Is This Just Fantasy?

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie was one of the fellas' all time favourite novels for the pod. Can its sequel, The Heroes, live up to its successes? Well to no one's surprise, it did. They discuss how much of the book can be enjoyed even with Geordie's limited knowledge of the series and characters. Geordie tries to deduce who exactly "The Bloody Nine" is from context clues, whilst Duncan gives...

By the advice of our lawyers and other sensible people, we do not endorse the "Is This Just Fantasy Last Unicorn Drinking Game," wherein players take a shot every time Duncan and Geordie describe this novel as "beautiful." You have been warned. Yes, in this episode the fellas visit a classic of American fantasy, Peter S. Beagle's the Last Unicorn. A spell-binding fairy tale full of heart and humou...

Robert E. Howard was a poor writer who died in tragedy; unknown. His creations, especially Conan of Cimmeria, destined to be forgotten. Until the vultures began to circle. Duncan leads Geordie on the incredible almost 100 year long story of how Conan was either stolen or rescued from obscurity by L. Sprague de Camp, and continued to be a figurehead of fantasy until today. Duncan chronicles the man...

The fellas get together to discuss Brennan McClellan's cordite drenched debut, The Promise of Blood, the first book in the Powder Mage trilogy. The discuss some awesome action, fun characters and a promising beginning, as well as some... less than awesome, and even baffling parts. This episode's release was delayed, so apologies. We won't say whose fault it was, but it wasn't Duncan's.

Song of Achilles was tied for the pod's best book in the history of the podcast, so what will the fellas make of its... prequel? Sequel? Midquel? Madeline Miller's crazy collage of Greek Mythology through the hawkish eyes of Circe. It's a beautiful tale covering millennia of isolation, sadness, love, and more sadness. They compare the it against Song of Achilles, they argue over the pronunciation...

Before Geordie embarks on his trek through the wilds of Sweden, there to battle moose and attempt to order food using his very bad Swedish, the fellas settle in to wrap up their review of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. They cover Palpatine's revenge check-list, get important villain names wrong, and cloning logistics. Also how great The Last Command is.

The fellas cover the much anticipated finale to the Legacy of Orisha series by Tomi Adeyemi which began with the smash Children of Blood and Bone, They discuss how it measures up the the successes of the first book and the misses of the second. They cover conspicuous character absences and dropped themes, and an in-depth analysis on the author's differing approach to each book; Geordie brings up t...

The fellas carry on their Star Wars Legends marathon with Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. They discuss Leia actually being allowed to do things in this book, get annoyed at there being too many lightsaber colours, Geordie gets bent out of shape about the name: "Katana Fleet." Speaking of shapes, I hope you like nerds discussing the different alphabet themed Star Fighters, because they spend mor...

Much to Geordie's horror he has been compelled to read another Star Wars book. And worse yet... he likes it. The fellas review Timothy Zahn's continuation of the original Star Wars trilogy. They have their first encounter with iconic characters like Thrawn and Mara Jade, discuss wife-guy Han Solo, the significance of lightsaber colours, the presence of hot chocolate in the series, and Geordie vent...

The fellas journey across the desert to hunt a man in black and discuss the beginning of Stephen King's celebrated series: The Dark Tower. They cover their histories with King, uncover the surprising backstory behind the book's origin, discover a meta-twist neither of them saw coming, Geordie teaches Duncan about the Song of Roland, and they debate whether or not there was a goat-man in the book.

This is a fantasy novel, we promise, Duncan and Geordie gather round the northern hemisphere of Arrakis to discuss Frank Herbert's Science-Ficti,,, I mean Science-Fantasy epic, Dune. They discuss its astounding world building, its fascinating connection to real history, the intricacies of its world, spend an unusual amount of time talking about Brian Herbert, and discuss its incredible ending.

In the much anticipated follow-up to Empire of the Vampire, Geordie and Duncan get stuck into everything they love about it, and its a long book with a lot to love. They talk sincerity, big anime swords, massive retcons, twists, awesome art, difficult to pronounce Scottish names, and perhaps the funniest blunder in the podcast's history as Duncan completely misreads the ending of the book.

In a parallel world this ought to have been episode 3 of this podcast. In anticipation of reading Empire of the Damned, Geordie and Duncan,,, well, just Geordie actually, return to the dark world of Empire of the Vampire. Geordie catches Duncan back up on all the dramatic fights, the vampiric lore, the cool tattoos, and the slight overabundance of references to either Elric or the Last of Us.

Over two years and (slightly over) 50 books under their belt, Duncan and Geordie revisit every fantasy novel fantasy novels they've read over the past two years, ranking them from the very lowest lows to the absolute bests of the genre. It gets contentious at times, tune in to hear Geordie call Duncan a heretic and find out what you should be reading this year. Thank you to everyone who's listened...

To commemorate their 50th fantasy novel, the fellas read and discuss a classic in the fantasy genre, the beginning to Robin Hobb's seminal Realm of the Elderlings series: Assassin's Apprentice. The fellas cover the book's influence, the strength of its characters, as well as some of slightly,,, slower moments. They also spend a lot of time discussing Game of Thrones and Green Rider.

Just how many times can Geordie say "roaring rampage of revenge" in just one episode? That's one of many questions the fellas ask as they delve into Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold. Duncan pulls a Murtagh, pulling Geordie into the fourth book in a series, Can they keep their bearings? Can Geordie figure out who the Bloody Nine is? And will Duncan ever discover what domming is? Only time will te...

Things get philosophical as the fellas are compelled to cover the trolley problem, vegetarianism, and ethical consumption under capitalism, all because Geordie picked the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin. He also spends an unforgivable amount of time talking about his latest weird interest at the start, but he has since been suitably punished. The hotest debate in the whole episo...

On the heels of the first season's finale, the fellas wrap up their review of a book which had a Vader-like (Vaderesque? Vaderonean?) chokehold on Geordie's childhood. Does it hold up? Of course it does. This episode is a major hit with them both. Episode highlights are Geordie teaching Duncan the correct pronunciation of Uranus, and Duncan making a... very interesting request of Geordie. Editing...

For one it's a return to an old favourite. For another, it's beginning a dense fantasy series at book 5 with very little context. The fellas leap into Murtagh the follow up to Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle, which Duncan has never read. Episode highlights are Duncan demanding to know what an Urgal is, an enthusiastic discussion of the book's magic system, and Geordie fulfilling his dream of beco...

In a cracking start to the new year and their 3rd season the fellas have delivered what they agree is probably their best episode yet. And of course that had to happen when discussing a lesser known creation by an author writing in 1929. Kull of Atlantis, the original Conan. Duncan rocks Geordie's world by introducing Geordie to the world of queer readings of Kull and Conan, whilst Geordie shares...

Look how far we've come this year. Geordie and Duncan look back at all the novels they've covered through 2023 and spare a moment of highlight some of the best surprises, their least favourites, and the very best they came across.

For this year's holiday special the fellas review the only other Christmas fantasy book they could think of: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. They discuss the charming book's humble and adorable origins, the world's most impactful trip to the zoo, Geordie teaches Duncan Bible stories, whilst Duncan recounts the most hare-brained story of the creation of the iconic lampost. Most importantly b...

Ooooh, what a delight this one was. Duncan and Geordie put on their slippers, slip under a blanket, get their coffee mug (then Geordie puts his away because he doesn't actually like coffee) and discuss Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. They find it a wonderful and charming book with impeccable vibes. With dual fantasies of orcs, elves and running a successful business. The fellas discuss suppo...

It's hot off the press. This week the fellas crack open feminist leader Laura Bates' fantasy debut Sisters of Sword and Shadow. They discuss this depiction of sorority, feminism, the deconstruction of Arthurian chivalry, as well as its high and lows. They cover the differences between feminist fiction writing and non-fiction writing, Duncan gives us an engineering crash-course in swords made of ti...

Duncan and Geordie are eager to present their interview with author Hailey Piper, writer of one of their recent faves: The Worm and His Kings. They discuss her writing process, the origins of her interest in horror, the bold end to the novel, and something about kaiju chickens?