Of Swords and Soulmates
Is this a kissing book? Of Swords and Soulmates features two couples (and sometimes more), with varying reading preferences and experiences, as they read, listen, and sometimes watch romantasy stories and discuss plot, fantasy elements, romance, spice, theories, and more. Join us for our non-expert opinions as we discuss, argue, rave, rant, and hopefully entertain. We may just help you find your next reading obsession or at least contribute to that TBR list!
Of Swords and Soulmates
"Brighter than Scale" - Duty and Heart Collide
What happens when a legendary dragon slayer is sent to kill a dragon in a kingdom where dragons are revered, not feared? And what if that dragon turns out to be connected to the kingdom's mysterious and captivating ruler? These questions lie at the heart of Neon Yang's "Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame," our Pride Month selection that sparked passionate debate among our hosts.
From the moment we dive into this 176-page fantasy novella, we're divided on whether Yang successfully delivers a complete story within such tight constraints. Some of us found the Asian-influenced fantasy world richly developed despite its brevity, praising the poetic writing style and creative approach to dragon lore. Others felt the worldbuilding resembled "a house of cards" – impressive at first glance but lacking the depth needed for true immersion.
The romance between Yeva, the armored guild knight who hasn't removed her mask since childhood, and Lady Suki, the enigmatic ruler of a dragon-worshipping kingdom, forms the emotional core of the story. While some hosts appreciated the subtle development of their relationship, others questioned whether the novella format allowed enough space for a convincing emotional journey. Our spirited discussion explores whether their connection feels earned or merely convenient to the plot, particularly as Yeva faces the ultimate choice between duty and desire.
Perhaps most fascinating is our exploration of Yang's were-dragon concept, which cleverly reimagines traditional monster tropes through a distinctly feminine lens. The revelation about Lady Suki's monthly "blood illness" proved to be one of the novella's most memorable and thought-provoking elements, demonstrating how fantasy can transform familiar experiences into something magical and unexpected.
Whether you enjoy compact fantasy tales or prefer more expansive worldbuilding, our balanced analysis will help you decide if this queer fantasy novella deserves a place on your Pride Month reading list. And don't miss our hosts' exciting mid-year reading recommendations as we look ahead to a second half of 2023 packed with highly anticipated fantasy romance releases!
Links from the News Segment and Show:
- The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst is getting the Owlcrate treatment
- Fabled Fantasy Events has started doing Romantasy Retreats, first is Savannah GA
- Paramount adapting Divine Rivals into a movie, Sofia Alvarez will be writing the script
- Tor publishing is rereleasing T. Kingfisher’s Nine Goblins
- The Graphic Audio for Laura Thalassa’s Pestilence is out now
- Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles to be an animated film, Nov 3, 2028 release date
- June is LGBTQ+ Pride month
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Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claim to be literary experts and their opinions are exactly that opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the fair use doctrine.
Mari:Welcome to Of Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romanticist stories. I'm one of your hosts, mari, and with me I have Kelly.
Jonathan:Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Jonathan:What's good everybody, it's JP. How are we doing today?
Mari:Good, good, good. We have a whole lot of news. So, uh, today we're going to be discussing brighter than scale, swifter than flame by neon yang, but first all the news we don't have. I mean, we don't have a ton, it's like the most we've done, but we've got a good bit. I didn't think we had a lot of news and I started putting it together and, yeah, there's a lot of news.
Mari:First thing is the the enchanted greenhouse by sarah beth durst, which is the kind of sequel to spell shop that we read. It's not really a sequel because she's she says it's set in the same world but it can be read as a standalone, so she's not calling it a sequel, but anyways it's getting the owl crate special edition treatment. So they're doing like a fancy cover with fancy edges and designed you know end pages and all that mess. It's 34.99, it ships in mid-august and it will be available to the general public on june 26th at 11 am pacific time to buy if you are interested it looks beautiful it does a different, different art like yeah, definitely the painted edges with the flowers and the yeah, and I like this.
Jonathan:This is it. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of what are those like pennsylvania dutch hexes. Is that what it is?
Ashley:how would I know the answer to that?
Jonathan:People in Pennsylvania Eagles fans? I think it might be, maybe it's not, it might not be limited to Pennsylvania Dutch, it could be Mennonite, I don't know. Let me just see what. Let me bring it.
Ashley:Yeah, you're doing the thing. Where you're talking, the words are words.
Jonathan:And we know, what the words mean. Yeah, but we don't. We don't. We don't know where to try and get at pennsylvania. Dutch hex signs are colorful folk art symbols traditionally painted on barns and homes and believed to bring good luck and protection oh yeah, that looks like very folk style.
Mari:Okay, yeah, I like it, I. I I've already pre-ordered the regular version, so I think I'm going to stick with that, because it matches the you know spell shop that I have so big matchy, matchy, matchy fan. But it's pretty, it's very pretty. Oh, yeah, definitely fantasy events, which is doing the Romanacy Con that we went to last year and that is happening this year in Orlando in October that Rebecca Yaros and a bunch of other people are going to. They have started doing Romanacy retreats, yeah, so the first one is in Savannah, georgia, at the Gastonian. The authors for this one are going to be Adeline Grace and Kaylee Smith and they've described it as there's going to be book discussions, arts and crafts games, tarot cards readings, a private ghost tour and more.
Ashley:You basically have to sign A ghost tour.
Mari:Yeah, because it's Savannah. It's a very Savannah thing they're going to do. Basically, you're signing up and it's like the food is included, all the meals are included and the hotel stay. When I looked today earlier, there was one slot slot, one type of slot available, and it was eighteen hundred dollars what how many days? You know, I didn't, I didn't see how many days I'm gonna be like a week.
Ashley:Yeah, that's a lot of money.
Jonathan:I think the gastonians, like I'm callie, you've been to savannah more than I have in the gastonian, like downtown ritzy fancy hotel yeah yeah, I think it's like historic in savannah, so yeah but it's a retreat right, so it's like everything's accounted for right the food is accounted for and all those events, that yeah, it's all, it's all included.
Mari:So it's like a mini intensive con, I guess, with those people, like if there was an art, an author that I was really excited about, you know that that would be kind of interesting, maybe you know now that I have anything against these authors, I just don't know their works there's.
Jonathan:It includes a book with custom sprayed edges. Uh, book, themed, themed crafts like there's a lot going on yeah for, for those, for the those, uh, for that money yeah you know it's, and I think if I almost not so not like the live action role play stuff, but like those, almost like a cruise, then right, that's what I was thinking.
Mari:It feels like a like a cruise type setup as far as how they're doing it minus the boat right yeah, instead of being stuck in a boat, you're stuck in, I guess, a historic hotel in savannah, you know. I mean like it's a. It it's a destination thing, because a lot of people go to Savannah for vacation stuff Like Old Savannah is like a big tourist destination for people.
Jonathan:So you have what are the dates?
Mari:Let's see. Yeah, I think I haven't seen anything about it. Payments are going to be. Is this the payments, or you can split it up into three payments June 15th, july 15th and August 15th. Okay, but when is the actual event?
Jonathan:It looks like they start at 1500.
Mari:Those are all sold out.
Jonathan:Those are all sold out. Yeah Dang.
Mari:Yeah, you know, it doesn't have a date on their website.
Jonathan:But it doesn't say like the yeah what happens when you go to to book what's open I see a sign up option it doesn't let me click anything is the honeymoon suite available?
Mari:august the 21st 2025. Thursday, august 21st 2025 I guess that's the first day I think this would be a.
Jonathan:This would be a cool event to do in the fall in salem oh, it would be ridiculous to do in salem like salem is gorgeous.
Mari:I don't know that I would want to go to salem in the fall.
Jonathan:It is so jam-packed yeah, I mean, I agree, I just like, if we talk, like thinking along thematic lines, oh yeah, it would be interesting to do it, if you know, if there was a theme to the author.
Mari:Do you know what I mean? Like if the author tended to write things that happen in a particular area, it would be cool to do one of these in that area.
Jonathan:Oh, yeah, good call.
Mari:You know, like I'm thinking I know this is not what they're doing but like, oh my God, I've completely blanked out. The wizard books we were talking about last time. Um, those take place in chicago. So like a thing like that would be cool in chicago yeah, that's where the, the books are set, that's where the series is set, like that kind of a thing would be interesting, gotcha or, like juliet cross does, a series new orleans, new orleans yeah, well, don't give me an excuse to go new orleans I.
Mari:I am down for New Orleans period, but yeah, that would be a real interesting thing to do, like a New Orleans retreat thing with Juliet Cross. Yeah.
Jonathan:Juliet, if you're listening.
Mari:Juliet or Fable Fantasy. Get on that. Somebody get on that. Yes.
Jonathan:Send the royalties check over to us for that idea.
Ashley:Jk, jk, yeah I think what's really interesting about this, too, is the size of it. So I mean, if you look at, there's only it only seems to be about 15 rooms that are available in this whole list, and so it's like two people per room kind of thing. So you're, you're talking about less than what a hundred people probably that are gonna be doing this thing. So I mean, the the inflated cost is is also because of how small, right, right, they're keeping this.
Mari:You're getting lots of time with the authors and with like, really immersed in being with them. You know what I mean. So if it's somebody that I really was one of my favorite authors, I think that would be interesting to do. It might be worth it. You know what I mean. So you'd have to be a fan, which I think is the point is, you know, for those authors to get to interact with fans that are very into it and be able to really build on each other's energy. You know.
Ashley:Yeah, it's a great concept, I just think it's it's a little too expensive for me.
Jonathan:I agree, I agree, but you like to ball on a budget.
Ashley:Yeah, I'm very, very cheap. I mean, you start to think about it depending on how many days it is.
Mari:Savannah is an expensive town. It's a tourist town, so you've got breakfast, lunch, dinner, you know. Subtract that out from the cost times, however many days, you're already bringing the price down a little bit.
Mari:You know what I mean yeah, so a lot of times when things like that I thought it was expensive and then I started reading like everything was kind of included and I'm like you know it very much. Is that cruise model? You know you, when you pay everything ahead of time and then once you get there you just enjoy it, you don't have to then like pay for things after the fact yeah, if you're talking about a three-day kind of event, you know 1800 split up between that.
Ashley:I I see, I see the vision right and and I appreciate the concept and, like you said, maybe depending on the author, it's probably something I might have been more interested in, and not that these authors aren't, you know, big. These are some pretty decent sized names.
Mari:Yeah, I recognize the names. I've just never read any of their works.
Ashley:Yeah, I don't think. I thought we isn't Kaylee Smith Phantasmal or no, I don't know. I thought we isn't Kaylee Smith Phantasmal or no, I don't know. Yeah, kaylee Smith, phantasmal, didn't you read that? I read it. Yeah, I read that one.
Mari:I just forgot it was her.
Ashley:You might look at me differently after that one.
Mari:I'm going to apologize for any audio issues that are happening. I looked and it was not supposed to rain today and this room is very loud. Yeah, we have skylights and they're beautiful, but then when it rains it's also beautiful to look at, but you hear it like we had a tin roof and we don't, but it sounds like it, so some of that will probably come through in the audio. It will go away soon, I hope, because it wasn't supposed to rain at all.
Jonathan:So no worries.
Mari:Yeah, so I thought that was an interesting branch out for Fabled Fantasy. I hope it works for them and they're able to do more with different authors and things, because, even if it's not something that I may necessarily do, I think it'd be an interesting opportunity for lots of people to do, because there's people who maybe couldn't come to the con or whatever because it's the time of year or because they weren't able to get tickets fast enough, that kind of thing. But something like this they can kind of plan out for ahead of time if it ends up being something they do often, yeah.
Ashley:Look at them, yep, growing wings and flying, and this is a whole new thing.
Jonathan:It really is.
Mari:Speaking of Fable Fantasy, they're still announcing authors, right they are, oh yeah, yeah, so pretty soon we're going to need to get to where we start reading some of the authors and we're just going to have to hope that the ones we pick stay.
Ashley:We need to know who we love ahead of time. Right, right.
Mari:Which a lot of the authors that are going to be there this time we've actually have already read, either because of, just in general, some of the stuff we've read for the podcast or some of the ones that are going to be back from last year. So it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting to see what we think of this year's crop, Paramount. Paramount is adapting divine rivals into a movie. Divine rivals is by Rebecca Ross. It's very well like, recommended, very well reviewed. I've not read it, but I know a lot of people really like it. Had you read it, ash.
Ashley:I did this. I don't, I thought the first, so there's more than one book.
Jonathan:Let me take a second. Sorry, my brain is. I think it's a duology new information.
Ashley:I think it's a duology, but there there's definitely at least two books. I have not read the second book. I did read the first book I'm curious about. I mean a movie's probably the correct route. I don't think this was a very um action-packed book by any means, although there is a war situation that's happening in this world, it's an interesting concept from the story perspective, because it's a little. There's definitely fantasy elements in how they communicate is what it is. So I don't know how I feel about this because I don't remember. I don't want to say that I was bored. I think that's very mean. I wasn't bored. I definitely finished the book. I don't know how, maybe it will. It will communicate better, you know, in on the screen than it did for me in the book yeah, and sometimes sometimes that happens I haven't read it.
Mari:Have either of you guys read it jonathan and kelly I haven't read it.
Jonathan:No, it's um. The cover looks jonathan and kelly. Have you guys read divine?
Mari:rivals? I have not, although the cover looks Jonathan and Kelly. Have you guys read Divine Rivals?
Jonathan:I have not, although the cover looks super familiar. I feel like I've been in every Target that I've been in. This book is on the shelf somewhere it's everywhere.
Mari:It really is, Ash. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I've not read it. Isn't it almost like a World War II kind of setting, like a historical kind of feel to it?
Ashley:Yeah, that's probably a good explanation, but it's also futuristic at the same time. You know, like time stamp it, but it is definitely that feeling you know pre cell phones and you know computers and things like that. Um, yeah, it's been a while. I'm really trying to remember. Um, it was probably not too long after the first book came out, because I remember it being very soon for the second book to come out and it kind of it does actually kind of leave on a little bit of a cliffhanger, if I remember. So everybody emotionally prepare for that. Um, yeah, I mean, a lot of things sometimes translate better on tv or in the movies than they do in a book. I wasn't particularly like super excited for book two. I wasn't like chomping at the bit, but it wasn't a bad story. It was just a very like mellow story, if that makes sense, and it's ya and slow burn and or you know like yeah, literally like young adult. I think they were like 18, 19.
Mari:It wasn't a bad story though the script for the movie is going to be written by sofia alvarez, so we'll see. We'll see how that translates to visual media who's sofia alvarez? I have no idea. It just said in the news thing like I don't know what else she's done. Oh cool, I thought you were like in the know.
Ashley:I'm sorry, I had started to read about this is sofia, I think it said, and I had to back out of it, so my phone's being weird, sorry, but I think, um, it was saying that the team that helped with the is it all the boys I loved, or something like that the tv show.
Mari:Yeah, oh, that was pretty good yeah, divine rival.
Ashley:Sorry, I did have it up and then I got distracted by something. Yeah, so sofia alvarez is a scribe behind the first two to all the boys I've loved before films which are based on the books by Jenny Han. So Sophia will write the film script for the studio. She made her directorial debut with the Netflix film adaptation of Sarah Dessen's along for the ride, which is also another big. I don't know if she's considered romance. I think there's a bit more drama involved with her books, but sarah dustin is also a big name in the book world, so I I feel good about that, because I I have seen several of the to all the boys I've loved before films and I thought those were very, very good, interesting speaking of adaptations of books, this I didn't put this in the notes, but the black dagger brotherhood series that was adapted to tv for the series for black passion flicks came out last week.
Mari:Last thursday. I watched it. I read the first book. I also watched it. Um, I thought it was well done. I don't know if anyone else but me has seen this.
Mari:I happen okay, I thought it was well done um for it being like a vampire story um kind of set in the 90s. Um, there was a lot of opportunities for it to get real hokey real fast, especially when the main character is kind of modeled after p Steele of Typo Negative, which very generic goth of the 90s kind of vibe. But I thought they did a really good job. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Jonathan:All right, that reminds me not to go too deep into a tangent, but I know we were maybe discussing some additional content for future episodes. What about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie It'sy the vampire?
Mari:slayer the movie. It's been forever since I watched the movie. I watched it at the movie theater when it came out with my dad, because my mom hates horror. So it was a thing me and my dad did is we went and watched not that it was very hard, it was like campy horror but we went and watched it. I'd be down to watch that sometime, yeah I have never watched it I don't know it's.
Mari:It came out way before the tv show did, so. It doesn't have, like, the same actors or anything in it. Um right, but it was the inception for the tv show is it streaming?
Jonathan:we'll find it somewhere you make this suggestion we can. We can find it somewhere. I can find a, a DVD of it, I'm sure. Yeah, I mean, I think, maybe if there's a list going in I don't mean to take us off track If there's a list going for it, maybe that's.
Mari:That's a good one to add. Yeah, yeah.
Mari:For sure. Okay, next bit of news that we have is Tor Publishing is re-releasing T Kingfisher's Nine Goblins, which is a short little novella, and she describes it as a novella of low fantasy and high mischief. I've not read this one, even though it's been out. I think the original came out in 2013. So it's been out for a while, but it's getting a hardcover version through Tor.
Mari:I've not read it yet, but it's on my list, my very much shortening list of TK pictures I have left to read because I've read almost all their stuff, but it looks really cute. It's like nine goblins have to go in and, you know, have a little mission. But of course, nothing is simple because TK picture doesn't write straightforward, boring stories. So basically, the little synopsopsis says no one knows exactly how the goblin war began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy sheep, stealing hen, house raiding, obnoxious, rude and violent goblins would actually agree with all this and might throw in cowardly and lazy two for good measure measure. But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant neselka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece, despite a path filled with elves, trolls, monsters and that most terrifying of creatures a human being. That sounds so good.
Jonathan:It sounds very jim henson-y yes, yes, very much so.
Mari:So I'm excited about that. I know New T Kingfisher I'm surprised is getting the graphic audio treatment. So not just an audiobook, but graphic audio, like dramatization with sound effects and multiple actors and multiple narrators and all that good stuff. It's out now pretty excited about it.
Ashley:I may end up rereading it I was gonna say you've read these before, right I have.
Mari:I read the whole series. So I saw at the bookstore the fourth one, which of course is death, and I'm like, oh, I want to read a story about death, because I do, because, duh, it's me. But of course I had to read the first three to get to death. So that's how I ended up reading the whole little series of the Four Horsemen, and it is like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as personified by these not quite human creatures. It's all the Laura Thalassa I've read so far, even though I know she's got several other series that are very popular. I haven't read them yet, but I really enjoyed that series and I plan to read more of her works. All right, next little bit of news.
Jonathan:All right, next little bit of news Ash found that Marissa Meyer's the Lunar Chronicles is getting an animated film through Warner Brothers, which is set to be out November 3rd of 2028.
Mari:Is that like? Do we know what level of animation that's going to be? Like standard old-fashioned Bugs Bunny stuff? I'm not sure. If I had to guess, I would assume it's going to be like arcana or like castlevania. Have you seen either of those animated stories? I think it's going to be that that style. Um, there's not any pictures yet, though, but uh, what they have released is that noel rafael is the director, warner brothers pictures animation. So whatever warner's pictures animation style normally is says, warner brothers picturesations and Locksmith Animation are behind the project. That has a script credited to Lindsay Farentino and writing partners Kaylin Egan and Travis Sintel, and Christina Steinberg serves as the producer. I haven't read these, but I know you have right, ash, I have.
Ashley:It's like fairytale retellings in space right yeah, it's futuristic, maybe, uh, I want to say well, and so it.
Ashley:The series continues beyond, just, you know the, the first book, obviously, but the first book is like a cinderella retelling, and so it's futuristic, uh, you know, very mechanic, mechanic, robots, but also, I think, like Asian or Chinese, and I might be gaslighting that, please forgive me, but I do vaguely remember that kind of you know, vibe, situation happening or setting, scenario happening, and then the story you know the, the additional books introduces a new character, um, and so I think one of them is like Rapunzel, like a Rapunzel retelling, but it's all like, very interconnected.
Ashley:If I remember correctly, it's been many, many years since I've read it, but I do recall it being a very good story. It is YA, um, so I don't think you know the, the romance gets, gets too crazy, but it's a really good book and I think you get a little bit of a plot twist at the end of it, um, which was nice when, if, if I'm remembering correctly. But I am a fan of the series and so I'm excited to see, um, you know, a version of it come out on the screen so that more people can get into the book. I think Marissa Meyer is a pretty big name as well.
Mari:Yeah, I've heard really good things about this series, like it's it was on my list to read because I've heard several people talk about how good it is. It's just, you know, the ginormous TBR.
Ashley:Yeah.
Jonathan:Sorry.
Ashley:I was going to say it's sorry.
Jonathan:I was gonna say it's a big series too, it's like five or six books, I think.
Ashley:Is this gonna be an animation?
Jonathan:yeah, it's animated, you said. Well, the only reason I say that is because um ilm is involved in this and it looks like the article reads that there's um costume designers interesting I assume, you know, I, you know, I don't know, I don't know how animation works, but I assume they have to design costumes too.
Mari:You know, they have to bring a look to it.
Jonathan:Design the look.
Ashley:Yeah, if you look up the series on Amazon or whatever, I do believe that they did a reprint recently with new covers and stuff, and so when I read the article and it said it was going to be animation, I immediately, you know, my brain defaulted to the more recent book covers and so like, that's where my head went. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, to an extent, there has to be a certain like they're building this from the ground up. There's no you know, existing precedents that I'm aware of. I think this, you know, she rebuilt this world. That is a true retelling in a different, you know location, in a different time, in a different setting, completely.
Mari:I hope they do some really good stuff with animation just because, animation done well is for all ages and it really allows a lot of creative freedom that you don't have to deal with. You know actors having to be put through dangerous situations or you know tons of special effects or having to come up with lots of extras and you know clothing, all these people and scenery and locations and I think it allows the effort to go into the imagination of it. I know that there's been a thing going around for a while now that they don't need to do like an akatar as a live action.
Ashley:But if ever akatar ever does get produced, it needs to be animation I thought that was an interesting shift to, you know, for rebecca yaros, when they, you know, announced this year that they're doing the graphic novels for the fourth wing series. And so I wonder, if you know, should the amazon prime series not work out? You know, maybe that's the future for some of these, these fantasy you know bringing to the screen, you know, that that graphic novel kind of portrayal in a series or on in the movies, I think would be really interesting as well.
Mari:Yeah. And then there's the idea of like maybe if the animation does well, they'll make a live action movie on down the road like how to Train your Dragon.
Jonathan:Yeah, good flex, oh, interesting. So I'm sorry, I just kind of went down a rabbit hole the animation companies because my first thought was there are other, some of the other animation, some of the other elements here that this could fall into. Would be like the dr seuss stuff, because it looks like warner brothers is set to release, um, some new can, a new animated cat in the hat. And then I went down the rabbit hole of who was involved in cat in the hat. It was illumination. So then I was like you know what? That doesn't make sense because they're disconnected from it's. Illumination is clearly not locksmith, right, but it looks like when you google or bing sorry, when you bing locksmith it immediately pops up with, uh, some illumination credits. So maybe the style of animation will be similar to how the Grinch stole Christmas with, yeah, that one could be interesting.
Mari:So we'll see.
Mari:We'll see, we'll find out in 2028 so much time to wait yeah, the last little bit of news I had is that we are in June. June is Pride Month, lgbtq+ and we encourage diversity and stepping outside of your tried and true reads year round. Maybe give a queer author a try this month, regardless of your genre of choice, and that is why we chose the book we did Brighter Than Scale, swifter Than Flame, by Neon Yang. Neon Yang is a queer author and the story is a queer story. The love story aspect of it, anyways, is a queer story. So we picked this book because it kept coming up on lists in a bunch of places. Um, it's it was just published, may 26th of 2025, so it's very new. Uh, it's a short novella. It's got dragons and it kept being described everywhere that I saw it as mandalorian with dragons. I'm like, yes, I will take some of that. Thank you very much. Um, let me read the synopsis and we'll go from there.
Mari:Do you know the true identity of the masked guild knight of Mithrandon? She barely remembers herself. The masked guild knight, eva, was 13 when she killed her first dragon. With her gift revealed, she was shipped away to the Imperial Capital to train in the rare art of dragon slaying Now a legendary dragon hunter. She has never felt truly at home, nor removed her armor in public since that fateful day all those years ago.
Mari:Yeva must now go to Quembao, a fiercely independent and reclusive kingdom. It is rumored that there dragons are not feared, as is right and proper, but instead loved and worshipped. It is rumored that there they harbor a dragon behind their borders. While Yeva searches for the dreaded beast, she is welcomed into the palace by Quenval's monarch, lady Suki. Though wary of each other, yeva is shocked to find herself slowly opening up to the beautiful, mysterious queen. As they grow closer, yeva longs to let Lady Suki see the person behind the armor, but she knows she must fulfill her purpose and slay the dragon. Ultimately, she must decide who or what she's willing to betray her own heart or the sacred duty that she has called home for so long. Spoiler warning. So if you haven't read the book, read it. It's short and come back to us, unless you don't care about spoilers.
Ashley:So what do we think? I like this book. I thought you know they packed in so much. I think what's the page count? It's like 176 pages. It's super short. Yeah, yeah, but really, you know, she flew through an absurd amount of information in a very small A chapter. Yeah, like her whole childhood was chapter one. Is that what? I'm like? Turning to look at him, he can't, I can't see him. Yeah, it was. It was why and I don't feel like I missed anything was the other part of it. So it was short, it was sweet and it was very sweet. It was, you know, not a very, you know, intricate story, but I I did think that it was impactful in what and and how much it covered in such a short amount of time kelly, what did you think it was short?
Mari:oh wait, I'm sorry ash how many stars did you give overall? I'm sorry, ash, you there, I'm here. Sorry, what was Ash? How many stars did you give overall?
Ashley:I'm sorry, ash you there, I'm here. Sorry, what was the?
Mari:question how many stars did you give overall?
Ashley:Sorry, oh, I thought it was a four For 176 pages. I was delighted. It was a four, Kelly, how about you?
Mari:It wasn't a terrible book but definitely had a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies. The good part about it was at least it was short. I would say a two and a half Jonathan. What'd you think?
Jonathan:I agree with Kelly. It was like um, it was. Uh. I'm sorry, kelly, how many stars did you end up giving it? Two and a half? Yeah, I mean, I agree with Kelly. I think it's a um it was. It was just, it was a short book and it it just didn't. It just didn't vibe with me. I thought it could have been so much cooler had she given it enough time to kind of shake out the details, but it just didn't land because there just wasn't enough to hook me. It almost felt like I was going to get hooked and then things would just escalate in a different or in a direction and they would just take a chapter and just really finish. The end of the book was amazing in terms of how much they they packed into one. One thing, I think. Where it really fell apart for me, though, was when, like when, I put two and two together, uh, over the parallel between the periodic blood illness uh, what was it what?
Jonathan:how did she say blood?
Mari:illness or blood.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah, it was just like.
Mari:Oh, so once a month you have a different personality I think kelly turned to me at that part and we were like, oh where dragon yes, I love that.
Jonathan:Um, this isn't our first where dragon store or story, though yours no, no, no, that we had. Uh, was that one we read. That time I got drunk and saved the demon.
Mari:Yeah that's a podcast, I think I do like that term, though.
Jonathan:Good, good, good call on that.
Mari:I've never seen one come about on a monthly cycle, though yeah, there's a lot of different lores for like dragon shifters um, depending on the world or the stories you read. The newest juliet side note has dragon shifters in it.
Jonathan:Is that Firebird? Yeah, somebody said that, ashley, did you say I'm not going to like that one? Possibly I have it on my TBR. I'm scared to read it now.
Ashley:There were concerns about the representation of the actual triggers.
Mari:Yeah, I read about that. I finished the book, I read it. I finished it, I don't know, maybe last week, last weekend, maybe I thought it was fine for what it was. As far as the triggers, like, I think that if you are reading a even a fantasy world set in ancient rome, rome is known for its slave trade and its great infrastructure, so we're not talking about the ducks in this book.
Ashley:You know I wasn't surprised, but I think a lot of people felt blindsided by that not being listed in the triggers or like the warnings. Like people had big, big feelings about that. Yeah, I heard a lot of talk about it, and so I warned Jonathan like, like, hey, this might not be your jam, but we love juliet cross. Yeah, I love juliet cross.
Mari:I would say her fantasy, her like romanicy tech stuff as opposed to more of the um cutesy modern stuff. But like the say spell is like more cutesy modern um fantasy like her, her like more fantasy romancy stuff tends to all the stuff I've read, all tends towards dark romancy. I would say in general, if I had to label it um, so like if you have triggers, like read it before you get into it to know if it's something that you're gonna enjoy or not, you know right trigger bonus my my rating for this book.
Mari:I gave it a three. I thought that it was. It was fine. I thought it was kind of flat. I thought things we were told about, a lot of things about being shown. It almost felt like this was the Cliff Notes version of a greater book. Yeah, it felt like this is the, this is the pitch, and then we didn't get the actual story, cause I feel like the story was there, it just wasn't expanded upon Like it would have been amazing to like see firsthand. You know, how great of a fighter and a badass person Yiva was.
Mari:Well, we never saw her you know, we just we just told she was real badass, you know, and it would have been great to have a better feel for how important it was to her to have that armor and that mask and that like almost superhero alter ego rather than what. Almost very early on she goes to visit the queen or the, the girl king, and like I felt like she took her mask off right away for the girl king. I'm like, oh okay, that would. That happened really early. So I enjoyed the concept of the book and I wanted more out of it. I guess ultimately which I don't know that it was the right story for the novella, like like I think it needed multiple books or a longer book. It needed more detail, because I felt that the characters were flat, because I didn't see them do enough.
Mari:I just kind of it felt like I was being told a story around like the fire you know like a campfire story, as opposed to something with some depth and having been put together ahead of time I don't think we had time for depths than 176 pages it didn't have to be.
Jonathan:I mean, I'm not an author, right, but I agree with mari it it felt, it felt almost incomplete interesting which I mean it's not a necessarily bad thing.
Mari:Like if you want more, the author leaves you wanting more, like I would want the author to write like a full-length book like this. I'm the the author. They have other books that are longer length. Not not all their works are novellas. I'm I'm really interested in reading some of their longer length stuff because I think, given more real estate to put stuff in, I think they could create some real interesting worlds. You know, yeah, this, this format for this story didn't do it for me, so I gave it a three I agree the cover was amazing, though, like that cover alone made me want to read it.
Mari:It was very beautifully done. What did we think of fantasy world building aspects?
Ashley:I thought it was fair Again, when you're trying to pack so much in with not a lot of time, right? I mean, I definitely felt that the writer, the author, was very like, very I want to say script, that's not the right word. It was almost poetic, like it all flowed very nicely. It was all very mellow. Nothing was ever really urgent or crazy or chaotic. It was a very peaceful book for me. I didn't mind the world building. I don't think it was extravagant. I think they did what they could in a very, in a very short book and, uh, I thought it was okay. I thought it was a three, I don't. I didn't feel anything was lacking enormously, except more detail yeah, I'm on that same page.
Jonathan:Um, I didn't think it was, I didn't think the world was was built very. It was like a house of cards, like it was. You could see a facade, but there was no depth to it, no real uh, sustenance or substance for me. And, like I, I struggle because the television shows do it in like 30 minutes, right, whether it's a, um, a cartoon plot, everything kind of gets developed. We're here, this happened, and because this happened, we're now doing this. And I didn't get that vibe although I did get very kind of frozen vibes out of this story, like uh, I'm not, I'm not, I can't like articulate why was it the girl king, you think?
Jonathan:um, like the you know I'm not. It might have been like the cavern, the idea that we're hiding something, uh, this, we're hiding our, our magical prowess from, from outsiders, kind of thing. Yeah, and it's. I think I almost would have liked to have a better, a stronger understanding of what was actually being risked. I don't think I I captured that.
Ashley:I think it was just orders what do you mean?
Ashley:say more like her orders were to go and kill the suspected dragon that was being harbored in that, in that land. Okay, so the the risk was completing the order and being the soldier that she's become, or opening herself to this new world of thoughts and feelings and emotions, and not complying with what she's just being told to do and instead following her heart, knowing that there was more to the story yeah, I think also like the like, the stakes was that if she didn't do that, the idea was that the emperor was then going to like send in troops and take over what the guild knights did was going to kind of infringe on their way of doing things right.
Mari:I thought that was the vibe I got and she had to succeed right because of that I think it.
Ashley:You know it comes to that too, right? So, like, not only is her own, you know sense of being and potential shame and not completing this task right, because this is all she knows now is, you know, being this, this soldier, this warrior, you know this badass that gets the job done. So if she's not that person, then who is she? But then you know the the snowball effect of if she doesn't do it, then who's going to come in and try to do it for her Right and and shit goes, you know, sideways faster.
Mari:You didn't get that, no, no, as far as the fantasy world building, I actually thought was that the general aspect of it was pretty well done for a short of a book as it was, so I gave it a four. I thought that the kind of asian culture references the political structure, some of the machinations and magic and lore laid down, some some good foundation. Like I said, it feels like a teaser or like a trailer for another book that's coming or series of books that are coming. You know what I mean.
Mari:So, I feel like we got a peek into a world that could be really interesting, so for me that aspect of it was a four. What did we think about the romance?
Ashley:I thought it was very slow burn. I think it's interesting to kind of see, you know, the strong, silent type in a woman. It again, it wasn't anything life changing for me again, but I did feel, you know again, that the author was very poetic almost in her writing and I did enjoy that part of. You know they didn't really flesh it out but it did feel very slow and natural feeling for them to have bonded the way that they did. I thought, you know, addressing the queer part of this story was very tasteful and tactful. It wasn't in your face, it wasn't, you know, overwhelming. If that's not somebody's cup of tea they're not going to. You know, feel negatively about what they've read. I thought it was just a really pretty love story that was actually fairly integral to the plot of the story. For a change, I don't think we've read one like that in a while. So I thought it was a three and a half. It was polite, it was tasteful, it wasn't, you know, wild.
Jonathan:So I'm going to disagree here on this one. I was like I didn't see a slow, slow burn. There wasn't enough book for a slow burn. This book was a match. It just kind of like it was. It was on me before I knew what was happening and then by the time I was like, oh yeah, we're getting, we're doing this now. Okay, cool, um, it was gone. So it was, we had a birthday party for a cousin one year and, uh, they forgot to get the candles and uh, so they were like you know what? We have matches and you can see where this is going. We sang happy birthday real quick. I don't even think we made it through the song. That's kind of where I was at with this.
Jonathan:With this one, uh, in terms of, in terms of romance, it was like, oh, here it is. Oh crap, it's gone. Okay, cool, there was. There was more, I guess and maybe I'm conflating romance and spice here Um, because I feel like we. I feel like we, I feel like I got there and then all of a sudden it was in the rear view mirror and we were back on to like a quest for the truth, and there I didn't really dig the romance again until until the end, when she was like, yeah, uh, just take my dad's bones. And I was like, oh, how, how lovely of you. Um, romance, if I was going to give it a rating, I'll probably give it the same rating, but my point of disagreement is that it was a slow burn. What about you, mari?
Mari:For me it was probably a two, and it's the same reason I had issues with the book. I feel like we were told there was a romance and it could have been a real interesting romance, like it would have been really interesting to see more dialogue and flirting between them when they were each like, starting to like each other but also had these huge secrets that they were each hiding. That would have been really interesting dialogue.
Mari:But we're not. We're not shown any of that. We're just told that, oh okay, well, yiva likes the, the girl king, and so like I don't know, it felt like second meeting or something. She's this whole big deal about her not showing her face. She's all of a sudden, you know, changing and changing out of part of her armor and then you know that felt like it went away really fast and I feel like we're told that they were in love. But I didn't feel like it was very it was shown to me in any sort of dialogue. So once again, it feels like it had this potential. It was a really interesting setup, but the book didn't quite make me feel the romance vibes. So that would be a two for me.
Jonathan:Would you say it's maybe missing. The book is missing the ability to present imagery in words.
Mari:I don't know that it's imagery so much as it is details. You know so much of books and stories that I like anyways end up being like snippets of conversations or particular scenes and things that happened. Like everyone who's seen and loves the Pride and Prejudice movie which I love, just like I love the miniseries, just like I love the book but the Pride and Prejud prejudice movie uh, the new one there's the scene where darcy flexes his hand and all I have to do is say that, and anyone who knows that movie instantly that that the whole scene, the whole imagery, the vibe, the feeling, the emotions behind that, you know exactly what it is like. It conjures so much and I didn't feel like there were snippets like that in this book interesting, very, very, and that just may be how I like to consume romance.
Mari:You know. I mean like, romance is very personal and different people like different aspects of it. I I like snapshots and moments that that convey either snapshots and moments or snippets of conversation and flirting. That convey a lot. You know about the characters and how they feel for each other and I don't feel like I got that out of this book for me yeah, does it feel almost uh, and I don't want to come out the wrong way but does it feel almost juvenile?
Mari:yeah, I mean, it feels like, yeah, like a story you tell around a campfire, feels like, um, like a fairy tale, like oh and then, uh, you know, cinderella and the prince fell in love yeah, that's the romance okay, I guess they did, you know. So it feels like a fairyytale, folktale kind of thing, which doesn't make it bad. It's just not what I was looking for out of the book based off of the description.
Jonathan:I agree. I think there's something to be said for us to be sitting here wanting or hoping that there could have been more. I think it's there's. There's's something here, but I don't think we got enough to. We got a little, a little, a little taste, but we didn't really get the I want, I want, I want a fucking bite we got the amuse bouche, now we need, like, the multi-course meal, like.
Mari:I definitely want to read more by this author. I think that they have an interesting way of building worlds and an interesting way of telling stories that I think could benefit from longer books, so I plan on reading some of their novellas or novels not novellas, novels like full-length novels. I would like to read a full-length novel by them. What do we think about the spice, speaking of food?
Ashley:oh, there was no spice no, you didn't get any there was, there was, no, there was zero spice hint nope I mean yeah, a hint is still zero are you?
Jonathan:you're talking about boiled chicken.
Ashley:That's what you got nope, boiled chicken is still sustenance there was not spice. No, there was romance. I'm not mad at it, okay, I'm just. I'm quantitatively answering the question. There was no spice.
Mari:You walked by the kitchen and you got a whiff of the smell of a spice.
Jonathan:Yeah, it kept going. I thought it was kissing.
Mari:Was there kissing? I don't think kissing was ever detailed Like there was sexy times. That happened in theory, that we're told.
Ashley:But there were touches and caresses. Okay, there's, I'll give it a one. It was.
Mari:There was a one of space one of space that sounds like a star trek character, give it salt, didn't even give it the pepper I gave it the salt I don't disagree.
Jonathan:um, like I said, I feel like everything kind of just happened in like, like bankers hours, like hey, we're open, we're closed, um, but I understood what was like I was at first. So I'm going to be like. I came into this book and like I was like, oh, we're, we chose this book. And like I was like, oh, we're, we chose this book. Uh, pride month, uh, uh, we've got a queer story.
Jonathan:And I was thinking about, like you know, last year I think was it last or two years ago or something like that we read um Sebastian's book. And so I was like, oh, okay, then we just come and like hang out here for for this story and see how it compares. Like that was going to be my benchmark. But then I was like, oh, no, no, no, this is a, this is a are are the characters we're looking for here aren't are definitely different than what, um, what Sebastian uh had plotted out. So I was like, all right, well, I got to refocus and pay attention um, a little bit more. So I was like it was on, it was on me, and I thought like, oh, okay, this happened faster than I, than I, than I anticipated. Um, and now it's gone, but I thought for what had happened. It was very, it was. It was okay. Um, I won't give it a whole bunch of stars, but I'll give it at least one more than than y'all did.
Mari:I'll give it to two. I give it a one. I feel that we were told that there was spice and that's where it was left. So, once again, that doesn't make it a bad book. You don't have to have spice for it to be a good book, but this is definitely a low spice type of story. My last question about this book, but this is definitely a low spice type of story. Last question about this book Is it a kissing book?
Jonathan:Yes, I'm going to say yes, but only because if they didn't develop that spice, if they didn't have that connection, the emperor would just came in and murked some folks. They would have found out what was going on. And if that connection wasn't there to rescue the situation at the end, then it would end very differently. So I'm going to say yes.
Mari:Yeah, I kind of think so as well. I would say yes to Citizen Rogue. I think that the story would not have happened the way it happened if it hadn't been for their romance with each other. Anything else you want to say about the book?
Ashley:I thought it was a delightful little book. Yeah, it's just a little baby book.
Jonathan:It's a period piece, pun intended. I didn't get that at first, and then it was like getting slapped in the face with it all at once and I think like I was in the car driving and I was like, oh okay, I get it now. Cool, and I kind of liked that, like I thought it was like I, I I feel like there was so much that could be that I wish I had more knowledge of. So that's my, that's my takeaway. The book wasn't terrible, it just wasn't.
Mari:There wasn't enough meat on the bone for me yeah, it definitely gave me, got me interested in reading more of what the author could do in a longer format. I don't know that I would right now, I don't know that I would say that I would read another of the author's novellas, but I'm interested in reading one of their full-length novels for sure. Anything else before we move on? No, I think we covered it All right. So before we move on to our little outro, I will say it's halfway through the year. We're not doing a full mid-year review kind of thing, but just in general, what that you've read has been outstanding for you in the first half of the year, um, and or what are you looking forward to reading in the second half of?
Ashley:the year, bro. My pre-order pile is scary. Why is my amazon cart so scary?
Jonathan:hold on, sorry because I put a basketball hoop in there.
Ashley:Oh, geez, sorry guys, I I feel like we read a couple of really good books. You guys didn't care for the my Coraline books this year, but I really love them. So I'm excited for book three. Of course, we got Onyx Storm in January and that was a whole event in itself. After what? Two years of waiting, god. I feel like we've had some really, really good books in the first half of the year, but I am stoked for the second half of the year. We have I don't where do we even start. So we have the, the, the germani fanfic retelling that's coming out, or like the, the revision right in july. We get accomplice to the Villain. In August. We have Callie Hart coming out in the fall.
Jonathan:I haven't read Callie Hart's, already been out.
Ashley:Abigail Owen in September. Alchemized in September. September's going to be a busy book month for us.
Jonathan:This month's going to be busy. I'm going to get cracking. There's so many is right Like audible how to sail audible how to sail.
Ashley:I made them buy all of the Jennifer Armentrout stuff for the blood and ash series. So there's like five books waiting for me there.
Jonathan:Yeah, the pen coal stuff I have. I just got there. I got her limited edition stuff the special edition. Yeah, with the painted edges those came. So now I feel like I'm ready to read her stuff. But I have to put it on the back burner, because during that sale was some other stuff by Carissa Broadbent Mother of Death and Dawn, children of the Fallen Gods, daughter of no Worlds.
Mari:Those are all things that are'm really curious about what you guys are high on that list too, july 1st is included until then.
Jonathan:So there's all that stuff going on. Plus I wanted to see if I could knock out light Lark and then, and then I added in the balance of sort of glass. So I want to get through that too. Yeah, so there's all that, and then I still have some some stuff from juliet cross that I have to get through.
Mari:So it's gonna be a busy, busy second half and um, well, I have read a lot so far this year, but I'd say the one standout for me the beginning half of the year um, it's a little bit of an older book. It was published in 2020, 2020. It's not new, but it's new to me. It's His Secret Illuminations, written by Scarlett Gale, and it's a romancy story, but it's a different take on a romancy story. So the female main character is Vi or Pan and she is this kind of physically imposing, like large, badass warrior, like she's a fighter-type person. She's also bubbly and likes flowers. And the male main character of the story is this magical, very, very sheltered, magical monk that she rescues and they have to go on like a mission to to find these secret books and his whole world is just blown by her and by seeing everything outside of the little cloister of life that he's had. It's a. It's a little bit of a of a of a longer read. It's like 400 and something pages, but I very much enjoyed it. I still haven't read the sequel. It's like 400 and something pages, but I very much enjoyed it. I still haven't read the sequel. It's a duology. I'm waiting on Libby for the sequel, but I very much enjoyed that in the first half of the year. That was a surprising five star read for me, and I found that through a Reddit post where people were asking for like unconventional romantic stories because they were tired of like kind of the same. You know, 18 year old badass female main character who's good at everything and 500 year old shadow daddy who all of a sudden loves her more than anything in the world.
Mari:Alright, so thanks for listening to of sorts and soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check show notes, rate, review and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us. Follow us on Instagram at of swords and soulmates, or join our Facebook page of swords and soulmates. Check us out on our website of swords and soulmatescom or on YouTube, tiktok, pinterest, the same username.
Mari:If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, reach out to us. Or if you would like to tell us what you've enjoyed in the first half of the year or what you're looking forward to, reach out to us and interact. If you want to read along with us as we prepare for a new episode, follow us on Goodreads at Episodes and Soulmates for chapter or for chapter by chapter. Interaction on the Fable app at the Episodes and Soulmates book club. We also have a Tome account. You can follow us on there for tidbits. And, last but not least, we hope you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode when we will be discussing captured by the fey beast by mallory dunlan. Thank you for watching.
