Escapists Anonymous

Sam and Dan review The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence, the final instalment in The Library Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. Having enjoyed the first two books in the series, we have high hopes for the finale. We discuss our feelings on some of the decisions Mark Lawrence made when landing the plane. We talk...

Sam and Dan review The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. Leigh Bardugo is hugely successful in the Young Adult Fantast world, but how will her work in the adult fiction sphere hold up. We discuss the price of being a woman with ambition, and magical powers, in 16th century Spain during the inquisitio...

Sam and Dan review The Book of Doors, by Gareth Brown. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. We've heard lots of good things about this 2024 release and so we're excited to review yet another fantasy book about books. We discuss some things we like, and several elements that we struggled with.  Join in the conversation by...

Sam and Dan review The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. We deep-dive into one of the year's hottest releases. The Devils, by Lord Grim-Dark himself, Joe Abercrombie. We compare this to Abercrombie's First Law world, before exploring this diverse cast of characters and perspectives. We eval...

Sam and Dan review Pagans, by James Alistair Henry. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. We delve into this crime-thriller set in an alternative version of modern-day England, where 1066 never happened and Pagan religion and culture dominate. We struggle to figure out whether this is a fantasy book or an alternative history, befor...

Sam and Dan review The Book That Broke the World, by Mark Lawrence: book 2 in the Library Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. Having given the prestigious Escapists Anonymous 'Book of the Year 2024' award to The Book That Wouldn't Burn, there were high expectations for the sequel to deliver on this great p...

Sam challenges Dan to read his first two Discworld novel, and in this episode, we discuss both Pyramids and Guards Guards and compare views. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading both books before listening. Pyramids and Guards Guards are books 7 and 8 in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. We discuss why Sam felt these were a good starting point for Dan...

Sam and Dan review The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, by Shauna Lawless. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. The Children of Gods and Fighting Men is the first novel in Shauna Lawless's Gael Song trilogy. We delve into our first historical fantasy. We explore the key themes, the historically accurate plot and how the his...

Sam and Dan review The Great When, by legendary writer, Alan Moore. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening. The Great When is the first novel in Alan Moore's planned series titled 'The London Quintet'. We get into the various plot strands that are introduced and tied off throughout. We discuss our main protagonist, Den...

Sam and Dan are joined on the podcast by self-published author, Dan Hanly, to discuss his debut novel, The Great Leap (book 1 in the Children of Innauron series). SPOILER ALERT: While we try to avoid spoilers, the interview inevitably refers to events that occur throughout the book. We ask Dan all about his thinking behind the world, characters and plot in The Great Leap, along with trying to teas...

Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. Now that we have finished the book, we discuss our feelings on its conclusion, including whether it was in fact a conclusion at all. We get into what we thought...

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 10 - 19 of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We still can't really figure out where this story is heading. We're not sure who our main antagonist is supposed to be. And in some cases, we don&apos...

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 1 - 9 of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We discuss our first impressions of our two protagonists, Nahri and Ali, as well as what we think of the magical Djinn world that exists behind a veil within the...

Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of Hannah Kaner's Sunbringer, book two of the Fallen Gods Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We ask whether the chapter structure that this book enables the story and characters to be developed most effectively. We reflect on what we loved about the story, t...

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 17 - 37 of Hannah Kaner's Sunbringer, book two of the Fallen Gods Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. As our main characters go about their largely separate storylines, we ponder how Hannah Kaner might bring them all back together, or not, for the climax of Sunbring...

Grab a glass of champagne and join us for an evening of festivities as we crown 2024 winners in the following categories: - Best Protagonist - Worst Protagonist - Best Antagonist - Best World - Best Plot Twist - Book of the Year Join in the conversation by following us on social media: Instagram TikTok

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 1 - 16 of Hannah Kaner's Sunbringer, book two of the Fallen Gods Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. In our first return to a world we have visited before on the podcast, we catch up with Kissen, Elo, Inara and Skedi. We explore the difference and challenges that th...

Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We reach the mighty climax of Oraya's journey through Carissa Broadbent's world of sexy vampires, and so we come to some conclusions on what we thought of the stor...

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 26 - 41 of Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. Things got really hot and steamy in this section of the book, and we delve uncomfortably deep into the lusty and the romantic elements of Oraya and Raihn's relationshi...

Sam and Dan discuss chapter 13 - 25 of Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We dive yet further into this sexy vampire-romantasy. We get into some of Oraya's daddy issues. We theorise about what makes her special, and why she is sooo delicious...

Sam and Dan discuss the prologue to chapter 12 of Carissa Broadbent's The Serpent and the Wings of Night. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We've got a brand new book to deep-dive into. It's supposed to be one of the hottest books of the year, featuring sexy vampires and a Hunger Games-styl...

Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. Having finished the book, we give our honest (sometimes too honest!) opinions on the climax of the story. We review the plot, the characters, the relationships and answer our regular end of boo...

Sam and Dan discuss chapters 15 - 28 of Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. Now that we're over half-way through the book, we discuss how much better we've got to now Shiori. We assess the suspicious actions of the highly unlikeable Zirina. There's a m...

Sam and Dan discuss chapters 1 - 14 of Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We travel to the Far East, in the fictional land of Kiata, where the story of Six Crimson Cranes is based. We discuss what we've learned about the magic system, we get to know our main pr...

Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of Mark Lawrence's The Book That Wouldn't Burn: the first instalment of The Library Trilogy. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers whole of this book. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening. We give our assessments of the climax and where this first instalment left our our two time-travelling love-birds....