it and have you discover it. Yeah. What was your uh comment in Fable about that situation? Oh, it was like if your assassin is trying to tell you, hey man, don't fall for them. That that's not a good and not kill you like Yeah. It might be bad news bears. Yeah. Yeah. And we want to learn more about that guy too. Like what's his deal? I've always been curious. We don't know a whole lot. Mhm. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't even have to freaking Midas is dead. You don't need to work for nobody anymore. So, well, and I think maybe with him warning her about that, he's figuring that out, like, oh, I'm kind of a, you know, free agent at this point or whatever, you know. Yeah. And we don't Yeah, we don't know. I'm just now I'm spitballing. I don't know because I haven't read anything past this. Um, you know, if Midas was holding something over him to have him work for him. I don't know. I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful with his character. We'll see. Sometimes I never see these characters again and I'm pumped. So, we'll see. Well, I'll give you I'll give you a hint. You will see a lot more of him. Yeah. He's not going to just disappear. Yeah, I'm excited. Okay. Uh, what about a micro trope? Good or bad? Micro trope. I don't know a word for this. So, how about anti- petty drama? like literally the opposite because case in point, there was so much opportunity for the author to drag us through that whole will they, won't they, forgiveness trope, like fake um plot device of tension and disagreements with, for instance, the fact that he rotted her and he was all worried that she'd be upset at him and she's like, "No, I get it, boo. You know, I would have literally died, but thank you." Yeah. like it's okay, calm down because like that was kind of annoying me like rot like you had to do what you had to do. You didn't know some of it would get stuck there, you know? And so she also was like that, but I feel we've read a lot of books where it's like a whole thing and then they have to go through forgiveness and I can't believe you rotted me and like we didn't have to get that. So I appreciate that. Yeah, we didn't get the miscommunication. We didn't get a third act breakup. we had like actual I mean that would just be like they're communicating properly. Yeah. Even Rissa and Orurin, you know. Yeah. Like hey like not like we it worked out. So hey, you know. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. I put as my micro trope I put animal besties because um yeah, I'm definitely getting a lot more attached at this point to Argo. Yeah. So he didn't die in the desert. Okay. Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah. Okay, just making sure. Um because Riot thought something was wrong, flew out there, found him. He, you know, let Slade take his tim t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timber t Timberwing out to, you know, second kingdom to find Ain and then got Argo on a ship back to fourth kingdom. So yeah, he will live to see another day. But yes, it's the the animal besties, especially when they're really cool, you know, different creatures. That's a fun time. I love that. But she fed him the cookie. So cute. I know. She's like, "Don't eat my hand off, please." Yeah. He's so cute. I love that he's like this like super, you know, like formidable creature. And they're like, "Well, we kind of like feed him cookies every day, though." She's like, "Really?" Like, it's just so cute. So adorable. So adorable. So what about a trope you hated? Not because I wouldn't have it any other way, but I just propaganda multiple coming at you and I'm screaming every time. Just how well it works, you know. Yeah. How well it works amongst the people population. Uh yeah, I put I mean this was kind of like tangentially related to propaganda. Um, I said politicians vying for power at the expense of their people slashgovernment corruption. So basically, you know, you have these people sitting around a table in a room of, you know, whatever seven of them determining whether or not, I don't know, for example, they're going to go to war and cause these kingdoms people to all kill each other or not. On their behalf. On their behalf, might I add? Oh. um not feed an entire kingdom and cut off sla uh trade agreements. Interesting. Interesting. Who does that hurt? Who does that hurt? Bartering over oil supplies. Interesting. Interesting. Oh my god. I would say and I get it. I get what Slade is doing because he w he's been he's not born yesterday. He's been around the block. He knows what they're going to do to Arin. Okay. So this is why he's withholding sending her to this complex because he's like, "You all are crazy. Okay, I'm not even this is not going down that way." So I get it. But then at the same time, it's like by him not sending her, I get why Riot's mad, right? Because he's like, "You are willing to starve your people potentially to save this one individual and that's not right." And so I kind of can see both sides of that argument. And it makes it um not it doesn't make me dislike Slade, but it does make me see it made me see him a little bit differently also because he's someone who yes cares a lot about his people in his kingdom, but at the end of the day, he cares about Aaron Moore. He is still a selfish person. Um and I think that's important to notice and it makes his character more interesting. He's not like one-dimensional. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. And even um I was irritated at Slade kind of distracting her and trying to take away her choice even though he does know better because he knows what's going to happen. Um still I struggled with her him taking away that choice from her when she wouldn't want that either in the way Riot put it like she would rather sacrifice herself for the people if it keeps people fed. But on the flip side, you know, you can see both sides cuz Slade's like, "Well, it won't stop there." You know, they take this person, they're going to take another, they're going to take another. It does. It never ends. The cycle never ends. So, it's it's very muddy and messy and it's not black and white. And that's life. Yeah, it's life. And it's also like it just shows the level of kind of like political scheming. like he has to always be like 10 steps ahead because I think at the end of the day, right, it's like Slade's main concern is the health and safety of as many people in his kingdom as possible, but he also has to play the game. Like you're not absolved of playing the game because as soon as he decides not to, then we're going to see what happens in the next two books, right? It's like, yeah, it's they're not going to take it well. We'll put it that way. And it's sad because also these kingdoms aren't even putting a stop to this because their resources are being depleted. It's cuz they're worried and they're scared that she might be able to take their power from them and their cushy little lives. So it's not even about the people that they govern. No. Well, and that just goes to show you too that even though Midas was a tyrant who was literally horrible to everyone and was starving everyone in his kingdom, the other rulers were happy to keep him in place because he was maintaining the status quo. That was the bottom line. They were allowed to comfortably keep their power, keep things at bay because he was feeding into the same systems that allow all of the rulers to stay where they are. Um, and Slade is willing to disrupt that in order to hopefully make everyone's life better, but they are so terrified of losing any nugget of their power that they're going to fight against that forever. Yeah. So, Yep. Yep. Yeah. These are important things to think about moving into the next two books. So, what about three themes? Do you have any other themes that we didn't already talk about that you wanted to call out? Yeah. Female empowerment. Yeah. Not only with Aurin, which is obvious, but Rissa as well. Taking her voice back and making her choices that she wants to make. And then what is her friend's name? Paulie, even Paulie and her female empowerment and saying, "Hey, this you it's you didn't want to be in sex with her anymore and that's okay, but I do and you took that away from me." Even though it was, you know, even though she was being drugged and, you know, her friend thought she was in her best interest, but her speaking up for herself and saying, "This is what I do want to do cuz I do enjoy it." And that's okay, too. Fine. I'll stay in fourth kingdom, but I'm going to the brothel. Okay. Leave me alone. Hey, girl likes what she likes. You know, let her be. Yeah. Yeah. So, yep. That's one of them. Per personal empowerment just generally speaking also because we see it with Riot and speaking up for himself what he wants. Listen, he's bothering me a little bit. He's a little annoying to me. I'm so sorry. I'll eat my words maybe in the future. He's supposed No, I think he's supposed to be because he's constantly because he has trauma first of all, which they're showing from the flashbacks of their childhood. Um he's got significant trauma and then he's been because of that living in Slade's literal shadow, right, as his alter ego his entire life. And so by making him the official army commander and kind of getting rid of this like, you know, fake alter ego, I think that, you know, that's going to help him a lot. But yeah, I think that that's important because he's one of the only ones who understands Slade on like that really deep level that no one else really can. And he isn't afraid of him either. I think that's really important, you know. So, I think we're supposed to disagree with some of the things that he's doing, but otherwise there wouldn't be as much conflict and like push back with Slade's character, which he needs. And if he didn't give him this opportunity to lead, that's a that's a trauma. I mean, sorry, that's a villain origin story if I've ever seen one. O yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Um and then I have a few other things, but I'll let you list some so we don't have any overlap. Okay. So, the flip side, or I guess not even really, but I guess the the partner theme to female empowerment would be misogyny and patriarchy are actually bad for everyone. Yeah. Hey, how about that? Yeah. So, I highlighted a couple quotes here uh from Slate from little baby Slade when he's eight. I'm supposed to always be something called stoic. I think it means not to feel. Oh, so sad. Okay. And then another one, he's sad because he's not living up to, you know, what Stanton wants him to be when he's like little baby angel of 8 years old. And he says that he's weak. And his mom says, "You are not weak." She says firmly, "When I start to argue," she goes on, "you don't have to be cruel to be strong. You don't have to be mean to seem brave. You don't have to look down on others in order to stand tall. Having emotions does not mean you're weak. It means you're smart enough to let yourself feel. M and so those were such important messages I felt like because like I said it's the theme of like patriarchy doesn't just hurt women it hurts everyone and um you know I really like the juxaposition of Midas having an extremely abusive father taking one path and Slade also having an extremely abusive father and taking the opposite path. Um I think that that's important to note too. Yeah, definitely. Um, another one I put was religion informing policy, specifically political policies. Um, because we're dealing with the, uh, second kingdom's essentially religious cult situation. Okay. Um, and the quote I pulled from there was, "They preach to me about their gods, the ones who reward purity of the flesh and obedience of the mind, the ones who demand self-restraint and sacrifice. They say nothing of the goddesses of matronly love or female fortitude. So it's like which okay fine. All right. If you're we're going to be dealing with you know religion here and it's going to be informing policy then where are all of these other ideas um that are essentially omitted from that equation. So I thought that was a really interesting point out as well. Mhm. Um, and let's see here. What else did I put? Oh, I put propaganda, but we've already talked about that a lot. Um, so I'll name this one here. Women in power not actually really having power. And this ties into what I just mentioned about um, religion informing policy. So like the queen of second kingdom is sold does not really have any power at the end of the day even though she is powerful and she's the one who is keeping Arin uh prisoner and torturing her etc. And Arin calls her out. She says but you don't really lead it do you? I asked notching my chin up towards the mural. Women can't be priests isn't that right? I ask going out on a limb. Her jaw clenches and I get a little thrill at pissing her off. I don't care that she's queen. I don't care that she has the magic to pinch my body to death. She's a cruel fanatic who thrives on lording over others and calling her acts of cruelty holy. Um, and then at the end of the day, she is also oppressed within this system that she cannot even rise to the level of ruling in. And you see it when the king of second, her husband, basically shuts her up cuz he does like when this whole thing is going down, he's like quiet woman or whatever, you know. Yeah. So, you know, it's that classic like it's that classic scene in The Handmaid's Tale where S it's Serena who thinks it's her brainchild and she goes to sit in that boardroom and they close the doors in her face. Mhm. It's like that same concept and I felt like Raven Kennedy really showed that well. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. um to bal to build off of that. Also, specifically the use of the occult to control specifically women's bodies. Mhm. Scrub them pure. You know, they are unclean for whatever reason they choose to to be. Yeah, that was very brutal um reading about for sure. Mhm. I also put a fun one. Sexual exploration, sexual healing. So, I think we all love Slade for that. That was a great beautiful moment. Very opposite of Midas. Just like, "Hey, listen, boo. I get cuz I do." I loved that cuz it's true. Like, she has that panic moment where it's like, "Great. I just went from one king to another. Like, am I sure I want this choice?" Because I already thought about that before she said it. I'm like, "Ooh, you know, it's like one captor to another. Even if he's not a captor, she's like, "Have I explored everywhere? Have I spelt the sun on my skin? Am I sure I want to be with him? What if there's somebody else that would be a better fit?" And he's like, "I get it." Like, you need to do your thing. I'm going to be along there with you. Yep. But at the end of the day, we both know if the this judge of character that we're seeing right now, if she did decide she wanted to be with somebody else, he would be upset, but he would let her go. Yeah. You know, I think that's huge. Yeah. Um I mean, just, you know, we talked with this briefly um with Book Club After Dark on our interview that we did with them where they specifically called out the carriage scene in this book. Yes. And that's exactly what they're talking about. Yeah. I mean, it's an extremely well-ritten um spicy scene. You guys will love it. But the underlying um I guess or overlying theme there is she's basically exactly what you're saying. She's like, "What are you going to do if I decide that I want to go travel the world and not just live in the fourth kingdom? What are you going to do if I decide like I want to sleep with someone else because I don't want to just be in this one relationship forever until I die?" Like, and he's basically like, "My job is to not is not to confine you. It's to give you the freedom to do what you need to do to become who you are. And what a just an enlightened perspective. And it's like you said, like he will he like it if she goes to be with someone else? No. But he knows at the end of the day that caging her is not going to fix any of the problems or help their cause at all, you know? Mhm. Yeah. It was a it was a great moment. I agree. Yeah. Slade says all the right things. He really does, though. Like, he really does. Yeah. Um, all right. What was your favorite part if you had to pick one? Just generally Orin's growth coming into her power. I And I loved learning about the rip between worlds. It's tragic. It's horrible, but it's interesting. So, I love this layer that we got on top of everything that we already have going on. So, I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm excited. They don't seem like good FA, but I'm here for it. So, well, cuz it brings the question up, right, of uh Well, she's in Anwin now, right? We're assuming that's what happened. She goes through the rip to Anwin. Well, um, isn't that where Slade's dad probably is still? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's things are going to get interesting here. Um, yeah. I put my favorite part with Slade showing Arin what she deserves and who she is. Like he, like I said, it's like he's just he's there. He's there. He's like this all it's like the difference between being this like formidable strong um I don't even know how to like he's like the gravity but he's not overtaking her. You know what I mean? It's like he's allowing her to be grounded and feel safe in a space so that she can grow into who she needs to um constraints or fear, you know, and I just what a like the symbolism there is great. That's my favorite part. He doesn't treat her like a possession. No. So, no. Love that. I think I wrote a quote down. Yeah, I did. I'll just I'll just say this one right now. Slade uses a hand to turn my cheek to lock our gazes together. "When I say you're mine, it's not cheap ownership. I don't see you as a figure to lock to my arm, like a toy to keep away from all others." "That was the only mind I knew." "So, what are you saying exactly?" I ask with a faltered breath. "I mean your mind to please, to pleasure." The motive in his eyes matches with the drag of his hand, the curl of his palm as he presses against my throbbing [ __ ] and makes me see sparks of light behind my eyes. Your mind to protect, to adore, to hear, to see, to experience, and to love. Like I know I know this is what we mean when it's like yeah it's spicy but it's like these moments are there intentionally to sh to build those characters in a way that's really important. Um yeah and so it's like how yeah I mean like no notes how do you how do you write stuff like that? How do you stuff like that? I was thinking of that when I was going through all my quotes. I was like, "Dude, Raven, you are just a poet." If I ever did see golly, what a beautiful, beautiful words. Yeah, she weaves. For real, though. For real. Well, to take a turn. What was your least favorite part? Uh, well, see, this is the thing is like all the tragedy, right? So, um, did I love reading about Slade's [ __ ] awful Sorry. Makes me so, it makes me so like angry. His horrible father and everything that he did to his mother and his and him and, you know, his poor little brother. Um, no, that was terrible to read about, but it was so necessary. So, I didn't love that. Aren's past trauma with Carnith, right? That was super sad, too. Um, yeah, that was terrible. And then of course, Midas freaking swooping in as the piece of crap that he is and taking advantage of that situation. Like, what a That's how you know someone's a like narcissistic sociopath when they can come in and they can literally like take advantage of someone in that situation. Yeah. Like weave it to their advantage. Yeah. And sleep soundly at night. Oh, literally just like, "Yeah, that's you're literally out of control." Crazy. Um, and then I put letting uh Slade letting Aaron go at the end. That had me completely like upset like big time. Tears for that one again. Um, so while these were my least favorite parts of the story, I also appreciated them a thousand% for being in there because it they're every single one of those things was so important to Yeah. creating the depth that is required here. Exactly. So, what about you? Yeah, all of the above. Um, uh, so I obviously same ditto, but a special Wait, no, that's for characters. Hang on, let me rephrase everything I just said. Okay. Yes, agreed. Ditto. Um, also Orin almost dying again. Like, h, you know, being bled out. Um, literally. Yeah. Being scrubbed almost to death. Uh, that was pretty enraging. Uh, almost drowning in her own gold. Crazy. Like literally all crazy. Yeah. Um, having to hear that her first appearance of her power turns her only friend and companion. And if she had known and if she was trained, she would have been able to pull her power back and save her just as Midas. Sorry. Just as Slade does with his rot. I'm assuming I'm assuming you'll be she'll be able to do that cuz that's literally how Slade's power works. Yeah. She can push out and pull back, you know. They don't show her doing that on another person in this book, but they do show her just doing it in general, right? Yeah. So, I'm assuming like, you know, if you have the proper training, power, everything. I mean, it was the first appearance of her gold. She wouldn't know that. But if she had been around her kind, she might know that that was a possibility, you know. Yeah, for sure. So, it's just tragic, you know, horrible death. Um, and then of course how Midas then manipulated her with that situation. Mhm. Yeah. Opportunistic piece of crap person. Yeah. Um, all right. Who is your favorite character in this one? Other than Ain, cuz of course, um, I love what we're seeing with Ori and Rissa. Yeah, love it. I love that they haven't done it yet and they're just, you know, and it's going to be on her terms and not that he would have it any other way, but No, sorry. He would. She would. She was going to and he's like, "No, no, he wants to make sure Yeah. that she realizes what's right in front of her." Yeah. Yeah. He's like, "I don't want us to just sleep together because you like want to sleep together." like I want us like we there's something here that's deeper than that and I want to explore it. And just his reaction when he finds out that she's like basically stabbed and in a coma.

Oh my god. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I was nervous. I'm like but don't carry her. Like have somebody take her. I know. I know. But it was like I know. I just had to kind of like that. Don't I don't want to look. It's like when somebody's backing up into a tight parallel parking spot. It's not the same. But I'm like, just just do it. Don't let me look. I don't want to see. You're gonna hurt her. Yeah. I mean, he's pretty strong. So, hey, light as a board, stiff as a feather. Let's go. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Obviously, and Slade I'm loving. I had that little issue with him, but I also understand because he knew they were going to do that no matter what. I'm sure. And it's just continuing the cycle. So, I know. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? What's your favorite characters this time? I mean, I love so many. It's really hard to pick, but if I had to choose one honestly from this book, it would be Slade. I feel like just the the the wisdom while all all like I can't even say this right. It's like how do you have that much wisdom and strength but somehow contain it and wield it appropriately? Do you know what I mean? It's like the restraint that that must take, the control that that must take. Um, yeah, I just I really respect his character and I think that he's really interesting even g and especially given his history in his past. Yeah. Oh, just like you said with the juxaposition between the choices between Slade and Midas, both had traumatizing fathers, abusive fathers, terrible situations and using your trauma to be an inexcusable awful person and then with Slade using it to say, "No, I don't want to do this. I don't want to continue the cycle and bling that." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what about your least favorite character of this book? Okay. Special Cuz obviously the villains are the villains, so they all suck. I hate them. So, a special place in hell for No, the town's people continuing to spread the gossip. The towns people. Yeah, the town's people. And being misogynistic. And we're seeing it even in fourth kingdom, which I was like I was hoping it was like a situation, but it wasn't. No. where everything's just like hunky dory like oh they all suck too great. I think that it's just it makes it more realistic though because it's like just because I mean honestly in Fourth Kingdom it seems like most of you know slaves towns people/s subjects or whatever you want to call them actually have a fair amount of respect for him and his um you know what is it called his people. What are they called again? His wrath. Yeah. So they might even, you know, be more wary because of that. Do you know what I mean? Um they're just worried at the end of the day that she's going to come in and she's going to, you know, do something bad to their king who they actually do really like. So I for the most part. So I feel like that is realistic, but it's also not right. So I agree with you. It's both. I mean, how much do you really respect your king if you think he can be so easily swayed by a good lay, you know? Like, give me a break. Well, they think she has magic to steal magic, though. Yeah, fair. That did suck that the rot pulled out, too. And it's like, wasn't even her fault. Yeah, I put Kyla cuz WTF is what I put. I'm like, I don't even care. Like I really want to give Kyla the benefit of the doubt because it's like at the end of the day it's like I want to give Molina the benefit of the doubt. I want to give Kyla the benefit of the doubt. Let's work together to make this world a better place for us all. And it's like you're playing into the hands of this system that is screwing so many people over. It's like it's just it pisses me off and bugs me out, you know? Like I understand she's also fighting the patriarchy. She talks about that as well and feeling like she she can only do so much. So, she's trying to manipulate the situation. I mean, we all know she still won't have the power that she wants even if she got rid of Orin, you know. So, it's like, hey, take take that little uh shield boy, head hop on your little whatever mobile, get to Aurin, shield yourself in case you're worried about your protection. Give this girl a chance to tell her side of the story cuz it's so outlandish that Midas stole her power. like, "Hello, go get the stupid um guy that she used to work for at the docks and have them tell you that she's always been gold." Who's most likely to be able to be in control of gold? This little girl who's always been gold or this idiot guy who showed up out of nowhere with the golden girl? Nobody's questioning why he always kept the golden girl with him. Yeah, but nobody's ever really seen his power. He could have anyone he wants, but it's just Yeah, it's it doesn't make any sense. It goes back to not believing the victims. Yeah. Oh. Or just taking a man's word for it. Even when they're dead at the hand of what the abuser did, abused. The abused did and when the evidence shows that they suck. His whole kingdom is living in poverty even though he supposedly can turn anything to gold. Okay. Yeah. Literally, he has unending ability to create wealth and he is letting his entire kingdom basically live in squalor. Okay. And we're still going to believe him even as they say once he's dead. Yeah. You don't need to look his boots anymore. Like he can't you're not getting anything else from him. Like let's figure this out now. Wouldn't it behoove you to believe her? Cuz maybe she'll make some things gold for you if you don't want to get your supply gone. Hey, pretend. What if you what if you didn't believe her and you're just like, "Let me use this to my advantage." Yeah, just try that. Yeah, I know. And I think that's why Kyla's position during this whole thing really bothered me because I really wanted her to be more like I can't remember the queen's name, but like, you know, the queen that uh is in Spark of the Everflame who ends up being secretly cool. I wanted Kyla to be like that because I was like, I get that you have to have that outward persona because you're I mean, literally, let's just say it how it is. They're living in a man's world. They have to fight for any scrap of power that they're able to get and then maintaining it is 10,000 times harder for them, right? So, it's like I understand that, but then at the same time, it's like we can't evolve this system into something better if we continue to play within the rules that they created to keep us subjugated. Okay, that's like the bottom line. So, you know, Kyla has the power. Maybe be like, I don't know, maybe Aaron does have some cool power. Maybe we should like band together and see what we can see. You know what I mean? I don't know. Mhm. So that's why she just really at this point is she's killing me. She's killing me. Yeah. Mhm. It's like it's like the women who are um trying to take feminism down, you know, still the heads of the patriarchy cuz we have women in power that do. You know, no one likes a Serena, okay? And all that happens is your finger gets chopped off and you all and you go crazy, okay? It's like literally, guys. Literally. All right. So, uh, to rate it back in here for a second, this makes us very passionate, obviously. Um, hey, books aren't political. Stop it. Give me a break. Give me a break. We're not for you. Sorry. Yeah. Get out of here. Um, so, good readads. All right. I did want to bring up the average Goodreads here so that we can see how it's doing because um if it's popular, do you think that it should be popular? I feel like at this point, if you're still sticking with the series, right? Yep. Okay. So, Glow, the Ped Plated Prisoner 4, as of this morning, it actually has a lot. It has 192,675 ratings. Um and it gets a 4.12. So, I feel like it deserves higher than a 4.1, too. Obviously, we've both a little bit from the last one. Yeah. But, um, it's still good. I could see how, you know, Yeah. the action isn't as like crazy as the ending of the last book until the end of this book, but like we need more to the journey than just like stuff happening the whole time. Like, we need to do the inner work, too. So, I get it. So, let's see here. Do you have some quotes that stood out to you? Oh, yeah. We'll have to pingpong for a little bit. We can't keep them too long. Yeah. The series though, guys, it's like, how many quotes can I highlight? The whole thing. Okay, great. Yeah. I mean, I'll do the the one that guys. Guys, find me in another life. Find me in them all. Tears. Tears streaming down my face. Yeah. Oh, yep. I know. Um, I really had I struggled with that ending. It was really, really sad. It made me sad. Okay, so let's see. I have so many. I'm like, which ones? As a woman in power, you can never let people see your true emotional reactions because they would only use them against you. Yes. One person's pain doesn't negate anothers. Our heartaches are not a competition but the bridge to empathy so that we can look at one another and know that on some level we understand. Yep. I wrote that one down too. Mhm. Men always have their fixations, especially when it comes to women. Their enthusiasm for their obsession always straddles the line between infatuation and hate. One simple move and the master will turn on their pretty pet. Feel like this comes a lot up a lot in my life. We talk about it. I talk about with other people in my family. The body keeps the score. Okay, that's the thing with trauma to the body. It shows up instantly and breaks and bruises and burns and blood. But the trauma on the inside that's harder to see. It creeps up around your mind, poisons you with disqu. It can hit you out of nowhere, debilitating and ruinous. There are no marks visible for those. None none save the shadows in your eyes. Yep. Yeah. Um to go off that, I've always been more passive in life. I think passivity is often mistaken for weakness. Really, it's just a different way to cope, to survive. The safest way I learned to reject uh or to react to situations was to endure, to let things blow over, to please, to peacekeep, to constantly regulate my own reactions and thoughts and emotions so that the tyrant could be appeased into a lesser form of abuse. So from an early age, I learned that my anger wasn't safe. Then I learned that it was irrational. Then it was just plain wrong. I was always in the wrong. The world can judge us all it wants. Doesn't mean we have to give a [ __ ] Words I live by. Yeah, this one from Lou. I need you all to tuck your dicks in for a second and try to think rationally like a woman. Yeah. More words that we need to live by. Come on, guys. Here. Here. You got one more you want to do? I mean, I have a thousand. I have a billion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the problem. Well, we've been posting these on our Instagram, too. So, be sure to check us out there if you want to see some more quotes on our posts during this series because there's a lot of good ones. Do you have any more that you want to you need to finish with? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, this this one we should finish with. I want you to understand something, Goldfinch. I am not good. I will rot every person in my way. Will bring a blight to every corner of the world if I have to. I shake my head. No, you wouldn't. You're good. You're No, Goldfinch, he interrupts. I'm good to you, but I am every bit the villain that I warned you I was. His previous words ring in my ears. I'll be the villain for you, not to you. Yet, I went to Slade with my eyes wide open. I told him I wanted everything. And when you ask for everything from a person, you don't get to pick and choose. You take them as they are. Even King Rot. If you're a villain, then I'll be a villain with you.

It's great. It's so good. So good. I know. Obsessed. All right. So, we've already talked a bit about how the spice is uh just really important for moving the plot forward. I mean, we have the spicy scene when she wakes up from her coma and she, you know, essentially begs him to punish her because she feels so guilty for what she's done and he refuses, not willing to use, you know, sex to essentially get back at her for the things that she's done. Um, And we have the scene in the carriage where, you know, we shared that quote about how he'll support her in her endeavors. I feel like, you know, these were really, really pivotal to move the story along and to show how their relationship has evolved. Um, it was like, in my opinion, there's no better I don't know that I've read Better Spice in any series ever. So, I mean, I love it. I think that it's written well, the characters are great, their chemistry is awesome, and it's so meaningful. So, that's where I stand on the spice in these books. Yeah. Well, I'll put it this way. You've been telling me for years that The Dirty Talk top tier. I get it now. I get it. Very good. Very, really good. Like, okay, here, if there's any guys to Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Yeah. Like like literally I'm like sitting on the couch squealing and my husband's like what now? I'm like okay. But like if there's any guys literally listening to this and we know we have some listen. All right. This series is this is the this is the manual. This is the guide book. Like I know people say that a lot about you know different romance, dark romance, romantic, whatever. But no, for real, like take the books, read them, do do the highlights, do the tabs, then come back. You know, it's like you will thank yourself. I promise you. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um well, I mean, obviously we're going to read the next one. We can't even wait. We're freaking out like waiting to start as soon as possible. Yeah. Yep. So, hey. Yep. There's that. If I didn't have to read book club, I went over right for it for real. No stopping me. I'd be done by now. That was 4 days ago, dude. Serious. I know. Tonight it's like literally that's what I'm doing tonight. I'm excited. Yeah, it's happening. Y I mean either that or Weathering Heights. I don't know. But probably that's so hard. It's too hard. Okay. I'm freaking out. I know. Too much too much good stuff. So, let's just talk about the audio book for a second. I think that we've both um you know kind of bounced back and forth between the audio and the Kindle. Um any like do you want to share any reviews? I mean I think that you guys probably know how we feel about the audio book at this point. Give me more Ozri. I will say that because I love Ozri's voice. He's great. So yeah, I was listening to it and I was like, "Dude, we haven't heard anything from Ozri and Rissa in a while." And then boom, next chapter it was them. It's like, okay, perfect, good. Um, okay. So, fantastic audio book. Right now, now it's come to the point because I listened to I think most of the last one and then this one I ended up listening all of it. Well, listening to all of it. It's like now how do I not how do I stop listening once I started, you know, because I also like to like really physically absorb the information. Yeah. But I'm doing just fine with the audio, too. So, it's like, oh, it's so easy cuz then I can get stuff done at the same time while, you know, well, and it's just such a treat. It's such a treat. It's like, how do you not I mean, immersive reading for sure. Okay, so 4.7 out of 3,900 reviews on Audible. All right, so here's a five star. Love this book series and the nar narrators are good. Male, you can do better than that, but okay. male narrator has done well with the slayed voice. Drool, that's what it says. Okay. Okay. But I finally found a more negative um I do air quotes, but it is negative. A more negative Okay, Joey critique of the narration, but she still gave it four stars, but I honestly think reading this it was more for the story that she gave it four stars. So, she says she's the odd woman out here. I really like the story, but the narration is torture for me. She hates Aarin's voice and feels like she is making her sound more and more like the other female characters with the slow pacing and her voice not matching what is happening. Well, I have a solution for you. I put it on 1.7 speed. I did I did move it to I was curious and I'm like, what does this sound like on one speed? Cuz I almost always listen to 1.75. It's like someone reading to you in slow motion is what it sounds like. Oh my gosh. I know. Literally, that's guys, if an audio book isn't for you, is it that is it because they talk so slow and they it's intentional. They want to cuz some readers enjoy it that way. I'm not making fun of you if you want. My husband does that, but when we try to listen to an audio book together, I feel like I'm literally losing my mind. It's so slow. I can't listen. I think maybe it puts it maybe it's that um Pavlov, did I get it right effect. It's like going up getting stories read to you. It's just like and I'm asleep. But like maybe good luck. Having to sit still and like even doing stuff. I was driving trying to listen to that. I'm like I'm I'm going fall asleep at the wheel. This is not okay. But the pacing does change. It's cuz we're talking so fast right now. This is like normal speaking to me is a 1.75 for Audible. Well, I figured that out when I first started listening to Dark Romance because I was like, there's nothing weirder than listening to a guy talk dirty to you and it's like in slow mo. I'm like, this is weird. And so I like I sped it up and I was like, oh, this is better because it's more of a conversational speed. Yes, exactly. I think that's what it what it is. Yeah. So, just Yeah, try playing around with the speed and see if that helps you in one way or in one direction or the other. You might just process an information differently. So yeah, I can pay way more attention, which is weird when it's faster. Me too. I can't cuz I'm going to zone out if it's at one speed. I am. Same. So hey, you know. Anyways, um so surprising. She didn't love it. Um she even said Slade and Rip is mispronouncing words all the time. I didn't catch up. Listen, I ain't gonna catch it if it is cuz I don't pronounce words well. I was just saying I forgot we forgot to ask him that. That was the other question I wanted to ask him. Pronunciation like how does he get does he get notes from the author on the names the kingdoms maybe the like generally speaking what how do you know how to pronounce everything right or do you not and hope for the best? So, if you're reading the news, okay, if you're reading the news, you do So, like if you were like actually like reading the teleprompter, they would spell names phonetically. So, but he's not doing that. No, I know. But I wonder if like she gives him like a phonetic spelling like list of all of the special words cuz that's the only way that you would know. That's the only way. Oh, you know, or maybe he's like, I'm just going to do Slade's voice and everyone's eyes will glaze over and no one will notice because we want Except this lady. Except this lady in particular. Yeah. But let's leave on a good note. Okay. Five stars. Emotional healing and voice acting. Sorcery. Narrators carry every scream, scare, and whispered promise like it's the gospel. Absolutely. God here. Soulpiercing performance start to finish. Yeah, I can get behind that one. Me, too. I agree. I agree. Mhm. So, we already talked about it being an excellent middle book. Do you have any more things to say about that? Nope. It's go time. It's go time. It's go time for the epic 1300 page conclusion. Yeah. Yeah. Uh we don't have to wait years in between though, so that's great. Good news. Mhm. So, I have a couple Easter eggs to share. Do you have any unanswered questions or bonus questions or things you wanted to bring up before we get into the couple Easter eggs I have for you guys? Just simply what now? What is going to happen now? That's my unanswered question. And that's great. That's a great place to be. It's not there aren't unanswered questions that are frustrating or plot holes that were like why is this not being explained properly? Everything is unfolding at a pace that it uh that seems very intentional. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. I want to know if her I hope her now you got me rooting for the ribbons over here. I want her ribbons to come back. I'm hoping maybe she lands in this magical world of fay and like gets all her fay and ribbons ribbons from her back. Boom. Okay. Um, obviously I don't have any Easter eggs cuz I haven't read past here. So, here I hit us with it. Here I go. There's three. All I'm going to do is read you guys some quotes. Okay, that's it. I'm not going to tell you anything. Okay, you get to know nothing. Take this from what from what? Well, that's good. That's a good way to do it because you listen, it's a quote that was in this book. So, it's not a spoiler, but it's something to think about and hatch on. Sit on your egg and hatch it. Okay, let's go. Spoiler eggs. The first Easter eggs. Spoil spoilery eggs. Nonspoilery. Not spoiled eggs. Not spoiler. Not spoiled Easter eggs. Let's go. Okay. Okay. Uh, first one. the satiny gold ribbons that used to sprout along her spine like feathers of a wing.

Chills, chills down my body. Okay, that gives me hope. Okay, I think I remember reading that, too. Being like, oh, interesting. Interesting. Okay. Oh, Goldfinch, I'd follow you to the end of the world and tip right off the edge. Yeah. Mhm. That's in my quote section, too. So, good. We got it in. Okay. In this one, you break down. Walls crumbling until you're free falling. The feelings that you try to run from suddenly rush up around you in an unstoppable force. The gravity of your thoughts now nothing but a punishing plunge. When you slam into the bottom, that landing jolts you all the way to your very soul. You hit hard and it cracks the very foundation of the world. The ground fragments beneath you, line stretching far and wide, and then you're left a pile of rubble. But I realize something as I lie here, surrounded by the destruction of my plummet. These cracks that have spread out from my costic landing, they're not evidence of my ruination. They're paths. Each jagged line leads from me and then diverts away, showing me all the different ways I could go from here. Lots of imagery there. Yeah. Interesting. Boy howdy. I'll tell you what. Boy howdy. I love reading these a second time. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. Okay. All right. Any any anything else on Glow? Gosh, I was so mad at you for making me wait reading that. I know. I know. I'm sorry. I apologized. We did it. I It's better this way. It is. I didn't. But I was like, watch it. I'm going to finish book club in one day. It took me two. That's still pretty good. And then I'm like, I got to read Withering Heights. Like, got to wait. I got to get it off my chest first cuz it's very It's a good thing for us to go through it line by line like this and then start fresh tomorrow or tonight with gold. I agree. So, yeah. Mhm. Mhm. So, should we wrap this up with a smasher pass real quick? An unhinged smasher pass? Let's go. Okay. Mine mine was inspired by a book club book this month from the poison. Okay. Okay. Um, you know, obviously you guys should go check out our uh live if you want to know more about The Poisoner by Ivilia, but my unhinged smasher pass is this. You have to pick an MMC. Not a specific one, but just one of them has a tail and one of them makes a clicking noise. Oh, screw you. I'm just kidding. If you guys have read The Poisoner, you know if you've listened to the audio book, you know even more. He makes a clicking noise when he's hunting or in the mood, we'll say. Um, that's very, very similar to like if you've watched Predator, like Alien versus Predator, it's very similar to the noise that Predator makes. So, or like Ally said, the aliens in signs. Oh, see, I have seen that since it came out, and I will not be seeing it anytime soon. So, no. Well, that's the sound that they make. So, just in case you want to know, I So, you have to pick one. I won't do it. You have to. Sorry. This is Who could I Who who could I deal with a skin tail and a clicking sound? One or the other? You don't have to have both. Just one. Okay. I was thinking both. Jeez. No. No. You have to pick one. So like super like MMC that you love but he I hate more but of the tail. Exactly. You have to pick one. Which which one are you willing to um Well, who's my favorite? Now I don't remember who my favorite M I can't do it to them, so I don't want to picture it. Who's my favorite MMC's? Okay, so we got Reand, we got Honestly, Hey, Slade's up there now. So we're going to go King Ravager right now. Not for this question, but ly doesn't end up on your book boyfriend list. Can you explain that to me? Like literally. Um, who else we got? Who else we got? We got Val. Okay. Um, he's a vampire, too, so that checks out. Henry. Um, Henry. And then, um, we have another recent one, I feel. Rowan's pretty good. Yeah. Like what would be in their I'm trying to like think of personalities and how they could like play it off. I think that you're overthinking it. Listen, that's what I do here. Okay, I'm missing somebody and that's bothering me. Oh, who's the ananthemma guy? Oh, Zavander. Okay, Zavander.

I'm going to go with Zavander and the clicking sound cuz it fits. It kind of fits. It kind of fits exactly. See, that's why I'm overthinking it cuz I'm like, what will make but what won't throw me off cuz he's like a scorpion dude. Yeah. But not the tails. Like I just I don't like the clicking sound either, but like you said, it fits in some weird way. And his would be really deep and grally, so I think that's what I'm cheating with, too. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. I think I would go also with um the creepy I just call it the creepy clicking noise. Um cuz Yeah. I feel like if it was like a deeper grallyier cadence, then I would appreciate it more. And there's also something about like if someone like Xavander was like hunting you. Yeah. I'm like creating this whole scenario in my mind. Well, you have to justify it. He, you know, it's like he's got demon tendencies. He's hunting you maybe in the woods in some kind of like dark grims fairy tale situation and you hear that noise coming from like in the dark somewhere, but you know that it's Vander. All right. Yeah. We'll Yeah. Like All right. Because otherwise, I think if anybody else had it, I would get the ick. Yeah, totally. Because it's like, why why you doing that? Stop. Stop it. Totally. It's like, oh, you know, you can't help it. So, yeah. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. I think we're definitely cheating by changing the the cander of it. But it's our rules. We do what we want. Okay. We do what we have. Here's a really Yeah, we do what we have to do. Um, here's a very unhinged smasher pass for you because I've been trying to think of gold themed smasher passes. So, we already did Dr. Evil. How about Austin Powers Gold member? I mean, he's he's hilarious, but still a pass. Yeah, still a pass, but somebody out there. Somebody out there always will be obsessed. And now I really do want to watch that when you visit one of the Austin Powers since it's been a billion years. It's been a billion years. And the way I was obsessed with those movies obsessed I literally thought they were I mean honestly as a child I had in like a young adult I'd say you know 12 13 I had a lot of I had good comedic taste like I'll just put it that way like I did I look back at the things that I thought were funny when I was like 13 and I'm like dude that's the stuff I still think is really funny. Yeah. Like ahead of my time. Ahead of my time. You too though. Yeah. Oh well me too. 100%. Yeah dude. our par. We still quote, if anybody, this is like deep. Uh, if anybody ever watched the Blair Thumb, listen, me and my family still quote that to that DVD. Is it mine? You bought it for me as a gift. I have it still. Did you ever watch it? Did you? I haven't watched it recently, but I'm kind of wondering like maybe I should do like an after dark and watch it. Bring it down. Bring it down. I will. I will. Yeah, cuz I think my parents lost theirs and like that's like stuff you can't even find on the internet anymore. Uh, it's got it's so it's preyoutube like this is what this what we somebody out there is like, "Oh my gosh, the blur all the thumb movies, but like the blur thumb was the best." It was so bad. So bad. Uh, okay. So, there we go, guys. Thank you so much for listening in today. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen to our podcast, including YouTube, if you haven't yet, cuz come on, obviously this is a good time. Come hang out. Also follow us on Instagram, Tik Tok, Besties of the Books podcast everywhere. And you guys, we'll see you next Tuesday. Bye.