"I Am Dragon" - We Made JP Read a Movie

A bride gets kidnapped at her own wedding, dragged to a remote island, and the “monster” watching her from the shadows turns out to be the only person who understands her. We’re talking about I Am Dragon, the 2015 Russian fantasy romance film that feels like a Beauty and the Beast retelling filtered through folklore, snow, and surprisingly strong visual effects.

Before the dragons, we hit romantasy news that’s actually useful: a special edition Black Dagger Brotherhood drop, RomanticyCon announcing an Edinburgh, Scotland event plus next year’s Orlando dates and venue change, and adaptation updates including Amazon optioning Abigail Owens. We also hype new releases like Danielle L. Jensen’s Defy the Dusk (post-apocalyptic fantasy with convoys outrunning the dark) and a holiday-ready advent romance collection that turns short stories into a daily read.

Then we break down the movie’s core romance and its biggest questions. Why summon a dragon who only appears when called? What’s the deal with the “honor” storyline and the fog rules? And what does it mean that Arman doesn’t want to be a dragon, even when the world insists he has to be? Also, one of us tries to watch the whole thing without reading subtitles, which becomes its own chaotic experiment in storytelling.

We wrap with dragon romance book recommendations across spicy and sweet, including Rebecca F. Kenney, Opal Reyne, Katee Robert, Kimberly Lemming, Grace Draven, and more. If you love romantasy, dragon shifter romance, fantasy romance films, and folklore-flavored love stories, hit subscribe, share this with a fellow dragon reader, and leave us a review. What’s your all-time favorite dragon romance, and does I Am Dragon count as a kissing story?

Links from the News Segment and Show:

• Books for Days Crate special edition of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series 
  • Website Link
• RomantasyCon News
  • Edinburgh Scotland in 2017! July 15-18, 2027; tickets on sale 4/18/26
  • Orlando 2027 dates Oct. 28-30
  • Instagram Link
• Legendary Entertainment studio tapped for Alchemized
  • Instagram Link
• Danielle Jenson new duology - Defy the Dusk
  • Instagram Link
• The Twelve Loves of Christmas - an advent romance collection
  • Amazon Link
• Abigail Owens Games Gods Play TV series by Amazon
  • Facebook Link
• Conspiracy of Charming Monsters by Holly Black
  • Instagram Link

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Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates

Transcript

Welcome And Romantasy News

Mari 0:17

Hello and welcome to Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss romanticy and romance adjacent stories. I'm one of your hosts, Mari, and with me, as always, I have Kelly.

Kelly 0:28

Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.

Mari 0:30

Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.

Kelly 0:32

What's good, everybody?

Jonathan 0:33

It's JP.

Black Dagger Brotherhood Special Editions

Mari 0:36

So today we'll be discussing the movie I Am Dragon. But first, as always, some news. We've got a good bit. We've got a good bit of news. Um so first thing I have is that Books for Days Crate Company is doing a special edition of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Oh yeah, there's like a bunch of those books. Those are the ones that I'm reading through, have been reading through since last year. I'm I think I'm on book like 17, maybe 18, like 23, 24. Dang. Yeah. They're good books though. They're it's like paranormal vampires, and it starts off like in the 90s and it's you know goes on. So I don't have any of the physical books because I've been listening to them. So I'm like, oh, maybe I'll get these special editions. So they're they're dulling them out in four book parts. So the first four books are available now for pre-order. Um, it's $175. They are very pretty. And then the next four books go out. I think they start to be on sale in April, and it goes on like that, and they are set to ship October of this year.

Jonathan 1:48

Wow.

Ashley 1:48

Goodness.

Jonathan 1:50

Wow. When I when I was looking at the image for these, I was like, I was looking at, you know, those look like Mari books.

RomanticyCon Scotland And Orlando Dates

Mari 1:58

Yes, through and through. Like bloody and skulls and like daggers and then vampires and stuff. What would ever make you think that's a Mari book? J.R. Ward wrote these. She does a really good job of making strong warrior characters that are also flawed, that are also having to cope with things. Um and they're also like loving, you know, caretaker type people. So very fully fleshed out characters. So I am deep in that world right now. Yeah, so I'm I'm thinking I'm probably gonna get these. We'll see. If if I do, likely I will. I'll let you know. You guys know when they come in what I think. Um next thing I have is RomanityCon dropped a lot of news since we last talked. The first thing is that they're gonna do a Romanitycon in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was very excited about it.

Ashley 2:55

So amazing.

Mari 2:57

Um, it's gonna be July 15th and 16th of 2027. And the tickets for that drop where they go on sale April 18th on the instrument on the Fable Fantasy Instagram posts. They said there's gonna be more details on their website, but their website is also under construction. So it's not fully updated yet. There's not any more details really than that.

Ashley 3:20

The suspense.

Mari 3:22

I know. I believe it's gonna be basically like the other romantic on. There's gonna be panels, there's gonna be authors, there's gonna be like immersive events, I assume like a ball, you know, that kind of thing. Um it'll be interesting. I think the call is out now for like authors to submit if they're wanting to go, authors and vendors, yeah, vendors and all that stuff. Um if they're wanting to to participate in it. I'm really curious as to who's gonna be there and how that's gonna go. It would be really cool to go to Scotland, but also very expensive. Yeah.

Jonathan 3:55

Yeah.

Mari 3:55

But also, you know, an excuse to go. Like, I've wanted to go to Scotland, I've wanted to go Edinburgh. I mean, we'll see. Summertime is a nice time to not be in the hot, hot south.

Jonathan 4:05

So absolutely. It's gotta be a lot of history there too. If you are are you are you like putting it on your agenda?

Mari 4:13

I'm thinking about it. You know, it it would be interesting, but I'm trying to decide. Here's my thing. On the one hand, it would be the push to go to Edinburgh that I've wanted to, I've wanted to go to Scotland, so it'd be the push to go. But on the other hand, like if I'm there, am I gonna want to do book con stuff that I can do here with maybe some of the same authors that I can see here? Or am I gonna want to do Edinburgh things? You know what I mean? Am I gonna want to do the whole touristy Edinburgh thing? I mean maybe like do day trips to like Loch Ness, you know, and all that stuff. So I don't I don't know yet, honestly. I have not fully decided. I guess I have less than a month to decide.

Jonathan 4:52

Oh, yeah. I didn't even think about that.

Mari 4:55

Yeah, it's not a lot of time, so I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, if money and time were no, you know, were not at all a factor, well heck yeah. But there's real life to contend with, so we'll see. Ideally, sure, it would be great.

Jonathan 5:10

Nice. Keep us posted.

Mari 5:12

Yeah, yeah. Also, Fable Fantasy Romanticon announced the dates for next year's Orlando Romanticon. It's gonna be October 28th through the 29th.

Ashley 5:25

What was it the It's just so close to Halloween? I like it like that. No, I know. So listen, I don't disagree, but the hotels are already a crazy price because it's October, because so many of the theme parks are doing events, and I don't know.

Jonathan 5:43

It's a you know, I'm gonna guess that the venue that they had uh that they used for this one is it's either they've outgrown it, or it's pretty it's they so I think in year one it was only in that once, I'm sorry, the two spaces, downstairs, upstairs, right? Yeah, and then year two, downstairs, upstairs, and then like what was it, the flamingo lounge or whatever it was across the pool.

Mari 6:08

I mean we haven't said that, but yes, it's gonna be in a different hotel. So it's gonna be at the I don't know how to say this in English, Caribe Royal is what I would say in Spanish. Caribe, Caribbe Royale.

Jonathan 6:18

I love I for I I love that you just were just like, okay, how can I channel my my uh as uh as Caucasian as I can?

Mari 6:25

Caribe is like a signal is like an uh indigenous people who are in Royal. I'm thinking like French. I don't know. I don't know. I have not looked up the website for this hotel. I don't know what theme they're going for.

Ashley 6:38

It's C-A-R-I-B-E R-O-Y-L-E-E Hotel. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I gotta be honest, I didn't fully process the name like as I read it, so I wouldn't even try.

Jonathan 6:52

Yeah, I'm again, I'm thinking that this either they outgrew the venue or like something triggered the move. Uh so it could it may just be that the venue was the venue they normally book was like, hey, we had enough of you book people, get out of here. And then when they looked for another venue, because it's a successful book con. Yeah, I don't I I say that not knowing what their I don't I we don't have insight into their profits, but the people are there. People show up for it, the authors show up for it, a good amount of people show up for it.

Mari 7:29

It's in a great I mean I think that area I think that the people who worked at the hotel, from what I heard, uh, you know, it was it was positively they had a positive experience about it. Like they were excited about it last year. And I think it was a success for Fable Fantasy. And I didn't have any particular issues.

Ashley 7:48

I mean, this does seem to be a massive resort. I'm just kind of looking at the pictures, whereas I think the previous hotel was, you know, kind of widely V-shaped, so maybe it had like two big sides. I think this has two of them. If I'm in the same area as far as like proximity to Disney Springs and stuff, I do think it said that it was in the Disney Springs area, but I didn't actually look at it on the map, which is what I'm about to do, because that's it looks delightful. High level of anxiety.

Jonathan 8:21

Oh, yeah. They do they also maintain a fancy Starbucks there. Yeah, it doesn't look like he needs right, yeah. It doesn't look terrible, it doesn't look bad. Like looking at it looks very difficult. No, it looks very fancy. The other hotel wasn't bad either.

Mari 8:36

Yeah, but I'm not yeah, it's not it's not like they outgrew it in a size thing.

Jonathan 8:40

Absolutely. It's a ways away from Disney Springs. Is it yeah?

Ashley 8:45

I was gonna say this looks closer to Disney, like Disney itself.

Jonathan 8:48

An Orlando, sorry, my thing's not yeah, it's it's a so I think the you know I mean it's 10 minutes, my love. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, but what I'm saying is like 10 minutes, you gotta get in a car and go.

Ashley 9:00

We can't walk to Disney Springs the way we did before.

Jonathan 9:04

Which is a we know that's a bummer.

Ashley 9:06

But for my wallet, this hotel surprisingly looks less expensive in that time frame. Now they're gonna jack it up because of the event. Yeah, but I will be very upset if they do something like astronomical about it because I did that the first thing I did was look at the hotel prices, and they're way cheaper in October at at the new hotel versus the old hotel.

Jonathan 9:27

What are they right now?

Ashley 9:28

Like 200 bucks.

Jonathan 9:29

Well, go, you should probably book it with cancellation.

Ashley 9:34

No, it's not gonna speak book out a year and a half advance.

Jonathan 9:37

Sometimes they do.

Ashley 9:38

No, they really don't.

Jonathan 9:40

Dang. All right, well, we'll keep an eye on it.

Mari 9:42

Yeah, yeah. Um, and I mean maybe they'll do bigger things like at the maybe they'll have more space at the hotel itself, so maybe they'll do bigger things with more events or something at the hotel. Which honestly, I was gonna say the rooms look bigger. Not that much. Because I mean, we do stuff during the day and it's like it's nice to recover at night. Yeah.

Jonathan 10:00

Yeah. Yeah. I'm hoping for puppets, more puppet shows at these events. If you're if you're a listener and you have a puppet, we should have a puppet. Yeah, we should have a puppet meetup. Bring your puppets, bring your sock puppets. If you don't have sock puppets, just take bring a sock.

Ashley 10:16

Why'd you make it weird?

Jonathan 10:17

Sorry, I'm I'm a foot guy.

Ashley 10:19

No, you're not.

Jonathan 10:21

Definitely I'm not. The audacity. If you're a listener and you approach me with feet, get out of here. I could not know. I know, it is the opposite.

Ashley 10:30

The lies that he just spewed.

Jonathan 10:33

Wild. Wild.

Mari 10:35

All right. So next bit of news we have is that Legendary Entertainment, which is the studio that did Dune and Intercellar, are they the studio that's gonna be doing the alchemized movie?

Ashley 10:47

That's gonna be a movie. Yes, yes, yes. I did see that. Did I send that to you?

Mari 10:51

I don't know.

Ashley 10:52

I can't remember. I can't remember. I did see that. That's big news.

Jonathan 10:55

It's gonna be a movie, though? I had no idea.

Ashley 10:58

Uh, I knew it was being adapted. I didn't know if it was a movie or a series because there are so many announcements.

Mari 11:03

I don't know, to be honest. I don't know if it's gonna be a movie or or series, but however it's it's going to be, it's gonna be done by them, which I mean makes me think movie. If they they did movies on it, maybe if they've done TV shows too, I don't know. So but either way, I mean, I still haven't read it. I need to. But I mean, that's some good, you know, good clout behind it.

Ashley 11:24

Yeah.

Jonathan 11:25

That book is I'm not listening, I'm not gonna read that book. Okay, don't talk to me about reading that. I'm not gonna read that book. I have touched that book. That book has Bible pages. How many words is in it? They were like, we can't send this, we can't send this volume of words out into the world. It won't ship anywhere. The only way to do this is to use either less words, which they didn't, or thinner paper. And they put that paper on a diet.

Mari 11:53

So how many paper on the diet? Um how many pages of Dungeon Carla Corral have you read?

Jonathan 11:58

I do not want to that thing comes in, that thing comes in each book gets thicker. Do they do that on like this is a good thing? Do they do it on purpose? Do they like do they like make it thicker and thicker and thicker as you go?

Ashley 12:12

I mean, I think the story just grows. Have you ever listened to Matt talk about it?

Jonathan 12:17

I um no, but you know, I I can say that as I read through them, they definitely get thicker. I'm what am I on? Like the I'm on the I'm on the eye of the bed of the bedlam bride right now. So Kelly, you're reading the series too, right?

Kelly 12:37

Yeah.

Ashley 12:38

Yeah.

Jonathan 12:39

Which one, which one are you up to? I don't remember. I kind of stopped reading it. No worries, no worries. Ashley, I got I think I got Ashley on book one.

Ashley 12:48

I am on book one. I have just not had audiobook time recently. Um, so I haven't gotten to indulge in it recently.

Mari 12:55

And we just have to get Mari into the local book club almost had it as the book club for life.

Ashley 13:01

It's a wild ride. Don't get me, yeah, don't get me wrong. It's it's you know what it is? It's an easy read. Oh. Well, it is drugs, but it's also an easy read. Like it's not something you have to like invest in, if that makes sense. At least in book one, like it's you're not we're not talking physics here.

Jonathan 13:19

Sorry.

Ashley 13:20

Although the the book could kill a person, I think.

Jonathan 13:23

Yeah, it could. I don't know if how many pages is this book?

Ashley 13:26

You're very hyper-focused on this.

Mari 13:29

All right.

Jonathan 13:30

It's not that bad. This uses the thick pages, 800 pages for this this book.

Mari 13:34

This one book.

Jonathan 13:34

Or this one. One book.

Mari 13:36

And how many have you read?

Jonathan 13:38

That's I'm on six. Okay, so that's all.

Mari 13:40

800 times six is what?

Jonathan 13:42

Not all 800, so most of them are less.

Mari 13:50

I know that Shen Lin Yu was pushed to like break up Alchemy's into more than one book, and she wanted it as one full story. Yeah, she said no, she said no thank you.

Jonathan 14:00

Yeah. Godspeed.

Mari 14:02

So I will get there. I just I haven't been in the place mentally to like quite quite be that that ready for that.

Jonathan 14:10

So But Death Studio did a good job with Dune and Interstellar, I thought at least.

Mari 14:16

I honestly haven't seen Interstellar. Kelly, did you see Interstellar?

Ashley 14:19

Yes.

Kelly 14:20

You saw it too.

Mari 14:21

Did I?

Ashley 14:22

Yes. It just didn't impress her. That's what we're what we're hearing.

Mari 14:27

I'm sorry. My brain is not great for details. I really don't remember it. I remember Dune. I'll make sure about the new Dune, but I really don't remember it. I'll have to rewatch that sometime.

Jonathan 14:37

Are they doing Dune Dune soon? Doom dune doom? Doom doom doom. They're doing Doom Doom Doom, right? Okay. I like that. We are gonna that's happening though?

Ashley 14:47

December. I think it comes out this year, right? Yeah. December.

Jonathan 14:50

Hot dog. Okay.

Ashley 14:51

Christmas.

Jonathan 14:52

It's a Dune Dune Christmas. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Mari 14:56

Um Doom the Halls Let's Try Halud. Um uh okay. Next bit of news we have is Danielle L. Jensen has a new duology set to debut this year. She wrote Fate, Inked and Blood. Um, and it's gonna be called Defy the Dusk. It is a post-apocalyptic fantasy duology, and she pitched it as Snowpiercer meets Mad Max, set in a world where the survivors of an apocalypse have banded together in high-speed convoys that must be that must outrun the dusk or face what rises in the dark.

Ashley 15:37

Oh my.

Jonathan 15:38

I might like this. I'm not gonna lie. It's I don't know if it's the Tism in me or the train on this screen, but this shit looks good.

Mari 15:45

Did you watch New Game Snow here, sir?

Jonathan 15:48

I did. I like I didn't watch the series, I watched the movie and I did like the one, the what was the the food movie, Ash, where they ride a train to the city? I don't know. From the other states that are at war. They ain't got no food.

Ashley 16:02

The Hunger Game?

Jonathan 16:03

That's the one.

Ashley 16:04

What the fuck? The food movie.

Jonathan 16:09

It's a movie about food.

Ashley 16:10

Anybody got no food? I'm so done with you right now. This this is you, no.

Jonathan 16:14

That was a good train. They had a good train in that movie.

Mari 16:18

It was completely derailed. Completely.

Jonathan 16:21

I like how you're tying it all together. Let's keep let's get the thing back on track.

Mari 16:24

So yeah, I'm excited about it. Like I loved Snowpiercer. I thought it was really interesting. And I I like what I've read of hers so far. It's just the one duology. But yeah, it's coming out November 3rd. There's a special edition at Books a Million. There's a special edition at Barnes and Noble. There are no covers out anywhere. I think the cover's supposed to be released next week.

Jonathan 16:45

Um I do not know. I wonder if I accidentally bought that one.

Mari 16:55

November 3rd, 2026.

Jonathan 16:57

They pushed it. They pushed the book that I had ordered back. And they said the publisher was wasn't releasing it on that. Maybe I bought that one accidentally. That would be, I'm not gonna lie, that'd be cool.

Mari 17:08

Yeah.

Jonathan 17:08

It's and it's called what's it called? Ash on the wind?

Mari 17:11

Defy the dusk.

Jonathan 17:12

Oh, defy the dusk.

Mari 17:14

Not at all. Yeah.

Jonathan 17:16

I'm looking at it, it just says like words on a screen here for me.

Mari 17:19

Not the words.

Jonathan 17:20

Yeah, the the Danielle Jensen book. Definitely ordering. I'm gonna pre-order that one real quick.

Mari 17:25

I'm trying to decide if I'm gonna pre-order it now or if I'm gonna wait for the actual cover to come out. Because I'm sure there'll be some differences between the covers in the two places. So I'm just like because they're both special editions. So I'm just like, which one am I gonna get? So I don't know.

Ashley 17:42

I know.

Mari 17:44

Either way, I'm probably I'm pretty sure gonna pre-order it. Hopefully, one of the special edition ones. We'll see which one. Next bit of news I have is the 12 loves of Christmas. I'm sure I know it's early.

Jonathan 17:57

Um never too early for Christmas. Don't you know? Never too early for Christmas, Mari.

Mari 18:02

It's an Advent romance collection by three authors, Olivia Dade, which is how I found out about this because I obsess with the she does. Elise Bryant and Alexandria Belaflor. It is released as September 29th, 2026, and it's basically short stories. I don't think they're interconnected or anything, but they're short stories where you can like open the book, open the the short story, and do like one per as an advent calendar, you read a short story.

Ashley 18:30

Oh, how cute!

Mari 18:32

Yeah, yeah. I it looks really cute. I think I'll be I think I'll be getting that one. I haven't read anything by the other two authors, but I've liked everything I've read by Olivia Dade. So I'm sold.

Ashley 18:44

Very fun.

Mari 18:45

Yeah, it doesn't take much. Abigail Owens had big news as well. I don't know if you guys such big news.

Ashley 18:51

Yay, Abigail.

Mari 18:52

So her games God's play has been optioned for TV by Amazon.

Ashley 18:57

Oh yes.

Mari 18:59

Very interesting.

Ashley 19:00

Amazon's doing a good job, man. Just stepping up to the plate.

Mari 19:04

Yep. Yeah. So I hope it comes to you know comes to fruition. You know, I hope it's what she wants it to be. I hope it's what you know, I hope we get a good show out of it. I enjoyed the books, and I think they depending on how they're done, you know, and who they're done by and all, I think they could be really good TV shows.

Ashley 19:20

Agreed. I wonder if they're gonna do it animated at all.

Mari 19:23

I don't know. She didn't say anything.

Ashley 19:25

She didn't, yeah, no, it's so early.

Mari 19:27

I don't know.

Ashley 19:29

It's very exciting for her. Yeah. We love Abigail.

Mari 19:32

Um so of course that's super early, no timelines on that or anything yet. A last bit of news I have is A Conspiracy of Charming Monsters by Holly Black. It's an illustrated short story collection of stories or tales set in Elfheim. It looks really cute, and I will probably end up getting it. Um I'm not the world's biggest short story fan. I do like that world that she created a lot. And usually she gets really good artists to do her illustrations, so they're probably gonna be really pretty to look at.

Ashley 20:02

That's exciting.

Mari 20:04

Yeah. Probably gonna get me there. Any other news anybody might have?

Ashley 20:10

I don't I don't have any other news. No, I don't think I think you covered it. It was a busy week.

I Am Dragon Setup And Synopsis

Mari 20:14

Yeah, yeah, a lot. Okay, so on to the movie. So the movie that we watched, depending on how and where you find it, is either called I Am Dragon or He's a Dragon or He is Dragon in English, or On Drakon in Russian, or I'm not gonna say it in German, but the German version of the name translates to dragon colon, love is a scary tale.

Ashley 20:44

So sorry.

Mari 20:47

So this is a scary tale. This is a Russian romantic fantasy adventure film that was released in 2015. And we chose it because it was time for us to watch a movie. We hadn't watched done a movie episode in a while. And Kelly, you suggested it, right? It was. How'd you find out about it, Kelly?

Kelly 21:11

I don't remember.

Mari 21:12

Yeah. So I had heard of it from Sarah because she mentioned that Sarah from Hitsynicus, and because she mentioned it in her in the dragon episode that they did. She watched this movie, and I was like, oh, that looks interesting. And then it kind of left my brain. And then Kelly mentioned it again, and I'm like, oh yeah. I think we were all interested in watching it. So um very short synopsis that I found, and then we'll get into details. So it's in the midst of a wedding, Princess Miroslava is kidnapped by a dragon and carried away to his home on a remote island. Straightforward to the point. Sorry. I didn't realize it was that short. It absolutely is that short. But like I think it's because you know it's it's trans. Translated and there's like bubble bells, and it's the details are very nebulous, they kind of go all over the place. So I will say that the director is Indar Zendubaiv. These are all Russian people. I do not speak Russian. I am not Ilya. So excuse my pronunciation. It was written by Alexi Arsenov and Marina Dyshenko and Sergi Diachenko. And the actors are Matvi Laikov is Arman, Maria Posava is Miroslava, and Stanislav Liupshin is Igor. So what did we think of it?

Jonathan 22:43

Can I can I ask, can I ask a question?

Mari 22:45

Yeah.

Jonathan 22:47

Um so you know, you I noticed that you had mentioned um a multitude of versions. Did you all see this in English? No. Okay. Okay, good, good, good. I'm not alone. I was like a close one for me. Um I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie.

Mari 23:10

Yes, what are you talking about?

Jonathan 23:13

Could you imagine? Oh my god. We turned this, we turned this movie on and it started rolling. And uh Kelly, were your ears ringing? Because I was like, I was like, how did Kelly pick the one movie I gotta read?

Ashley 23:29

I was like, this is he was set up.

Jonathan 23:33

I was like, these motherfuckers.

Ashley 23:36

They don't go read with my eyes.

Jonathan 23:38

I don't read, I try to read with my ear holes. And I had a moment here where I was thinking, I was like, all right, we're watching a movie. Here we go, here we go. I think came on, and I think I maybe I stopped it. I was like, wait, baby, we got the right one, we got the we look at the right place. What's what's going on here? And she's like, no, I think this is it. And I was like, okay, maybe it's just one of those movies where they start off and they're like, oh yeah, start off like this, but then it like transitions. So it didn't transition. I don't know if you noticed. But I had made up my mind, I was not gonna read this movie. I watched it with my heart. So the perspective that I will offer you is imagine not speak well, you know what it's like to not speak that language, but I took that story, I drank that story in just from Jonathan.

Ashley 24:28

What what happened in the movie then? Yeah, baby, what happened? Okay, tell it. Tell me more.

Jonathan 24:33

If you thought, if you thought the food train movie was off the rails, here's what I took from this. All right. I'm so sorry. Why is it always fucking winter? That's number one. And then, and so like, okay, so dragon comes and then gets it gets the what I thought was like sacrificial, and then and then somebody got pissed off because they like they're like, hey, you sacrificed that, but that was not your broad to sacrifice. I need to get that broad back. So he's like, you know, fuck it. I'm going to get this dragon. So then he goes to Russia Thor, goes and like goes and and kills this dragon. And then, like, and then like every yay, no more dragons. This is cool. But then somehow, and this is where like things took a turn for me because I was like, I'm not quite sure what's happening right now. Somehow, dragon is like, hey, I'm back, right? JK. And then they go to this guy lives in a rock, and I'm like, why doesn't he have any clothes? He's got really good clothing. So then I got like this mental sidetrack. Because I was like, what happens when the incredible Hulk Hulks and his clothing, right? Because the energy it takes to expand, would you know how like you just you would just erupt with on fire, right? But I was like, okay, hold on. This is a dragon, so there's fire involved. So the energy has got to be going there. And I was like, Well, I I didn't hear them say it. Did you read it? Is he warm naturally?

Mari 25:59

You're telling us.

Jonathan 26:00

Okay, because I didn't know.

Mari 26:02

You're telling us the story.

Jonathan 26:04

I think he's I think he's gotta be warm because then they don't have no insulation on this rock. And then she was like, insulation. Yeah, no, she was like, if you want, and then she was she was like, I'm out of here. And he was like, Wait, and then I think you skipped a part. Wait, I don't think so. No, he says, I'm out of here. And he was like, Wait, you can't go. And then she was like, You drop me, and then he was like, I dropped myself right in the water, and it was just like at the cusp of the water, and was there like a ferret or something like that that could have saved him? But then she was like, I'm gonna leave you to die, and then the story would have been over. But then she doesn't know what happened. She said, I guess I'll fucking save you, you fucking helpless man. And she drug him six inches up, and then she was, and then shit was cool. And then, and then he that now they're living together, and she's like, Well, if we're gonna be doing, if we're gonna do this whole like, you know, amphibian, uh, I don't know if that's the word, lizard and you know, lizard lady relationship thing, I'm gonna need some furniture. And so they went to the local IKEA, which is arguably like, I don't know if you have this type of resource in your town, but it's just a bay of like floating doodads. Like you need an end table, you just pluck it out of the ocean, right? I was like, what the hell?

Ashley 27:24

So they got an endless supply of stuff.

Jonathan 27:26

Yeah. So now their house looks like looks like a market, a marketplace, a bazaar, right? They got like, you remember when you were in university, do you ever have like you're like, I need a bookshelf. I don't have money, so I'm just gonna screw this milk crate that I stole from Publix to the wall. That's kind of like the way their house is set up, except it's got like they got like scarves for tapestries and stuff, and this is cool. And then, and then they did the whole beauty and the beast thing. And he's like, You're out of here, go home. And so she went. And then they were like, Welcome back, let's get married. Sacrifice, I think, because it's like they put her on the sacrifice sled, which I don't get. I'm like, you didn't fucking learn your lesson, but you're like, throw her out there, let's make sure this is how this works. I'm pretty sure. And then she was like, she got out there and she was like, and it's like a dog whistle for the for the for the for the dragon, which I fully believe is a wyvern. If I'm following my dragon lords, did it kill you?

Mari 28:28

I'm like, that it's a wyvern, not a dragon. Go ahead. Continue, continue.

Jonathan 28:33

So then, so then he's like, I'm gonna kill you, dragon. And then somebody was like, nah, let him go. And he like, like, said stopped it, and then the dragon flew off. And then she, she was like, she was like, Hey, I I wanna, you gotta remember who I am. I'm your lady, because I'm your lady, and then she booped him, and it was all good.

Ashley 28:59

She did boop him. I forgot about the booping.

Jonathan 29:02

That's that's what I got out of that. How close was I?

Ashley 29:04

Did you so first and foremost, I would like to petition for this this this to be in a regular segment of ours, at least quarterly, where we make Donovan watch a movie.

Jonathan 29:18

In a foreign tongue? But I mean, how do you watch movies? No, because I don't want to read movies.

Ashley 29:25

I understand, and you couldn't hear it. So this was so entertaining to me in this moment that it made watching that movie, which was unbearable with him.

Jonathan 29:36

It wasn't an unbearable movie, it was an unbearable movie with me.

Ashley 29:39

Yes, you were. I want to be very clear.

Jonathan 29:41

Unbearable. It wasn't, and I didn't even not like the movie. I was like, I was like, I found myself trying to figure out Russian halfway through it. Like, what the fuck are we talking about? I refuse to read this. So there yeah.

Plot Breakdown And Monster Humanity

Ashley 29:59

I think you were in the same area.

Mari 30:00

You were, you were, not too far off. So they like they used to sing the song to call the dragons, they sacrificed their maidens for the dragons, the dragons would come and get them, and the dragons would like burn the brides and and with their dragon fire, and that's how they got dragon babies. Um, and yeah, they did that, and the guy that loved the chick went and like rescued her and killed the dragon. So supposedly all the dragons are dead. So when Mira, who's not a princess, I think she's like the daughter of the dragon. The Duke's daughter, yeah. So when Mira goes to get married, she's on the sled or whatever, and Igor's The Sacrifice Sled, and they pop her out on that song, bitch. It was one of, I don't know, I don't know whose idea it was to sing that song. I think it's because Igor's is the grandson or the great-grandson of the guy who killed the white dragon, supposedly.

Ashley 30:48

A hundred percent traditional. I think it was his idea, actually, to sing the song.

Mari 30:56

And they did.

Jonathan 31:00

And that one's my treat. Tasty treat. What a morsel.

Ashley 31:05

Yeah, I I think you got it.

Mari 31:07

Yeah, yeah. Pretty name close, dear. The dragon didn't have a name. She gave him a name. It's Arman. You know, she figured out the thing.

Jonathan 31:13

Oh, that's nice to know. I had no idea that guy had a name.

Mari 31:16

Yep. Um, she figures out whatever you figure out that you know Arman is the dragon. The the magic supposedly is like the only thing that can bring Igor to the island to rescue her is if she loves him, if she loves Igor. And so we never find her.

Ashley 31:32

She wants him to, or something like that. Yes, like she didn't want to bend us.

Mari 31:36

Initially, I don't know if she wants to stay with the dragon, but she didn't want to go back to Igor. Yeah. And they have their time on the island. Armand tells the story of how he was like the last dragon left.

Ashley 31:50

Um I thought what was interesting was how, you know, he talked about how he didn't want to be a dragon. Right. And I think that's probably what humanized him to her was he explained, you know, when he was a child, he had made the decision not to become a dragon because it is a choice. And how he was resisting it, and his father was disappointed in him. And then his father was killed by Igor's ancestor, right? The grandfather. Yeah. Um, and he kind of flew into a rage. He I I it was probably like a revenge plot to an extent. So he made, you know, a rash decision to become the dragon and then regretted it after the fact. You know, he he didn't want to hurt people, he didn't want to be alone.

Mari 32:37

So he would like go to that small like hole area when he was turning into a dragon and like trap the dragon there until he could turn into a a man and get out the hole, you know.

Ashley 32:46

Right. Like basically exhaust himself. Um so I thought that was just really like an important part of the story because how do you fall in love with a monster, right? You see the humanity. Yeah. And she was quick to do that. And I think it helps too that he followed her around like a puppy. Yes. She was pretty, I probably would have followed her around too. But she was very nice, like she didn't take advantage of him, you know. She did seem very interested in him. I think the making of the rock a home with all of the plethora of shipwreck items. I don't know, was super convenient. Yeah.

Mari 33:22

But he was just teaching him to be a human. Right. This is how humans live.

Ashley 33:26

Yeah. Yeah. And like, how dare he get mad at her for having a backup plan?

Mari 33:31

Yeah.

Ashley 33:32

Like that's a very rational, reasonable response. Um, but he also probably handled that as well as he was going to without having, you know, any relationships or companionships growing up to like teach him emotional maturity. Right. Um, so that was that was as good as it was gonna go.

Mari 33:49

I agree. And then she does end up leaving and going back and agreeing to marry Igor. And then halfway across the water again, she decides, nope, I love the dragon. And she sings the song. She starts.

Ashley 34:03

She sings the song, right? I feel like we missed some context somewhere because so Igor does go after her, right, to an extent. And they're like, quote, trapped in the fog. They're not getting through the fog. And it's basically because she's not yearning for him, I guess, to come rescue her, whether it's love or not. I'm not sure if that translated appropriately. But the there's a there's another man on the boat with Igor. The second in command. And Igor's like, bro, let's go home. Like, this is bullshit. I don't want to do this anymore. People are gonna die. And the the second in command kind of gives him shit for it. Like, bro, you're this is your legacy. Like, you're supposed to be out here. How are you gonna go home without her? But in the same vein, he says something like, I'm here to protect the legacy.

Mari 34:50

Yeah, the honor of your family or whatever.

Ashley 34:52

The honor of your family, thank you. Which makes me wonder what happened in that first go round with the grandfather.

Mari 34:59

Right.

Ashley 35:00

Like that seemed sus.

Mari 35:02

I agree.

Ashley 35:03

And so to and to and in that vein, now that I think about it a little bit more, sorry to cut you off. How did Igor's grandfather get to the island if Lady Friend was already dead?

Mari 35:13

Right.

Ashley 35:14

Or had died.

Mari 35:15

Right. And in the way it was shown, it wasn't shown him killing a dragon, it was him killing an an older man. Right.

Ashley 35:24

Right.

Mari 35:24

Igor's grandfather to another man, yeah.

Ashley 35:27

Yeah. Who ended I mean it was the dragon, right? It was Armand's father. Right, right. So that's all very interesting, and I wonder if it's like a plot hole of sorts or you know, like a a translation issue.

Kelly 35:38

So not really.

Ashley 35:39

No, still anymore.

Kelly 35:41

No, so I think that when you look at classic literary devices and you have the like dishonored prince, dishonored son, or whatever, there's always the loyal, steadfast man at arms that's the one that actually upholds the family honor or whatever that's doing that. So that's the role that character of the helmsman played in the movie was usually the loyal man at arms, loyal to the family, loyal to the honor of the family, even though the the prince, son, etc., is a complete douchebag.

Ashley 36:16

Got it.

Kelly 36:17

And then it's kind of hinted, you know, you see like the looks between like it the camera would pan from the helmsman to the mirrors of the other sister. Yeah. So like maybe there was something going on there.

Book Origins And Story Questions

Mari 36:33

I think so too. I agree. There was something definitely going on there. And of course, all that made me look deeper. And I'm like, surely this is based on something, right? So I looked. It is based off of a book. Okay. The book was written by two of the people who wrote the movie. So it was the book was written by Marina and Sergi Diachenko in 1996 in Russia. Um, the move the the book is called The Ritual. And so I was like, surely this movie's out. Surely there's a translation. There is no English translation anywhere. However, I did find a Spanish translation which is on its way to me. So I'm not sure. So Murray will report back. And I will report back if there's any more depth. I need to know about the sister. Yeah, the sister and the man at arms. I was like, there's more there.

Ashley 37:27

Yeah, I'd like some closure there, for sure.

Jonathan 37:30

So I feel like we gave the English a translation tonight on the show.

Ashley 37:38

Just got it done.

Jonathan 37:39

Just got it done.

Kelly 37:40

In and out, right like that. My goodness. Another thing I hope that the book explains is exactly why were they summoning the dragon to eat four or five girls like the dragon only appeared when summoned, so was he like terrorizing the countryside? It didn't seem that way. So what's going on? Why are you why are you even messing with the dragon?

Mari 38:02

Is this a lamp for like good, you know, harvest or something?

Ashley 38:06

Or maybe they maybe it was like a once-a-generation thing, or you know, every 10 years or something, where like, hey, we'll we'll give up a couple broads using the phone.

Kelly 38:15

You know, it's like here's the the plot device. We don't have to explain it, you just accept it as is. But you know, in traditional fantasy stories where there involves a dragon and a princess and a kidnapping, it's usually because the dragon is terrorizing the countryside or whatever.

Ashley 38:30

Yeah, like a bribe or something. That's a really good point that I didn't think about. I was just like, oh yeah, they give up their ladies.

Kelly 38:36

Yeah, and I'm just like, what did the village get out of the steel?

Ashley 38:39

Right. That's what I'm saying. I'm thinking it's like peace for X amount of time, but how funny that like I didn't think about that at all. I was just like, oh, this is totally normal. Let's get let's get rid of some ladies. Sorry.

Mari 38:51

Oh man. Externalized problems are real.

Ashley 38:57

The way I'm questioning my own sanity right now is is is wild.

Mari 39:01

I will. I will report back. I think it's supposed to be here like next week. So I will read it. Although I read much slower in Spanish than I do in English, but I will read it and I will report back.

Folklore Details And Final Verdict

Ashley 39:11

I'm very excited for part two. Yeah.

Mari 39:14

I did look up some other little tidbits and facts about it. The cool scene at the beginning where they had the big like dragon imagery in the snow. Yeah. Remember that? So that was actually done by Simon Beck, who's a famous snow artist. So he came to Russia for the first time ever and created that huge dragon image. It was a 130-meter diameter created just for the shooting of the opening of the of the film. Um fascinating. Which I thought was pretty cool. Yeah. The other thing that I I I saw this on the little trivia thing I looked up online, but I actually got while it was happening. I told Kelly, I'm like, oh, it's a dragon fruit. So the fruit that Armand leaves out for Mira to eat when he like leaves her breakfast was a dragon fruit.

Ashley 39:56

I think it was. For some reason I thought it was like a passion fruit, but now that you say it out loud, I feel like a dummy. That's absolutely correct.

Mari 40:02

I was like, I see what they did there.

Ashley 40:05

I see.

Mari 40:06

Um, and then the other thing that I did not get is that the the red berries that they used on like the where they were decorating the the sacrifices are Rowan berries, which are they're they're like a folklore tradition that's supposed to protect against evil. Um so I don't know why you would do that and then summon the dragon. I I need more. I need to know more.

Ashley 40:27

So much contradiction happening.

Jonathan 40:29

I wonder if it's like a game. If it's like like like the you were trying to like play keep away with like a little kid, you're just like, and so they slide the bait boat out there and uh and and then and like then a dragon comes and like quick wearing, come on, and they like ha ha got you dragon, but they just they just suck at the game. No, I don't think that's what happened at all.

Mari 40:53

That's that's a that's the Jonathan version.

Jonathan 40:56

That's the Jonathan version. Yeah. Jonathan could I yeah, I don't I you're right, I didn't pick up on that, like the whole like why they bring in why they because why would you if you could avoid it, they had like a whole arena for this. It was uh yeah, I mean, but also make oh use your birds. Okay, I got you. Yeah. Use my inside things, but make them outside. Um Groundhog Day.

Ashley 41:22

I don't get it.

Jonathan 41:23

Right? Because it had they're always like they always slide the they slide the sacrifice sled out there in the wintertime.

Mari 41:30

Oh, to bring spring back.

Jonathan 41:31

To bring spring back. They gotta be like, that's what that all right, that's my bet, Mari.

Mari 41:36

Sacrifice for for spring to come. I mean that's yeah.

Jonathan 41:39

We need rebirth. We need rebirth.

Mari 41:41

So it just I thought that the red berries were like pomegranate seeds. I thought it was like a Persephone and Hades kind of with like the necklaces and whatnot. But I will I will report back after we're gonna need to know. And I will let you guys know. But yeah, all in all, I like this movie a lot. Like I had very it felt like a good classic fantasy movie, you know, where it's not just all action or all romance or all, you know, fantastical elements. It had a good mix of everything. It's like Princess Bride, you know, we've just got a good mix of everything. It didn't have much humor in it, but it still had a good mix of different genres where I think it pulls to different types of people who are looking for different kinds of stories. There's a little bit of something for everybody. I like the Russian folklore imagery. You know, that was something kind of not as common in fantasy movies. It gave me a lot of vibes of uh Shadow and Bone, which has a lot of that type of clothing and imagery too, which I really liked. Yeah, I liked it. It was I'm glad I watched it. It was a good, good fun watch, and I would recommend to anyone, but yes, it is when you have to read for now. I mean, maybe there'll be a different version that comes out. Maybe some will do a a dubbed version or something, but you have to read it for now.

Jonathan 42:59

It was, I think like it it hit me as like the so it was weird because the the special effects for the dragon weren't shitty.

Mari 43:09

Yeah, apparently it's like the best special effects, even to date, that's come out of Russian cinema. Interesting.

Jonathan 43:16

And then like the whole like movie itself, like the the like the shots and the the cinematography is very like for three men and a baby, kind of like like quality. It's weird to see that like mashup. Like I got like that 90s, late 80s, mid-90s movie cinema vibe out of it. But then the special, I was like, well, that's not a puppet. What's happening here?

Mari 43:42

That you know, 90s, 80s fantasy vibe is tattooed in my soul. So it's that's fully speaking my my language. So yeah, this I enjoyed it. Yeah, I got those vibes out of it as well.

Jonathan 43:55

So other takeaway dragons burn a shit ton of calories, and that guy has. Like a 12 pack.

Mari 44:02

You know, one thing I did appreciate is that he wasn't super built. He wasn't buff. Like, yeah, he he had muscles like in his abs and stuff, because he had was very like slender, but he wasn't like buff. We're not talking like he wasn't Thor kind of thing. Yeah. Because in my opinion, this is how it should be. If you're that strong, like if you're if you have dragon strength or like superheroes, if you have superhero strength, you're not building bulk muscle. You build bulk muscle by lifting heavy for you. If if lifting like giant things of gold or whatever is easy for you, you're not gonna build muscles out of it. So you're not gonna look like a buff bodybuilder. You know what I mean?

Jonathan 44:40

I like that you tried to introduce science and I do this all the time because I'm like superheroes like Marvel and stuff look all built.

Mari 44:47

I'm like, how are you built? Like lifting that means nothing to you. You'd have to lift buildings every day to make muscles.

Ashley 44:55

Not rationality, man. What the heck?

Mari 45:01

But but all the female superheroes are like super slender, and yet they're apparently just as strong. So I've thought about this. I've thought about this a lot.

Jonathan 45:11

You're like you're like trying to de-platform the incredible whole. That's his whole that's the whole premise.

Mari 45:16

Explicame. Make it make sense.

Jonathan 45:20

Um The Flash naturally is slender and lean, and I don't think Superman is very overbuilt. And there's I think like you know, Thor.

Mari 45:33

I think like Batman should be built because he's a human.

Jonathan 45:36

Yeah, he also has rubber.

Ashley 45:44

That's just better DNA than us.

Jonathan 45:46

Do you like Chubby Thor? I like Chubby Thor.

Mari 45:48

I'm not that big a fan of Thor at all. I'm just not a big Thor fan.

Jonathan 45:54

I like Ragnarok, Thor. Yeah.

Mari 45:58

Okay. Ash. Yeah. Is it a kissing book or kissing story?

Ashley 46:05

Yes.

Mari 46:06

I agree.

Ashley 46:07

No notes. I got no, I don't have any reason but gut instinct on this one. But I I d I do think he, I think, you know, I think initially it was definitely his humanity that stopped himself from, you know, killing her initially. And, you know, he had uh an intention not to continue his own line. So killing her in that way didn't serve him. I don't think he could control himself actually when he was summoned that way.

Mari 46:38

She had to learn to like not be afraid of the dragon. And when she interacted with the dragon, yeah. It all really started to come together.

Ashley 46:46

Yeah. I think there was an un an undeniable bond. It was a matter of whether they would get through it or not. And I think what they went through was just inevitable just because of his lack of, you know, again, emotional intelligence, which is not his fault by any by any means. Right. So I do. I think it was kissing book.

Mari 47:05

Let's be honest.

Ashley 47:06

Yeah, for sure.

Mari 47:07

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Kissing book, same reason, no notes. Like, if it hadn't been a kissing book, kissing story, like it wouldn't have the movie wouldn't have gone the way it did, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Jonathan, is is your is the Jonathan Cut a kissing story?

Jonathan 47:23

Uh it's not. It's not. If they if they would if she would have shut her mouth and not sang the song, she'd have been nothing.

Mari 47:30

Well, the first time she didn't sing the song. Everybody else did. When she first got taken.

Jonathan 47:34

Yeah. I think they should have just left well enough alone. That dragon was cool where it was. Didn't that dragon try to commit suicide? Didn't he? He was like when he was a boy and his dad got off. He was he was like, there's a cliff. Let me jump off of this thing.

Ashley 47:47

No, that was him deciding.

Jonathan 47:48

To send your dragon.

Ashley 47:49

You have to jump off the cliff to accept your dragon, to become a dragon.

Jonathan 47:52

That's a suck-ass way to do shit. I thought it was like default. I thought it was like, I'm checking out of this thing, boom, self-exit, and then the dragon was like, I think not.

Mari 48:04

Okay, so you say no. Your version is no.

Jonathan 48:07

My version is no.

Mari 48:08

Kelly.

Kelly 48:09

I think that if you say Beauty and the Beast is a kissing story, then this has to be too because it's almost the same story.

Mari 48:16

Yeah, it's a retelling, absolutely. At least inspired by. I agree. Alright, anything else we want to say about the movie before I go into maybe some other like recommendation stuff.

Ashley 48:26

You feel good, Jonathan?

If You Liked It Read These

Mari 48:27

Yeah, I feel good. Um, okay. So as I was watching it, of course, I was like, hey, if you like this movie, what books would you like? And number one that came to mind was Rebecca F. Kenny's Merciless Dragons series. The first one is called Serpents of Sky and and Flame. I wrote it wrong, Serpents of Sky and Flame, which we we met Rebecca at RomanticyCon. Um she wrote Awards of Sugar and Spice.

Jonathan 48:57

A Court of Sugar and Spice. Yeah. Among other things. There's a Jack Frost one, too, didn't she?

Mari 49:05

And a Krampus one, and a Wizard of Oz one, and an Alice in Wonderland one. She's written a lot. She's written like a retelling of Dorian Gray. There's a retelling of Portrait of Dorian Gray. There's a Phantom of the Opera retelling that she's got coming out soon. She did a Great Gatsby retelling, and she did a Wuthering Heights retelling. Um but she does this Mercerless Dragon series, which is definitely a good mix of romance and fantasy. It's like a dragon shifter kind of situation. It's um dragon kidnapping the female main character, but there's a whole story that happens behind it. If you like this movie, I would absolutely recommend that series. That's like the closest to that movie that I have read, I think. Then there's also The Witch Slayer by Opal Rain, Mulpa Rain, who wrote the Deathwalker series books. She does other things? She does. It's one book. It's a story between a it's a witch who rescues this little like lizard thing and lurses him back to health. And then when the people come and do the whole burn the witch thing at her house, she's like, you know, about to die. And the little lizard she rescued ends up like hulking out into a dragon and saving her.

Ashley 50:17

Sauvery knowledge from there.

Mari 50:19

Is it spicy? Yes, it's Opal Rain. Yes. The bar is high with Opal Rain. Opal Rain, I think, I don't think I've read anything not spicy by her. I haven't read everything she's done, but I don't think I've read anything not spicy. It is it's spicy and it's it's cute. It's a good, it's a good story. Katie Roberts has a series. She's the one who did Neon Gods. She's got a series called Deal with the Demon. And I think it's the first one in that series, although they're not really like you can read them in any order. Um, but I think the first one that came out in that series is called The Dragon's Bride. And so you have a dragon human hybrid person, and then like a female main character. Also spicy. All of these are spicy. So if I'm recommending them, there's some level, well, not all. I say that at least some level of spice. Um then Kimberly Lemmings, Mead Mishaps. The Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon. Dragon, absolutely. At least the first and the third one were dragon vibes. I've read we've read just the one for the book for the podcast, right?

Ashley 51:27

Yeah. Okay.

Mari 51:27

I've read all three. They're good. The second one's a werewolf book, and the third one is a dragon again. But they're all in that wonderful zany, you know, Kimberly Lemming style. Um which is the best. Yeah. Yeah. If you like any of her books, I would recommend reading all three of these for sure. Then there's Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven. She wrote Radiance that we read. Right. Um, and she's bit she's usually at Romantic Con as well in Orlando. This one is a healer, like a woman who does healing and a you know, dragon type character. It's very much heavy on the fantasy kind of world side of it. It's part of a series. It's like the second one in a series, but you can absolutely read it as a standalone. It works fine. But the whole series is good. She does she does good fantasy books. I really like her her style of of fantasy books. And it's not terribly long. And then the last one I have, not really spice. This is the one that was like, well, this one doesn't have spice. That we read for the podcast was Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame. Yeah. By Nian Yang. Um yeah, definitely Dragon, Dragon Love type situation. Any other dragon, dragon-y books or dragon other dragon movies or anything that you would recommend people who like this might enjoy?

Jonathan 52:44

Like transitioning back and forth? I don't. But I do have a dragon book series that I adore. It's called How to Train How to Train Your Dragon.

Ashley 52:54

It's not the same.

Jonathan 52:55

It's not the same. The books are not the same as the movie. Encourage everybody to go out and read them. But yeah, that's all I got.

Mari 53:03

Okay. Um, and I'll probably make a little like image thing of this and post it sometime after this episode comes out. So if anyone's looking to look into those books or whatever. The book that this movie is based off, once again, is called The Ritual, or just Ritual in Russian. If you speak Russian, I guess you can get that version. Um, it's called Erretual in Spanish. Um and like I said, I'll I was hoping I'd be able to get like a digital version or something and read it before this episode, but it only exists as a book that I have to wait to arrive. And the other only other thing I'd recommend is Hits and Kiss in episode 65, Dirty Dragons. It's where they do talk a little bit about this movie because Sarah read watched this movie for that episode. So it's a fun podcast. Absolutely listen to it.

Ashley 53:53

100%.

Mari 53:54

Yeah. Anything else? Dragon E or anything before I wrap it up.

Ashley 53:59

I'm so proud of us for agreeing. It's a kissing dog thing.

Jonathan 54:03

Wait, I didn't agree.

Ashley 54:05

You did.

Jonathan 54:05

I didn't. I said it's not.

Mari 54:06

Uh you didn't watch the same movie we watched. I know. Let's be honest.

Jonathan 54:11

I didn't read the same movie you read.

Mari 54:14

We need to figure out what other movie we're gonna have Jonathan read in the future.

Jonathan 54:20

I'm good, I'm good.

Mari 54:21

So much joy. Suggestion for a movie that needs to be read. Amelie. Maybe we need to watch Amelie.

Jonathan 54:28

What? I gotta go. It's bedtime.

Ashley 54:33

This is gonna be a recurring thing. At least once a quarter. We'll give him a little bit of a break. But and you know, by like after Kansas, he'll forget about it.

Mari 54:43

We'll make him do it again. I think I think we may do some more reading movies. We'll see. We'll see.

Community Shoutouts And Next Plans

Ashley 54:50

I'm so excited. That was so much fun for me.

Mari 54:52

Okay. Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates before we go. Make sure to check out the show notes, rate review, and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us and let us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, or Goodreads at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website, of Swordsandsoulmates.com. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book, or topic, feel free to reach out to us on the DMs of any of those options. And if you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode and get chapter-by-chapter interaction, join our Fable app book club by searching for the Of Swords and Soulmates Book Club. Um now, before I tell you what we're doing next two weeks, when you tune in again to listen to us, I will say we have a little bit of not really reviews, but just thought stuff that I thought was cool. So when and this I I'm behind on these, but like in February I posted Black History Month Reads, and I two of the authors that I suggested for people to look into was Alethus Stevens and Abel Regine, and they both like commented. Yeah, thankful to be included in it. It's so nice, which absolutely good books. They're they write lots of things, but they are both good sci-fi romance reads. Abel Regine has the Prime Mating Agency series, and Elizabeth Stevens has the Taken to Varaxia or Varaxia series, V-O-R-A-X-I-A. Those are fun reads. And then for our also in February, I got a random post from DJ Russo, a random message from DJ Russo to our our podcast account thanking us for like our enthusiasm and posting and her books and stuff. Um yeah, she's the one that writes all the like femme fatale female monster books that I I really like. After shovel of those, I really like. And she's got a new one out, and it is like a snake and a possum shifter. Her brain goes to fun places. That one's coming out soon. I haven't read it yet. But I would say if you if the idea of something a little bit different from regular most monster romance, if you want some like female monsters to to round out your monster reading, I would definitely check out some of her stuff.

Jonathan 57:17

Um did she write that um succubus book?

Mari 57:22

Yes. Like with the candy.

Jonathan 57:26

Yes, uh, no sugar coating it.

Mari 57:29

Yes, no sugar coating it. I like her sink or swim in that same series, which is like a female creature from the black lagoon and like a mafioso human dude. That's good times. Good times.

Jonathan 57:41

Um hold on, let me guess here. Did they did they they were like they fitted him for some cement loafers, tossed him in, and she was like, okay. Yeah, and literally sleeping with the fishes.

Mari 57:55

Punny tropes, yes. Nice. Um, absolutely. And then the last one was I had after I'd posted about the Crown of War and Shadow episode we did, J.R. Ward like posted thanking us for covering it. So very cool. All right, so now, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be either doing our first choose your own adventure episode, where we will each read a different book based around a topic and talk to you about it. Or an in-the-works special Top Secret episode that we can't talk about yet. Top secret. We'll see what the fates decide. And I will leave you with one quote from the movie Be with the one you love, trust your feelings and your heart. The rest is not important.

Jonathan 58:50

I listened to that whole movie. That quote was not in that movie. I was like, I was like, I didn't hear that. I didn't hear any English. That's what she was like, I love the dragon.

Ashley 58:58

That was that was actually really funny at the end. He was like, Oh. That's what she was. That's not what I meant.