Two sisters reread their favorite YA fantasy classics and discuss why they may be even better for adults.
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Return of the Thief closes out the Queen’s Thief series with thrills, spills (meaningful falls off of horses) and the kind of chills that only Megan Whalen Turner can pull off - and we lapped up every single sentence. Pheris, maybe the best protagonist of the series, witnesses the culmination of the Mede / Little Peninsula conflict and finds himself along the way. We discuss this entry’s Big…
It’s a Harnois Sibling Spectacular - we’re covering The Capture by Kathryn Lasky with none other than our brother, Patrick! Book 1 of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series is a brutal look at fascist owl overlords and the revolutionaries quietly defying them. Young Soren and Gylfie experience perils, found family and the terrors of moon blinking after being ripped away from their parents. We delight in…
Triumphant griffin scream!! We’re back with Derk’s brood 8 years after the events of Dark Lord of Derkholm , and it’s his daughter Elda’s time to shine. She’s enrolled at the Wizards’ University alongside fellow oddball first years Felim, Olga, Lukin, Ruskin and Claudia, and they’re realizing there’s not much learning to be had there. When the inept chairman Corkoran, obsessed with flying to the…
In lieu of a standard episode description, I will simply say: I spent the whole book expecting the “Owl Service” to be some kind of organized operation, perhaps to threaten outsiders or deliver pellets into enemies’ quarters. Only now, upon reflection, do I realize that it is a description of the set of plates. I am a fool and the owls are beyond me. They should be flowers, anyway. This book…
Grab your blood cakes and head to Mother Malkin’s pit! We’re reading Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. As the seventh son of a seventh son, Tom is destined to become the Spook’s apprentice (at least according to his mom). He learns to trap boggarts under steel (just don’t get your fingers stuck!!) and imprison witches in barred pits - and makes friends like Alice, a girl with suspiciously…
We take our first step outside the Abhorsen trilogy to learn more about Terciel and Elinor, aka Papa and Mama Sabriel! Beautifully streamlined storytelling adds series background - the basics of Charter magic at Wyverly, historical Ancelstierre/Old Kingdom relations, an exceptional gender-swapped playwright named Charlotte Breakspear - while bringing Tercial and Elinor together and giving their…
We loved this introduction to the Bartimaeus Trilogy! It’s taken us far too long to discover Jonathan Stroud’s work, and we’re now absolute Bartimaeus heads. We break down the appeal of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus’ alternating angry/gleeful perspectives, the burgeoning anticapitalist themes, and why history continues to repeat itself (spoiler humans are the worst). Grab your sassiest djinni footnotes…
We continue Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orïsha series! Children of Virtue and Vengeance sees protagonists Zélie and Amari at odds as they attempt to overthrow the monarchy led by Amari’s mother and brother Inan (who is, surprise, still alive). Except the nobility has magic now - and they’re really violent about it! Leading a group of rebel maji, Zélie works to bring balance back to Orïsha as Amari…
BOBBY IS IN THE MATRIX. We continue the Pendragon series with this journey into the mind, and the ensuing fever dream of a computer virus come to life. We have a wide-ranging conversation touching on AI psychosis, Bobby’s inability to self-censor, copaganda, and whatever gloid is. This is a wild one so get into your Lifeflight tube and don’t forget your nutrition / excretion skin pads!! EPISODE…
Dwarves, gargantuan evil and much too tiny tunnels - we’re covering The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, by Alan Garner! Cheshire visitors Susan and Colin have come to stay with farmers Gowther and Bess and tromp around Alderley Edge. Said tromping unearths a centuries-long battle between good and evil - all connected to the mysterious teardrop gem in Susan’s family heirloom bracelet. Tolkien…
