Fiction Fans

Space Brooms! by A.G. Rodriguez

• Episode 182

Share episode

Your hosts discuss how fun it is to see mundane space station jobs in Space Brooms! by A.G. Rodriguez. They talk about the main character’s toxic work environment, and his eventual entanglement in a thrilling space adventure. They also consider the book's mix of humor with unexpectedly graphic violence while enjoying Johnny's relationships (platonic and less platonic), and the intriguing universe Rodriguez has built.


Find us on Discord / Support us on Patreon

Thanks to the following musicians for the use of their songs:

- Amarià for the use of “Sérénade à Notre Dame de Paris”
- Josh Woodward for the use of “Electric Sunrise”

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License


Lilly:

Hello and welcome to Fiction Fans, a podcast where we read books and other words too. I'm Lily.

Sara:

And I'm Sarah, and today we will be discussing Space Brooms by A. G. Rodriguez.

Lilly:

I like that you pronounced the exclamation point.

Sara:

There's an exclamation point in the title. It needs to be pronounced.

Lilly:

space brooms! But before we get into that, our quick five minute intro. Sarah, what is something great that happened recently? Oh,

Sara:

of my avocado trees has an avocado on it. This is very exciting. This tree has had avocados but they fell off before they got this large. They're new trees. They've only been planted for two or three years now. But this actually is like, looking like a proper avocado. It's still too young to pick, but I might get an avocado off of this tree this year.

Lilly:

it's gonna be the best tasting avocado ever, even if it's gross.

Sara:

It will be.

Lilly:

My good thing is that I finally learned how to interact with babies. They are very scary, strange creatures. But, turns out, just treat them just like cats. Exactly like cats. That's all you have to do.

Sara:

I'm very pleased for you.

Lilly:

Just like, really positively narrate everything that they do. And then kind of jangle things in front of them. And then also they'll try to knock things off of tables.

Sara:

Cats are cuter though.

Lilly:

Oh, sure. But as soon as I like, made that click, I was like, oh, hey. I know what I'm doing.

Sara:

I'm very pleased for you.

Lilly:

Me too. What are you drinking today?

Sara:

So in this book, there's a lot of talk about coffee, but I'm not a coffee drinker, so I decided that I would drink the other beverage that is mentioned multiple times in this book and available here, which is champagne.

Lilly:

Yeah, very nice. The yellow that they drink sounded like an IPA, but because it's described as skunky a lot. However, gross, so I am drinking coffee.

Sara:

Yeah, I was not about to try to Find some Earthworld equivalent.

Lilly:

But coffee from Terra is a big deal, or at least hard to get luxury, so I thought I would enjoy mine.

Sara:

Very on point.

Lilly:

Yes. Have you read anything good lately?

Sara:

I was hurrying to finish this book in time for a recording. We have packed a lot of recordings into a very short period of time, so I have not read anything extracurricular this week.

Lilly:

Ditto!

Sara:

But the next episode that we record, I will have an answer! Because we have like 12 days of no podcast reading.

Lilly:

And it's not like we do anything else but podcast read, so.

Sara:

No, not at all.

Lilly:

So, Space Brooms. The The concept of this book is something I'm very into, which is, the main character is a janitor for a space station. And I really love that sort of mundane, awful everyday life in a fantastical setting. So, that was really fun. The main character, Johnny, has the worst job, not because being a janitor is bad, but because the company he works for fucking sucks.

Sara:

Yeah, they were terrible and his boss is terrible. I will say, I don't want to say that I liked this aspect of his employment situation, but And I don't really want to say I appreciated it, because that's still too positive. But What I'm trying to get at is that Johnny's boss hits on him, and is just totally, like, skeevy, and It's good to see that happen to someone who is not a young, conventionally attractive woman in fiction, because it happens to lots and lots of people in the real world. So it was nice, not nice representation, not good representation.

Lilly:

Rodriguez was doing something.

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

He pulled something off there. I thought it was interesting how that was pretty firmly telegraphed in the beginning of the book. Like, at one point, the, what was his boss, Vilas, I think?

Sara:

I don't remember what his boss's name was, but it was, as a reader, you could see it coming.

Lilly:

he says something like, Oh, you're lucky you're pretty, or you're too pretty for this kind of work, or something. And that definitely, you know, pinged in my head. And yet, even then, when he makes the move, I was still, like, surprised. So, even though it was so obvious, I was like, oh wow, they did it. Book went there. Okay.

Sara:

Yeah, Rodriguez went there. So kudos to Rodriguez for

Lilly:

Yeah. I will say, it was an almost cartoonishly toxic work environment. And that was pretty difficult to read just because it was so, it was miserable in really realistic ways. Which, I mean, sucks, obviously. But it was so well portrayed and so accurate that it was just like, ugh, ugh.

Sara:

I mean, I could really believe that this space station janitorial company sucks,

Lilly:

Oh yeah, definitely. And poor Johnny has to deal with it.

Sara:

yeah. But

Lilly:

heh

Sara:

luckily he doesn't have to deal with it for all that long because he gets into worse situations and leaves his job.

Lilly:

but they're exciting adventure awful situations.

Sara:

Except when he's being beaten up. Which happens quite a bit.

Lilly:

would still call that more adventure and less janitorial work.

Sara:

It's not janitorial work. Because I don't think he cleans up after himself after he gets beaten up. So.

Lilly:

So there are, of course, the ragtag group of adventurers that he sort of falls in with after he It gets mixed up into trouble. And one of them happens to be Lizette, is a young woman that he has seen in, like, the food court area, I think?

Sara:

Buying coffee. I believe.

Lilly:

And he has sort of made up this entire fantasy world around her and daydreamed about her. And then she just ends up being, like, a real person that he has to work with. And I thought it was a little convenient that This third adventurer that ends up getting pulled into the situation just happens to be his daydream girl. it was interesting. I don't know. Her introduction is so over the top and silly because he's daydreaming about her. And so her description is just like so over the top and indulgent. But it's a daydream and it's like a fantasy. So it makes sense.

Sara:

Yeah, that's kind of the point. I actually didn't mind that his daydream girl ended up being the person that that joined their crew that they had to work with. Because like, coincidences like that happen. And it's not like. I think it would've been odd if he had been daydreaming about some rando and then she never showed up again.

Lilly:

I mean, I think that's more realistic. But this is a book and so things happen and that's

Sara:

That's, yeah. I mean, yes, that would've been more realistic, but this is a book.

Lilly:

I did like that Lizette, I mean, obviously got more character development than being a daydream, so that was really nice. I think we could have had more highlighted the differences between fantasy Lizette and real Lizette. I feel like if he had created an entire fantasy person in his head, that would have contradicted her reality a little more.

Sara:

Maybe, I mean, I didn't necessarily get the impression that his fantasy Lisette was that fully fleshed out. Because the daydream in which she's introduced is just kind of your bog standard you know, shootout. There's not a lot of character development there.

Lilly:

I was under the impression that that was just an example, and that he has done this quite a bit, and so we were just seeing one of his fantasies.

Sara:

Maybe. But even if he has multiple fantasies, that doesn't mean that she's consistent in them.

Lilly:

That's true.

Sara:

we do see His, like, perception of her affect how he interacts with her in the sense that he's, because he has this massive crush on her, he doesn't know how to interact with her, he's just awkward and has a hard time talking to her and, just doesn't interact very well, and I thought that that was quite realistic.

Lilly:

Yeah,

Sara:

that was very relatable.

Lilly:

I just feel like that would have slammed headfirst into reality at some point, and he would have gone, Wait, what do you mean, you actually, I don't know, hate the color purple? That's the color dress you always wear in my fantasies. Unacceptable, or something to that effect. And not that's a dumb example, but you know, so you'd have some characteristic that he hadn't planned for.

Sara:

I mean, I, I get what you're saying, but I don't necessarily think that that's how fantasies of people work all the time. Like it, I, I don't think that it's necessarily the case that someone that you've built up in your head is that fully fleshed out.

Lilly:

I guess, I think it's just wild to me that he then interacts with her for some a period of time. The time periods in this book, like, I could figure out if I sat down and thought about it, but that took a lot of brainpower. She never does anything that, like, breaks her out of the fantasy. I guess they kind of get over it by the end. But he's still obsessed with her. I think I've flailed into spoilers territory.

Sara:

I mean, he has a crush on her. He continues to have a crush on her. And, but we do see her being a person and she has a life outside of him and, and that does butt up against his, like, hopes and dreams.

Lilly:

And yet he still had a crush on her.

Sara:

Well, yeah, because crushes aren't rational.

Lilly:

Right, and so when someone does something, eh, okay, we, this is a spoiler conversation, we can't talk about her anymore,

Sara:

Okay.

Lilly:

because my specific examples are very spoilery. It happened, because it takes until like the last 30 percent of the book to actually get there,

Sara:

I think I'm going to disagree with you, but we can, save this argument for later.

Lilly:

So something I noticed about myself while I was reading this book is that I was absolutely taken aback that the adventuring ship he ends up on is all like shiny and new and fancy. Because, in my mind adventuring ships are always supposed to be, like, scrappy. And that's just something that I was primed to expect, and I didn't, I don't know, I had to sort of confront that.

Sara:

The ship in question in this book is quite nice. I don't think I was necessarily expecting scrappy, but you, I think, interact with a certain kind of sci fi much more than I do.

Lilly:

Yeah, I don't know, the, they were smugglers, right?

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

that just makes me think,

Sara:

Firefly.

Lilly:

yeah, a little bit. That's not the only example of that, but it's the most obvious.

Sara:

I mean, but a nice ship is easier to like camouflage.

Lilly:

Sure. I mean, I, I, there was, that was not a problem with the book. That was purely me going, Oh,

Sara:

Smugglers can have fancy ships too.

Lilly:

yeah. Johnny put a heck of a lot of faith into his new friends though, in like the same day he met them, which was kind of wild.

Sara:

He, he does. So the premise of this book is he is this space janitor while he's cleaning a toilet, he finds a data chip and turns out that lots of other people want the data chip too. And so they all try to, you know, go after him. And when he's being in the process of beaten up by some of the people after this chip, he meets Hooper and,

Lilly:

Leilani.

Sara:

yeah, Leilani. All I could think of was a friend whose name is sort of similar to Leilani, or whose, like, online name is similar to Leilani. I was like, wait, no, that's not right. So he meets Hooper and Leilani who save him from being beat up and Then they save him a second time, and he's like, these are good dudes. I'm just gonna go along with what they say.

Lilly:

They do save him from getting beat up. Like that's how they meet him. So, I understand going along with it for at least a little bit.

Sara:

I mean, I, and I do think that part of the reason that he continues to go along with it is that his best friend and roommate Rhaegar, like, meets up with them and kind of vets them. I mean, not really, because Rhaegar doesn't know these people, but he

Lilly:

gives the stamp of approval.

Sara:

He does give the stamp of approval and Johnny puts a lot of stock in Rhaegar and his opinions.

Lilly:

I am so okay with that, and I may be too okay with that, because my reaction is, obviously Rhaegar is the best. Why are you following these randos and not clearly the best person in this book? I loved Rhaegar.

Sara:

Rhaegar was great. Rhaegar was my favorite, too.

Lilly:

There was, like, such good banter between him and Jonny. Like, that's all I wanted. I loved his, like, dashing anti hero vibe plus Johnny's damsel in distress. I wanted that for 300 plus pages.

Sara:

They were a good combination, and we didn't get them as a combination nearly often enough. It's true.

Lilly:

Him walking into the second time Johnny gets beat up in this book, happens a couple times, and it's just like such a badass moment. He saves the day, saves Johnny, literally carries him to safety. I was like, Johnny, why are you leaving Rhaegar?

Sara:

I

Lilly:

are you doing?

Sara:

Johnny, why are you mooning over Lisette when Rhaegar's right there?

Lilly:

That's what I'm saying! I was really ready for this book to I don't know. It dangled enough bisexual characters in front of me that I was like, k, clearly, clearly this is something. It wasn't. It could've been.

Sara:

It's not not something, though.

Lilly:

Yeah, it stays in the grey area long enough.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

so speaking of Johnny getting beat up so much, it gets pretty violent and I really was not expecting it. I think.

Sara:

I actually was not expecting it to. I mean, I, I know that the back of the book talks about

Lilly:

Assassins and mobsters

Sara:

Yeah. But it doesn't, I still wasn't expecting that level of detail and description in some of the scenes.

Lilly:

The violence is extremely detailed, and I mean, there's a full on torture scene at one point. It felt very out of tune with the tone of the rest of the book, which is very light hearted. Even when they're in, you know, life threatening situations, it's, Ha ha! How are we gonna get out of this one? And then every once in a while, there's suddenly, like, very intense violence.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

And not action violence, like, torture.

Sara:

Yeah. Yeah. It was a little jarring. I mean, I get the point of the scenes in the book to. Show that there is actual quite real danger to Johnny, but it was it was still jarring When you compare it with the tone of the rest of the scenes,

Lilly:

And I think You know, reading the back of the book, Oh, assassins and mobsters. That still doesn't necessarily mean it's going to go that dark on the page.

Sara:

it doesn't convey Exactly that level of description.

Lilly:

Mm hmm. So I just think it's worth pointing out that that does happen.

Sara:

Yes

Lilly:

Which especially was sort of arresting to me, because there was a moment in this book during, I think, the space travel scene that really reminded me of A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which is a nutso comparison!

Sara:

Yes, when you when you specifically are thinking about levels of violence in books that is a a wild comparison.

Lilly:

Like, the book's are could not be more different. There were these calm moments of space travel that just kind of gave me the same vibe, and some of it I think just was The wonder of it all, and, you know, our hero, or main character, traveling through space for the first time, and just discovering it, and the joy of that.

Sara:

Technically the second time, he has traveled through space before because he was born on the moon and then travels to the space station, but

Lilly:

but he didn't have windows that time.

Sara:

yes, his first trip was he was in the, you know, regular plebe class of the airplane, essentially.

Lilly:

Practically cargo.

Sara:

yes. No window seat, like no view no chance to Just appreciate the, the beauty of what was around him. And we do see, in this trip, we do see a lot of awe and wonder, yeah.

Lilly:

And then also the aspect of Johnny trying to be useful and fitting into this crew that knows each other. And I think that also kind of reminded me of it. It's been a long time since I've read. Long way to a small angry planet,

Sara:

I mean, have you read it since we read it for the podcast?

Lilly:

no,

Sara:

So, like, four years. Five years.

Lilly:

But it just gave me those vibes and I think that was Made me even more taken aback when we got back to the violence because I was like I was lulled into a false sense of security Saturn is beautiful. Also, let's like pull some skin off of you.

Sara:

Yeah, that's, that's fair. That's fair.

Lilly:

I Think oh, I don't think I know but This book was in first person, and it was not my kind of first person perspective.

Sara:

You do have a lot of issues with first person perspective.

Lilly:

And there's some books that I can get around it, and I think this book was just not for me, in part because of that. It made it hard to interact with the story because of that and that definitely colored my experience.

Sara:

Yeah, I mean, I didn't mind the first person. I'm not nearly as picky about that as you are. So, overall, like, I enjoyed the book.

Lilly:

I, I liked Johnny's character. I liked him, I liked seeing his thought processes. But the narration in this book hit on, like, my biggest pet peeve. Which is where the first person narrator will think to themselves, Here is all of this historical background context about this place. Also, I have a deep association with it, but we're not gonna think about that right now. not how people work. You're only doing that so that I, the reader, don't get to know something. And that's so annoying to me.

Sara:

Yeah, I mean, it, it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it bothers you.

Lilly:

Yeah, it bothers me a lot, and it happens in this book a lot.

Sara:

It does happen at this book, though.

Lilly:

Mm hmm. Johnny's gonna think about every single detail about some aspect of space and then be weirdly mysterious to himself about,

Sara:

ex girlfriend. That was, that was where it bothered me the most, when he thinks about his ex girlfriend, isn't gonna think about it.

Lilly:

right. Well, I mean, like, who's he being mysterious to, though? If he's just thinking,

Sara:

Right, right.

Lilly:

He's being mysterious about his ex girlfriend, yeah. And just a lot of stuff, and how he knows things about Luna and his family, anyway. one of those things where If there's a conceit that like, oh, this is a letter or something, then I can go, okay. I can get why they would be avoiding that. But if it's just an internal monologue, it does not make sense.

Sara:

that's fair.

Lilly:

And I can't do it.

Sara:

I can do it, but that's, that's fair.

Lilly:

So, who should read this book? If you don't hate first person perspective.

Sara:

I think that's a little more negative of a view.

Lilly:

No, I'm genuinely, though, if you hate first person perspective, it's gonna be a problem.

Sara:

Right.

Lilly:

That's not a thing on this book, that's a thing about the reader.

Sara:

But normally, normally we talk more about like aspects of the book that people would appreciate. Not

Lilly:

that wasn't the end of the sentence.

Sara:

okay. It just sounded very conclusive.

Lilly:

I think it's an important aspect, but not the only aspect.

Sara:

But I mean like if you, if you do want a fun romp that occasionally delves into some quite brutal torture scenes, but not frequently. I think there's like one or two.

Lilly:

There's a pretty good balance and there is some fast paced adventure, but a lot of it is exploring this world, which is very fun. And it was a good universe. It reminded me a little bit of The Expanse, especially with, like, the people who were born on a planet versus people who were born in space. that's very The Expanse. I've only seen the show. Also, you haven't, so

Sara:

I've, I've not seen, yeah, I've not seen the show. I've not read the books. This comparison is just going way over my head.

Lilly:

The plot is very different. I think if you like the expanse. And you want something that's a little bit more easy reading? You would probably like this book.

Sara:

Yeah, it is a fun book to read. I mean, I read most of it in an afternoon, so it's a quick read, like, if you just want a fun space adventure with some of that, like, joy of, discovering the universe mixed in with a little bit of you know, getting skin torn off

Lilly:

Just a sprinkle of skin.

Sara:

just a sprinkle of skin then you'll probably quite enjoy this book.

Lilly:

I think so. And, as much as I clashed with the first person perspective, I enjoyed reading the book. I think it's just not the book for me.

Sara:

Yeah. Which is fair.

Lilly:

this episode of Fiction Fans is brought to you by Fiction Fans.

Sara:

That's us! We really appreciate our patrons, because otherwise we fund this podcast entirely ourselves.

Lilly:

Patrons can find weekly bonus content, monthly exclusive episodes, and have free access to our biannual zine, Solstitia.

Sara:

You can find all of that and more at patreon. com slash fictionfanspod. Thank you for all of your support.

Lilly:

The remainder of this episode contains spoilers.

Sara:

Okay, so going back to our Lisette conversation. And the, I forget what exactly we were arguing about.

Lilly:

Okay, let me start by laying out my baseline. Here's where I'm at. I liked the character of Lisette. That's not my complaint.

Sara:

okay.

Lilly:

I liked the character of Johnny. That's also not my complaint. His weird obsession with her didn't hit right.

Sara:

So for me, I took that as he has just this huge, massive crush on someone that he's seen, but never talked to, which for me feels very relatable because that is how I usually operate when I have crushes, not the like vivid daydreams. I don't do that, but like. I will absolutely have a crush on someone and then not interact with them. And so his awkwardness around that made, like, made a lot of sense to me and was really relatable, as was the fact that, yeah, he has this crush on her, even though she has her own life, she has kind of a boyfriend, maybe like that's not necessarily gonna You can't just turn off a crush at the drop of a hat.

Lilly:

think, for me, the problem was not his, his crush on this person he's never met. Like you said, that's fine, that makes sense, sure. It doesn't seem to change as he gets to know her. His crush stays this sort of one dimensional obsession instead of turning into the type of crush that you have on someone you actually know. I feel like those are two very different kinds of crushes.

Sara:

Okay, that's, that's fair.

Lilly:

And he keeps his one dimensional obsession crush even after he's gone through life threatening adventures with her. And that is, I think, what bothered me.

Sara:

fair. I, I do think that it started to change, like, he starts to be able to talk to her, he starts to have interactions with her and get to know her as a person. And so it does feel like she is more of a person to him than this godlike figure,

Lilly:

I

Sara:

from the beginning.

Lilly:

But his crush doesn't change. Like, I just, it's that, that aspect of it, like, I don't know. if he had grown to like her as a real human being, which I think in the text he does, I would expect the nature of his crush to change to reflect that.

Sara:

And how would that have, like, played out on screen? He's still, er, on the page.

Lilly:

I, I think I was getting okay with it until the very end, when he has sort of, he's left the crew, he's deciding that he's gonna go out and experience life on his own, he ends up renegging on that, but we'll get to that later, and she asks him, she comes to invite him back to the crew, and she's like, Well, what do you want? And his first response is, You. And I was like, My dude. She, if she was one dimensional daydream crush, then she can be a prize. If she is an actual person that you like, then That's not how that works. That's

Sara:

But, like, to his credit, I mean, he, he follows that up with Like, I recognize that, that you are not interested in me like that, and that's okay.

Lilly:

different. That's him not being gross and creepy, which I appreciate and like about Johnny.

Sara:

He is not, to his credit, he is not gross and creepy.

Lilly:

No, he's not. Like I said, I like him. I just, if I'm to believe that his relationship with her has changed beyond fantasy daydreams, then for her to be the prize that he wants at the end of this adventure feels bad.

Sara:

I

Lilly:

What, what do you want? You? Maybe it's, I don't know, to spend time with you, or to get to know you, or to go out with you. But like, just you as a thing that he wants was bonkers.

Sara:

that is not how I took his statement at all. Like, I definitely did take his statement more as you being shorthand for dating you, like, spending time with you. I, I didn't see it as him viewing her as a prize, because that's not the character of Johnny that we've gotten to know.

Lilly:

Maybe. I just, I don't know. There's also Their relationship undergoes conflict when he finds out that she has some kind of boyfriend type creature. A boyfriend thing. And they kind of get in a fight. They don't exactly resolve it, but they sort of that they're gonna get over it and keep working together. And it feels like that should ha I don't know.

Sara:

I, I do feel like they should have had more of a conversation around that.

Lilly:

They just kind of get over it, and it's like, at least, I don't know. I don't know. That didn't feel like enough.

Sara:

it, it didn't feel resolved. I did, again, I did like the way that after that argument, Johnny is like, Wow, I was a real asshole and I shouldn't have taken out on the boyfriend or Lisette. So, again, Johnny's a good guy, but I agree with you that it would have been nice to see more resolution, specifically around that conflict between them.

Lilly:

I think it's wild that his crush on Lisette gets a lot of page time, and yet feels less developed than his relationships with other people.

Sara:

Possibly because it is that first person. No,

Lilly:

How is that an excuse?

Sara:

I'm just saying that because it's first person, he focuses on that a lot.

Lilly:

Oh, sure. Yeah, okay.

Sara:

So that would be why it gets a lot of page time.

Lilly:

but if it gets that much page time, I as a reader would like it to. I don't know. Feel better. not a useful statement, but that's all I can say.

Sara:

I actually kind of really enjoyed it. Because I like seeing people with crushes that don't work out. Because, like, not everything works out.

Lilly:

Oh, I'm very glad they did not end up together at the end. I think maybe I'd feel better if he had gotten over her at the end? And like, that had been part of his, like, character growth? Maybe that would have felt better for me.

Sara:

I could see that. I mean, I also, again, being someone who has ridiculously long crushes on, on people can definitely see why he wasn't over it. Like, that didn't bother me. But,

Lilly:

I mean, as far as real life goes, yeah, that makes sense. But this is a book, and I would like a conclusion, please.

Sara:

If there's a book two, I would like to see him get over Lizette and end up with Rhaegar. I did kind of feel like we didn't get to know enough about all of the other characters, though, to be honest. Like, I, I wanted a little bit more development of their Characters and their character motivations it, sometimes, as much as I liked all of the cast and crew they did sometimes feel a little bit one dimensional. Lizette included. True.

Lilly:

If they don't want to talk to Johnny about something, how's he supposed to know? And there are a lot of conversations where he's like, Tell me about your past, new friend. And they're like, Hey, let's talk about this other thing. And he's like, why won't you share with me about your past? And then they go, goddammit, I don't want to talk about that. And then he goes, I'm sorry, I didn't know. And it's like They just said, they just tried to redirect you. What do you mean you didn't know? They just said they wanted to talk about something else. You should not be so surprised.

Sara:

He's not necessarily the best at social cues.

Lilly:

I really liked Johnny. I think that was something that felt very sincere.

Sara:

He, he was a very sincere character,

Lilly:

He was just trying to bond with them. And then is a little hypocritical about it, because then he also was like, I'm not gonna speak about it. And it's like, well,

Sara:

I mean, do they really ask him about his past beyond once or twice?

Lilly:

a little bit. When he suddenly becomes super knowledgeable about the inner workings of Luna's security systems, they're like, hey bud, how do you know that? And he goes, I don't want to talk about it.

Sara:

Okay, that's fair.

Lilly:

I Luna changed in the 10 years he had zero interaction with it.

Sara:

I mean,

Lilly:

Talk about a stable society.

Sara:

I think that really all we can say is that his parent, or his, his aunt and uncle's security system hadn't changed.

Lilly:

Well, he knew that the sort of port authority wouldn't ask questions if they landed on a private landing pad.

Sara:

True, true. I mean, he was assuming that they wouldn't, and they don't, so his assumption was true.

Lilly:

Yeah. And then also this, the landmark, the cathedral that they end up doing the sort of final confrontation at. He knew a lot about that as well. And it's like, woo, it'd be cool if none of the tourist attractions change at all in ten years with the way that like, public access works or anything.

Sara:

I mean,

Lilly:

very stable society.

Sara:

I'm not surprised that a Big major cathedral doesn't change. Although it would have been nice if like it had been, I don't know, undergoing renovations or something, restoration.

Lilly:

I just think of Notre Dame. Notre Dame.

Sara:

Well,

Lilly:

That's changed a little bit.

Sara:

only, only because of extenuating circumstances.

Lilly:

things happen. Ten years is a long time.

Sara:

Yeah, but Notre Dame went a long time without anything like that happening.

Lilly:

True.

Sara:

Like, I don't, I don't think that we can extrapolate from the, the big fire that hit Notre Dame.

Lilly:

Yeah. That was just an example, but things happen. And they were lucky.

Sara:

They do, but again, like, plenty of these big cathedrals have, gone through hundreds of years without anything like that happening.

Lilly:

But that doesn't mean that they've functioned perfectly exactly as normal for those full hundred years.

Sara:

No, but that doesn't mean they haven't functioned.

Lilly:

I'm just saying. Anything could have happened, and they're very lucky it didn't.

Sara:

It's true. Anything could have happened and they are lucky that it didn't.

Lilly:

All right, I love Johnny. As we talked, he's kind of a dingus when it comes to social interaction. Including taking drugs from strangers. Buddy.

Sara:

not have a good track record with that. I mean, the first time I can kind of understand because he is very drunk and also very sad because he just saw Lizette, like, you know, googly eyed over someone else. But that's not a good reason to take drugs from strangers, and it does not end up well for him.

Lilly:

No, he gets paralyzed and tortured.

Sara:

Yes, this is this is the main torture scene that we have alluded to.

Lilly:

I really liked Memo, actually.

Sara:

Memo was great.

Lilly:

the person who kind of tricks him, seduces him into getting tortured, and despite being probably the most brutal torture scene in the book, I still really liked Memo, and I liked how they didn't, like, take it personally against Johnny. I don't know.

Sara:

I, yeah, I thought Memo was a great character. Obviously an antagonist, like, they're doing bad things to Johnny, but not necessarily a bad guy, if that definition makes sense.

Lilly:

Yeah, I, I completely agree. It felt kind of just like, Welp, this is my job.

Sara:

Yeah, like, you have something my boss wants, so I'mma do this.

Lilly:

when they show up at the end, they aren't like mad at Johnny, right? They're not angry at Johnny. They're just like, And now my job is to conduct a sale for this thing instead of torture it out of you.

Sara:

Yeah, like,

Lilly:

matter of fact.

Sara:

it's not, a personal grievance.

Lilly:

And they get away. So. Hopefully, when Johnny and Rhygar are off I don't know, gallivanting across the universe, Memo will show back up.

Sara:

I would love to see. A book that's Johnny, Rhaegar, and Memo having adventures. Like,

Lilly:

I think Memo would be the recurring antagonist, but like, in a fun way.

Sara:

In a fun, sexy way.

Lilly:

Yeah, not a villain and antagonist.

Sara:

Memo would be a trash antagonist. I agree, not a trash villain.

Lilly:

Okay, but here's the thing. The same day, Johnny takes this pill from memo, gets super tortured. Leilani barely saves him. They get into a taxi cab, and the cab driver goes, Boy, you sure do look rough. Want some painkillers? Here's a hypodermic needle. Don't ask questions. And Johnny says, Okay!

Sara:

Yes,

Lilly:

like, You've learned nothing!

Sara:

Johnny learned nothing. That's kind of in character with him because Johnny's kind of an idiot. Leilani Maybe should have known better. I'm gonna put that on Leilani. Johnny trusted that she was in there and she could take care of him. So he was like, okay, I'm gonna take your drugs.

Lilly:

And then, it was exactly what the taxi driver said. So he really learned nothing because there were no consequences for taking drugs from strangers two times in a row.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

Oh, he needed, someone, I think, needed to shake him just a little bit. Rhaegar should have gone, what are you doing?

Sara:

Yes. Okay, so at the end of the book, after, after the chip issue has been resolved,

Lilly:

A little anticlimactically, in my opinion.

Sara:

a little anticlimactically. I mean, I do think that was the point but it was still a little anticlimactic, I agree. And Johnny has, he's back on the space station basically trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. Rhaegar has gotten him a job with another ship. He's all ready to ship out with them when Lizette comes back, offers him a job with their crew and he makes a last minute decision to go with them. But I kind of wanted him to decide that that wasn't what he wanted.

Lilly:

I think that would have been more interesting. It would have shown some character development in Johnny that we don't get because of the way it does end.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

And especially coming after, after the big anticlimax. The crew is leaving Luna and are like, All right, Johnny, time to go. And he's like, I cannot. I must stay with my awful, miserable family to punish myself for being bad at adventuring. And so he does that for a couple days.

Sara:

Well, for like

Lilly:

is the worst. Is it like a month?

Sara:

it's it's like a month. Yeah.

Lilly:

I, if I saw all of the time words next to each other, I could figure out which one is which. But when it just said one of them, I was like, oof. Because there were, there were cycles and revs, and a rev is a revolution. But that meant around the star, right? So basically a year? Or was a rev like a revolution in that like a day passed? I can never remember.

Sara:

I think a rev was a day and a ro no, a rev was a year and a rotation was a, was a day. Or vice versa. I don't know. It, I agree with you. I could keep track of it when I saw everything together. But Johnny is on with his with his family for like 28 days.

Lilly:

Okay, Yeah, I had no concept of time.

Sara:

Yeah. He's, he's there for like a month.

Lilly:

Yeah, okay.

Sara:

And then his family is like, yeah, we, we treated you wrong. Here's a first class ticket to go back to the space station and follow your dreams. And he's like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to do that.

Lilly:

what awful people. When he wants to leave, they're like, You're the worst. And then when he stays and is miserable, they're like, Oh wow, you meant it that you wouldn't be happy here? Gee, guess you were right all along. Sorry for emotionally torturing you for 20 years.

Sara:

His uncle is great. His aunt was, was rough. Yeah.

Lilly:

Like, why would you even feel bad about someone like that being mad at you?

Sara:

Yeah, she needed therapy, I think.

Lilly:

Or to torture her nephew. Apparently that's all it took.

Sara:

She was, she was a hard character to read about, but his uncle was genuinely a very good person.

Lilly:

Except he was married to this awful person, so how good could he really be?

Sara:

Well, his interactions with him are good.

Lilly:

He kind of made up for it, I guess. They were both just so bitchy about him moving out at 28. Which,

Sara:

The uncle was not bitchy about that.

Lilly:

he was a little. He was like, it hurt us so much when you left, when he shows back up.

Sara:

Well, he was like, it hurt us that you'd never, like, talk to us ever again

Lilly:

yeah, because he knew they were gonna react like this! Why would you talk to someone who gives you just a, the worst guilt trip? They set themselves up for that.

Sara:

maybe, but I can also understand the uncle being sad because the uncle was not the bad guy in the family.

Lilly:

Has he met his wife?

Sara:

anyway.

Lilly:

Why don't my children talk to me? I don't understand.

Sara:

The point of this is, he's, he's with his family for 28 days. They give him a first class ticket to go back to the space station. He goes back to the space station.

Lilly:

Running straight back into the arms of Rhaegar.

Sara:

Running straight back into the arms of Rhaegar, Rhaegar, who is a great boyfriend, gets him a job and then he decides that actually he would rather go with the crew of the Mentirosa because he just wants friends. And he can never make friends on his new crew ever because he's too socially awkward or something.

Lilly:

Yeah, it was kind of weird how this book kept spelling boyfriend, B E S T. I wasn't really sure why Rodriguez made that choice.

Sara:

It's true.

Lilly:

Yeah, I think it would have been really interesting if Johnny had realized that this lifestyle he had built up in his head as a fantasy was not really what he thought it was, and decided to go do something new, but it doesn't do that.

Sara:

Yeah, and I was really hoping, like, because we get quite close to it, and I was really hoping that that was the direction things were go, just because having him make a last minute decision to go back with the familiar, essentially, is, it was such a predictable, Ending.

Lilly:

Yeah, and we spent the entire time of him torturing himself with his family, going, well, we know the book's not going to end like this. So it, yeah, it just kind of ends up. Back where we knew it was going. For a split second, I thought it was going to be ambiguous. And it was going to end with, he's gotten these two offers, which one is he going to choose?

Sara:

Oh yeah, because he sends an email, but it's not explicit who he sends the email to, and if it had ended there, that would have been interesting.

Lilly:

Yeah, I think

Sara:

I might have been mad about it,

Lilly:

I I probably would've been furious. Anyway,

Sara:

overall, I did really enjoy this book. I would read a sequel to it, if there was a sequel, because I liked the characters. And I'm, again, still hoping that Johnny ends up with Rhaegar.

Lilly:

what hijinks will he get himself into that he needs Rhaegar to get him out of?

Sara:

whatever they are, Rygar can do it. So it was, it was a fun book and I was glad to have read it.

Lilly:

I really enjoyed it. I think if I had been more prepared for the torture, it would've been less Uh, well, surprising, obviously, but that really did kind of take me out of it and I had to, like, sort of reorient myself. Because I, I read dark books. It felt very surprising.

Sara:

Yeah, I mean, I agree with you because it was very jarring. It was not something that, I was expecting tonally

Lilly:

Mm hmm.

Sara:

so, it does take you out of it a little bit.

Lilly:

So I think in a sequel, now that my expectations have kind of been set, I think I will be able to interact with it. Because I'll sort of know what to expect and where it's going and how far the book is going to really show me.

Sara:

yeah.

Lilly:

And it would be interesting to see, like, a follow up on these characters. Hooper is super interesting. He is a cowboy but doesn't know what cowboys are. I have so many questions.

Sara:

Yeah, I just, I feel like there's a lot that, that these characters can still do.

Lilly:

His greatest vice is a bouncy castle. I also really liked Hooper.

Sara:

was great. I sympathize with his desire for more mango flavored things. And also, yeah, Bouncy Castle sounds fantastic. That's where I would be going.

Lilly:

Everything about the Pleasure Planet I thought was interesting. Or Pleasure Dome. it was on Venus. But,

Sara:

I just, I wanted to know more, and I, like, I get why we didn't see more, because they were there for a limited time, but there's a lot in that concept that could be explored, because it wasn't just sexual pleasure, it was all pleasures.

Lilly:

yeah, I thought that was a really nice dimension added to it,

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

Which is part of why, like, the mysterious castle ending up being a bouncy castle was so delightful.

Sara:

Yeah, it, it really kind of, dashed your expectations, but in a good way,

Lilly:

Yeah, absolutely. No, it was fun. I think it's a really fun world that Rodriguez has set up. And, okay,

Sara:

I know what you mean, but

Lilly:

setting that he has set up.

Sara:

look, I'm your cousin. I have to be pedantic.

Lilly:

Yeah, and we've gotten, like, a little glimpse of these characters and it'll be really interesting to see more about them and, like, learn what their deal is.

Sara:

Yeah, absolutely. And to be clear, I have no idea if there's going to be a sequel or not.

Lilly:

Felt open ended in a way that Rodrigo's was like, Maybe?

Sara:

it felt like there could be a sequel. Yes. Also, and this is totally not related to the book at all. But I liked that the chapter at the end of the book for like a, book you might like with Stringers by Chris Panettiere. I was like, yay, Chris,

Lilly:

Well, I ran into a word That was weird in this book, for a little words are weird conversation. This is partially me making fun of myself for mispronouncing buffeted again. I'm making fun of myself again, not that I have continued to mispronounce it, but I feel justified because in this book we have the word filleted.

Sara:

We do indeed have the word filleted.

Lilly:

With the similar silent T in it. And I got to that and I was, I had a moment of, oh no, have I been mispronouncing this word wrong my whole life too?

Sara:

No, you've been pronouncing it the American way.

Lilly:

Yeah, I looked it up because I had that like that moment of deep personal doubt. But no, fillet or filleting. Buffet or Buffay are apparently different words

Sara:

They are they are two different words,

Lilly:

Bothers me.

Sara:

but they're two very different words. Yes, they're spelled exactly the same. You only know they're different from context, but they are two different words.

Lilly:

Yeah, I mean, it's fine that they're two different words with different meanings, but why would they be pronounced differently? That doesn't make sense.

Sara:

When has English ever made sense as a language?

Lilly:

Well, I felt a little less silly for assuming Buffayed was pronounced Buffayed if Fillayed is pronounced Fillayed. I was like, okay, okay, I wasn't, I hadn't completely lost it.

Sara:

you had not.

Lilly:

So, thanks, that felt good.

Sara:

Words are indeed weird.

Lilly:

fucking words, man. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Fiction Fans.

Sara:

Come disagree with us. We're on Blue Sky and Instagram, FictionFansPod. You can also email us at FictionFansPod at gmail dot com or leave a comment on our YouTube page.

Lilly:

If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and follow us wherever your podcasts live.

Sara:

We also have a Patreon, where you can support us and find exclusive episodes and a lot of other nonsense.

Lilly:

Thanks again for listening, and may your villains always be defeated.

Sara:

Bye!