Spoil Me

Thank you very much to Yama for commissioning this episode! So we're into the next book in the Young Wizards series, and it has a very different start from the others in the series so far. There's no sense of unity here, and while Nita is stewing over something that I'm not quite getting, Kit starts on a solo adventure by stepping through a portal his dog found. It's all very puzzling. I want to a...

Thank you to Tonje for commissioning this episode! Hoo boy this was a creepy one. Eve's story not so much, of course, but Villanelle ends up in the clutches of a man who is really truly awful, and the whole world appreciates that he isn't alive anymore. Meanwhile, there's a new assassin operating on a whole different wavelength to Villanelle, because she prefers to be practically invisible and not...

Thank you very much to Yama for commissioning this episode! I can't believe this book doesn't end with Clariel turning permanently into the person we know she will become. I'm okay with that, because it's a real subversion of my expectation, but I'm left feeling almost sorrier than I would have been otherwise. Knowing that she gets a reprieve and still winds up as she does somehow makes it worse....

Thank you very much to Martin for commissioning this episode! This episode is fascinating to me, as we get to see Nona traveling and coping with being utterly unprepared for being alone in what's essentially the wilderness. She summons some fire when she does not succeed in creating her own, and like always...she overdoes it, just a little bit. Meanwhile, the Abbess is trying to fucking manage the...

Thank you very much to Yama for commissioning this episode! I can't believe there's only one more episode of coverage of this book, because there just seems to be so much to wrap up. The main thing, though, is that I have a feeling I know who Clariel is and I'm already very sad about it, and dreading having to watch it happen. At the same time, I'm dying to know if I'm right and can hardly wait fo...

Thank you very much to Yama for commissioning this episode! It's the final battle in the strange land that the Irish wizards (plus Kit and Nita) have stepped into, and there are a couple moments in which it really looks like they're outnumbered. This is when we get to see the full force of the cup and the stone and what they're capable of. It's actually pretty dope! Then there's the confrontation...

Thank you so much to Yama for commissioning this episode! We're getting into it now, kids, and poor Clariel was dead right about how things were going to go once she and Bel landed the paperwing. It's super irritating to read because we know that Bel means well, but he's also very naive. Alas. Also, MOGGET IS HERE!

Thank you very much to Michael for commissioning this episode as well as a live read! This episode is FUCKING BANANAS. Balls-out bananas. I don't even know where to start, but the main event here is that Keith Mars is apparently going to be a major player and looks to be the one behind the team's abduction in the previous season. He has a really fascinating backstory, and I think I know what he's...

Thank you so much to Karyn for commissioning this episode! I am blown away by some of the reveals in this episode. Holy shit, there's so many implications to the fact that the Director is...what it is. And I'm reeling from the idea that even if you manage to escape an upload, you were supposed to be dead and that means you're now on a list and eligible to be taken whenever they feel like it. YIKES...

Thank you very much to Martin for commissioning this episode! I'm having so much fun with these books! These chapters are really compelling because Nona figures out how to undo the threadwork that the Holothour used to make all of the girls forget what happened in the caves. They go back, and there's a battle of wills that Nona wins. And then, there's a Shade Trial that doesn't go how anyone expec...

Thank you very much to Nikolai for commissioning this episode! I'm really flipped out because when I recorded this episode I had NO IDEA that it was the last episode available and that I was going to have to wait until fucking JUNE for the next episode! I AM GONNA DIE Thanks for listening, and I will see you AT SOME FUCKING POINT for the next episode. *sobs quietly*

Thank you very much to Melanie for commissioning this episode! I loved this episode so much. I am always excited to hear the backstory of characters that I've grown to feel like I already know, especially when it turns out to be full of surprises that make me recontextualize a lot of what I THOUGHT I knew. Also, I like seeing close friendships while they're still pure, even if you know that there...

Thank you very much to Alison for commissioning this episode! I feel like I really should have seen it coming that trying to avoid the future would be the very thing that causes it to happen, but I was still taken by surprise by the twist in this episode. Things are really getting heartbreaking around here. Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

Thank you to Yama for commissioning this episode! These are some damn good chapters, y'all. I'm really interested in what Clariel is going to think of meeting an Abhorsen, because we as readers have known so many by this point but Clariel has never met any. Also, she VERY nearly leaves an injured and vulnerable Balatiel all by himself. I'm not super impressed but I'm glad she stayed. Thanks so muc...

Thank you to Michael for commissioning this episode! I'm really compelled by some of the implications of this episode. There's the concept of someone being able to escape being taken over if they're far away enough from technology, though of course we see how hard ACTUALLY getting away from tech turns out to be. Then, there's the fact that they can bypass brain areas with coding, which is a pretty...

Thank you so much. toMelanie for commissioning this episode! This episode is a wild ride from start to finish, and it ends on such a cliffhanger that I truly feel sorry for the poor schmucks who had to wait months for the next episode. I can't believe it, and I do NOT know what to make of the appearance of another Stan! Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!

Thank you so much to Nikolai for commissioning this episode! This one was a fascinating look at the state of Winden right before everything goes so badly left. It certainly answers some questions I had, with some REALLY surprising answers. And it cements how shitty Ulrich is, making me slightly more sympathetic to Hannah, although not completely. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you...

Thank you very much to Rachel for commissioning this episode! This episode is rather bittersweet, because Veronica makes her mark as a journalist for the school paper (which is an actual paying gig in this era, apparently!), but she does so at the expense of some potential friendships with people she at first dismisses completely. Turns out Veronica is guilty of judging a book by its cover. GIRL,...

Thank you very much to Lara for commissioning this episode! God this episode stressed me out so bad. I know that's pretty much the entire intention but it was way too damn effective. I'm just glad that Carolyn is keeping the gang together. Kind of. Thanks for listening!

Thank you so much to Nikolai for commissioning this episode! I'm going to make this short, but I want you all to know that Mikkel and Ulrich reuniting and then getting ripped apart is the cruelest thing any show has ever done and I want to kill these writers. Thanks for listening!

Thanks ever so much to Tristen for commissioning this episode! IT'S TIME FOR BATTLE! These chapters leave a little less than 40 pages in the remainder of the book and I'm curious what you all think about the next ep? Should I just do that and recap my thoughts on this book, or begin delving into the next one? Thanks for listening!

Thank you so much to Julia for commissioning this episode! I'm super behind on posting so I'm going to be making each of these brief. But this is the episode in which Eve breaks into Villanelle's apartment and it's AMAZING. Thanks for listening!

Thank you very much to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! I'm so interested in what's going to happen between Lorkin and Tyvara, and I don't even mean romantically. I just kind of like the dynamic between them, with each of them knowing magic that the other doesn't, and not sure just how much to trust one another, etc. Also, Sonea reacts in much the way that I expected when she hears that Lo...

Thank you so much to Devin for commissioning this episode! I'm really digging this entire series, and I keep being surprised at how fresh and different each book feels despite the fact that we are dealing with the same characters every time. Different settings, different types of magic, different people getting involved, all make the books feel unexpected and new. In these chapters, we get a reall...

Thank you very much to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! In these chapters, we get to see a bit of the Rogue magician (who appears to be a woman, btw) but Cery's still not totally sure that she's the Thief Hunter as well. I actually quite enjoy being in Cery's head and getting to see the way his mind works, and i've been pleasantly surprised by Gol's headwork, too. Meanwhile, Lorkin is flee...