Fiction Fans

The Feather and the Lamp by L.N. Hunter

• Episode 206

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Your hosts read The Feather and the Lamp, a young adult novel by L.N. Hunter. They consider the comparison to Discworld, and talk about twists on mythology, both age-appropriate and compelling romance plotlines, and framing devices.


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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:

I'm Sarah, and today we will be talking about the Feather and the Lamp by Ln Hunter.

Lilly:

But before we get into that, our quick five minute introduction. Sarah, what's something great that happened recently?

Sara:

Today is dumpling's, second birthday,

Lilly:

Oh, happy birthday dumpling. What do pugs get for their birthday in your house?

Sara:

nothing.

Lilly:

Oh.

Sara:

Love. They get that every day.

Lilly:

Yeah. Fair. Okay. Well, my good thing, this was one of those I survived weeks. I'm gonna be honest here. My good thing is that I am less sick today than I was, you know, yesterday and the day before that. And on and on.

Sara:

That is indeed a very good thing.

Lilly:

It is I am still a little congested, so sorry. Everyone who is listening to this great for an audio format, but I am upright, so

Sara:

That's progress.

Lilly:

is. It was just a head cold. I'm being a little dramatic, but not that dramatic. Sarah, what are you drinking today?

Sara:

I am drinking some tea.

Lilly:

I'm also drinking tea, but mine is medicinal mint tea with a lot of honey in it.

Sara:

Mine is not medicinal.

Lilly:

Black tea. I imagine green.

Sara:

Whatever David Tee's like Lily Dore is, I don't, I don't know what it is.

Lilly:

know either.

Sara:

oolong?

Lilly:

Oh, I love oolong.

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

Well, other than this book that we're about to discuss at length, oh man, listeners won't know, but I have had to stop and think about what I like my next sentence for about half a minute. Not a good sign.

Sara:

There was a kind of a worryingly long pause,

Lilly:

This is our script. I'm not even like sharing opinions at this point. Oh boy. Sarah's gonna have to carry this one, guys.

Sara:

Oh.

Lilly:

Okay. Other than the book we're about to discuss at length, have you read anything good lately?

Sara:

I have not been doing much reading. This year is just my balder's gate. Three year, I guess.

Lilly:

It's a good year to have.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

Is this, are we in your first year of playing the game?

Sara:

Technically still. Yes.

Lilly:

Nice. Yeah, you got, you got a ways to go.

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

I have been mostly sleeping, so, and I'm not gonna apologize for it.

Sara:

Sleep is important for recovery.

Lilly:

is, but you know what else was important for recovery? And I say this with zero jokes at all, the feather and the lamp. I am so glad that this was the book we were reading this week.

Sara:

Yes. I think it probably was great to read while you were sick.

Lilly:

It? Yeah, I think so. This was a young adult novel. Is that the The grade, technically,

Sara:

yeah. It's billed as a young adult novel.

Lilly:

it was definitely too young of a book. For me that's dumb and ghost, without saying, because I am an adult, but.

Sara:

There are some young adult novels that are more age agnostic.

Lilly:

Yeah, that are like appropriate for younger readers, but fit a wider age range. This did feel like it was for a young reader, which I am not.

Sara:

I agree. I mostly enjoyed it but I do think I would've enjoyed it more if I had read it at like 12.

Lilly:

I agree though. 12 feels like the right, like that middle school feels like the right age for

Sara:

Yeah, exactly. And it is a comedic fantasy novel. I did kind of think that it tried a little too hard to make it sound prt esque without having enough of the like, social observations or societal observations that made PRTs books hit so hard.

Lilly:

It's interesting the. Description of the book when it was sent to us to request this review. Said like if you liked the Tiffany Aching, like Young Adult series like think of that. Whereas I feel like the Tiffany aching series was actually quite more serious than other just world novels.

Sara:

I don't know about. Other disc world novels, but it, I do think that the Tiffany aching books were a little more serious than this book, for example.

Lilly:

This book reminded me more of like early disc world, borderline slapstick humor.

Sara:

Yeah, I would agree with that.

Lilly:

A lot of puns, which. Actually healed me. I was laying in bed with this ebook, and I think I highlighted every single dump pun with like, he, he, he, he, that's where I was at. I needed it. And this is, oh man. Well, it's gonna make you laugh.. But there are a couple of excerpts. Each chapter starts with a, a, an excerpt or a quotation, which also the excerpts really had prt footnote vibes to me. Like they were used in a really similar way for worlds building and adding information in. I mean, obviously it was a, a different literal function. They were. Intros to the chapter as opposed to footnotes throughout the chapter. But it, that also quite reminded me of, of Disc World. But one of them at the very beginning is a essay about djinn and djinn contracts. And there was a lot of party, the first and party the second, and I think I read it twice. And then was like, you know, if this really matters, hunter will explain it to me later. And thank goodness he did because it was too much for me. At that moment. It was at the beginning of the book, so I was like quite sick when I was reading it. By the end of the book I was feeling a lot better. Just, you know, 'cause it took a couple days, but it was, yeah. Above my level of reading comprehension in that moment. And it was, that was the joke, right? It was going for the, the highfalutin overwrought contract verbiage. But I suspect if I went back and read it now, I would go, okay, this is fine.

Sara:

Yes, I, I think he would pretty easily understand it if, if you read it now.

Lilly:

But just to give everyone an idea of where I was at emotionally reading this book. Yeah, I really appreciated it. The, the lighthearted, like fluffy, not fluffy in the fan fiction slang term way, but just lighthearted humor was good for me.

Sara:

Yeah, I mean, it's a lovely book. Like it's, it's a fun book. The hijinks are nice and engaging and it's enjoyable and entertaining. But I do think that I suffered for being an adult reading this book.

Lilly:

Yeah, of course. But that's, it feels a little obvious to say. You mentioned the societal observations in DISC world, and I do think there were a couple in this book that felt, I don't want to say PRT esque in a sense that it, they could. They were trying too hard to be disc world or felt like a ripoff, but there were a few that I think nailed it and felt just as good. The businessman who is exploiting the land and villages around him for profit and a lot of the conversations around him and his motives I thought were handled really well at a level that still felt good for the age range that would work for this novel. And not so on the nose that I was like annoyed by it, but just like those, I think hit really well.

Sara:

Yeah, it's, it's not that there were none.

Lilly:

Yeah,

Sara:

It's just that I think I needed a little bit more of them.

Lilly:

well, the fact that I can point out one in the novel I think

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

shows that there were not as many, Well, what is this book? This is an adventure story, imperceptibility Happenstance. Is that the main character's name?

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

She goes by Idy. She is a, a reader and accidentally finds a djinn lamp and makes a rash wish that sends her off on an adventure. And this book is told kind of. I mean, it's not in the first person, but it's framed by her telling an adventurer's guild, her story of her adventure because she wants to join the Adventurers Guild. And then we kind of hear about all of the people she met and the challenges she overcomes and the, you know, the friends she makes along the way. The adventures were solid. They were good. They felt a little disjointed at the beginning, but in a way that kind of reminded me of Gulliver's travels, which worked in a way.

Sara:

I've not read go of risk travels. So I can't make that comparison. They did feel a little disjointed, but it made sense in the context of the story. I think just, and I don't wanna get too much into the details because I don't wanna spoil things, but just the way that the story and her adventuring played out it, I thought it made sense for them to, for the adventures, to not have too much connection to each adventure, until the very end.

Lilly:

They, they do all get kind of brought back together for the conclusion in a way that I thought worked really well to tie it all together because they had been disparate adventures at the time,

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

and I haven't read Gurus travels in a very long time, so I'm operating off of vibes, but it, it did remind me of that.

Sara:

I could see that. I think just from what I know about GU travels.

Lilly:

Yeah. I do historically have a pet peeve. I actually don't know if I've talked about it before, but main characters who are readers and that's like their main, not main, but if that's a strong aspect of their character, always feels really pandering to me because what do you know for sure about the person reading this book?

Sara:

I mean, they're not necessarily a reader.

Lilly:

They're currently reading.

Sara:

Yeah. But that doesn't make them a reader.

Lilly:

but it's a good guess.

Sara:

There's a high chance they are. Yes.

Lilly:

I think it bothers me more in romance, like adult romance stories because it feels like such a lazy way of trying to get the reader to identify with the main character.

Sara:

I just find it annoying because it, or sometimes I find it sometimes annoying because it kind of implies that reading is the special thing that only. The main character does, whereas actually lots of people are readers.

Lilly:

But no, that's, that's a part of it. Exactly. Right.'cause it's trying to make the reader feel like they're so special for reading.

Sara:

Yeah, but

Lilly:

pandering thing.

Sara:

why are there not more readers in the world?

Lilly:

That great question, but Okay. Establishing that I'm usually annoyed by it. It didn't actually annoy me that much in this book. Partly is because it's for a younger audience. And so, you know, getting the, the reader to identify with Idy and Idy was a lovely character to identify with. I really liked her approach to challenges. She was kind without being smarmy about it, which can sometimes happen with characters. and she gets an immediate reality check. She's a reader who's always dreaming of going off in adventures, but the second she is actually on one, she goes, oh no, I I don't think I can just defeat this with gumption and a croissant.

Sara:

She has made a mistake.

Lilly:

Yeah. And so it, it worked for me in a way that it often does not.

Sara:

Yeah, I agree with you. Think that trope bothers me a little less than it bothers you because most things bother me a little less than they bother you. But it can be more frustrating. Whereas in this book it was more charming.

Lilly:

It was, I think because it was actually worked into the plot, like it was kind of relevant

Sara:

That helped too. Yeah.

Lilly:

And so it didn't feel like an arbitrary thing that's in there just to make me like her.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

She's not like other girls because I'm not like other girls, you know? so

Sara:

was like a fun character to follow. I liked her,

Lilly:

I agree. There were a couple of things where she would suddenly forget the stuff and one of the sort of. Roadblocks throughout this book is that the djinn makes her forget him and his existence whenever she's not looking at the lamp.

Sara:

which I loved.

Lilly:

So that, like, that made sense. Whenever she was like, oh, I don't know how this happened, or something to that effect, that was fine. But there would be moments like at the very beginning when she makes her first wish, we get her internal monologue of, oh, the djinn is trying to trick me. I should be really careful about my first wish. Then literally in the same paragraph, she makes a rash wish and I'm like, girl, are you doing?

Sara:

I mean, that feels like the kind of thing that 12-year-old me would've eaten up.

Lilly:

Yeah, you're probably right. But that is it really just, yeah it happened enough. And then my other example is such a spoiler, I'm gonna save it.

Sara:

Yeah, you can't talk about that one.

Lilly:

So who should read this book?

Sara:

Basically you should read this book if you are a young reader. And since you're listening to this episode, you probably are not, but I bet that you know some young readers or you may know some young readers, so go out and buy this book for them.

Lilly:

There are some young adult books that. Live in a weird space where I feel like I'm too old of a reader to enjoy it. But also I worry that some of the things in it would be interpreted poorly by a reader of the actual appropriate age. Like so, for example, Twilight. The toxic romance in Twilight, you gotta be a young enough reader to enjoy the book, but if you're too young of a reader, you might not catch on that. It's not healthy.

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

know what I mean? Like that I think is the perfect example of a weird gray space. Ya

Sara:

Yeah, but this book is not like

Lilly:

no, this book is like, I am too old for this book, but there is nothing in it that makes me go, maybe you should read it along with them, or maybe it needs a disclaimer. Unreservedly. I recommend it.

Sara:

Yeah. I mean, I wish that I was 12 reading this book because I would've had just the best time with it. I mean, I still had a good time to be clear, but like I would've devoured this book in like an hour and a half.

Lilly:

I, all of our complaints boil down to this book is for a younger audience than us, and so some of the tropes and mechanics in it bother us a little bit.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

But yeah, not in a way that makes me go, eh, maybe not, you

Sara:

Yeah. it's well written. The hijinks are fun and engaging. It is a great main character, like overall, very good book.

Lilly:

there's a dragon.

Sara:

There's a dragon.

Lilly:

Well, let's onto the spoiler section, shall we?

Sara:

Yes.

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 they have free access to our biannual zine, Sotia.

Sara:

You can find all of that and more at patreon.com/fiction fans pod. Thank you for all of your support.

Lilly:

The remainder of this episode contains spoilers. Another thing that I think makes this great for not just a young reader, but like the reader's reader, you know what I mean?

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

the kid who is a reader, not just who happens to be reading in this moment. There are a lot of really nice references to myths and common stories that I think are at the perfect level for that reader to catch.

Sara:

I think that if someone is big into Percy Jackson, for example, they would really love this book because it has a lot of Greek mythology references. Yeah. Like it's just fun to catch them.

Lilly:

And I mean for us who are adults who are Greek mythology nerds, they didn't feel like Easter eggs. It was just on the page. But it was subtle enough that I think it would feel satisfying to a young reader to go, that's Caron. You know the river sticks. I know what they're talking about.'cause it's not. Totally. It, it's never, the book never goes and the river sticks is sometimes spelled this other way. You know, it, it leaves a little bit of a leap. You have to make, not a very big one, but,

Sara:

Not a big one.

Lilly:

but enough of one that I think it would feel really good to the young person reading it for the first time and picking up on these things. Or when they discover them later to go back and go, oh, holy shit. That was in that book, you know?

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

Age appropriate mythology references.

Sara:

And fun twists on them too. I will say though, we talked a little bit about the, the structure of the book in the nons spoiler section where it's. Kind of sorta itty talking to the Adventurers Guild about her adventures. And I didn't have an issue with that framing. The framing was fine, but I did feel like there weren't enough interludes of itty talking to the guild so that when it first crops up, it felt really like abrupt. And it, and like out of place a little bit. So I wish there had been actually more of that.

Lilly:

I wish that they had been doing something other than just also, she's telling the story and no one believes her 'cause it's wild. I didn't mind that no one believed her because it was wild. I loved how that set her up as. Like a very accomplished young woman. I liked that vibe, but I wanted something more to be happening there. I really expected. There's this Prince character who was introduced at the very, very beginning. He buys his way into the Adventurers Guild. Basically, his mom hires people to get the artifact that he needs to prove he's an adventurer. He's really, really shitty about Idy showing up and throwing her hat in the ring, so to speak. And I kind of thought that something was gonna happen well before the framing of the novel was set up. And I realized that the bulk of the story happened before then. I thought maybe we would catch up and then they, like the story would pick up from that point moving forward. You know what I mean?

Sara:

Mm-hmm.

Lilly:

I didn't think the whole thing was gonna be framed in the past. And then maybe that character would learn and grow or something.

Sara:

I didn't expect him to learn and grow, but I did kind of expect something to happen with him. And maybe the end of the book the author's note says that there is going to be a book two, so it's still possible, you know, like maybe Idy will have further adventures and this jerk of a prince is going to have some kind of like learning experience, but.

Lilly:

Yeah. It was also kind of jarring to me, or like, I, I could not reconcile in my mind there. Okay. There are two things are true. The story that we are reading is the story that I is telling the Adventurer's Guild, or at least that's the way it's framed. It's not like first person, but it is heavily implied. Am I right?

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

The other thing that is true is it does not remember the djinn. Unless it is actively happening. So how is she telling this story, or how are we seeing the version of the story that has the djinn in it? Again, while I was reading the book, I thought that maybe before the very end, before she catches up to the adventurers guilds, she would've solved that. But then we find out that no, even in that moment they're saying that she has gaps and how does she not remember this or that? And I was like. Well then how do we know

Sara:

Yeah, I had that same question. It just, yeah, I, I don't know how that worked.

Lilly:

it's a, honestly, that's the kind of complaint I'd normally have about first person POV. Like that's the exact kind of thing I would complain about, which, and something that makes, is what makes me so hard on first person. And so it's like, oh, no. How did you hit on my first person, POV Pet peeve in a third person perspective book? It just feels unfair to, to Hunter.

Sara:

I also thought that the end was a little abrupt, like not the end of the adventure itself, that I really enjoyed how that played through, but. She tells her story or she finishes telling her story to the adventurous guild, and then it's just over. Like, I, I just, I was expecting a little more, I don't know, of a trail off or something.

Lilly:

Well, I mean, this book really shines in the adventure part, I think. Yeah, the, the framing didn't totally work for me and not in a way that detracted too much from the overall reading experience.

Sara:

And it's funny because I really liked the adventurous guild. Like I agree with you that the framing didn't entirely work, but the adventurous guild as a concept, it becoming like joining the adventurous guild like I was into that. I just. I think it almost would've made more sense if, like you say, you know, it kind of, we, we get it's story and then it catches up to the adventurous guild and then we get more from there rather, rather than as a framing device.

Lilly:

like you said, I wanted more of it.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

It, there was not quite enough of it to feel as compelling as the rest of the story because the rest of the story, like she's going on adventures and doing stuff, whereas every time we see the Adventurers Guild, it's just. Authority being really mean and disbelieving her, and then her going back to telling her story again.

Sara:

Yeah, I just, I, I needed a little bit more from it.

Lilly:

Well, especially because the way it's resolved, the way that she ends up proving that all of this is true is that shanks, her dragon friend, has been waiting in the courtyard the whole time. And if he was there the whole time, why didn't she start with that?

Sara:

It's a good question.

Lilly:

Like, you wanna know how I got this dragon? Let me tell you the story. I, I just, it made the disbelief aspect feel arbitrary when it already did, which was too bad. Oh, the other idy thing, the other thing that Idy does, that bothered me a little bit. Was after she goes back in time, the djinn sends her back in time, which is how she gets out of one of the very, very sticky situations she manages to get herself into.

Sara:

I mean, we can talk about the sticky situations. Now. We're in the spoiler section.

Lilly:

Yeah, it's just not relevant to my

Sara:

It's not That's true.

Lilly:

The book establishes. That I is the only person who will remember the, the first timeline. It is established in the prose. The djinn tells her all about it. She has a conversation about it with her friends. Then like in the narrative, it reminds the reader with one of the little chapter intros that talks about it again, and then Idy thinks about it again after she has gone back in time. And then every single conversation she gets like surprised and hurt that people don't remember. And I was like, ma'am, we have been over this five times. And even in book it has only been less than 30 seconds.

Sara:

She did have a very short memory regarding that one particular issue.

Lilly:

And it happened a lot. If she misspoke, it would be one thing, but then she gets like affronted that people don't remember, and she's like, but we're friends. And it's like, girl, you know, we have established that, you know, they don't remember. You Be sad, but don't be shocked.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

That that was my, like, I kind of wanted to shake Idy a little bit,

Sara:

I mean she does do that quite a bit. She eventually gets over it mostly

Lilly:

kind of,

Sara:

kind of.

Lilly:

I actually thought the like relationship with Nathan was very well done and then very bittersweet and like sad in a way that felt good.

Sara:

Yeah, I was expecting it to come back. So for, for some context, in the first timeline, she meets Nathan, who's a boy in this village and they go through some stuff together. Kind of develop crushes on each other. And then Idy goes back in time and Nathan doesn't remember any of this, and the relationship doesn't come back because they don't go through the same experiences. They aren't thrown together in the same way. And I liked that it didn't happen again, but I was also sad that it didn't happen again.

Lilly:

Yeah, I felt not only was it very well done the first time around, like it felt natural. It, it was them against the world at, during that one point in the adventure, right? So, like I totally am on board with them getting really close and trusting each other and caring about each other. And they never like declare their undying love because that would be ridiculous.

Sara:

no, they, they hold hands.

Lilly:

hands and like they kiss right before the timeline gets rewound, I think.

Sara:

Yeah it was very sweet.

Lilly:

yeah, it's very sweet and very realistic, you know, but then also her realizing that it's not ultimately going to work out and being okay with that, like having a, a very sweet, good relationship, not be end game, so to speak. That doesn't mean that, well then in retrospect, that means the relationship was bad.'cause I hate that. I hate when books do that. In order for characters to break up, you have to do something to mean that it had never been good to begin with.

Sara:

yeah. No, we, we don't, thankfully we don't get that in this book. And I think that is one of the things that, going back to your point about like giving a book to an impressionable young reader, I think this really models a good. Kind of relationship for younger readers.

Lilly:

Yeah, and she's like excited to be friends with him and you know, get to know him again with no expectation that they are going to end up together. Mm-hmm.

Sara:

Like she's sad about them not ending up together or about him forgetting everything, but also is okay with just being friends which is really nice.

Lilly:

I, I really, really liked that, how it was done. I mean, the romance reader in me was very upset, but that's a different, those are different perspectives, you know?

Sara:

Yes.

Lilly:

Upset in a good way, if you will. I think just overall her character arc was also really well done. She goes from in over her head to competent, but not like in an overpowered. I know everything and I'm so perfect kind of way. Just she's confident at the end.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

little overwhelmed, but like, I can figure this out.

Sara:

and she uses her wits in a very satisfying way to solve problems. So I too really enjoyed her character arc. It felt very. Natural for her to get better at adventuring as she adventures.

Lilly:

Yeah, it was a super smooth progression in, in each of the little adventures that she goes through at the beginning, the very first one, she's with Captain Smarts, I think was his name.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

And he basically does everything for her because, yeah, this is the first time she's been on an adventure. Of course, she needs help and then it like really, really smoothly each progressive adventure. She has more, not more agency, but she requires less help or is given less help.

Sara:

Yeah, she has to do more of the work herself.

Lilly:

Yeah. And solve her own problems, right? Because Karen, when she's in the underworld, she, so she does have to come up with a solution. You know, I will work for you for two months to pay for Captain Smart's fair across the river, and also for you to send me back home 'cause I'm not actually dead. So she comes up with a solution, but then Karen, like very much takes her under her wing, right? And then through till the end where she's the mastermind. She doesn't manipulate the three mares of the rival villages, but what's the word for that? Except like with a nice connotation convinces, I guess.

Sara:

I mean, she comes up with a plan, like they, they all brainstorm a plan together, but she's the one who does the bulk of it.

Lilly:

She also convinces them to work together in the first place.

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

'cause they were, they all thought that it was each other destroying their homeland. That's a little dramatic. I mean, not totally dramatic though.

Sara:

I mean, they, they thought that each of the other villages was causing their villages problems.

Lilly:

Right? And then it all turned out to be the capitalist.

Sara:

Yes, the evil businessman.

Lilly:

yes. And so anyway, that like was very satisfying and very enjoyable to follow along with. I, yeah, her character Arc was great.

Sara:

Yeah. And I, I also really liked seeing her recognized by the adventurous guild at the very end. Particularly the comparison. The woman who is like doing the judging calls out the Prince for being a, a fake. She's like, we have to let you in. But it is the real deal.

Lilly:

We all know you faked this,

Sara:

Yeah,

Lilly:

which was both very on the nose, but felt so good to read because.

Sara:

it was so satisfying.

Lilly:

The, the woman, the arbiter or whatever her title was of this contest, was so mean to Idy. I mean, she does give Idy the opportunity to tell her story, right? So that was good, but is she's so dismissive and rude and the prince is such a little shit. by then I was just like, yeah, get 'em. It would've felt better if he had groveled of his own free will. But we did just read the last song of Penelope, so I'm all in on groveling right now.

Sara:

I think he would need to go to undergo some more character growth before he groveled.

Lilly:

Yeah. At least he got told off though. Mm-hmm.

Sara:

he get, did get told off in a very satisfying way. So overall, I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't the target audience. So I, and I would've enjoyed it more if I was younger. But fun book. Glad we read it.

Lilly:

Yeah. And all again, all of my issues with it are just, I'm not the target audience. And so

Sara:

Yeah.

Lilly:

these are, I stumble over these things more than I would if I was the target audience, like, as far as a book goes, very well done, really well written. All of the characters are great. We didn't talk about shanks very much, but he's a dragon. What do you gotta say? He's a

Sara:

did not talk about, we did not talk about shanks, but I did quite like shanks.

Lilly:

The lore around dragons was also different in a way that I think would really appeal to a reader who has, you know, done all the classic dragon stuff.

Sara:

I would say that actually about all of the, lore in this book. Like there's a twist on the Greek mythology, there's a twist on the dragons, there's kind of a twist on the djinn. Like that kept it fresh and and entertaining.

Lilly:

So if, yeah, if you have a voracious reader in your life who is in about middle school or so, they're not gonna be bored by this book. I think it's gonna be exciting and new and really fun.

Sara:

Yeah, I, there's a little girl. A block over who really likes the pugs, who reads, although she said she mostly reads graphic novels and I'm kind of considering getting this book for her.

Lilly:

Oh, you should.

Sara:

We don't, we don't really have like a, we gift giving relationship, so it might be a little bit strange,

Lilly:

You can lie and say that you got the physical book for the podcast.

Sara:

Yeah, I could, but I'm like, maybe a little young.'cause I think she's only like nine or something.

Lilly:

I, that would just be at a reading level issue. Like I don't think there's anything in this book that I'd go, Yee,

Sara:

Oh yeah. No, to, to be clear, I mean, she's a little young, just in terms of reading comprehension, not because of content of this book.

Lilly:

But so for a, like a stretch goal, this is a great book for a younger, even younger reader.'cause it's like the prose is complex enough that you do have to, like, if you have a head cold or R nine, you do have to struggle through a little bit. Not struggle. Like, it's not hard or bad, it's just, you know,

Sara:

It's a little more work.

Lilly:

Yeah, It's sophisticated prose is the word I was looking for. It's not simplistic.

Sara:

yeah. But yeah, maybe, maybe I'll buy this book for her and just lie.

Lilly:

Do it. I support lying to children.

Sara:

a clip out of context.

Lilly:

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Fiction Fans.

Sara:

Come disagree with us! We're on Blue Sky and Instagram, at fictionfanspod. You can also email us at fictionfanspod at gmail. com. Or leave a comment on YouTube.

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!