The Legendarium

Back to Middle-earth! Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie step from the comforts of 19th-century England into the wild world of Faerie. In the first few chapters of The Hobbit, we go from the landed gentry of Bag End to the cockney dockworkers of the Ettenmoors, to the timeless elves of Rivendell. What was initially intended to be the first of three episodes has suddenly become the first of ... five? Six?...

For today's Author's Shelf episode, Andrew Klavan asked Craig and Kenn to read Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis. The three of them discuss the incredibly well drawn characters, the devastating emotional climax, and the relief of having a time travel story that -- wouldn't you know it -- actually works! Our thanks to Andrew Klavan for coming on the show, and we hope you'll check out his recent effor...

The Freaking Shroud of Turin (TM) has gone missing! The Blue Team is thrilled be back in the Dresden Files, following Harry et al through Death Masks, the fifth book in the series. Todd is finally feeling better after being a bit sick through the last few episodes, but Dresden is exactly what he needed as a good pick-me-up. Kenn hits some high notes in his recap, Megan is not looking for a paladin...

Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie are back for one more Night Angel episode, this being the second of two discussions on Brent Weeks's Beyond the Shadows. They talk about the price of Kylar's immortality; the grand finale; and whether Lantano Garuwashi, however great, is even necessary. They also finally answer some reddit questions.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "A...

The Blue Team is back! Todd, Megan, and Kenn reunite for a second discussion of Children of Dune. As is becoming clearer and clearer, Kenn and Megan don't exactly share Todd's enthusiasm for the Dune series. But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to discuss! They'll be back for more Dune in the coming months, but watch for more Dresden coming up between now and then.   Support the show on Patreo...

It's a Purple Team episode! Ryan joins Todd and Megan (and Kenn pops in for a subpar recap) to discuss Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The Amazon-exclusive adaptation is set to hit Prime Video on May 31st, so we figured now was a good time to give this one a try.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of ...

Craig, Ryan, Stephanie, and author Andy Peloquin discuss Beyond the Shadows, book 3 of Brent Weeks's Night Angel trilogy. They talk about whether fantasy violence is any worse than the real stuff, what Dorian's story teaches us about the corrupting influence of power, and the growth arc of Vi, the former assassin with a heart of gold. Check out Andy Peloquin's books Check out our new merch store!...

Blue Team assemble! Todd, Kenn, and Megan are back with their take on Children of Dune, book 3 in Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi epic. They'll discuss the latest hijinks of that ol' rascal, Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, and Todd will even almost not get emotional. Kenn takes a break from recapping, and Megan isn't even sure she wants in for this episode. SO GOOD.   Support the show on Patreon Join the co...

Five mics, seven panelists, and more bad jokes and worse opinions than you can shake a gauntlet at: we brought every regular panelist in for our mega discussion of Avengers: Endgame. We wade through everyone's takes, some surprising, some not, then at the end of the episode they all find out how well (or poorly!) Craig knows them.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music...

Craig and Kenn, along with a few new friends of the show, recap and review their time at JordanCon 2019. The short of it is: it's a great time, you should go! (To be fair, though, we do offer a few minor pieces of critical feedback along the way.) The long of it is ... well, the episode. So listen in and enjoy, especially if you enjoy a bit of vicarious living. GUESTS: Check out Daniel Green's You...

Todd, Kenn, and Megan discuss Summer Knight, book 4 of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, complete with a classic Kenn recap. It might be somewhat polarizing among fans, but all three panelists had quite a lot of fun with this book, which easily spills over into their discussion.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of...

Todd, Megan, and Kenn are joined by newcomer Alex to finish their discussion of Dune Messiah, book 2 of Frank Herbert's Dune series. They discuss Paul's legacy, a disappointing lack of worm races, and respond to Reddit questions and comments, like whether saving humanity is even a worthy goal.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas...

Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie are back for the second installment of their discussion of Shadow's Edge, the second book in Brent Weeks's Night Angel trilogy. As promised, much of the talk revolves around the sexuality in the book. Also on the docket: Craig hates "the moral of the story," Ryan likes the hero here more than the one in the Farseer trilogy, and Stephanie understands all the hair issues....

Ryan and Craig welcome two guests to discuss "Of Turin Turambar," the most relentlessly gloomy story in Tolkien's entire oeuvre. And they even have some fun while they're at it! Kip Rasmussen, the Tolkien illustrator who joined us on our first Silmarillion episode, returns after a four-year absence. Jack Butler, a first-time guest, is a podcaster and writer in Washington, D.C.   Purchase Kip's ama...

Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie take an entire hour to synopsize Shadow's Edge, book two of Brent Weeks's Night Angel Trilogy. Over the course of their synopsis, they discuss whether it's a good idea for an author to peek through the fourth wall; how enjoyable they found the love story; and what Logan's time in the hole teaches us about the Enlightenment.

Megan, Todd, and Kenn are back for their first discussion of Dune Messiah, the second of Frank Herbert's original Dune books. Kenn comes armed with his traditional Kennified recap, and Todd lays the smackdown on Megan's opinion. You'll find out why, over and over again, but this episode might as well be sponsored by Spartan races.   Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music...

Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie welcome author Griffin Stark to continue their discussion of The Way of Shadows, book 1 of the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. After mostly talking about the characters in the last episode, this time we get into the meat of the story itself. They also have a whole segment on a word that doesn't get thrown around much on this podcast.   Check out Griffin Stark's book...

Wrapping up our discussion of Frank Herbert's Dune, James Jakins returns and joins Todd, Megan, and Kenn to talk about Part 3. (Book 3? Tome 3?) In this episode, we get to more Reddit questions, and chat about the adaptations, both previous and forthcoming.   Donate to Andrew Lobley's leukemia charity here:  http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/andrewlobley1 Check out James Jakins at  http://james...

Craig, Ryan, and Stephanie discuss The Way of Shadows, the first of the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. This is the first of two episodes on the book, and this one is mostly spent discussing the primary and secondary characters. Is Momma K a role model? Are we meant to like Durzo Blint? Is Elene a satisfying match for Kylar? We'll get to even more in part 2 of our discussion, set for release i...

The time is finally here! Dune is among the titles most requested by our listeners, so it's our pleasure to finally read and discuss it. Todd, Megan, and guest-editor Kenn are joined by author James Jakins to talk about Frank Herbert's classic, including whether the world's best-selling sci-fi novel is ... actually a fantasy novel. As per usual, some of the panelists are brand-new to Dune, while o...

Don't say you weren't warned we'd be back: after all, there are no endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. Nor, it seems, are there any endings to our Wheel of Time podcast series. Kyle, Kenn, Ryan, and Craig are back with a discussion of New Spring, the prequel novel that Robert Jordan published in 2004. We talk about the characters and events, of course, but much of the conversation is abou...

Craig and Ryan welcome a new panelist, Brandon Sanderson (maybe you've heard of him?). The three of them discuss The Truth, the 25th book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Spoiler alert, technically, because we range all over the story, as usual. But as we mention during the show, this isn't the type of book with which you should be overly concerned about spoilers; it's delightful and hilario...

We disliked book 1, and we liked book 2 pretty well. So question will finally be decided: How did we feel about the Farseer trilogy as a whole? Ryan, Craig, and Kyle record the second-longest episode we've ever done, teasing out what they think of this Assassin's Quest, the trilogy as a whole, and some of the wider reactions to it. Why has this series proven to be the most polarizing in Legendariu...

Our apologies for the audio issues. If it's unlistenable...well, that's not much different from any of our other shows, I guess. In this episode, Megan, Kenn, and Todd tackle Grave Peril, the third installment of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. And if you know anything about the Three Levels theory, then you know that Todd can pretend just about anything belongs in level 3. In this case, that thing i...

Craig, Ryan, Kenn, and Todd talk about Tolkien's mock fairy tale, Farmer Giles of Ham. It's a delightful little short story, without too much meat on its bones, so it makes for a perfect read on a slow afternoon. Don't worry about spoilers, since there's not much to spoil with this one, but if you enjoy the episode, go find a copy (PDFs abound online) to read in less than an hour. Support the show...