This month, Jo and JoJo were looking for fast and furious with dragons, but instead stumbled upon an underrated gem from a well known fantasy author, Mercedes Lackey. In Joust, Mercedes Lackey takes us to a desert land where two nations are engaged in an intractable war as one tries to colonize the other. Caught in the crosshairs of this conflict, a young serf named vetch attracts the attention of a dragon jouster, changing his life forever. These were some of our favorite dragons, so please listen along with us as we discuss Joust by Mercedes Lackey

Today on the podcast, the fighting continues in The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Ead, Tané, Loth, and Niclays race toward a final fight with the Nameless One while being bombarded on all sides by the Damsels of the Orange Tree, the witch Kalyba, and some good old fashion pirates. Jo and JoJo also continue to spar over their feelings about the book. Come join us for the conclusion of our epic journey.

Today on the podcast, we find ourselves divided. This month’s book, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, is a world divided by East and West. We find this discussion divided. . . into two separate podcast episodes. Parts 1-3 are discussed here, parts 4-6, in next month’s episode. And finally, we find our friendship divided, because, for the first time in this podcast’s history, Jo and JoJo disagree.

In this very special mini episode, Jo and JoJo go to the movies! But not a great and wonderful movie like How To Train Your Dragon (the animation). Instead, they went to see How To Train Your Dragon (the live action). Listen in as we discuss what worked and what did not in this remake of a remake.

This week, on a kid-friendly episode of Canonical Nonsense, we continue our exploration of the nonsensical dragon canon with How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. We explore the differences between the book and the film franchise it inspired. Join us as we delve into the silly, shouty, snotty Isle of Berk as Hiccup learns how to train his dragon, Toothless, “the hard way”.

Special note: keep an eye on your podcast feed. We are dropping a very special episode in two weeks with our reactions to the new How to Train Your Dragon live action movie.

For this episode, Jo and JoJo take a close look at The Summer Dragon, by Todd Lockwood, and fall completely in love with the world of the Evertide. This book follows Maia, the daughter of a dragon breeder, as she battles wild dragons, zombie monstrosities, and a colonizing army set on taking away her home. With a narrative that melds DnD style action with the slice-of-life day-to-day of a dragon breeder family, what more could a fantasy fan ask for? If you haven’t yet, go read this book right now.

As we have said many times, this is a pro-horse girl podcast. This month’s episode is for all those special girls (and guys) out there. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman centers a plucky, talented, 16-year-old girl with a dangerous secret in a world where dragons can hide as humans. Join us as we explore the kingdom of Goredd and all its weird and wonderful inhabitants.

This month on the pod, Jo and JoJo read Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (no relation). A book that can only be described as what if Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice had a baby with Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, and that baby was a dragon. It was one of the more toe-curling books we’ve read and we can’t wait to tell you about it. Please listen for the trigger warnings at the beginning of the episode and take care of yourself.

Today, Jo and JoJo read His Majesty’s Dragon, the first book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. It is an alternate history that asks the question: What if the Napoleonic wars had dragons? This episode was a joy to make and we hope it encourages you to pick up this series!

Jo and JoJo are flashing back to their childhood in the early 00s to read the famous story of a farm boy turned dragon rider, Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Eragon may not have been the book we remembered it to be, and that certainly was the case for Jo, but we still had a lot of fun talking about it. Whether you read the book 20 years ago, you’re reading it for the first time today, or you just want to hear us talk about some books, we hope you’ll join us for another electric episode of Canonical Nonsense.