Ep 94 Gild by Raven Kennedy Review, Summary, Deep Dive Discussion | Plated Prisoner Book 1

Just in case you haven’t heard… our first full length deep dive series for 2026 is none other than THE Plated Prisoner by Raven Kennedy! Today we’re kicking off this (at least) six-book, and seven-part journey with book one: Gild.

We know that this series can be triggering, controversial, or even so slow to start (for some 😉) that it gets a “dnf.” We’re here to convince you to read it because in our not so humble opinion, it’s one of the most well-written, soul-crushing completed romantasy series out there, and it does not get the credit it deserves. Hey… it even has one of Liz’s top three book boyfriends OF ALL TIME. Don’t you want to meet him? 

These books take us on an intense journey through abuse, trauma, transformation, healing, self-discovery, empowerment, and love. We discuss the unique nature of a story that begins with a main character who’s job as a quite literal golden sex worker keeps her locked in a cage by a greedy and abusive king. And what it takes for her to attain freedom, literally and otherwise by finding her own power. 

We have everything from spoiler free star and spice ratings to the five sentence summary, important themes, most loved and hated plot points, tropes, and characters… and our incite into why this book is worth every page read. We hope you join us on this journey every other week (with a big bonus guest coming soon!) to see where Auren ends up. 

And don’t worry, we still bring you our faves and fails of the week and a smash or pass with a golden robot, and a crazed hottie…?

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Chapters

• 0:00 Spoiler Free Intro
• 10:37 Fav and Fail of the Week
• 17:33 Gild Book Review and Rating
• 21:29 5 Sentence Gild Book Summary
• 28:14 Favorite and Least Favorite things in Gild
• 49:30 Plated Prisoner LORE
• 51:37 Gild Book Quotes
• 55:00 How was the Spice?
• 59:10 Audible and General Rating and Reviews
• 1:06:10 How is it as a First Book + Bonus Easter Eggs
• 1:15:29 Unhinged Smash or Pass

Transcript

I feel like that's one of the reasons why so many people get turned off about book one. Different reviews now that I've reread it. Different thoughts. It's not there for us to enjoy it. We learn, we grow, we evolve as people. So, let's talk about Orin's ribbons. [Music] Welcome to the Besties in the Books podcast, guys. I'm Liz. And I'm Ashley. And in this episode today, we are kicking off our first deep dive series of the year. We are covering the Plated Prisoner series by none other than author Raven Kennedy. You guys, we feel like the series doesn't get as much love and like dissection maybe and deep dives and discussions as it should. So, we're here. We're bringing it to you. We're going to talk about it. and we're so excited to talk about it. This is a completed romanty series. So, do not fret if you feel like picking it up and you're like, "Ugh, I cannot wait." If like there's more to come out later, I need to read them all. Well, good news. They're all out. They're all out now. As far as we know, they're done and dusted. We have six books in the series, so it is a doozy. We have Guild, Glint, Gleam, Glow, and Coldfish. Shout out to Liz for writing those all down, cuz there's no way I could do that off the top of my head. No, absolutely not. Not me. The amount of times when I was like going to purchase my paperbacks that I like cuz I originally were reading these on my phone on Kindle and I was like, "Okay, wait. Which one is this?" Cuz it Barnes & Noble never has the complete set. I'm like, "Which one am I missing?" Gleon glue. I don't know. But we got it. We got it for you by the end of this. It'll be ingrained in our heads because we're going to be deep diving. Honestly, I think so. It always helps for me once we do these episodes and like give the book its moment in and of itself because we're talking about so many specific things that happens within that book and we say it so many times that it's like maybe it's parvo effect or whatever you know like but maybe wait did you did you say parvo effect parvo pavlo you know I was like wait a disease that dogs get yeah sorry pavlo it's like pavlo Pavlov, that's something that I only ever read. It was a journey. It was a journey to where we needed to go. We lost some good men out there just now. We lost some readers that are just like, "Okay, well, you guys don't know how to read." Great. I know how to read. I just don't know how to pronounce. There's two different things. Yeah, you guys know. You guys know. Like, honestly, I feel like that's a perpetual problem that we most of us readers have and then we listen to the audio book and we're like, "Oh, no. I didn't read Harry Potter growing up. Neither did you. That's why we covered it in a deep dive series as adults. But obviously, Hermione, and I could be saying that wrong still, was something that people found out when the movies came out that they were mispronouncing the whole time wrong. And I wonder as a child who often times had difficulty pronouncing names and still do as an adult, what would it have been for me? Hermani Mo. Yeah. So I think because I had a tendency to always think that like the e would be silent. So I probably would have been calling her like hermmo. Oh yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So hey, not that doesn't sound as cute. Hermmo. Yeah. Yeah. Hermione Granger. So there you go, guys. This is a full reread for Liz, by the way. So you know how rereads sometimes you catch things that you missed in the first reads. Okay, I just have to say this. I have to get it out. I have to get it out. Keep holding it in. Okay, the first time. So, I was just telling Ashley, I can't believe I started reading the series back in 2023, like before we had this podcast, before we had book club, before I even had a Bookstagram. Like, that's crazy to think about. But I also read them as they were coming out as well. So, like I remember the big hype around Glow coming out cuz that's book five, right? I'm like now I'm like doubting myself. Gold. No, Gold. So, there was like all the hype about Gold coming out because it's supposed to be the last book. And so, we all waited for it to come out and we were so excited. And then Raven Kennedy was like, "Guys, this book is way too long. I have to put it into two books." And so, now Goldfinch is going to be the last one and it's not coming out for another year. For just like a little point of reference for those watching on YouTube right now, I have the physical copies behind me of those two books. Imagine if that was one goldfinch and gold. I would have I would have read it, but that's a lot. Yeah. I mean, like, you can't even flip the hat. Like, how are you? Look at this visual. Imagine you're just like out like at the gym and you're just like, "Take that out and start reading it." People are like, "Are you okay?" I was actually buying these right after Christmas for their 25% off sale they were doing at Barnes & Noble's. So, I had all three of the last ones, Glow, Gold, and Goldfinch. And I just, it's such a dad joke, and it's not not that I haven't heard this before, but I just still loved it. The guy was like, "Oh, just some light holiday reading for the weekend." And I just cracked up. I was like, "Exactly." Yeah. Yep. You know, cuz like stacking them all together, man, that's like how many This has to be like a thousand pages each, right? This is a paperback. I don't know. I don't really Let me let me let me take a little So, you know, you start off slow. So, if that was intimidating to you guys and you're just here to try to figure out, do I want to read this, you know, along with them, do I want to keep it on my TBR? You do snart. I don't have the other copies. You do. Here's guild. I'll just show it to you guys here. It's short and sweet. It's only like three or 400 pages for that one. Yeah. For the hard cover, it is literally 299 pages for the hard cover. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Dip your toes in. See what you think. There there is a bit of point of contention with the first book which we'll talk about in a little bit. I'm excited to talk about it as someone who well now we both read it twice. So Liz, it's a full reread and we're going to refrain from talking about spoilers in future books except at the end of the episode. Each end of the episode will give you a warning for those who have read past whatever book we'll announce. Um cuz for me this is a reread through book three. So, half of the series, I very slowly was reading the first three, like painstakingly slow. Like Liz was going nuts and um I think I got maybe 20% into book four, but at this point I don't even remember it. So most a half a reread. It's just such a different experience reading them be back to back and knowing that I get to read especially like I'm looking at my books because I keep forgetting especially Gold and Goldfinch I get to read them back toback instead of waiting with that like year in between or whatever it was. Um because really it's almost like once you get there if you've read it you already know it's almost like part one and part two. It's like it doesn't feel like it should be two books, but as you just said, it would be like a billion pages. So, obviously, it makes more sense to do it that way. Um, but I'm just I'm already loving it so much and I'm so excited that I get to just keep rolling into the next one with no wait time in between. It's a totally different experience. Yeah. Totally different. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Not. And I don't want to say Light Crescent City cuz that was only two books, but kind of, you know, like you read those back to back and then went right into House of Flame and Shadow cuz we lined it up for the release of that, you know, and then you're you're picking apart the information and you're seeing little Easter eggs and things like that. So, I don't know. You know, I'm only done with book one and a half now for the reread. So, but I'm seeing stuff already that I'm like, "Oh, okay." And I have different different reviews now that I've reread it, different thoughts. So, we'll be talking about all that, guys. Yes, but just in case you couldn't tell, the first 15 minutes or so, or probably longer than that, let's be honest, um are spoilerfree, so we will let you guys know whenever there are going to be spoilers. Um for book one, Guild, which is the one we're going to be going over today in detail. Um, and then if we do have any little areas where we do plan on spoiling anything for the rest of the series or other books, we'll make sure to give you a very strong warning so that you know because we don't want to wreck even the smallest little thing for you guys. These books are so great. Um, and then, you know, we're going to be getting into a deep dive. So, that's our, you know, most favorite parts, least favorite parts, characters. We're going to be getting into some deeper themes, um, that we think are going to be important throughout. Um, and yeah, before we get into any of that, we just wanted to say thank you 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 join us in this Plated Prisoner series. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe anywhere you like to listen your favorite podcast, including YouTube. We're hanging out over there and also on Instagram, Tik Tok, where Besties in the Books podcast everywhere. And we do have a fable up for these books. So, if you want to join, it's kind of like a virtual book club area where you can remain spoilerfree, comment on chapters. It's really fun and it's very like if you need to get your emotions out somewhere, that's where you go. So, if you search up on the Fable app besties in the book club, that's where we'll be. You can find all the current book clubs that are on there. Super fun. I've actually had a lot of people reach out to me to tell me that um they're excited that we're covering it because they want to finally read it. And so, I'm like, "Join the chat. Join the chat. join the chat because I want to get as many people as we can like in that chat because it's just so fun to be able to like experience these books with you guys. As you've heard me say a million times and I will shout it from the rooftops forever, this series is the closest to that feeling that I get with Throne of Glass. Like it's the only thing in my opinion that compares. Um and so that's why I'm like guys, if you haven't read it, just read it. How about that? Stop arguing and just read it. And dare I say, just like throwing a glass, some of us had a hard time at first. Some people have a hard time at first with this series. Yep. It's got to build. You got to give it time to build. Only finished book three. And I can tell you right now, trust the process. Keep it going. It'll be good. Yeah. It's like I literally knew it was going to happen at the end of this book and I still screamed at the end of this book because I was like, "Ah, I know it's going to happen and it's even better this time." You know? Yeah, totally. Totally. Totally. Okay. So, before we get into that, should we do our phase and fails of the week? Let's do it. It's time. Okay. You want to go first today or do you want me to go first today? Sure. Let's go. If if at any time you're listening to our podcast and you're like, I just want to get to the meat of the story here. You know, I don't really feel like listening to Fave Fails. Well, fine. You could just skip it. There's chapter markers on our podcast and our YouTube channel cuz we get it. You know, time is money and all that. But today, we're just going to be talking about some recent faves and fails. Is the end of 2025 here, holiday season. So, for me, my fave of recent was um honestly just repprioritizing TVs and movies, me time, if you will. I love it. As somebody who obviously got heavy into reading a couple years ago, yeah, it's it's a give and take, you know. So, I'm watching less TV, less movies, and it's not that I want to replace it back in fully, but now my kids are old enough that they can go to bed without me going to bed at the same time, cuz I'm not as exhausted. I have my four-year-old is uh halfway through her first year of TK. So, now I feel like, okay, holiday's over. Now, I can stay up a little bit late and watch something, you know? So, that's what I was doing. I've been watching Stranger Things. My fail is that it just it took me too long to do my rewatch. I started it last summer when I was on my trip to Hawaii and then it kind of fell off cuz I had a lot of other stuff to do and then uh but I finally am back. I'm halfway through the season. It's going so good. And we also went and saw Anaconda in the movie theaters during the holidays, guys. It's stupid funny. Like don't expect like cinematic masterpiece. It's a comedy. It's Paul Rudd, Jack Black, and the premise is if these guys went out and recreated the smash hit Anaconda of the what '9s, but everything goes wrong in it. 2000s. Yeah. In a funny way. So hilarious. I loved it. It was a great time. I'll have to watch that when it comes out on streaming. You know, for sure. I feel like I've fallen completely. The only thing that I watch is Fallout. Okay. And like it's a It takes me like 5 days to watch one episode. Mhm. Okay. Like um but god I just have to say this. The way that I am getting like I don't want to say full on FOMO because it's not that but it's just like that like oh man I should watch this eventually. Like I really want to watch Heated Rivalry. Like why? Like the fact that I haven't even started it yet like is literally bothering me in the back of my mind because I'm like oh like is hockey romance our thing? No. However, romance is our thing in a lot of ways. And the fact that they made this show on HBO that everyone's raving about. Oh, it's a show. Yeah, that's even more daunting. I thought it was a movie this whole time. No, it's a show. I want to say I can't commit to that. I don't fish finish any series except maybe Stranger Things might be the first in forever. Well, it's season I'm pretty sure I don't know if they're going to have more seasons or like how it's working cuz I literally haven't started and I've avoided like all spoilers. So, I don't know. HBO

such a hard time watching TV

support and we need to be part of the conversation cuz literally everyone in our community is talking about it. Yeah. Yeah. Like uh so anyway, that's my two cents on the TV thing. Whenever I get the motivation to watch some TV, that's going to be the show. That's going to be the one I'm going to do it. Give us an update and a couple play to prisoner episodes. Let us know. Okay. Anyways, continue. No, that's it. Well, what was your fail? Oh, that I didn't I took too long to watch Stranger Things, but now I finally caught up. I've had to dodge spoilers, like, you know, but mostly have. There's a couple little things, but not detrimental. So, I'm okay. I'm okay. People are asking me in my DMs like, "How are you doing it?" It's like, uh, I have no other choice. I got no time and I have to watch it when my kids go to bed and I can't I watch most of the rewatches on my phone so that's different because I could be doing laundry and stuff but you have to watch it on TV. Season four I had to watch on TV because listen it's different cinematic masterpiece and then same thing with five. I have to watch it fully and then my TV in my bedroom sucks. So I'm not going to watch it in there. It does that stupid sound thing where it's up and down. So I have to like be downstairs after the kids go to bed. you know, my husband's not watching it, so there's only certain nights that I can do it. So, that's how Yeah, I never got into Stranger Things, so that's one of those things that's like on my list as well. But, like, I've been in the mode lately where like literally all I do is just put on an old episode of Sex in the City and just have it in the background. That is the most that I can like do TV at this time. This does take a lot of brain work later. At first, not really, but then it does. Yeah, I need to get into it. I just haven't I haven't gotten there. TV's hard. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So, my faves and fails were like literally both about Plated Prisoner. It was so funny. That's how obsessed I am with this freaking series. Okay. Okay. So, my fave is literally rereading these because I was like, we'll get into it later. But I definitely the first time around, book one, I struggled a little bit with. So, I was like thinking like we'll see how this goes. Immediately started it was like I'm so obsessed with this. It's crazy. Like knowing what I know, I'm like even more into it. So that is definitely my fave. Um is just I'm doing I'm switching back and forth between Kindle and um audio. Mhm. And so that's been really nice, too, because the audio is so great. So yeah, I've been doing that. That's my fave of the week for sure. My fail is also kind of a fave, but also a fail. So I don't know if you guys have seen the special editions from the bookish box for the play of prisoner series, but they're literally stunning and the character artwork is insanely good. Um, so of course they did a reprint re-release for all six books and I was like, "Okay, I'm going to get it." Like it was pretty reasonably priced, too, you know. So I was like, "All right, I'm going to get it." Of course I didn't get it in time. And so books one through four had already sold out, but I was able to get five and six, which are actually like, in my opinion, like those are the ones I wanted the most anyway. So I was like, "Okay, that's fine." Which was weird that those were the only two that weren't sold out when those were the two I wanted the most. Yeah. But I was like, "Whatever, I'll take it." So, I did order those. So, those will be one of those happy little surprises that I'll probably get in like 6 months after I forgot that I ordered them, you know. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so that is my fail cuz I didn't get all six, but it's kind of a fave cuz I still got two. And I already have two full sets of these, both indie as well. I have the original indie paperbacks and then the indie hardbacks. So, it's not that I need a third set, but it will be beautiful to have one of our favorite uh MMC's up on the shelf. Yes. In all of his glory, we'll just say. Mhm. There you go. Okay. Well, should we get into our spoiler-free reviews? Let's do it. So, for me, I read this last year. So, just last year. It took me probably six months to get through it. Let me tell you. Oh my god. This But just book one. It was not a priority. The way things were going in the book, I was like begrudgingly getting through it. Listen. Okay. So, it was probably like a three star, I want to say. I don't remember off the top of my head, but it wasn't great cuz I wasn't rushing through it obviously. Well, this year rereading it, I think I finished it in two days. Five star. That tells you something, doesn't it? That is rare. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, just trust the process, guys. I know things are sucky, things are not great, but it'll just do it. Okay. It's so hard to say things, you know, but just trust just trust the people that are telling you cuz I know everybody says it. Trust us. There's a reason why everybody Yep. That's what And that's always you would text me just keep doing it. Just keep going. Even guys, we'll talk about the second book and because we're doing every other week, you know, in case we didn't mention that, every other week for the series. So that way if you're not reading it, you'll have other stuff to listen to with us. Um, you know, even the second book was hard for me the first time. It's already going differently this time. Okay. So, hey, you live and you learn. You live and you learn. I honestly I don't remember who was like my cheerleader cuz like I said, I read this before I read this before I had a Bookstagram. So, I don't remember who told me to read the series, but there was someone I think it might have been my like previous Pilates instructor cuz she's into like all these books. Um, and cuz someone had told me just keep going, just keep going. And I was like, and same thing, I rated the first book a three star and I was like, not going to continue. But then when we get into the quote section, I'll share the quote that hooked me. M okay. There was a quote at the end that hooked me enough to where I was like, I'll give book two a try, especially cuz I don't remember who it was, but someone kept telling me to keep going. So, I was like, I trust their opinion. This quote was really good. It sucked me in. Like, I'll keep going. And so, I'm so glad I did. But, like, if I didn't have those other factors, I don't know if I would have continued either. Book one was definitely a struggle the first time. This second time, it was an easy five stars. Like, not even a question in my mind. I was like, this is five stars, one and done. So easy. He loved every second of it cuz it's just you know what the purpose is of making it this way. Yes. It's intentional. Exactly. Exactly. Mhm. Yeah. Which it's a short, you know, it's short in comparison to the rest of the books. So, you know, hey, I don't know that I would do it any differently though than what she did. I guess we'll talk about that in we'll probably have to do a wrap-up video overall of all this, if not just in our final episode covering Goldfinch. Um, you know, would we have done the books any differently? So far, no. But hey, we'll see. I mean, yeah, it's just in my opinion, it's the perfect start now that you understand, now that I understand like what and I wonder if we'll be that way with Throne of Glass, too. Mhm. You know, because we rated those first ones lower. Not Assassin's Blade, you loved it, but like Throne of Glass, you know? I mean, I think four star was the lowest that we rated anything in Throne of Glass, but it didn't it wasn't like painful to get through. This one was a little painful for, you know, there's a lot of themes that are really heavy in this book and really, you know, cringy and um so we'll talk all about that in a little bit in the spoiler section. Yep. Speaking of spoiler section, shall we get into the spoiler section? Let's do [Music] If you don't want to hear any spoilers for book one of the play to prisoner series guild, go on get save it to your playlist and listen later when you're done reading the book if we sold you on it yet. It's a quick read. Yeah, go do it. If you don't read it over the course of six months, I mean, yeah, it is a quick read if you don't do what I did. Hey, 6 months to two days. There you go. That says something. It really does. I really think so. So, and then later on we'll give spoilers for future books if we have anything else to mention, any tie-ins and things like that. Okay. Okay. So, you're safe here for book one. All right, Liz, why don't you start us off then? Oh, no. We're doing five cent summary. Five sentence summary. Yep. Are you ready? Okay. Play a prisoner book one by Raven Kennedy. This is the only gold item I had. So, Oh, it's the for our musical instrument choice today, we have the golden gong. M the golden gong. Nice. Yeah. Okay. All right. Ain, the entirely golden quote unquote gilded girl and most favored royal saddle of King Tindle Midas of Highel Castle in the sixth kingdom of Ora has lived within the confines of a cage the king has kept her in for the last 10 years since he quote unquote saved her as a young orphan girl who had been trafficked as a child. One, Midas married Molina Collier to secure his royal station, saving her kingdom from ruin, financial and otherwise, with his magical ability to turn anything to gold. But they have not produced an heir, and he keeps Aaron as his most prized possession he supposedly loves. However, when the opportunity to trade a knight with her for an alliance with King Folk in Fifth Kingdom arises, he takes it with the intention that they will join forces to conquer Fourth Kingdom and the notorious tyrant King Ravaging. Two, Midas double crosses Folk, resulting in the slaughter of all of his men by Fourth Kingdom and Folk's death at the hands of Digby, Arin's loyal guard, when he attempts to slit her throat. After this altercation, Midas spins the whole story to his benefit, blaming the slaughter on a traitor and acting as the savior who leaves to rule Fifth Kingdom until their rightful heir comes of age. [Music] Three. Mida sends for all of his royal saddles, including Ain, to meet him in fifth kingdom. And as she travels outside of the palace for the first time in 10 years, she realizes the horrific poverty most of the kingdom is in. She gets mobbed by people in the square when she attempts to give beggar children some gold. And later they get stuck in a snowstorm and attacked by snow pirates who take the saddles hostage and kill Sail Arin's friend and secondary guard after Digby went off to scout and never returned.

Four. Four. All right. The pirate Captain Fain and his terrible first mate Carter plan to abuse the saddles until they tire and eventually sell them off. But before that can happen, King Ravagers soldiers show up, including Commander Rip, who it's rumored the king created from his rot to lead his army, but is really actually a faye, to purchase Midas' party to use as a bargaining chip in the war. But Fain tries to hide Arin. And Rip knows she's there. While Rip is loading everyone up, the pirate captain takes her and Rissa to his quarters where he rapes Rissa. But in her fury, Ain turns his sol turns him solid gold and with the surprising help from her ribbons, pushes him out the window, saying he took the gold and double crossed his own men. Carter doubts their story. But before he can do anything, Rip takes her and Rissa and joins back with the entire might of Forth's army.

[Applause] Oh, that was a run-on sentence at the end, but hey, hey, hey, we got the job done. Yeah. Mhm. I think that, you know, when I was reading this book, I was like, actually, I feel like the first time I read it, I was definitely like, "Oh my god, what are these kingdoms? Who are these kings? What's going on? Like, who are these people?" And this time, it was like I literally was just like, "This is fourth kingdom. This is fifth kingdom. This is sixth kingdom." I just kind of like noted everybody and it made a lot more, it was just clearer this time around. So, I appreciated that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Clear. And um you know Aren's character is difficult to get through because you know of everything that she's going through and seems very naive in this book. So it's difficult you know and a lot of people suck. So it's hard to like you know want to continue. Well, I I feel like my major like problem with the first book the first time I read it was that, you know, as someone who reads romance and dark romance, you know, you open the front page and it says that there's going to be a lot of dark themes, right? And there's going to be a lot of I don't remember exactly how it's worded. I'd have to look at my my paperback, but it's basically insinuated that there's going to be a high spice level and there's going to be a lot of triggers. And so I'm thinking in my mind like, okay, great. It'll probably be five stars, you know? Yeah. Um, and it's more like you don't go into it like if you don't go into it with the expectation that you're going to get any positive resolution or like um actually like any of the characters in book one cuz you're not really supposed to. I think it just sets a different expectation cuz I'm thinking like why why don't I like anyone? Like yeah, there's spice in it but none of it's good. Well, yeah. And it's terrible and it's salty and Yeah. It starts with the opening scene of her having to watch Midas with the saddles, you know, that's like, oh, okay. Yeah. Exactly. And then it's a bad taste in people's mouth right at the beginning, but it's intentional, you know. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. And just for anyone who, you know, maybe you're like trying to gauge if you want to read this or not, Saddle is what they call a sex worker um in this story. So that's what that is. Um, but yeah, it's like you kind of hate Midas and you kind of think that Ain is insufferable and you know and Dulu and everyone just kind of sucks and all the spice is like either you know someone being paid, right? It's like a saddle being paid or it is like against someone's will and so you're like, "Oh no." Yeah. Exactly. That's not what I wanted to be reading about. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I think that's why it's hard for a lot of us to get through it. Yeah. So, definitely check the trigger warnings for sure, guys. Um, you know, that's the most important thing. But just know that if you're expecting this to be like a happily ever after right out of the gates. Yeah. No, sorry. That's not where this is going right now. Yeah. So, okay. Well, why don't you just give us three tropes that you really enjoyed then? Okay. First off the bat, love a good fairy tale re-imagined. Okay, so we have the story of Midas and what she took from that little thing and created. How cool. What a cool world expansion. Um and then political conspiracy with Midas setting up folk. That was like a great um satisfying moment even though Midas still sucks. It's like it was like, haha, great. Yeah, for sure. Um, and then ah, does this count as a trope? I feel like it would. Lost world question. Yeah, for sure. We're getting like little little things woven throughout different chapters that are just like almost poetic in a way of like what used to be lost world, lost land, like whatever something's out there that is mentioned. So, I want to know more about that. Yeah, I have a little section that I'll include here later um that I just entitled lore. And so it's stuff that I didn't want to include in the five sentence summary because as far as the plot goes, it's not like uh you know integral to the summary. However, it is essential lore to move forward knowing um because it's not necessarily a flashback so much as her telling as like you're saying telling kind of giving us some backstory almost like history that we need to know moving forward. So, I'll include that a little bit later. But yes, I agree with you. That's one of my favorite parts, too. And when I was first reading that, I was like, I want to hear more about that. And then we have to go back to the stupid a-holes, you know? So, it was more frustrating. But as a reread, I'm like, "Ooh, I'm going to read more about that," you know? Yeah. Yeah. I don't even know what everything fully means yet. So, I'm excited. I'm so excited. I do. And like literally my entire soul is going to like be crushed, I think. Okay. Anyway, that's fine. I'm fine. Um, so for tropes I loved, I put uh different timelines because there are flashbacks between she and King Midas or Tindle. Um, and so I do really like that because, you know, I'm a sucker for when things come together, when there's a flashback and then the present day and then they meet. Okay. Um, I put multip because we get a little taster of that in book one. Um, and then that grows to basically thrown of glass level by the time we're at the end. And that is my favorite. I love it so much. Yeah. Mhm. Um and then I also put um abuse recognition and like um because I think that that is a big piece of especially the first couple books that I think when you don't go into it looking at this book and the story through that lens it is hard to understand what's going on with Aurin. Um, obviously we find out more about her as the books go on, so you kind of understand her better, but I think what's important to note is like when you were talking about like for example, King Midas double crossing folk and how that was a cool moment. Well, he uses Aaron to do that by making her believe that he's trading her for a knight for the for King Folk soldiers so that they can band together and take down um Ravaging's kingdom. Well, what he doesn't tell her is that his plan is actually to double cross Folk, so that's never going to happen. Um, but she doesn't know that. So, she feels betrayed by Midas. She feels obviously horrified that she's going to be assaulted by Folk. Um, and then what Midas tells her after all is said and done is, "But I did this for you. I did this for us." Like, just be happy. Be grateful that this is what you get. And so I think it's like I wrote it down as like the cycle of violence, right? It's like this ongoing brainwashing that's been happening to her for the last 10 years to where you know she experienced such trauma in her short time outside of the kingdom that to her this feels like the best possible option. She doesn't realize that he's also abusing her, right? Um and so yeah, I think that's like a huge point of this book. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Ugh. Yeah. So, what about a trope you hated? Huh? Stockholm syndrome dynamic. No. No. No. Yeah. I love a good Stockholm syndrome. I'm not even going to lie. Sometimes, but in this case, oh, I'm just like this poor girl. I know. He sucks. He sucks. Exactly with what you just mentioned. Like, it'd be so easy for her to just clue her in on it. Hey, I'm doing something. You have to tell her the big plan. I'm not actually going to let him do it, but please rule. You know, she's not some dummy. And he treats her like she's some dummy. And it drives me nuts. Yeah. Making her making her watch. I don't know. There's so many things that we're, you know, finding out that it's just so sad. Well, and it's the making her I think the difference between like this kind of Stockholm syndrome and like Beauty and the Beast kind of Stockholm syndrome is that he's making everything out like all the horrific things that he makes her endure. He's making it out to be like she should be happy and grateful for it. Exactly. That's the difference. The beast was never like be happy. I'm locking you in this cell. Right. He was like I'm mean until I'm not. It's like no. Vitis is like that quintessential like I don't like abuser like Yeah. manipulative. Yep. Yeah. Sociopathic, like narcissistic, like all of the things. All of the things. Um I put a trope I hated was I just put it in capitals. I put dumbass FMC. Yeah. because I feel like the reason why I included this was because she's not dumb, but I think that it's like I don't know how I'm not an author, okay? So, I don't know how you could do this in a different way and have it pan out the way it's supposed to, but I feel like that's one of the reasons why so many people get turned off about book one. And so I'm like, I don't know how you make Aaron out to be like to come across as, you know, quote unquote smarter, not so clueless and naive while still being essentially abused and ground down, and you know, like just having having a very small worldview at this point. Yeah. So that's why I put question mark after it because it's like she's not a dumbass FMC, but the assumption that that's what's going on, I guess, is what bothers me. Yeah. Because I even did I rated it three stars. Yeah. She was really hard to get through. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So, what about a micro trope, good or bad, that just stood out to you? Ooh. Sentient appendages. Have you heard that one before? Huh? Yeah. Mhm. kind of tail adjacent as we learn. So, hey, again, we we learn, we grow, we evolve as people. So, let's talk about Orin's ribbons. Okay. So, the first read I was like, Liz, okay, now I have to read about eight tales. Okay, cuz Oh, 24. God, I thought she had 24 back in the hate list. No, I very have mixed emotions about her ribbons. Okay. Um, but in my mind, for some reason, I don't know if that was like the birth of my tail icks at the time, so it came up too soon. Um, you know, I'm I'm envisioning cuz they come from her. Very fleshy, padded like, gross. Um, I So, I didn't like them, you know, tentacles without the the little things, you know, except like a ribbon cut at the end. Um, so this time though, I just tried really hard just thinking of them as literal gold ribbons with like unnatural superhuman strength instead of I feel like that's what I always kind of pictured them as. Yeah. But see, I I thought of them too anatomically correct. I think like they would grow out like fleshy, meaty, you know, muscly like a octopus. Yeah. So it grossed me out and I've seen character art. Yeah. So that helped is because it's like no literal ribbons. They just have an unnatural super, you know, magical element to them. And they are sentient, which is kind of cool. So I gave them a chance this time. I reframed my thinking and now I can get through it. So if you guys are afraid to look up character art for spoilers, send us a DM and I'll send you a couple. There you go. Um, yeah, cuz it's like I get that cuz sometimes I'm like, "Oh no, I don't want to know what happens. I don't want to know who gets together." Lots of times that's what happens is you get character art of um couples and then you're like frick, you know. Um but yeah, I would definitely say that her ribbons are really cool and they've already come into play with helping her with Sail um and with the pirate king and everything. So yeah, we're seeing them come into play now and that they are sentient and they can help her in a way. So that's exciting to see where that goes now. And now I'm more intrigued. So what about you? A micro trope that stood out. I actually wrote down sex work. Um so I feel like this book is a great kind of like way to examine a topic like sex work um in by using fantasy, right? like we're in this like fantastical world um where things are different but at the same time we are really able to like kind of dive deep into you know kind of more of the overarching theme of like how we treat people based on what we think their intrinsic value is. Who is able to assign value to different people? um you know if that is quote unquote legitimate work, what rights those people doing that work should have. Um so I thought that was all really interesting too. Yeah, totally. So what about So this was something that I wanted to add to these books because I feel like the themes are really important throughout. Um were there any unique themes that stood out to you? unique. I mean, it's hard because we read so much so many things. Just anything that you wanted to talk about, but I'll just I'm just going to list some stuff. Yeah. Okay. Trauma, trauma, bonding, abuse, essay, like some of the stuff we've already talked about. Wealth, power, and corruption. That's a big one. Personal freedom. What does that mean? uh classism because we see that which you mentioned with um when she kind of has a little bit of her veil lifted when she goes into the town the kingdom and sees that Midas is not actually caring for his people and they're all in squander and poverty. Yeah. Also misogyny. Yeah. Flat out that we don't necessarily see in a lot of fantasy as clear as it is here. Yeah. Yep. Um Yeah. just to kind of go through similar. So I put the cycle of violence, gendered power dynamics, um women having to compete with one another for resources, power, that's huge. Um women performing for safety. So like, you know, I feel like that was a huge one for me because like we see that with Rissa, right, where she's like, "This is all a performance. We're professionals. Like this is what we do." Um, but you know, so they're literally performing because of the fact that they are sex workers in this world. However, I would argue that women in general in society are con constantly performing for lots of times their own safety. Um, and so I thought that was important. Um, women as property, um, having or not having value and being grateful just to be there for the bare minimum. So, like this idea that it's like you should be happy just because you aren't a beggar on the street even though I keep you in a cage because you have food and shelter and whatever. You know what I mean? It's like be happy for the crumbs. Be happy you just get to step inside the room. Mhm. It's like I don't know. I don't know about that. Um and then I also put on the flip side of that something a little bit more positive I guess you could say finding strength within. So that's a big one throughout. um this series, not just with Aaron, but with like all the female characters. So, yeah. Yeah. Really enjoyed that. So, we'll just we'll have our eyes peeled. We'll have our eyes open. You know, look at those things with us as we're kind of going along through this story.

Okay. So, what's your favorite part? What was your favorite part in Guild book one? Well, um, obviously so satisfying when Aurin turns the snow pirate king into gold with his pants down and everything. Like, what a jerk. Pushes him over. Doesn't Rissa like hit his dick? Yeah. She's like, and cuz like cuz cuz Ain hits some like slaps him or something and she's like, "Ow." And she's like something um like gez don't do that. And she said, "It's okay. It was worth it." And so she goes, "Okay." and hits them with it. It's like, oh, it did hurt, but it was worth it. So, it was a cute little like mini moment between the two. And um a little bit of comic relief, too. So, it was just that was very satisfying indeed. Mhm. Yeah. For anyone wondering, I kind of made this comment to um in the group chat. It's very Selena Landra reminiscent Rissa and Orin's uh relationship. And so if that's something that you guys you guys liked watching bloom, that's like kind of what's happening here. Um, yeah, that's exactly what I put. I put her turning fain into gold and pushing his ass out the window into the snow. Goodbye. Just imagine like dick up in the sand or snow. Yeah, like a little tiny one. Um uh hey, you know something I didn't catch in the first read that I'm like, "Okay, that visual is so cool." was all the pirates that they are dressed in all white and they have like red scarves around their face. Like those are moments that I'm like, "This needs to be a show." Like that would be so cool on screen with like a freaking their boats are going through the snow being pulled by dragons essentially. Like that's crazy. Mhm. That's crazy. I mean, I hate them, but I want there to be good ones, too. Well, it's a cool visual. It almost kind of reminded me of Sorry not to bring it up, but of Shadow and Bone when they're traveling through cuz they're they're more so going through like a desert, but it's like similar. Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Yeah, they there were things I liked in Shadow and Bone. It just that's why because there's been so much potential. That's why I'm so passionate about it still to this day. Yeah. We're rooting for you. H. Um, since we kind of have the same thing, I did a bonus one. Loved it. Uh, Orin throwing the book at Rissa's head. Oh, yeah. She's just trying to help a girl out. And it just That whole scene was so funny. It was funny. I enemies to friends. We love it. We're not just here for enemies to lovers. We're also here for enemies to friends every time. Yeah. Yeah. So, what about your least favorite part? We probably also have the same least favorite part. I'll let you go first this time then. I just put poor sale rip. Yes. Exactly. Exactly that. That was so sad. It was so poor guy. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve it. Not Not long enough for this world. Um, and I hate to, you know, try to compare it to Thrown in a Glass again, but I was thinking of, and I'll say this for anybody who's finished the Kingdom of Ash series. I'll just say it in case you haven't. Um, just there's two characters that are comforting each other with looks. I pulled this out in the group chat. Oh, okay. You did? Yeah. Yeah. It's like that. Yeah. It's the blink. It's the blink moments. Yeah, that that's exactly what I said in the group chat. I was like, "It reminds me exactly of that." It's Yeah. And it's very impactful, I think, too, to kill off a character like Sale who we've only known for 150 pages, if that 100 pages, and have us really care about his death, you know? I was like, "Wow." It was like her first connection with someone who wasn't trying to get something from her. Yeah. you know, and who was kind? Who was kind genuinely kind and interested in who she is as a person, not the gold, you know, and everything. And uh, you know, she tries really hard with the other security. What is it? What is the name? Um, Digby, her other guard, her other guard. Um, she tries really hard with Digby, but he ain't budging. So, this guy comes along and, you know, he's willing to give her some banter and like joke around and stuff. So it was just so sweet and so sad and but as horrible as it was, it was like a necessary moment for her like to So it was a growth moment. Big as horrible as it was. Yeah. Yep. Well, and it was a moment for her to recognize that, you know, she does have it's that inner strength thing coming through again because, you know, they rigged him up on the ship. Um, which was horrible. And she was like, "No, he can't like be, you know, he can't be like this. Like, I have to cut him down. I have to set him, you know, free." Like literally, but also metaphorically. And so, she does. She finds the strength to be able to do that. Like, her and her ribbons, you know, are able to free his body and throw him overboard. Um, and I think that was really important like moment for her to realize that she she is strong. Like she thinks she's not strong, but she is strong. Yeah. Yeah. So, favorite character?

Digby. Digby is pretty cool. I hope he I hope we get to see him again cuz right now he's just not there. So, he just wandered off to go do some scouting and never came back. So, cuz it seems like she goes through a lot of other guards, but he stands strong and true and you know, I mean, it's never great when somebody's keeping their mouth shut about stuff, but we're in a weird world right now. So, giving them the benefit of the doubt. A lot of people suck, so there's not many to choose from. Yeah. Um, you know, the first time I read this, I pictured Diggby um to look like basically like Daenerys's uh like guard, like main guy guard or whatever in um Game of Thrones. And I was like, and he's not really my cup of tea, but I was like, okay, he's like neutral, you know? Okay. Well, then I listened to the audio of book one and good old Anthony Palamini made Diggby even sound hot. I was like, "Great. Now I have a crush on Diggby, too." Um, so yeah, just little two cents. We'll see where it's going with Digby, but right now I like him. He wasn't my favorite character, though. My favorite character was Rissa in this book. Interesting. I I liked her. I think that, you know, there's a lot to be learned and said about Rissa, so I'm excited to see where that goes. Yeah. Yeah. What about most hated character? Oh, so that's hard. It's hard to pick. Hard to pick between the [ __ ] on the sticks. Um, I'm going to go I'm going to go with uh King Folk, I guess, cuz he's just sleazy and slimy of the worst kind, I guess, if we're on a scale here. That's what I chose, too. Yeah, he sucks. He has no I mean, he's dead now, but he had no redeeming qualities. Yeah. At all. Literally zero. So, not that Midas does either, but we don't really know the whole story with Midas. So, Pirate King, too, though, you know. Yeah. I hate it. Rissa the professional was like playing into it and he was just bad news bears. I was like, "Okay, that was hard to read." So, just know that. Stop ruining pirates for us. I know you're not big into pirates, but they can be good. Okay, this one wasn't. I mean, after reading Nikki St. Crow's uh like rendition of Peter Pan and all the, you know, the crocodile and all that stuff, I don't think that pirates could ever really be ruined for me again. There you go. I'll just block him out. Yeah. with those. Yeah. Yep. But yeah, I would agree with you. King Folk for sure. Yeah, for sure. Before we get into quotes, I did want to give a shout out to the new section that I forgot to include in the episode map entitled lore. Okay, so here's the lore that I think is very important moving forward that we need to note. Um, and there's kind of a lot, so I try to synthesize it down into what I think is the most important. Okay. Yeah. So, right now we're dealing with the, you know, six kingdoms. We don't know everything about all the kingdoms, but that's what we're dealing with. All right. The lore is about seventh kingdom. Mhm. Okay. So, Seventh Kingdom was ruled at the edge of the world where the bridge to Laamria stood. Okay. Sarah Turley, I don't know if that's how you say her name. It's spelled S A I R A. So, Sarah Turley transversed the bridge to find her father from the human realms. She didn't find him, but she did find Anwin, the realm of the fay. Okay, so we know that the bridge to Lamria goes to the realm of the fay. She gets to the other side of the bridge. She fell into their sky. Okay, so she kind of falls out of the sky, like into their world, and they called her the broken winged bird. When she turned 19, she fell in love with a fay from there who found the rift between realms and connected them so that she could travel between them um to, you know, to go see her family or whatever until 300 years ago when a new king came into power and severed the ties, not wanting humans to have any fa power because obviously they were, you know, mixing um and humans were getting some of the fay powers and seventh kingdom and the bridge were swallowed whole and fell into the void supposedly. So now you just have this bridge kind of that goes to nowhere and no one knows how to get to Laamria anymore. So that's the lore section. Mhm. To me, that's one of the most interesting parts of this book. Yeah. Chapter 32, in case you want to read it over again, cuz I wrote some of that down in the quotes, too. So that summed it up. Perfect. Awesome. Um, so like I said, not necessarily uh, you know, part of the step-by-step plot of this book, but something that we're going to need moving. That's fantasy for you, babes. You know, there's little nuggets. Pay attention to them. It's not just a simple little everybody sucks story. People do suck, but it's all coming. It's all coming around. Mhm. Okay. So, that being said, quotes. What do you got? What do you got? I got a just some funny ones, but also not Okay, first the funny Well, I'll end with the funny one first. I'll start with the sucky ones. Okay. I know that's my fault. I shouldn't want more. I should be happy with what I have, but I can't help it, says Orin.

Yep. A lot of people quote like part of this, but I wanted to give the full quote. Okay. But while every room is opulent and my every view elegant, the luxury of it all has long since faded away from me. I guess that's bound to happen after being here for so long. Does it really matter if your cage is solid gold when you aren't allowed to leave it? A cage is a cage, no matter how gilded. And that's the crux of it. I begged him to keep me and protect me. He fulfilled his promise. It's me who's ruining this. It's my own mind warping me, whispering thoughts I have no right to think. Boom. Yep. And I quoted the small part. Mhm. So, there you go. Oh, man. Cuz she's blaming herself for her own literal imprisonment. Yeah. That's how good he is. Yep.

Um, this is probably a short version of the long part as well, but I am the goldplated prisoner, but what a pretty prison it is. A lot of people quote that one, too, cuz Yeah. Um, I admit I don't know a lot about the inner workings of a king's mind. I don't know how their advisers advise them, but I do know this. All men, whether they're a king or a peasant, covet what they do not have.

Okay, my last one is my funny one. Bam, it hits Reese. Let me say that again. Bam, it hits Rissa right in the face. [ __ ] That's all right. She does have a really funny inner monologue. I think that's the thing, too, is like she does have a sense of humor, which I really appreciate given her circumstances. That's like the saving grace of her for this book, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Um, this one was one of my favorites. It's the arrogance of men to think so little of women and it'll be their downfall too.

It's very uh like Game of Thrones all men must die coded, you know. Um let's see what else do I have? Should we end on that one? Oh no, we'll end on this one. Okay, so this is the quote at the end of the book that got me really sucked into wanting to read book two. Yeah. Okay. It's between her and Commander Rip. I know what you are, I say with a sharp tone, my accusation, escaping with a puff of hazy air between us. And then he says, "Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you." Yes. Yes. So good. So good. So good. Oh, that's so it's so good. It's such a treat rereading it, guys. It really is. It really is. It really is. So, we can't next year cuz we're in 2026 now. We plan on doing Throne of Glass next year. So, if it all pans out real well, guys, we're so excited to read that. Sorry to make it a lot about Throne of Glass, but there's just, you know, fantasy, you know, there's things that connect, but anyways. Yeah. So, Ash, how was the spice in book one? Oh, hard, hard, hard to deal with. Not in a good way. Not in a good way. O, yeah. Scary. Bad. Mayday, mayday alert. That's why it was so hard for me to get through it, I think, is because it's like, no, there wasn't many saving graces other than you're cheerleading me. I don't think I would have ever finished it if you It would have been a soft DNF if you weren't encouraging me. So, let us be your encouragement. Let us be your guide. Let us be your guide. Um, yeah. know that the spice in this book um I rated it I think a two spice. Um know that the spice in this book is or like I guess maybe a three. Um yeah, triggers. Yep. Yeah. It's all triggering. None of it's great. It's not there um for us to enjoy it. I guess that would be the best part. The best way to put it. Mhm. The spice in this book, we'll call it a three because of the one scene at the end with the pirate king and Rissa. Okay. because that was pretty explicit um and triggering. It's not there for us to enjoy it. It's not there for us to like it. It's there to move the plot forward and it's there to show the circumstances that all of these characters are enduring and going through and the world that we're living in at this point. you know, now that it comes to my brain, I wonder if it's because it's almost like unfortunately before all of these romanty books came on the scene and into our brains and we're able to access them and read them. It's very much like the type of spicy scenes men write in their fantasy books or in their any books. Oh, yeah. We wouldn't eventually get to the good part. That would just be the only part. That's just the only Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that's why it's so hard to go back to reading scenes like this where it's like male satisfaction, male gaze. It's not for women's pleasure. It's bad news bears. So that's a good point. Yeah, cuz I'm thinking of it. I'm like, it is kind of what I was having issues with with just watching Game of Thrones. You know, it's a lot of essay and stuff, so it's hard to get through. Yeah. When we have all these other things to read instead. Yeah. That's all intentional and then that's not that's not the end all be all. It's setting it up for where we need to go so we can know RNs and Riss's POVs. You know what I mean? Like moving forward. But yeah, it's not like written like that. It's not like the whole series is like that. No, no, no. And it's not just there for shock value and it's not just there to appease a certain demographic. It's there for a reason. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. So yeah. So I guess like now that I'm hashing that out with you, I'll increase the spice rating from a two to a three because I think that that's important. And then just make sure to check the triggers for sure. A three, but not enjoyable three. Yeah. No, no, no. A bad three. A bad three. Bad sad three. Bad sad three. Yeah. So here's the question. Um, if we weren't reading it for the podcast, would you have continued on to book two? That's a that's a yes, right? Because I did. So yeah, again, it took me a long time. And then of course by time, guys, I got to book three, I was fast. I was speedreading that. Yeah. So the first two books were hard for me, but rereading it, no, I'm 50 officially 50% into book two. So on the reread, and obviously you did as well. So yeah, but like I said, it was literally just cheerleading and that last final quote. That's all that convinced me to read book two. It's not like it was a given. Like I wasn't like, "Oh, I'll for sure." And I mean, that quote happened in the last 5% of the book, I think. Yeah. So, yeah, it wasn't a given. So, I think that that's it's important that we really explain that because we need you guys to read book two. Okay. And keep going. Um, no. But yeah, this time I'm just eating it up. It's probably I can't imagine I'm going to rate anything lower than a five star this time. So, we'll see. We'll see. Things could change. But yeah, I mean this increased by two stars, which is pretty cool. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Uh, hey, how was the audio book? I didn't listen to the audiobook for this one. I physically read it on my Kindle. Um, because back when I got I bought it originally for Kindle. Um, I didn't know Sir Anthony. I just did it on Kindle, but I did look up some information on audio books. Okay. So, there are two versions at least right now on Audible because I was like confused why Anthony wasn't listed on one of them and I had wrote down the old information. So, just in case uh the original guild, not original, one of the guild narrations, which is what Liz did, was narrated by Lily Drake and Anthony Palamini. So, that's the one that I preferred when I sampled both of them as well. It has a 4.3 out of five. I wrote this down wrong. 5,200 something like that reviews. Um, and a lot of positive mentions of the narration specifically within that. So, sometimes it's like book related, you know, but this one specifically was toing all the praises for the narrators. So, shout out to them. Are you were you enjoying that? You did audio this time. I did both. So, I bounce back and forth. So, like my mo anytime Well, first of all, it's podium entertainment and so they're usually really good. Second, it's like anytime we've got Yeah. Anthony Palini, you know, Teddy Hamilton, like we have like our top guys, right? Like anytime it's them, it's like, okay, if I have the time to, yes, I'm going to bounce back and forth, but then I also love to do the quote unquote immersive read where I'm listening and read, like, I'm reading with my ears and reading with my eyes simultaneously because that to me is just a full experience. That's the trifecta or double, whatever. So, yeah. So, I'm um do I am doing both for basically the whole series. I have the audios and I have the Kindle version and I have my hardbacks, but I don't really I'm these are for my shelves. Yeah, I'm not going to be probably physically reading those. But, um yeah. No, I fully enjoy it. It's literally great. The audio book narrators are excellent. So, yes. Yeah, there is another one um narrated by Bella Sandy and Haron Corvo. So, if for some reason you listen to the sampling and it wasn't your cup of tea, there is another one out there. That one does get a 3.9 out of only 66 reviews. So, and based on those reviews though, they weren't about the narration. It was about just the book mostly. Yeah. Guild as a story. Um, and then that one is more of a the female voice is the only one I could hear for the sample and it was a British accent. So, Okay. Yeah. And this one you said he does. Um, so he will do any of the male voices that come on page since this isn't as many point of views in this book. Oh, that's cool. So, I didn't I didn't download it because I was like, well, Anony's not going to be in it that much, but he was. So, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, all the male voices, it's dual narration, so all the male voices are done by him and then Lily Drake does all the female voices. Oh, yeah. Cuz you know how sometimes they'll only do the point of view, so sometimes it's the female trying to act out the male time and then it's like he's just there at the end. Yeah. No, that's not how this was. It was the whole time it was dual narration. Yeah, good to know, guys. So, definitely that's worth a listen. Worth a download for sure. Awesome. So, I wanted to mention the Goodreads review summary really quick. So, let's see. Just for book one, looks like there's 354,480 reviews as of yesterday, and it gets an average of a 3.61. So, not great, but I feel like again, knowing what we know, I definitely went back and I increased my star rating after reading it a second time. Oh, yeah. I need to do that, too. Yeah. Um, and okay, so I think I mean, for a book that was I'm like it's Bloom now, but it just got picked up by Bloom, right? I can't remember. Yeah, I I just bought my copies and they were Bloom. Yeah. So, something that was originally published indie, I mean, we're looking at a pretty high amount of ratings. Not as many as it should have, okay, in my opinion, a billion ratings. Um, but I think it's pretty it's gaining more popularity and it's pretty popular for, like I said, something that just got picked up by Trad Publishing not too long ago. So, do you think it should be more or less popular based on what we know at this point? Um, if I was just reading book one, I would be very confused. If this if I'd only I'll be like, really? Okay. Everybody says it's worth it. Okay, sure. Um, knowing what I know up through book three, I'm like, absolutely. Yeah. I'm I'm so I'm so locked in over here. So, yeah. Yep. Same. Mhm. Same. Especially with all the heavy themes, as much as they suck, they're important topics to bring light to. Yeah. You know, it's like the same thing that, you know, I talk about with dark romance, too. It's like it's a safe place for people to process things that they've potentially been through in a way that, you know, may not be ret-raumatizing themselves. So, I feel like that's really important part of this, too. Mhm. Safe space to process traumatizing topics. Hey, it's one of the reasons why I love reading things like this. Um, I think that it deserves every ounce of popularity that we can give it. Obviously, because we are dedicating so many hours to the series as we should. Yeah, as we absolutely should. Um, and I will say I did look up reviews for every single book. Um, and it just gets better and better and better and better until the end. So, which is which is what I want. I hate when it starts off great. Listen, sorry, Wicked. Peters out. Yeah. And then petered out. You know, it was like, why are we still doing this? Yeah. Started off so good. It started off strong. So, I'd rather personally have it be this way, even if it's hard to get into at first, but it's because everything's going to tie up. So, like when we do a reread, it's like, "Okay, I get it." Well, it's better to build than to like lose the winning sales. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, for sure. For sure. And I feel like there's definitely probably somebody out there listening that's like, "H, but why do I have to get through two or three books to get into it?" It's like, I get it. It's It sucks, but it is what it is. Welcome to fantasy. I don't know. Like sometimes that's just what happens with the story building, the world building. Like you said, would you do it any other way? I don't know. Yeah. I don't think that it would be effective do doing it a different way. Like it might sugarcoat a really bad situation instead of showing the bad situation for what it is. I think the only way that that could have been avoided was by potentially combining book one and two together into one really long book. But I don't know if people would have liked that anymore. People might not have picked it up. Yeah. Exactly. because that's turns from a 400page into 800 page, you know. Yeah, for sure. It's a commitment. Yeah. So, um let's see here. So, as a first book, okay, I mean this is important to talk about. First of all, does this book stand out as a first book if you know against let's say you were choosing from 10 romanty books that you could have pulled off the shelf and you pulled this one off the shelf? Does it stand out? And how does it hold up as a first book?

H that's tricky. Yeah, I mean we're here to we're here to tell the truth, tell no lies. I mean, I'm I'm trying also not to be so repetitive because as you guys can guess, it was hard to get through the first time. So, I'm trying to think back at that time. You know, if I didn't have a cheerleader, like I said, it wouldn't have stood apart in a positive way. I would agree with you. That's exactly how I felt. Like if we read this for book club for the first time or something. We have a lot of series that we've started because they're getting voted in book club, right? And a lot of it's fantasy, so they're part of trilogies, duogies, multi- series. Um, and so a lot of them we don't ever get back around to. This would not go at the top of my list to even probably bother with to go on except maybe like you said that. No, cuz I wasn't I wasn't sucked in when I read it the first time. Now I am obviously, but so it didn't set it apart for me just cuz it was difficult um emotionally and all the trauma and everything that was going on. Yeah. I think it's hard because it's like as romanty readers a lot of times we want that dopamine hit of getting that um you know that moment that you know there you are I've been looking for you moment right it's like we are looking for something that's going to hook us and give us hope moving forward that this you know slowburn is going somewhere or whatever and you just don't get that satisfaction in this book and I think that that can be kind of the deterrent But we need to reframe the purpose of this book one for sure. Yeah. Hey, this is the perfect book for people out there that are like, I'm so bored once the, you know, guy and girl get together in the first book. You know, hey, you don't even And you don't even know. You don't even know how true that statement is that you just said. I'm sure cuz I don't know. You know, I do know. And trust me, oh my god, the emotional turmoil Raven Kennedy has put us through. Oh, that makes me so excited. like rip my heart out. I'm gonna be eating my words later, let me tell you. I just know it by that. By that. Yeah. Yep. Um, so I would say as a first book, it didn't suck me in the first time I read it. The second time I love it, five stars. But just go into it with an open mind. That's the best. And I'm so sucked in. I was going to like wait and read something else in between and I was like, uh, but how about not? That's exactly what I did. That's exactly what I did. I went straight into book two. I was like, I can't stop. I can't stop. Can't stop. Don't try to stop me. Hold me back. Yeah, which I feel like lots of times when we're doing series, you know, and we're, you know, reading on a schedule and we know that we're on, you know, a timeline, deadlines, all that kind of stuff, it could be like almost like my brain wants to revolt against that. And like I'll be like, "Oh, I'm just going to throw in a nolla here or I'm just going to read something else because I can." And it's like with these I was like, "No, no, no." Immediately moving on to book two. Like I can't even be stopped. So, well, this healed our brain. Wicked did something to us. I swear Wicked did. It did. As fun as it was and we're so glad that we did it, I think it broke a little part in our brain for a second there. But luckily, like this is redeeming all of it and we're getting back into it and it's Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing before filming is like we're excited and it's so great to be deep diving this in a reread because we can go into so much deeper than a first time read, you know? I agree. I agree for sure. Yeah. Any plot holes or unanswered questions? I mean, I have a lot of unanswered questions, but they're intentional for both reads for me, first time and reread, so it's okay. Um, but I want like, so obviously from the last sentence and what we know of her being gold and having ribbons, like she must be part of this FA realm that she's speaking of, you know? So, I want to know how did she get here? What's going on with that? You know, I just put who is Aaron and what is her power, right? It's like the internal question with a chosen one story, right? It's like you know she's more otherwise there wouldn't be a whole book series about her. So, what's going on? Yeah. So, just Yeah. I'm even more way more curious now to know about every character like everything that's happening, you know? Well, we know she can turn things to gold. Yeah. You know, and Rissa saw it happen. So, what's going to happen there? She's not exactly, you know, a trusted friend. So, you know, who's this commander guy? Who's the King Rot dude? You know, everything. Yeah. Crazy. What's Midas' deal? How did those come to be? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of questions, but those are all good questions to be happy right now. Yep. Okay. So, do you have any bonus questions for me? I didn't think of any yet. What about you? No, I didn't have anything in particular, but you did add an Easter egg section to the end. So, you want to discuss that? Yeah. So, and this especially because I'm already reading book two and there's definitely a big one in there that I texted Liz. But, um, I just thought, hey, this will be a good opportunity in these episodes to discuss some future theories, Easter eggs regarding other books that are coming up. So, um, this one though isn't necessarily a spoiler, I don't think, for any of the books that I know, but just what, uh, I saw a comment of somebody say on another YouTube episode from Foggy Sheep is the handle, and they said, "I want to know more about Orin's ribbons. Do they symbolize perhaps Medusa snakes?" That's so funny because I chose to wear a Medusa t-shirt, too. Oh, see that's pretty crazy right there. And this is in separate notes that Liz doesn't see. So yeah, I didn't know until just the second. Um because it says the female gaze petrifies the men. That's what the shirt says. Um I know exactly what her women do and are. And I will say nothing to any of you. Yeah. But I just, you know, tied into the sentient appendages and all that. And then so when I saw that comment, I was like, "Oh yeah, cuz they are they're like help, you know, they they are tired. they're helping her, they're weak, they're trying to like, you know, comfort her and after things happen on the ship and everything. So, yeah, interesting symbolism there. So, I don't have any other theories or things for this book yet to mention, but if you have any other ones that you want to mention during this time, I feel like the only thing that I want to mention because I don't want to mention anything that could potentially give other things away. Um, but something that I did notice was what connection does Aurin have to the light? Because a lot of what goes on in these books happens at nighttime and they travel at nighttime under the guise of, you know, safety, not wanting to get ransacked by, yeah, pirates, for example, or whatever. But is there a connection that Aurin has with the light? And if so, kind of maybe keep an eye out for that. I did notice um a couple moments where that was important in book one that I did not notice in the past. So, yeah, there's that. Um I'm trying to think of any other potential Easter eggs and nothing in particular that I noticed that I think that would be important to call out that um I would want to call out at this point. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm definitely seeing stuff in book two. So, hold fast, sweet chariot. Yes. Yep. Mhm. All right. Well, are you feeling good about our coverage of Guild book one? I do. I do. You know, it's crazy. I remember you telling us, "Oh, we're going to do that one day." And I'm like, "I don't know. Good luck." And here we are. And I'm Yeah, me too. I don't know why I ever um It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I'm just such a naysayer. If I'm told to like it, I'm going to like it. I'm like, "No, I won't." We'll just put it this way. I literally remember where I This is like the 911 thing. I remember where I was and what I was doing when I read the final scene in Goldfinch. And I will never forget that my whole lifelong. So that's what you guys have to look forward to. That's what we read like 3,000 pages for right there. I know. I'm kind of cur I'm kind of curious. I want to total them all out cuz I remember I did that with Throne of Glass, too. I can't remember. It was like over 4,000 or something like that. So, I'm kind of curious how this I know the first I want to say four or five books were 2000 something cuz it like told me on a bundle, but I don't know about the last one or two. So, yeah, we'll have to see. Yep. Mhm. All right. Well, as we said before, you know, tune back in. We're going to be covering a book every other week. So, we'll be bringing you as I don't remember Glint book two in two weeks. So, I'm excited to That's literally what I'm going to be doing this evening. Mhm. Yeah. Diving back into that. What a treat. What a treasure. What a treat and treasure. Well, let's finish this off with an unhinged smasher pass. All right. Why don't you go? Okay. I was trying to think of gold things because I like to try to stay on theme when I'm stumped. I'm like, "Okay, what's something gold?" So, you know, someone's out there. It might not be you, Liz, but someone's out there. Mhm. It's a hear me out. It's an unhinged smash or pass. C3PO smash or pass. Definitely pass because again, literally, okay, here's my reasoning though. Like, is it a pass because he's a robot? Literally no. Like, is it a pass because he I don't know is like a fictional sci-fi character? Literally no. Like, none of these things would deter me. It's just the fact that he talks too much and he's annoying. Like that's his personality. Thank you. Too much. He's too much. I'd be like, I can't deal with you. Like not even as a sidekick. Like I can't deal with feel like he'd be asking you if you're enjoying yourself, if everything's to your satisfaction in a really annoying way. Yeah. Like making calculations, but then like somehow being wrong at the same time. Yeah. Oh, he's stupid. It's like literally the epitome of how technology is supposed to make things easier, but it just makes it harder. or like that's what would happen. The warning was right there. Art imitates life. The warning was right there. Okay. Well, he's a pass for me and I don't even want to be his friend. So, I don't even want to be his friend. Yeah. Say, that's what I don't even want to hang out with him. Yep. Um, someone out there is though is like, I don't know. They like it. Good for you. Well, now, okay, I have to know because last time I asked you about um the Frankenstein's monster, okay, because like we had to wait for Ashley to like watch the movie so we could finally find out what she thinks about this. Okay, so as you guys know, Dr. Frankenstein is played by Oscar Isaac, right? Who for me through and through and through and through has always been a smash. No matter what role he's ever been in, I don't care. He is daddy through and through and through. But I could not in my right mind ever be a smash for him as Dr. Frankenstein. Would you say that you agree? Agreed. I wanted so bad to be like maybe him. No. He was just so terrible. I know. But then I was like in my head I was like but he's playing the character so well. He is. So that's a smash. And then I was like no but I can't do it. I can't do it. Yeah. He was too good. He was too good at being bad and therefore it's a pass. So, it's a pass for you as well. Yes. Yeah. It's the only instance. He was so insufferable. Like he didn't see the trees for the forest or whatever. He was saying, you know, he was very jealous. Oh, I hated the way. Sorry, spoilers for Frankenstein. Okay. The new one. They came out in like forever. That's also that's also Yeah. the book. But like, you know, he was so jealous of just a simple connection between the girl. Oh, I mean, jealous of his own nephew's, you know, fiance and then because the monster and her like were nice to each other. Like, I can't do the jealousy at that level thing. His brother's fiance. Oh, sorry. Brother. Yeah. Makes it worse. It makes it even worse. Even worse. So, he had no redeeming qualities. No. Yeah. Yeah. Issues. He had way too many issues. He did almost look a little bit better. See, the only moment that I was like, well, was when he was like on his deathbed and he just looked like older. I don't know, more scruff, more weathered. On his deathbed. Yeah. Hey, he's a pass for me. Unless he's on his death bed. That sounds terrible. I don't know. I think it was the lighting was just doing it better for him or something. I don't know. But I just couldn't because once he's like crazy, like full into madness, which was hilarious in its own way. Um, you know, we're rooting for Frankenstein and we're pissed at him. So, it's like, no. Yeah. At the monster, you mean? Yeah. Yes. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I had to know though because Yeah. Oscar Isaac, that was a tough one. It was tough for me. It was very, um, it was cognitive dissonance is perfect example. Yeah. It's not enough to ruin him like in general for other things, but just for that particular thing. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yep. All right. Well, you heard that here first. We had to make sure to break that down. Thank you so much you guys for joining us for our first installment of this play prisoner series. Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe everywhere you like to lose favorite podcast, including YouTube. If you haven't yet, we're besties in the books podcast everywhere. Also on Instagram and Tik Tok. And you guys, we will see you next Tuesday. Bye. [Music]