Get out your magic wands, prepare your incantations, and prepare for a battle of wills involving ancient powers and callow youths. We discuss two recent novels with magic at the fore: Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” and Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus.” One of them we liked a lot… the other, not so much! Prepare yourself for a magical podcast.

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Glenn Fleishman, Scott McNulty and Serenity Caldwell

Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One” is a sci-fi novel that’s chock full of references to 1980s culture. But is it a good book, or are the references all that it’s got going for it? What will John Hughes movies be like in the future? And what do Cline, P.G. Wodehouse, and Umberto Eco have in common?

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, John Siracusa, Scott McNulty, Serenity Caldwell and Monty Ashley

Is Patrick Rothfuss’s “The Wise Man’s Fear” a rich fantasy novel about storytelling and myth-making, or is it a collection of good story elements scattered across an overlong plot? Could it be both? Ninjas! Off-camera shipwrecks! Board games! Sexism! Off-camera courtroom drama! Discursions within digressions within framing sequences! Join us as we discuss yet another 1000-page fantasy novel, the sequel to “The Name of the Wind.”

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, John Siracusa, Scott McNulty and Serenity Caldwell

We discuss “A Dance With Dragons,” the latest 1000-page installment in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling “Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy series. Is this series going to end well? Which parts of this book were good, and which just treaded water? Would adding Klingons have helped? Why are trees the Westeros equivalent of security cameras? These are the sorts of questions you ask deep in the middle of a long fantasy series.

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Scott McNulty and Serenity Caldwell

Everybody wants to rule the world, er, the kingdom of Westeros. As the “Game of Thrones” series continues on HBO, we discuss the source material: George R.R. Martin’s bestselling “Song of Ice and Fire” books. If you haven’t read the books, you will be spoiled! We’ll post the climactic resolution of this podcast in about five years, so invest your time wisely.

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Scott McNulty and Serenity Caldwell

If you don’t want to know what happens in these books, DO NOT LISTEN PAST THE SPOILER HORN. Which is, like, three minutes in.

Based on the best-selling novel! Inspired by HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” in this episode we discuss the translation of books to the screen. Should movies be faithful to the book? Is it better if filmmmakers take liberties? And what books do we wish would be made into movies? If you don’t want to listen to this episode, just buy the novelization.

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, John Siracusa and Scott McNulty

Stories by science-fiction writer Ted Chiang, including the anthology “The Story of Your Life and Others.” Plus, enough recommendations to get you through every bathroom break and bus ride for the next three years.

Host Jason Snell with Glenn Fleishman, Lisa Schmeiser and Scott McNulty

Spoiler Horn

Seriously, just don’t listen if you haven’t read the Chiang stuff. You should. It’s really good.

Show Notes

And some other stuff. I lost track. Man.

A hero with an unpronounceable name, magic that doesn’t actually do much, cardboard female characters, a story where nothing really happens, and the first and inconclusive part of a longer series? Sounds like an acclaimed fantasy novel to us! “The Name of the Wind” on this week’s Incomparable Podcast.

Host Dan Moren with John Siracusa and Scott McNulty

Host Jason Snell with Glenn Fleishman and Scott McNulty

Scott recommends reading past the first story in "Stories of Your Life and Others", which he didn’t like.

Also you can read Ted Chiang’s “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” for free on the Internet.

Dive through a wormhole to defend the honor of the Imperium! We discuss Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series of novels, which we really can’t recommend highly enough. It’s swashbuckling Sci-Fi adventure with some great characters and a big canvas. And you can read most of them for free!

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Scott McNulty and Serenity Caldwell