0:00

Warning. The following

0:00

podcast contains adult themes,

0:03

including but not limited to,

0:03

adult language, adult dragon

0:07

Animorphs problematic encounters

0:07

with potential love interests,

0:10

steampunk vampires, potentially

0:10

unhealthy relationships, Goblin

0:15

kings and hosts that read way

0:15

too far into silly romance

0:18

novels. The opinions expressed

0:18

in this podcast are entirely

0:22

those of the hosts listener

0:22

discretion is advised. Oh,

0:30

tearing me apart Hello, and welcome to textual

0:42

tension, a love hate

0:46

relationship with romance

0:46

novels. I'm your co host, Rachel

0:49

and I am your co host, Margie.

0:49

Every other week, one of us

0:52

reads a romance novel and

0:52

summarizes it for our

0:55

unsuspecting co host this week.

0:55

That co host listen, he is

0:59

Margie. Hello and unpacks What

1:02

the fuck just happened?

1:04

Yep. So anything if

1:04

anything? Yeah, so um, if you're

1:09

back from last week great. We're

1:11

really glad we're glad

1:11

you came back. Oh my god. I'm so

1:14

sorry.

1:14

Oh, this this one's a

1:14

bit of a palate cleanser. For

1:18

you didn't it too much. Okay. So

1:18

I am going to these you see it

1:23

first? Yeah, yeah, I show you

1:23

the stuff first before we go and

1:26

we

1:26

should put in a PSA that

1:26

Bitsy is here the cat right?

1:29

Cute in noisy if you

1:30

listen to our Christmas

1:30

special and then you have heard

1:34

the sonorous sounds of Vinci's

1:34

voice. She likes to help.

1:38

Especially since Marjorie

1:38

slightly allergic to her. So you

1:41

know, she's great.

1:42

I'm not allergic to any other calves. Well,

1:44

she has special alright.

1:46

Special stuff

1:46

like she's something

1:46

like that. So, um, so I'm going

1:50

to hand you the laptop that we

1:50

were using for our notes, which

1:54

has the cover on it.

1:55

Oh, whoa. Okay. So look

1:55

what Oh, my God. You To start

2:05

with, Okay, I just I just have

2:05

to say this is beautiful. Okay,

2:08

so it's a woman brunette. She's

2:08

wearing this blue and gold

2:13

dress. It kind of reminds me of

2:13

Diana's dress in Wonder Woman.

2:18

Okay. Yeah. Like a Greek Roman

2:18

kind of Yeah, Greek Roman kind

2:21

of vibe. Um, she's really

2:21

pretty. But my favorite part of

2:26

this cover is that they have the

2:26

horse rearing in the background

2:30

that just fills so many of my

2:30

life fantasies. Yes. That behind

2:40

the horse. There's a bridge. I'd

2:40

like a river. Oh, and I should

2:45

probably tell the title of the

2:45

book. Yeah. The title is bigger

2:48

than the author's name is

2:48

indeed. It's called spies honor,

2:53

the heart, the hearts and

2:53

Thrones series. And it's the

2:56

first time in print. And it's by

2:56

an author named Amy Rabee. Which

3:02

sounds like a real name. That's

3:02

always good. Yeah, that's always

3:06

a good start. And there's two

3:06

moons in the background. So I'm

3:08

gonna assume that she lives on tattoo meme.

3:12

I didn't even notice the

3:12

two minutes. Yeah, to me. That's

3:17

too much. Yeah.

3:19

There's one other thing I wanted to say about this cover. But now I can't remember

3:23

what gorgeous and

3:23

beautiful. It's like, no extra

3:26

only thing. Yeah, it's so extra.

3:28

It is missing one thing

3:28

and that's the shirtless dude.

3:31

I want. But it does that

3:31

pretty lady on it.

3:33

It does have very pretty

3:33

lady on it. And I Oh, that's the

3:36

thing. Spies don't really have a

3:36

lot of Otter. You know what I

3:41

mean? Like, that's kind of Ryoma

3:41

okay,

3:46

I would agree with you.

3:46

Oh, wait, the description norm

3:48

Wilhelmi pull up the

3:48

description. That's that's the

3:50

actual book. I would agree with

3:50

you in normal situations. Okay,

3:54

this is special.

3:56

Is she a special snowflake?

3:58

I am not going to give

3:58

anything away. Okay. The most

4:00

I'll say is that so? Um, I'll

4:00

admit before we get into the

4:04

description, so jump down. Um,

4:04

so the holidays were super

4:11

stressful for me, because family

4:11

has you. So I did not have a lot

4:15

of time to do a lot. Right.

4:15

Okay, so I had a book that was

4:19

in the middle of reading and I just didn't have time to finish it. But thankfully, I read this

4:20

one a while ago, and I kind of

4:25

have hinted at me reading this

4:25

one in previous episodes, but it

4:30

is a very good palate cleanser.

4:30

It ended up working out for the

4:33

last week. So our last two weeks

4:33

ago, right. So I'm pretty

4:37

excited for it. I'm actually really, really

4:39

excited about to read

4:39

the description. Okay, so wait,

4:42

how do you put it Rianne

4:44

Okay, so yeah, so there's a couple things that I'll tell you how I pronounce

4:45

them. So Eireann is what I was

4:48

saying. keel I was how I was

4:48

saying, oh, yeah, I would say

4:52

Oh, no. And then Mozart. I

4:52

wasn't Mozart.

4:58

Mozart. Yeah, okay, so

4:58

Oh, Zari maybe Mozart?

5:01

Yeah, Mozart is like the

5:01

language right? So yeah,

5:04

here we go. Rianne mine

5:04

mage Imperial Princess of keel

5:09

cannot openly challenge the

5:09

Emperor. Instead, she acts acts

5:12

in secret to aid the victims of

5:12

his worst, worst excesses. But

5:16

now the Emperor plans to wet her

5:16

to the cruel Augustine the the

5:19

man leading kills attack against

5:19

the nation of Mozar. Soon she

5:23

will be torn from her supporters

5:23

and shipped overseas, we're

5:26

knowing where she can help no

5:26

one. Missouri Crown Prince

5:30

John Torres, or John

5:30

Doe, John Doe, John

5:33

Doe is desperate to save

5:33

his country from invasion. When

5:36

one of his most trusted spies

5:36

disappears while gathering

5:39

intelligence at the callin

5:39

palace. Jon Snow takes his place

5:42

and continues searching for

5:42

information that could save his

5:44

people. But falling for the

5:44

Imperial Princess was not part

5:47

of his plan, nor was having his

5:47

true identity reveal. Oh, it's

5:53

like it's like beauty in the

5:53

beast. Like with the book that

5:56

she's reading at the beginning

5:56

of the year.

5:58

Oh, okay. But that book

5:58

is Aladdin. You do know that

6:00

right? No, this is where she

6:00

meets she meets Prince Charming,

6:03

but she doesn't find out who it

6:03

is still chapter. Aladdin.

6:08

Aladdin. Yeah, fun fact of the

6:08

day. Aladdin. Okay. So you go

6:14

back to the bank, you

6:14

know, Riyadh must make a choice.

6:17

Follow the path, the tradition

6:17

or the one of her heart, even if

6:19

it means betraying her own people.

6:22

I know, right. So I

6:22

really, really want to get your

6:25

initial thoughts on this book.

6:25

So when I picked it up, I saw it

6:29

and I was like, Alright, this is

6:29

gonna be your MC romance novel.

6:32

Right? Like super generic. Like,

6:32

yeah. Spies. Honor like that

6:37

kind of level. Yeah.

6:38

Well, I feel like the

6:38

the cover definitely doesn't if

6:42

no, justice. No, it doesn't

6:42

really tell you that the book is

6:46

about something. That seems a

6:46

little deeper.

6:48

Well, so did you. I don't know if you read the little like, text on the front

6:50

of the Yeah, yes. To win his

6:54

love. She'd sacrifice her

6:54

nation.

6:57

Yeah, and I also really

6:57

don't like that because I feel

7:00

like it probably it after

7:00

reading the back cover. I don't

7:04

think that it tells the whole

7:04

story. Does not Yeah. So the

7:08

back the description of the book

7:08

sounds way interesting than the

7:11

than what the cover conveys

7:11

cover conveys. Words are hard

7:15

words

7:15

are hard. I understand.

7:15

So okay, so we're gonna get into

7:19

it. So first off trigger

7:19

warnings. I'm sorry. No, no, no.

7:27

I'm actually really excited for

7:27

this. Because spoiler alert,

7:31

like looking ahead, I fucking love this.

7:34

I'm glad that we found

7:34

one that we actually like really

7:36

like full disclosure,

7:36

this is the second one in this

7:39

series that I read. Oh, really.

7:39

I've read almost all of them. I

7:42

actually purchased this book.

7:42

This is the first one I have

7:46

purchased. We

7:47

put a good one on our

7:47

good read. We can

7:49

can say I will try my

7:49

best not to put a biased spin on

7:55

this as I'm describing it, but

7:55

just know I thought write this

7:58

book. Great. Okay. Okay. So

7:58

trigger warnings. There is some

8:02

abuse. There is some. I think

8:02

that's it. Good. And it's not

8:11

relationship abuse. It's

8:11

familial abuse. Okay. Okay,

8:15

cool. Yep. But I'm pretty sure

8:15

that's about it. If we can't

8:18

think of anything else, um, we

8:18

can pop in and mention it later

8:23

on. But I'm pretty sure that's a

8:23

magic sparkle sound. Right. Um,

8:26

so I would like to before we

8:26

even get into this, make a quick

8:31

note about Amy. Amy, Amy, the

8:31

author. Okay. So I feel like

8:36

we've we've looked up a couple

8:36

of these authors for some of the

8:39

nouns or like the name King and

8:39

stuff like that. Right. And it's

8:42

always like, okay, is that

8:42

actually a woman like, or is it

8:45

was in the old? Yeah. Some of

8:45

the ones we've looked up have

8:47

been a little a little weird,

8:47

right. I love Amy. So Amy's

8:52

parents both worked for NASA and

8:52

helped put the Saturn five

8:55

rocket on the moon. Oh, she's a

8:55

computer scientist who worked

9:00

for Microsoft.

9:01

Amy, I love you. I gotta

9:01

find out. She has a Twitter. Oh,

9:04

I hope so. Um, and the

9:04

so writing was her sort of

9:10

hobby, her like a side romance.

9:10

Hobby. And she wrote a book,

9:14

which was actually the first one

9:14

that I read, called assassins

9:17

Gambit. And I picked up this one

9:17

but she ended up getting a

9:21

contract for writing so she

9:21

worked with Microsoft as a

9:23

computer scientist.

9:25

So she's got brains

9:25

Yeah, she's

9:27

yeah could do the

9:27

mainframe can hack into the

9:31

no no typos keys so

9:31

fast. I

9:33

she can hit Enter. It's

9:33

so hard. Alright, so here we can

9:37

shout out to her on Twitter. Oh, yeah, we

9:38

will go what the episode comes out. Yeah.

9:40

Um, okay, so a little

9:40

bit of background real quick

9:43

getting into some of this. So

9:43

you kind of read it in the

9:46

description. There are two

9:46

nations. There's a keel. I'm

9:49

saying y'all. Maybe I'm wrong.

9:49

And there's Mozar Okay, um, so

9:54

QOL is at war with Mozar kill

9:54

started it. Okay, they started

9:59

it.

10:00

Let's make that very

10:00

clear yes so is there faults so

10:03

this

10:03

book did write what I

10:03

feel like a promise a fire did

10:07

wrong. So it is heavily

10:07

influenced by Roman ancient

10:13

Roman and Greek okay sort of

10:13

culture right? But they have

10:16

their own gods they have their

10:16

own like, all everything is it's

10:20

influenced it's not it's not

10:20

blatantly picking okay yeah so

10:24

they did that right it's

10:25

not like the Romans were

10:25

there like we're just gonna take

10:27

what we want and then leave behind

10:30

right well and I feel like a promise of fire had all the gods but none of it was

10:32

really the same. So this is like

10:35

done correctly. Okay. I feel

10:35

okay. Um, yeah, so Keele is a

10:39

relatively small nation, but

10:39

they are very militant. Okay, so

10:43

they tend to try to take over

10:43

other lands to bring them under.

10:49

Oh, I think American history no

10:49

think English. Oh, English,

10:54

right. Think like colonialism?

10:54

Yeah, like that level of we can

10:57

make you better. So we're gonna

10:57

take over and unite everyone

11:01

under a single banner. Very well done.

11:02

But does your country

11:02

have a flag? I love my good

11:06

friend Eddie Izzard.

11:06

Oh my god. Okay, so I

11:06

like to go over my characters

11:11

first. Yes. So I'm going to give a brief description of the characters just so we have a

11:13

visualization. So we have RAM?

11:17

Yep. So she is the Emperor's

11:17

Nice. Okay, right. And she is

11:23

about 20. Okay, one summer on

11:23

there. Um, she has them. This is

11:28

from the book went on, while not

11:28

colored hair, which I feel like

11:32

is a very scripture reasonable

11:32

descriptor. And she's, she's

11:35

pretty. And I will say that this

11:35

was I appreciated. This was

11:40

presented to the reader in a

11:40

very analytical way, the way

11:46

that she was described because

11:46

it is described and it was very

11:49

organic. So it wasn't like he

11:49

blinked to sell it on eyes. No,

11:53

it was like he saw her for the

11:53

first time. Is it? Oh, she has

11:55

brown hair. She's kind of

11:55

pretty. Okay, great.

11:58

Fine. Actually think

11:58

about a person. I don't see a

12:01

guy and I'm like, Whoa, look at

12:01

his Celada eyes. Yeah, yeah. No,

12:07

it's forest green.

12:09

Now, when she sees him

12:09

for the first time, she does

12:15

describe his eyes, but they're in close proximity to each other. So I let it pass. Okay,

12:17

dark skin like tan skin and most

12:22

are is an island nation. So tan

12:22

skin. golden hair, like a little

12:26

bit more like what they say is

12:26

one shade lighter than like his

12:29

skin. So like, I imagine like,

12:29

you know, sun kissed or

12:32

whatever. Okay, yeah. And blue

12:32

eyes. Okay, right. So, island

12:37

nation. Okay, Mozart is okay.

12:38

Is he ripped?

12:40

No, I don't describe his

12:40

physique. Wow, I know. Strap in

12:45

for what is actually really good

12:45

looking story. I'm so ready. I'm

12:50

so lucky. Are you ready for some

12:50

really cute and wholesome shit?

12:54

Yeah, in the middle of so really

12:54

beautifully fleshed out world.

12:58

Okay, so y'all, Lord of the

12:58

Rings is my favorite. I am

13:01

obsessed. And I really

13:01

appreciate good world building

13:04

VA. So I am a sucker for good

13:04

role building. Yeah,

13:08

it's like every time to

13:08

that she makes a noise. She

13:11

looks at you as if she knows she's done something

13:12

wrong. She knows exactly

13:12

what she's doing. But so I am a

13:17

sucker for good world building a

13:17

little home and specifically, a

13:20

good good world building that's

13:20

done with like, full languages.

13:24

And really, so I will admit, I'm

13:24

going to do my best to sink our

13:28

teeth into this. Okay, there is

13:28

so much that I wanted to include

13:32

how long was it? It's not even

13:32

that long. It's just everything

13:36

is so well fleshed out that I

13:36

want to talk about everything,

13:39

but I know I can't. So I'll do

13:39

my best. Okay, so I like to

13:43

break this into scenes. Okay to

13:43

start with, but I also admit

13:46

this is really hard to break

13:46

into scenes because it switches

13:49

between them a lot. Okay, two of

13:49

them. Okay, so Scene one, and I

13:53

broke this into Scene one, A and

13:53

C one B C one A is rands point

13:56

of view, C one B is Joshua's

13:56

point of view. So I did my best

14:00

I might, the scenes might just

14:00

evolve towards the end. It's

14:04

alright, so C one Ran is going

14:04

to talk to her cousin Lucas. So

14:07

Lucas is the Emperor son. Okay.

14:07

Lucas is actually the subject of

14:11

the first book I read, which was

14:11

Assassin's Gambit. Okay. Lucas

14:15

is so he's like in line for the

14:15

throne. He had two older

14:18

brothers, but they died. They

14:18

were assassinated. Oh, okay. And

14:23

the title. Yeah, well, yeah. And

14:23

he actually is not it's not

14:27

super relevant. I thought it was

14:27

interesting. He's missing a

14:30

foot. Oh, wow. Yeah. So he is he

14:30

has like a wooden kind of like,

14:36

okay, like, yeah, yeah, so he's

14:36

automail not just what? That was

14:43

really interesting. Yeah, she's

14:43

asking him for money because it

14:47

comes out that the two of them

14:47

they're one of his old body

14:51

guards that was implicated in

14:51

this whole assassin thing like

14:54

gotten like was damn hurt during

14:54

this nation of his brothers

14:58

right. The Emperor's like Fuck

14:58

you, you did a terrible job. You

15:01

failed me The Emperor is the

15:01

biggest asshat.

15:04

So like that book, I

15:04

read the biggest Yeah, okay.

15:08

Um, so he's just like,

15:08

Fuck you, you, you failed your

15:11

job, you deserve nothing from

15:11

me. So they're like, no, he's

15:13

been crippled in service of the

15:13

cursor. Like, they pull their

15:16

money every month, and she sneaks out and gives it to him. So like, she's asking for money.

15:18

So you get the you really get

15:21

this established, like, right

15:21

off the bat of like, she

15:24

realizes that her uncle is a

15:24

shitty person and doing

15:28

everything she can, right even

15:28

though it's not a lot to try to

15:30

help. Um, and Lucas is not in a

15:30

great mood. And it's because he

15:38

and the Emperor just had a

15:38

fight. And the Emperor came in

15:41

and just try to deck soon. So we

15:41

also established that the

15:44

emperor is very abusive. Oh,

15:44

he's a massive asshat Yeah, um,

15:51

and so he comes in and he's

15:51

like, so the reason he's doing

15:55

this again, there's so much to

15:55

go into so I'm going to God is

15:58

because Lucas spoke out against

15:58

the war with Moser, okay, in

16:04

this war council, because he's

16:04

like, this is doing nothing for

16:06

us. We need to not be doing

16:06

this. And he's like, No, we need

16:09

to otherwise it's cowardice and

16:09

like all this stuff, we have to

16:12

whatever but they got into the

16:12

war for basically no reason. No

16:15

reason it. Yeah. Yeah. They just

16:15

wanted to conquer land. It's

16:18

totally him just like waving his

16:18

dick around. Oh, my God. It's

16:21

bad. Little tiny one. Right. So

16:21

Lucas, tiny hands do? Well,

16:28

politics. I haven't

16:28

heard nothing about politics.

16:32

You know, it's a river.

16:34

So but so we kind of get

16:34

this vibe of like, Lucas, Lucas

16:40

would be a good emperor, like he

16:40

cares, obviously cares about the

16:43

people, right? Not so much about

16:43

spreading like expanding all

16:46

this stuff. Whereas the emperor

16:46

is like, No, you need to conquer

16:48

everybody. And it's cowardice to

16:48

stand down and all this stuff.

16:52

And also, we find out that

16:52

Rihanna has now proposed or now

16:55

Botros to the current gen,

16:55

leading this attack on Mozar,

17:00

who was about to win. Oh, good,

17:00

fine, right. We're about to win

17:03

this war. And when we win, you're gonna marry the new governor. Yeah, so I'm like the

17:05

first chapter and you're like,

17:10

holy shit in the ground?

17:12

Oh, my God. Yes. I'm

17:12

sure she's thrilled about this.

17:15

She's like,

17:16

Yeah, well, I've never

17:16

met him. Oh, don't worry. He's

17:18

gonna come back for a couple days. So you can have an engagement and

17:22

Okay, okay, great.

17:22

Awesome. Wonderful.

17:25

So, a lot happens right

17:25

off the bat. But from this sort

17:29

of initial thing, you really get

17:29

a good sense of how much of an

17:32

asshole The Emperor is how Lucas

17:32

and Rianne like care about each

17:35

other and are both sort of like,

17:35

they call him his Imperial

17:39

Imperial unreasonableness.

17:39

Pretty good, like they're like,

17:44

decent people. Okay. And that

17:44

Rianne is a trove to someone

17:50

now. She is of marrying age.

17:50

Okay. Um, so scene one B, we

17:55

switch over to John Tez. Present

17:55

Perfect. Okay. So John Doe, who

18:00

also maybe call them and I call them in the beginning John Torres. Okay. Um, so it's sort

18:02

of a weird name. But it's a

18:06

weird name with a reason for a

18:06

weird name. Okay. Because in

18:09

their language, and they explain

18:09

the language a little bit later.

18:12

There's a reason he has that

18:12

name. It's like a royalty thing.

18:15

So it's, it makes sense. Right?

18:15

I again, yeah. You appreciate?

18:18

Yeah. So he is hidden in the

18:18

barracks of slaves right now. So

18:23

he's like, sort of doing He's a

18:23

spy. Okay. So John Doe has,

18:30

there's magic in the world. And

18:30

established genre is what's

18:33

called a Trad, mage, so he can

18:33

make it turn himself invisible,

18:36

essentially hopeful, right?

18:36

Yeah. And he's one of the only

18:39

members of their royal family

18:39

that can do that. Everyone else

18:42

usually goes for like War Mage.

18:42

Okay. Okay. He is sort of an

18:46

exception. Okay. And he is

18:46

looking for his missing spy. So

18:50

there was a spy that supposedly

18:50

found really important

18:52

information that went missing.

18:52

So there's not they're really

18:57

running low on people, because

18:57

there's been a lot of casualties

19:00

with this war. A lot bigger than

19:00

they are right. Um, so he had no

19:04

one else to send, which is why

19:04

he's there. He's like, he's,

19:06

he's had like, last ditch

19:06

effort. Yeah, he's head of their

19:09

intelligence agency,

19:09

essentially. And he had no one

19:12

else to send and he's like, if

19:12

this information is really

19:15

important, we need to find him.

19:15

Right. That's why he's here.

19:17

Again. There's a reason for it.

19:17

Oh, my God, things are explained

19:21

what Right? Um, so he is the

19:21

grandparents of Mozart, which

19:27

Oh, God, why he's there.

19:29

They're all well, they're also though that's pretty brave. sending in your

19:30

crown prince. Right,

19:33

exactly. Um, let's see.

19:33

And he's able to find someone in

19:39

the barracks that he knows that

19:39

very tangentially if he knew him

19:42

at some point, and he's able to

19:42

kind of help him pass as a slave

19:45

Oconto is starting to try to

19:45

pass as a slave in the Imperial

19:48

Palace. Okay, I'm in Kiel. So

19:48

that kind of sets up where

19:52

everything goes from here. Okay,

19:52

again, this is fucking dance. So

19:55

I'm going to do my best. Yeah,

19:55

see, I guess. Okay.

19:59

Um, I'm telling me these

19:59

really interesting books and I

20:02

feel like you're always like,

20:02

like, like, what the fuck with

20:06

mine and with yours, I'm just like, wow, okay,

20:07

let's go. I have just

20:07

managed to be really lucky and

20:11

not pick garbage fires. But I

20:12

really want you to pick

20:12

a garbage fire one now though,

20:15

like, I want to see you.

20:18

Maybe, maybe, okay, so,

20:18

um, hang on, I really do. Oh, so

20:26

this is worth mentioning. So she

20:26

I told said already that ran

20:30

sneaks out and goes to give

20:30

money to this, right? Yeah,

20:35

there's an injured everything

20:35

from this. So she does do that.

20:38

Okay. I thought it was worth

20:38

mentioning. Because again, it's

20:40

pretty great. She's talking to

20:40

him about the marriage and

20:44

about, and he's like, Oh, so you

20:44

know, you're worried that he's

20:47

not going to be handsome. She's

20:47

cool. Handsome is nice. But I

20:50

mean, it really matters a lot

20:50

more what type of person he is.

20:52

Yeah. And like, actually, like,

20:52

talks about? It was like, he was

20:56

like, I'm like care if he's

20:56

handsome, which I just wanted to

20:58

be

20:59

being, which I mean,

20:59

like, he's already fighting a

21:02

war. He shouldn't be though,

21:02

which makes me kind of think

21:04

like, his character probably

21:04

isn't that.

21:08

Right? So I just thought

21:08

that was worth mentioning. Yes.

21:11

And there's more niblets in here

21:11

of stuff like that. tidbits,

21:15

tidbits is a better word I

21:16

like to I like niblets

21:16

could be construed as something

21:20

else. So that's why I like it.

21:25

All right, after she gets back in everything, she's like, Okay, well, I'm going to

21:26

be the wife of this governor in

21:30

Mozar. I guess I should probably

21:30

learn their language. Because

21:33

she's a smart woman like she she

21:33

knows a couple languages like

21:37

she tries to be well read, everything should have been sheltered, but she tries to be

21:38

well read. So she but she has no

21:41

one to talk to. Because all of

21:41

these slaves that are from this

21:43

country, don't speak her

21:43

language. So she can't have

21:47

anyone teach her the language

21:47

because no one can speak her

21:50

language. Yeah, so she is doing

21:50

her best and like sitting in the

21:53

gardens where all the slaves

21:53

are, like looking at everything.

21:56

And she's trying to like read

21:56

through some of these like,

21:59

books and like trying to learn

21:59

on her own. And so she's like,

22:02

Okay, I'm getting nowhere. So

22:02

she looks up and see someone and

22:05

she's like, tries to say good

22:05

morning to the person. It's John

22:09

Doe. And he just starts like,

22:09

laughing a little bit and says

22:15

in her language, because he

22:15

speaks her language fluently

22:18

says, Oh, hang on. I have to

22:18

like, well, I don't know if I'll

22:21

find the exact quote. I can see

22:21

my cam because it's really

22:24

fucking cute. With respect.

22:24

Great lady. You just wish me a

22:27

good mountain. Yeah,

22:33

so I just love this

22:33

like, really? Like,

22:37

he just Grant who has

22:37

the hots for him right away.

22:41

Like she's like, Oh my

22:43

God, why but I do

22:43

really? Oh, he's,

22:46

he's so good. He's like,

22:49

a little like,

22:50

he's not archy Yes,

22:50

he's, he's 100% not afraid to

22:54

call her on her shit. Well, it

22:54

doesn't know who she is yet

22:57

doesn't know but still not

22:57

afraid to call her on her shin

23:00

including good mountain.

23:01

Good morning. Good

23:01

mountain

23:03

right and she's like

23:03

super surprised because she's

23:05

like, you know, because their

23:05

language is really complicated

23:08

right like and again I

23:08

appreciate good world building

23:11

so their language there's like

23:11

this she goes into the thing

23:13

about there's like three forms

23:13

of the language so you have to

23:16

use the different like you're

23:16

speaking to a superior you speak

23:19

in the submissive if you're

23:19

speaking to someone under you

23:22

speak as a commanding like,

23:23

oh, okay, can any kind

23:23

of like blue and new and French

23:27

or no boo and

23:29

yeah, I just really

23:29

appreciate well developed like

23:32

that. For me marks like, really

23:32

well thought out. Yeah. Right.

23:37

So I, I nerd it out pretty hard

23:37

about shit like that. So there's

23:41

like instantly chemistry between

23:41

the two because he thinks she's

23:43

like, really pretty and is

23:43

actually he's impressed that

23:47

she's actually trying to learn

23:47

his language, right? Yeah, let's

23:50

stuff like she's actually

23:50

willing to put in the effort. So

23:53

she's like, Okay, well, you're

23:53

obviously a nobleman, at some

23:56

point, you know, languages.

23:56

You're going to teach me so

24:02

you're actually going to tutor

24:02

me in your language. So she's

24:04

like your slave, you have to do

24:04

what I say. So we're gonna do

24:07

this. So she gets him to tutor

24:07

her in his language. Oh, cool,

24:12

which I think is a neat Yeah.

24:12

Um, so throughout all of this

24:17

Shonto is still trying to figure

24:17

out where his spy is. Okay, so

24:22

he is like, pretending to work

24:22

as a spy during the day and then

24:27

at night, he just disappears.

24:27

Yeah, thanks, boy homeboy gets

24:30

no sleep. While he disappears

24:30

like he goes, literally uses his

24:34

magic to disappear so no one can

24:34

find him because you're not in

24:36

their records as a spy. He's

24:36

just or as a slave. He's just

24:39

jumping in because there's so

24:39

many slaves he's right. Right in

24:43

Yeah. Okay. And the way that

24:43

again, I appreciate good world

24:46

building the way they keep the

24:46

slaves because he spent so much

24:49

time for his like, how do you

24:49

guys like why don't you run

24:51

away? There's no chains, there's

24:51

no nothing and they're like,

24:53

well, they have a death spell on

24:53

us. So and it but it's delayed.

24:57

So if we do a full day's work,

24:57

they will renew the protection

25:02

spell against this, Dennis.

25:03

Oh, creepy. So creepy,

25:03

though. Yeah, like it's

25:08

so well done. Wrap I

25:08

love No, that

25:10

is really that's so good

25:10

up though. Yeah.

25:13

So throughout all this

25:13

he's like talking to some people

25:16

and like learning you know

25:16

what's going on in like what may

25:19

have happened is by finding out

25:19

that his spy is probably dead.

25:23

Oh, so he's a little bummed

25:23

about that I still want to find

25:26

out for sure. So yeah, stick

25:26

around. He's also trying to do

25:30

absolutely anything he can to

25:30

aid the war effort. So that's

25:34

why he's trying to he's like,

25:34

great. I have an in with the

25:36

imperial family essentially.

25:36

Yeah, teaching the Imperial

25:39

Princess Bride language. So he

25:39

keeps tutoring ran. Which is

25:43

like really cute because like,

25:43

there's so many cute parts in

25:46

this because she walks up to him

25:46

one day and she's like, tries to

25:50

say like, Good morning, my

25:50

friend. Good mountain. No, she

25:53

doesn't like a mountain. But he

25:53

just like, he like grins. And

25:57

like he just she described like

25:57

his, you know? Yes, like smile,

26:00

right? Whatever. And she's like,

26:00

Oh, no, did I say good mountain

26:03

again? He's like, No, but you

26:03

did call me my alligator. pet

26:08

name for each other is my alligator.

26:11

So you remember reminds

26:11

me of? Have you seen Love

26:15

Actually? Oh my god, there's

26:15

this couple in it where the god,

26:21

they don't speak the same

26:21

language either of them. Like

26:24

they don't have a language in

26:24

common. But they still managed

26:26

to fall in love. And so at the

26:26

end of the movie, he makes this

26:30

declaration of love and he does

26:30

it in her language is Portuguese

26:33

but she says all he uses like so

26:33

many wrong words. So he's like,

26:38

I Love You by like starfish.

26:43

It's so awesome. See,

26:43

I'm a sucker for shit like that.

26:46

You should see Love

26:47

Actually, it's actually a cute,

26:49

okay, I'm not around

26:49

calm fan, but I could maybe get

26:52

an elbow that does remove the

26:52

whole no communication thing

26:55

because there's literally can't

26:55

be communication. Right? Okay.

26:58

Yeah, I

26:58

can get at the end. He

26:58

learns the language for her and

27:01

she also learns English for him.

27:01

That's cute. I know. It's so

27:04

cute. Okay. All right. And it's

27:04

also it's Colin Firth. Oh, I

27:08

love Colin Firth. Good friend call.

27:10

Okay, I could get by.

27:10

Yeah, for sure. All right. So,

27:13

um, there's a couple like they

27:13

they continue kind of he

27:17

continues tutoring her for a

27:17

little while. And the thing that

27:19

I think I really appreciate and

27:19

that he actually like, really,

27:23

it's an interesting dynamic,

27:23

because she's obviously very

27:26

sheltered. And so she has very

27:26

sheltered views on a lot of

27:31

like, religion, and politics and

27:31

stuff like that. And he

27:35

challenges her all the time. So

27:35

every time she's like, well,

27:40

like they're reading a book on

27:40

mythology from his, you know,

27:43

for most art, and she's like,

27:43

well, this is offensive, because

27:45

it's showing, you know, the gods

27:45

in this way, when actually

27:49

they're in this way. He's like, Well, actually, you guys are the only ones that believe that.

27:50

Yeah, a lot of unlike, actually,

27:53

like challenging her and stuff

27:53

and forcing her to like that,

27:56

urging her to learn and know,

27:59

that's also really cool,

27:59

too, because he's doing that and

28:01

he's putting himself at risk

28:01

because they could figure him

28:03

out at any moment

28:04

that he's actually a slave. I feel like he's building her up because it's, it's the

28:06

whole like, yes, no, this is

28:09

what it's like. You should you should go learn though for yourself. Because you right to

28:11

see this. Yeah, like, pushing

28:14

her to better herself and learn.

28:14

Yeah, do all this stuff. And

28:16

like very true. She was like,

28:16

starts sitting in on more

28:19

councils because she's like,

28:19

Okay, I don't I can't

28:21

contribute, but I want to know what's happening.

28:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. She

28:23

wants to better herself because

28:25

of a relationship with Him.

28:25

Exactly. Exactly.

28:28

So cool. I do appreciate

28:28

that. Like, especially like, he

28:32

really calls her on her shit

28:32

again, but in a way that's like,

28:35

no, like, you need to learn Yeah,

28:37

it's fair. You can be a

28:37

better person I can and and it

28:40

shows that he thinks that she's

28:40

like, you know, you're smart

28:42

enough. Yeah. He's a person.

28:44

He's like, super

28:44

impressed with her intelligence.

28:47

Right? How what she's willing to

28:47

do and everything so So I did

28:50

want to do a quick sidebar on

28:50

magic. Okay, so I mentioned he's

28:53

a shroud mage, she is what's

28:53

called a mind mage, so you can

28:56

do like, mental manipulations.

28:56

You can tell someone's lying she

29:00

can.

29:01

Does her body turn go on fire?

29:05

Yeah, well, and it's a

29:05

very like, it's not like a like

29:08

looking at someone until they're

29:08

lying. It's a like, half they

29:10

have to you have to be touching

29:10

them. Any like, use your magic

29:14

and if it's another mage, they

29:14

might be able to just like,

29:18

brush it off, right on mine mage

29:18

would know. So like, there's

29:21

that but she'd be able to just

29:21

tell someone like she can plant

29:24

like suggestions and to people

29:24

and stuff like that. Cool. Okay,

29:27

yeah. And so the other

29:27

interesting thing that's a world

29:30

building thing is the different

29:30

nations have different methods

29:32

of magic. So in QOL, they have

29:32

what's called rift zones. So you

29:37

I know you've never played

29:37

Dragon Age No, but for any of

29:39

our listeners, just play Dragon

29:39

Age. The way magic works here is

29:43

there is what's called the rift

29:43

which is essentially like almost

29:47

like another dimension or

29:47

something that you can pull

29:49

magic from. So in order to

29:49

become a mage, you create a link

29:53

with this other dimension in the

29:53

form of an object. Okay, I have

29:57

read a book that's sort of like

29:57

that. Yeah. So Well, so the rift

30:00

is kind of like the fade in

30:00

Dragon Age if you've ever played

30:03

Dragon Age, okay? But so in

30:03

kill, they use RIF stones. So

30:07

they're like stones that like a

30:07

necklace or whatever, okay, that

30:11

you keep with you. And that's

30:11

your sort of connection to this

30:13

other dimension. With Mozart

30:13

they use almost like familiars.

30:19

So animals so your animal like

30:19

you're you're familiar becomes

30:23

your anchor to this other world.

30:23

And you they become like

30:26

awakened essentially. So they can talk to each other and stuff. So he has a little

30:28

weasel. And the animal you have

30:32

is dependent on your type. Does

30:32

it talk to him? Yeah. So like,

30:37

they have what's called a

30:37

brindle cat is one of the cats

30:40

in here, which is like, kind of

30:40

like a almost like a not a

30:43

panther. I would say it's closer

30:43

to like a bobcat, but bigger,

30:46

okay, like a giant bobcat. And

30:46

that's what their war mages

30:49

have. Cool. And so it's really

30:49

neat. Um, so I liked the way

30:53

they developed magic bullet that

30:53

comes into play. So, next scene,

30:58

we're on scene four. What's

30:58

worse? I know I haven't.

31:00

I know you're doing you're doing great. Um,

31:02

so Augustine comes into town.

31:05

He's Augustine again.

31:05

Her betrayal. Oh, right. God.

31:10

Turns out he's a massive

31:10

douche canoe because all of us

31:13

are surprised Augustine is a

31:13

dick. So this is he's a very

31:20

good counterpoint to dontoh He

31:20

is pretty much I know. He is

31:25

pretty much what homeboy was

31:25

from last time.

31:29

But this is the see this

31:29

is what I was telling you. Last

31:33

month to do they get to

31:33

different character. You're

31:36

welcome. I found wait when we

31:36

Alan Rickman flip. I so I post

31:44

Egri.

31:45

I know. I know. But this

31:45

is better. This is doing it

31:47

right. This is doing it right.

31:47

But I'm still a so he's

31:50

attractive. Like he's, you know,

31:50

he's right. Made she's read all

31:53

that but he's incredibly

31:53

controlling, abusive and

31:56

nagging. Like crazy. negs, like

31:56

Okay, good. Nobody's, right.

32:01

Essentially, Blake Landon, land

32:01

land whale

32:06

oil.

32:07

Oh, he's basically him.

32:07

So he's just a dick. So he he

32:14

like is trying to win her over

32:14

and everything and gives her

32:16

like a kitten. And like, all

32:16

this doesn't look it's a prize

32:19

for Mozar and like cancer, a

32:19

kitten and all this stuff. And

32:24

why the next

32:25

time? Here's a gift for

32:25

you responsibility. Right?

32:29

Well, so the next time

32:29

she meets up with John Doe, she

32:32

brought it because she's like, I

32:32

don't know how to take care of

32:35

his. And he's like, where did

32:35

you get that? Oh, my Botros gave

32:39

it to me. He gave you a baby

32:39

brindle cat. Oh, she does. Its

32:47

name is whiskers. Oh. Turns out

32:47

she gave he gave her a baby

32:52

brindle cat. Which shows I think

32:52

so in my going back to my AP

32:57

English in high school. Here's

32:57

my literary analysis. It shows

33:00

that he is not in any way

33:00

willing to learn about this

33:03

culture that he's conquering.

33:03

Yeah, he didn't even try to

33:07

think that. Oh, this is a

33:07

dangerous animal that could mold

33:10

know that. So the babies

33:10

apparently so the printer cat

33:14

they get like these like stripes and stuff on them and like tufting at the ears, but the

33:16

babies don't have them. So as

33:19

they mature, he's just

33:20

an idiot. Yeah, that's

33:20

all okay. He didn't even

33:23

bother to he even got it

33:23

from the place that they breed

33:25

them. He just didn't bothered in

33:25

like, learn about right grab.

33:29

Well, no kidding. She's like

33:29

this and brought it so he has no

33:33

desire to even remotely learn

33:33

about the Lonely Island he's

33:37

supposed to be. Yeah, he's

33:37

supposed to be

33:41

conquering. Yeah,

33:41

exactly. very counterintuitive

33:44

to to like if you want to

33:44

conquer a place you want to know

33:46

about the customer so that I'm

33:46

sorry. So that you can use that

33:49

against that? Well, unless

33:51

you're planning on just

33:51

bowling through them and

33:53

naturalizing Yeah, what they're

33:53

trying to do, they're gonna do

33:57

in slave mall and take it for

33:57

themselves. It's not a great

34:01

yeah, not great. Not great. gets

34:01

better. Promise like actually

34:08

better.

34:08

problematic.

34:10

Unacceptable. Yes.

34:10

Unacceptable. Yeah. Um, okay. So

34:14

after this interaction with John

34:14

Doe, we, John, or Rihanna starts

34:17

to try to learn about the actual

34:17

war and what's going on and what

34:21

they're doing in his country

34:21

because he's actually started

34:23

telling her about some of the atrocities that they're performing. And she's like, No,

34:25

that can't be right. He's like,

34:27

No, go, go learn about right,

34:27

like you really learn. So she

34:31

started doing that and jonjo is

34:31

in the evening. He is, you know,

34:36

hiding everything and he sees

34:36

the quartermaster for the

34:40

slaves. Oh, did I say there was

34:40

assault? And then we're gonna go

34:45

this guy you said there was

34:45

there's some sexual assault as

34:49

well. Okay. So, trigger warning,

34:49

some sexual assault. He sees the

34:55

quartermaster for the slaves

34:55

assaulting one of the slaves and

34:59

he goes in and beats the fuck

34:59

out. Great guy. Um, but he gets

35:07

taken away the next day.

35:08

Oh no, because

35:10

they're like, Who the

35:10

fuck are you? You're not in our

35:12

no list. What did you do? So he

35:12

put himself in danger to do this

35:15

and gets captured and rants like

35:15

where is my teacher? Like, where

35:20

is he? And he actually asked one

35:20

of the slaves in his language,

35:23

very rudimentary she does, but

35:23

she's able to do it, which I

35:26

thought was neat. Yeah, um, well,

35:27

it's good too, because then nobody else can really understand what she's saying and

35:29

listen in.

35:30

Right? Um, but she's so

35:30

she's like, he's like, yeah,

35:33

they took him away this morning

35:33

to be interrogated. And she's

35:37

like, No, this is bullshit. So

35:37

she doesn't find him finds in

35:42

the dungeon rather, keeping and

35:42

then like about to try and

35:44

interrogate

35:45

so dungeon sex

35:47

to break. He's like,

35:47

fuck, FAK FAK FAK fat because

35:51

they're gonna find out right?

35:51

Yeah. And so they're like trying

35:55

to find a mind mage to tell when

35:55

he's lying. So they can

35:57

interrogate him. And he walks in

35:57

and she's like, What the fuck is

36:00

going on? Yeah, like, Well, we,

36:00

we need to tell you like, Okay,

36:03

I'll be the mind mage. I'll do

36:03

it. And so she'd sit down and

36:06

she's the one interrogating him.

36:06

Yeah, so they are relying on her

36:10

to tell whether or not he's

36:10

lying. Okay. Oh, she lies for

36:14

him. Yeah, because they're

36:14

asking like, Are you a spy? Like

36:18

this specific? Question. Yeah,

36:18

no. And so she knows she knows.

36:21

She's lying. But she's like,

36:21

Yeah, or like, Yes, that's true.

36:25

Like she lies she knows that

36:25

something isn't what she already

36:28

had some suspicions, but because yeah,

36:30

like still betraying her

36:30

country? Absolutely. Yeah.

36:33

Isn't all hell. Yeah.

36:35

So buddy's really cute

36:37

though. And smart and

36:37

challenges her and like that

36:40

booty dough. Really very

36:40

attractive. Yeah, so she helps

36:46

him. And they kind of start to

36:46

figure things out and we start

36:49

to she was like, Okay, you need

36:49

to leave this country or I will

36:51

report you like I committed

36:51

treason. I'm aware of this. i

36:54

You need to leave and she's

36:54

like, really upset about it. But

36:56

she's like, You have to leave.

36:57

Yeah, I'm God. But she's

36:57

still saved. Um, well, and he's

37:01

like,

37:02

look, this guy just

37:02

because I beat him up is not

37:04

going to stop. He's been doing

37:04

this apparently, like every

37:07

night like we need. Oh, my I

37:07

want to stop it. Yeah, she's

37:10

like, okay, so she ends up

37:10

helping him. Stop this dude

37:14

completely from doing this

37:14

anymore. Amazing, which is

37:17

awesome. But then she's like,

37:17

alright, you need to get me out.

37:19

You need to leave. And he's

37:19

like, Yeah, I'm not gonna. Oh,

37:24

she's he's done because he likes to write

37:26

well, now he's like, I

37:26

can't his honor to his country.

37:29

Yeah, comes first because he's

37:29

like, I really like you. I

37:33

really need to do what I can for

37:33

my country. Yes, it's still

37:36

right and everything. So they

37:36

actually still meeting up a

37:40

little bit. But this time, he's

37:40

not pretending to be a slave.

37:42

He's just like, did they tell

37:42

her who he is? She doesn't know.

37:46

He's the prince. But she knows

37:46

He's a spy for the

37:48

country. So it's like a ladder. Except not.

37:52

But so they're like

37:52

meeting up by the bridge.

37:55

They're like the bridge. Okay.

37:55

And like, he'll put her inside.

37:57

He can take other people into

37:57

shroud. So Oh, no one can see

38:01

that kind of stuff. So she ends

38:01

up there like hanging out and

38:04

she she brings a blanket. She's

38:04

like, hey, I want you to have

38:08

sex with me. Why?

38:10

And he's like, I knew

38:10

there that was going when he

38:13

went to the blanket, but I'm

38:13

still kind of shocked, right?

38:15

He's like, like, she's

38:15

like, Yeah, because I'm about to

38:19

go be married to a royal

38:19

asshole. And I do not want him

38:24

to be my first. So

38:28

that's like, really kind

38:28

of sweet and also really sad.

38:32

Right?

38:33

Oh, he's like, okay,

38:33

like, but he's like, super cute

38:38

and is like, okay, you've never

38:38

done this before. And like it's,

38:42

oh, I'm doing the Okay, symbol

38:42

listeners. Yeah, it's very

38:47

sweet. It's really adorable. Um,

38:47

so they did that a couple times?

38:53

Because she likes him. He likes

38:53

her. Oh, and then bad things

38:57

start. Um, so most are false.

38:57

Ah, kill wins. Oh, no. And when

39:04

I say full. Oh, no, I mean,

39:04

Augustine shows up with victory

39:11

march through the city. And John

39:11

Doe is watching like has snuck

39:16

into the palace at this point in

39:16

his watching everything going

39:18

on. And he pulls up the head of

39:18

his parents. Shit goes south

39:24

fucking fast.

39:25

John's parents right.

39:25

Okay,

39:27

so Moser has fallen I

39:27

don't know. I apologize everyone

39:33

It seems someone decided to do

39:33

yard work outside right yeah,

39:36

like that's the 530 when

39:36

it's already getting dark Sunday

39:39

but So Moses fallen and

39:39

as a result chanteuse no king,

39:44

because it's

39:44

Oh, wow. Oh, no. Oh, no.

39:44

That makes him such a target.

39:48

They don't know he's

39:48

there still. Right. Still, but

39:51

he is just super like obviously

39:51

upset because I just saw his

39:56

guided parents like Right. Yeah,

39:56

no bueno. But also, no reason

40:02

has to go after like be married

40:02

now. So it's like a one way.

40:07

So are they like, are

40:07

they love at this point? Or oh

40:11

god, oh god.

40:12

Absolutely. Um, so he

40:12

helps her. And so here's another

40:18

thing that I thought was

40:18

awesome. Was he like, they meet

40:22

up after this happens and she's

40:22

like when she finds out it's his

40:25

parents. She's like, Oh my God

40:25

is like so upset and he's like,

40:27

No, you're going through bad

40:27

stuff, too. Your struggles are

40:30

not Oh, not legitimate because

40:30

of my soul so strong. Like we

40:35

both have our own struggles and both are perfect.

40:37

marry each other.

40:37

That'll only fuck out the

40:40

relationship. Yes, seriously.

40:43

Great. Sorry, I'm not

40:43

doing very good. Marshall. It's

40:45

just so good,

40:46

healthy relationship

40:46

that's built over like common

40:49

interests and like shared

40:49

history and stuff like that.

40:52

Like

40:53

I need to add another I

40:53

bookmarked another quote from

40:56

him. That was really awesome. I

40:56

really want to get your reaction

41:01

to this. Okay, so this is when

41:01

he's challenging her ideas of

41:03

politics, right? And her whole

41:03

thing is well, you know, kills a

41:08

stronger nation stronger nations

41:08

are meant to rule weaker

41:11

nations. That's like their

41:11

philosophy. That's what she was

41:13

raised to know. I wonder Do you

41:13

support this philosophy

41:17

yourself? Larger nations should

41:17

rule smaller ones. I said

41:20

stronger nations should rule not

41:20

larger nations. But it is killed

41:24

sighs that gives it the

41:24

advantage over Moser ran shook

41:27

her head not only sighs our

41:27

military tactics and trainings

41:30

are superior. That sounds very

41:30

like she was sheltered in this

41:33

right he was preached at how can

41:33

you know when you know so little

41:36

Moser? She gave him a sour look.

41:36

You were a woman continued JATO.

41:40

Do you believe women should be

41:40

ruled by men because men are

41:42

physically larger? That's not

41:42

the same thing. I fail to see

41:45

the difference, I think Yeah.

41:45

And just like I love

41:47

that. I love it. I love

41:47

it so much. Me too. He's so

41:52

cute.

41:54

Guys, for what it's

41:54

worth. We appreciate men that

41:58

are willing to you know,

41:58

actually, like be reasonable.

42:02

And emotional. Like we like that

42:02

guys. Yeah. Cool. All right.

42:05

Anyway, be vulnerable to Yeah,

42:05

Jojo is great. Yes. He's not

42:09

even my favorite guy in the

42:09

entire series that I've read so

42:12

far, but he's so wonderful.

42:12

Okay, so jonjo helps ran run

42:17

away. To get away from this

42:17

marriage. He's like, I need to

42:21

and she's, she's like, you can

42:21

come with me. We can go start a

42:25

new life. And he's like, No, I

42:25

can't I really need to Yeah,

42:28

he's loyal to his country. Good

42:28

for him. So but he does help her

42:31

escape. Okay, she escapes. They

42:31

catch her. There's a whole thing

42:36

about the catcher. It's it's No,

42:36

I can't go super into it. But

42:40

there's a lot that goes on

42:40

there. Oh, so she's caught and

42:43

Florian is Lucians dad. So

42:43

Florian is the Emperor the

42:47

damper. He has her whipped.

42:47

Yeah. Okay. Uh huh. So he's like

42:52

super past that she is not going

42:52

wholeheartedly to marry

42:55

Augustine and like all this

42:55

stuff. And she's like, No, he's

42:57

like, yeah, like you. So she's

42:57

getting whipped. And he won't

43:01

even give her access to a

43:01

healer. Like I met him healer

43:04

magic so that she won't have

43:04

scars. So she's gonna have

43:06

scars, like all this stuff. It's

43:06

it's a whole thing. Like, yeah,

43:10

he's not and

43:11

if she did, and also she

43:11

did marry Augustine, I'm sure

43:14

that he would find Oh, no, that

43:14

would just be that would just be

43:17

he would just see as her like,

43:17

but yeah, oh, God.

43:21

No. So throughout all

43:21

this genre is actually captured.

43:24

Like, legitimately figure out

43:24

who he is. No, no, no, no, this

43:30

is really she comes in because

43:30

actually, Lucian is my favorite.

43:33

I love him. He comes in and he

43:33

like finds because Lucia knows

43:36

what he that he's a spy. Right?

43:36

And he knows that he was that he

43:41

likes ran. Right? He walks in.

43:41

He's like, I don't think we have

43:43

a lot in common. But I also

43:43

think you care for ran and so do

43:46

i right? And he's like, yes,

43:46

like, Okay, I'm not going to

43:49

have you put to death. And I'm

43:49

not going to have you

43:53

interrogated. Because I think we

43:53

could because if you do it's

43:56

going to come out that being

43:56

committed treason. So right

44:00

let's see what I can do. And so

44:00

Ryan's like all right, I will

44:02

marry Augustine. 100% full stop

44:02

if you just exile him and kill

44:07

him so

44:08

tragic. Oh my god.

44:14

I really enjoyed this

44:14

book. Oh my god, I was going

44:18

back through so I read this a while ago and I was going back through it or like write my

44:20

notes. And I was just like

44:22

rereading stakes

44:24

are so high

44:27

on my notes, because I kept just wanting to reread the book.

44:30

Yeah, yeah, I did not

44:30

feel that way about fucking

44:32

Blake Landon.

44:33

I felt this way about

44:33

John Doe. Um, okay. So, yeah, so

44:39

John Doe is put on a ship to

44:39

this island to be exiled to

44:43

shipped off essentially. So the

44:43

ship is actually intercepted by

44:49

one of his brother ships. So

44:49

after his nation fell, his

44:53

brother who was the head of the

44:53

Navy, went off and has been

44:56

running essentially guerrilla

44:56

warfare tactics against y'all So

45:00

he attacks that ship thinking

45:00

it's a keel and like ship,

45:03

right? And it turns out to be

45:03

his brother on the new ship, so

45:06

he's able to escape, okay? And

45:06

he's like, all right, but this

45:09

noise, and he basically sails

45:09

back into keel because all of

45:14

kills worships and army or

45:14

Mozart right now, okay, their

45:18

main city is completely

45:18

defenseless per bag. So he found

45:22

his navy and it's like, Alright,

45:22

fuck you guys and goes in and

45:24

essentially besieges the main

45:24

city. Yeah, right. He officially

45:29

becomes king and is like, okay,

45:29

alright, let's get the shit.

45:33

Amazing. See, he is laying siege

45:33

on the country. That is

45:38

currently laying siege on his

45:38

country. Yes, there you

45:43

understand why I say there's so

45:43

much going on. It's really hard

45:46

to describe it. Yeah, literally.

45:46

Yeah, my best. Yeah. Um, but

45:50

this is where ran finds out that

45:50

he's the king now of Mozart.

45:55

Okay. Um, she is not pleased

45:55

that he didn't tell her.

46:00

Understandable. He gets it. And

46:00

he's like, he's like, look, I

46:04

understand. I'm sorry, if we can

46:04

just like, have to do things.

46:07

Now. We really need to talk

46:07

about this. If you'll just stay

46:10

here. I'll come back and we can

46:10

talk and all this stuff. And he

46:12

has essentially has her state in

46:12

the room. Okay, that she's in

46:16

like her room. Right? Um, again,

46:16

she's not pleased. Yeah. And so

46:20

he's trying to negotiate with

46:20

Lucian. So one of the first

46:23

things he does is he takes

46:23

Florian the current emperor and

46:26

is like, Fuck you, you're

46:26

exiled, takes away his rift

46:29

stones. He still can't do magic

46:29

anymore. Right and exiles him.

46:32

Okay, and islands, right? He's

46:32

out of the picture. Okay, he's

46:35

not someone that he could

46:35

negotiate with. Okay, so now

46:38

Lucia is emperor. Lucy is like

46:38

an emperor. Yeah, we like him.

46:43

Right? We like him. But he's

46:43

still like, under siege and

46:46

like, doesn't like John. Oh,

46:46

yeah. So he's like, they're

46:49

trying to figure out and so

46:49

finally Alicia is like, Alright,

46:51

I'm gonna give you a little bit

46:51

of a heads up. rands going to

46:56

hate you. If you keep her

46:56

trapped. That is why she hated

47:00

Florian. Right. She kept her in

47:00

the palace. She couldn't do

47:03

anything. She will hate you.

47:03

Yeah, if this happened, and she

47:06

starts to really resent him

47:06

because she's like, you're not

47:08

letting me go. I need like, I'm

47:08

not okay with her, really resent

47:12

him for it. And he's trying so

47:12

hard to be like, No, I just want

47:14

to protect you and like, all this stuff, and that kind of stuff. From a good place. Right?

47:16

He's still okay. Right. And so

47:22

finally, he's like, you know, I

47:22

think you're right. Like, I'm

47:26

being an asshole. I don't, I

47:26

can't keep you trapped. Yeah,

47:30

you need to be able to make your

47:30

own decisions and do right you

47:32

want you are free to go like,

47:32

yeah, like finally is like,

47:35

Alright, oh, well, he's trying

47:35

to make negotiations and do all

47:38

these things and everything. Uh

47:38

huh. And so she's able to, like,

47:40

be her own person and figure out

47:40

what she wants to do and make

47:43

her own decision. Right? They

47:43

ended up deciding in the

47:45

negotiation and totally fully

47:45

with her consent, that in order

47:50

to sort of create a connection

47:50

between these two nations,

47:54

they're going to have a

47:54

political marriage, essentially,

47:56

between John Doe and Rihanna.

47:56

Yay. She's 100% on board with

48:01

it. Yeah. Yeah, like, totally

48:01

cool. And they get in. Okay, so

48:07

yeah, so Okay, let's see. So my

48:07

last notes are kind of like a

48:10

bullet one booboo of things that

48:10

happen. Um, so after

48:13

negotiations, he realizes he's

48:13

wrong and lets her go and she

48:16

chooses to go with him. Very

48:16

important of her invalid, right.

48:19

Okay. Old asshole. Emperor is

48:19

exiled forever illusion is now

48:22

emperor. And RAM becomes queen

48:22

of Crusher now. So they like me.

48:28

Oh, and I totally forgot to put

48:28

it in my notes. What do you

48:31

think happened to a guest it did

48:31

happen. It happens when most RS

48:38

like John was forced is John

48:38

Torres. At this point is like

48:41

King name, right. are storming

48:41

the main city? Which I will say

48:46

when they're taking the city

48:46

he's having everyone marched

48:49

through the city and he's like,

48:49

nobody pillages nobody kills

48:53

anybody. Nobody rapes any right?

48:53

We are doing we are not stooping

48:57

to their level. Right? Nobody

48:57

does anything. And two people

49:00

were caught two of the soldiers

49:00

were caught, like raping a

49:03

woman. He's like, all right,

49:03

kill him. Good. Right up, puts

49:07

him to death. And they're like

49:07

what you can't do? He's like,

49:10

No, this is not acceptable. We

49:10

are not going to

49:12

do this. Yeah. And oh,

49:12

yeah, we're not animals. Yeah.

49:15

But yeah, so I'll give

49:15

you a hint. It happened while

49:18

they were storming the the

49:18

Imperial Palace and involves a

49:22

cat

49:28

the Kraken,

49:29

basically. So Augustine

49:29

basically, like shows up in

49:32

rands room when all of like

49:32

they're storming the castle and

49:34

being taken over and he's like,

49:34

Well, basically if I can't have

49:38

you know, when it starts trying

49:38

to kill her, Oh, my God, John

49:42

Doerr, and he's a War Mage. So

49:42

war mages are really difficult

49:45

to kill. Yeah, they have these

49:45

like super essentially spidey

49:48

senses, okay, and all this

49:48

stuff. And so Sean Torres like

49:50

finds he the first thing his

49:50

first thought is okay, I need to

49:52

make sure rams Okay, so he goes

49:52

to her room and sees her like,

49:55

being choked out essentially.

49:55

And he's like, fuck that. And so

49:59

he like texted Dude and then

49:59

finally the end up like both of

50:02

them leave the room as he like

50:02

releases the brindle cat and the

50:05

brittle cat just wrecks this

50:05

guy. Yeah, Oscars got her back.

50:11

Yeah. So I really liked this

50:11

book.

50:15

It was a really like a

50:15

fun roller coaster and

50:17

I hope I did an okay

50:17

job. Like I said, there is so

50:20

much much I do also real quick

50:20

want to read.

50:23

I do really like.

50:26

Okay, so I actually

50:26

bought this,

50:28

you know, chicken, Bitsy,

50:30

she's, she's low. I

50:30

bought three of these books,

50:34

actually. Because there's no

50:34

there's more in the series that

50:37

I haven't gotten yet and haven't read yet. But they're really good. And I did want to read one

50:39

of the reviews in the beginning

50:43

of the book, which I really

50:43

appreciated. Here it is a great

50:50

read. It was wonderful to see

50:50

two intelligent individuals

50:53

continue to value and treat each

50:53

other with respect. I'm looking

50:57

forward to seeing the rest of the series.

50:58

That's Yes. Oh, 90%.

50:58

Right.

51:02

Yeah, so I thought this was a really good palate cleanser. So the first book that

51:04

I read is called Assassin's

51:06

Gambit, which actually follows

51:06

Lucian, and it's happened three

51:10

years after this book does,

51:10

okay, or is it time is five

51:14

years is Roman. Okay. Um, so

51:14

that one was the first one I

51:17

wanted to do rather than this

51:17

one, but it's even more

51:20

complicated than this one. Okay.

51:20

Because there's a lot of like,

51:23

it gets into some heavy shit the

51:23

way okay, honestly, when I was

51:26

reading these books, they were

51:26

in the romance section at the,

51:30

the library. But I would

51:30

honestly consider it to be more

51:34

of a just really good fantasy

51:34

novel with some romance in it

51:39

seems

51:39

to me like the cover and

51:39

the title just didn't really

51:43

justice. Okay, so this is

51:43

actually what I got. That's the

51:46

end. That's the type of book to

51:46

have kind of been waiting for

51:49

him. Like, I've been hoping that like, what we've been doing this podcast, we would uncover books

51:51

like that, and we just did and

51:54

I'm so glad.

51:55

No, and all of our books are kind of like that. We're like, got the cover. And I was

51:56

like, Oh, this is gonna be a shit show. And it's just really

51:58

good. Yeah, yeah. Um, so I was

52:03

very, very impressed. The

52:03

characters actually have like,

52:07

grow it totally passes the book Delta.

52:09

Yes, it does. It

52:09

absolutely does. Yeah. And also,

52:13

like, the characters are all

52:13

like, very cute in dimension.

52:17

Yeah. Depth. Yeah. depth to

52:19

them. And and they have

52:19

their own motivations. Yeah.

52:22

Like he will want to read it. To

52:22

read like a different book out

52:25

of the series, though. Read

52:25

Assassin's Gambit. Okay, really,

52:28

it's okay. There's some, there

52:28

are some. There's some

52:33

problematic parts in it. But it

52:33

is presented in such a way that

52:38

it's not. It's not using those

52:38

problematic bits, like sexual

52:43

assault and stuff like that. As

52:43

like, it's not spinning that in

52:47

a good light. Like it's yeah,

52:47

this is wrong. Yeah. But yes. Is

52:50

what happened to these characters. Yeah, have dealt with it, right. It's not it's

52:52

not like the last one where it's

52:54

like, oh, no, abuse is fine.

52:54

It's romance. It's like, oh, no,

52:59

this person was abused and is

52:59

permanently affected by it.

53:02

Yeah. This is how these

53:03

are the real. It's

53:03

funny, because this is not a

53:05

real world. But there are like

53:05

real world. Things that happen.

53:09

There's some incredible,

53:09

like, just really relatable

53:12

like, Yeah, this is how this would work. Like,

53:14

I have to ask how's the sex in this book? Do they describe it? Oh, yeah, it's

53:16

good. Yeah.

53:20

It is. It's

53:22

just brings a blanket.

53:22

You know, she's like, this girl

53:25

do you want it's cool? Yeah. Um,

53:25

be prepared. Always. Ladies be

53:30

prepared. Don't expect him to be

53:30

prepared.

53:32

No, never. Yep. Um, no,

53:32

it's it's like, I never ever

53:37

thought I would describe sex

53:37

scenes in novels as cute. Oh,

53:44

oh, yeah. I love it. And there's

53:44

so many like little bits that I

53:49

had to skip over that were just

53:49

like little details that were

53:53

amazing because like he was

53:53

telling her about most are like

53:57

about like, he went into this

53:57

whole thing of oh, let's just

54:00

like we are people live in

54:00

caves. He's like, No, we have

54:02

underground cities because in

54:02

like, their caves that are

54:05

magicians create, essentially,

54:05

because the week it's really

54:09

rainy, and we can't have like

54:09

villages on normal Earth because

54:13

they would wash away and like

54:13

I'm like, really good world

54:16

building.

54:16

Well, and I feel like

54:16

for her, it's gonna be really

54:19

cool. And she actually gets to be queen, because she'll be able to like, explore and she

54:21

obviously seems like a person

54:24

who like right, wants to learn

54:24

and wants to explore

54:27

and they emphasize that

54:27

people live well. And so he

54:30

tells her, he tells her all

54:30

about that and she's like, Okay,

54:34

well, I I want to show you

54:34

something really cool about

54:39

kill, because you've told me

54:39

something really cool about

54:41

Mozart. So he she takes him on

54:41

like, like a horse back riding

54:45

like, right through versus

54:45

through the forest. That's what

54:47

the horse that the coverage.

54:47

Yeah. And all of a sudden it's

54:51

like gunshots essentially, or

54:51

when hearing really which guns

54:54

do exist in this world. But like

54:54

gunshots is essentially what

54:57

she's hearing. And he's like,

54:57

freaking He like tries to

55:00

actually like get kind of get in

55:00

front and be like, okay, like,

55:03

let me let me be a man

55:03

and protect you kinda

55:05

that's like, yeah, it's

55:05

a protection thing, but it

55:08

doesn't feel like a creepy. Okay, that's

55:10

good. That helps. Yeah, it didn't make it sound good, but it can be good. It can be

55:12

like,

55:13

well, but she's like

55:13

totally fresh like what and he's

55:15

like, what is that? Oh, it's the

55:15

trees and it's like these trees

55:19

the way they like pollinate

55:19

essentially is they just explode

55:23

outward like Wait I'm sorry

55:23

what? Yeah, isn't that really

55:29

interesting? He's like don't get

55:29

any on me. What do you mean this

55:35

is an ejaculating forest such

55:35

sorry

55:40

that's so oh my god i

55:40

love it i robots levels that

55:45

have snuck but they also have to

55:45

be like respectful to get the

55:49

Snark but that the respectful that

55:51

he is mad it's this this

55:51

book knocked it out of the park

55:55

for

55:56

that felt that water or

55:56

that water that book felt like a

55:59

club. Like I feel like I've just

55:59

taken a shower after the novel

56:02

before this it felt so right

56:02

good.

56:05

So if I'm completely

56:05

like, like if we're raining I I

56:12

would read this book not as just

56:12

like a romance book. It's just a

56:16

very good book right okay, so I

56:16

would say it knocked it out of

56:19

the park okay lives across the

56:19

board and not not like like for

56:23

me personally this is not

56:23

romance level fives it's book

56:26

five All right there you go.

56:26

Really enjoyed the plot was

56:30

super in depth and there was so

56:30

much going on and it was very

56:32

engaging and like he wanted to

56:32

know more about the world.

56:36

So you want you wanted

56:36

to go on and read the next book

56:38

too. Oh, absolutely. And I did

56:39

I so I got Assassin's

56:39

game it from the library. And

56:43

then as soon as I finished it I

56:43

bought this one and read this

56:46

one. As soon as I finished this

56:46

one I bought the next one which

56:49

actually follows Lucians little

56:49

sister. Oh, and then there's a

56:54

short story

56:56

that I read. So has she

56:56

written other series?

56:58

I think there's one more

56:58

but I don't know much about it.

57:02

Okay, yeah, so I think this one

57:02

knocked out of the park it

57:04

definitely passed the Bechdel

57:04

Test Yay. Yay. Really go out and

57:08

read this one. Okay, it's a

57:08

relatively fast read but it is

57:11

so

57:12

good. So to move on

57:12

though, what are we reading

57:15

outside of this anything? Um, so

57:17

I have been reading and

57:17

it's so dumb and I love it. I

57:21

found a series of Choose Your

57:21

Own Adventure book. Oh, I

57:26

couldn't find the original one

57:26

in the series. So I found the

57:29

next one in the series which is

57:29

called Romeo and or Juliet. Oh

57:33

my God, it is choose your own

57:33

adventure Shakespeare.

57:36

I love it.

57:38

Beautiful. So like the

57:38

first time I played through it I

57:42

played Juliet and because you

57:42

can place Romeo or Juliet right?

57:46

And I ended up single but became

57:46

a pirate and was very happy with

57:51

that's so awesome.

57:52

It's so good.

57:53

We I didn't tell you for

57:53

New Years. I was doing a murder

57:56

mystery game. But But I was

57:56

sucked at

58:02

bowl. Oh, I can't Yeah, but it

58:04

was really fun. No, I

58:05

guess so. The first one

58:05

is actually called To be or not

58:08

to be that's the adventure. And

58:08

it's Hamlet. That's and you can

58:12

play as Hamlet Ophelia or the

58:12

ghost.

58:16

I wouldn't I would

58:16

totally be the ghost. Ruin.

58:20

So I want to I want to

58:20

buy that one and read it because

58:24

it was it was hysterical. Okay.

58:24

Oh, so funny. It was very good.

58:28

So there was like a dumb little like,

58:31

we both been doing that

58:31

lately. Yeah, I was watching

58:34

like, cheesy anime.

58:37

Sometimes you need a cleanser. Yeah.

58:39

Oh, my God, did I so

58:39

please, please, please rate

58:43

review. And so yeah, do all

58:43

those things. Do all those

58:46

things. Give us a really good review.

58:47

Yeah, that really helped. We

58:48

really need that, guys.

58:48

I mean, I can't stress how much

58:52

it really helps us. And if not,

58:52

and also like just email us and

58:56

tell us what you think. Give us

58:56

comments. My stomach is

58:59

growling. So

59:01

yeah, give us a review

59:01

on iTunes stars really helps. We

59:05

would love it if you would pass

59:05

this on to one of your maybe a

59:08

friend that you think might

59:08

enjoy. Um, we have a blast doing

59:12

this. And every once in a while

59:12

you do get a gym. And this is

59:15

wonderful. And we found one we

59:15

found one. So pick this one up

59:19

for you. Seriously, I love this

59:19

book. It was great. It was so

59:22

good. I actually I liked

59:22

Assassin's game but more but

59:25

this one was very early to the

59:25

game. It has a lot more some

59:30

more heavy, like sexual assault

59:30

parts in it. But again, it's not

59:35

painted. Yeah, it's not painted.

59:35

It's not painted as romantic.

59:39

It's like no this is not okay.

59:39

Yeah, it's very good.

59:43

Um, is there anything

59:43

else you need to tell our

59:45

listeners?

59:47

How to contact us

59:47

Twitter? Yes, T tension pod

59:50

Instagram, textual tension BOD

59:50

Goodreads, textual tension

59:54

website, textual tension pod

59:56

at G or textual tension

59:56

pod.com Email, textual tension

1:00:01

pod@gmail.com

1:00:02

Beautiful. Yeah, so um,

1:00:02

I guess I'll be back in two

1:00:06

weeks, which is going to be

1:00:06

Valentine's Day.

1:00:10

I don't think about that. We're

1:00:12

really close to Valentine's day better. It's gonna be your Episode Two.

1:00:15

Oh, wow. Okay. Oh my

1:00:15

god. I'm so excited to

1:00:21

pick a good one. Oh,

1:00:21

well. Also,

1:00:25

maybe it should be.

1:00:27

Oh, yeah. Okay. That's

1:00:27

also really close to my

1:00:32

birthday. I'm gonna need that as

1:00:32

a gift to the birthday to me

1:00:38

happy Fabio. Wow, I'm like, what

1:00:38

fast on this and I was like,

1:00:44

Yeah, wait by it flew by. Yeah,

1:00:44

I was expecting to go over um,

1:00:48

so complicated. Alright, I think

1:00:48

that's it. Oh, wait

1:00:52

eight linaria Thank you

1:00:52

for your song. Oh, love from the

1:00:55

album be hell yeah, that

1:00:57

yes. We can't forget

1:00:57

about that. Yes. We love it.

1:01:00

Alright, I think that you think

1:01:00

we at this point would have like

1:01:03

written this down and had a

1:01:03

thing to go back and

1:01:06

you know what, I'll just take it