Spoil Me

It's been a minute! There was a lull there where nobody had commissioned the next episode and I was absolutely dying to read the next section and finally I had to go into the Spoil Me! Facebook group and demand that someone help me out. So thank you to Rachel for coming through for me on that one, and the final episode was booked for tomorrow so we'll be wrapping up soon!
The main takeaway of this section that I had was that this book is full of twists and turns that I didn't expect. The battle is so much more upfront than I thought it would be, and the confrontation with the Big Bad is really intense and more frightening than I was ready for. And then SOF was there! I should have seen that coming, but I didn't.
I can't wait to see what winds up happening. OMG.

This is the final episode covering The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan, and I'm so delighted with the whole general vibe of this book and how it turned out, I can't even tell you. Thank you so much to Ashleigh for commissioning practically the whole thing!
Fergun doesn't exactly get his comeuppance in this book like I had hoped, but to be honest I had expected things to turn out even worse than they did so in comparison to my worst fears (that he wound wind up as guardian of Sonea), this is pretty damn peachy. He gets found out to be the lying, egotistical shit-bag that he is, and Lord Rothen's eyes are finally opened to something that Dannyl has been trying to get him to see almost the entire book.
Also, Sonea keeps impressing me with her level-headedness, and I'm just so glad that she has the presence of mind in a few different instances to look at things from both sides and understand what's really going on. Sonea is da MVP as far as I'm concerned.
Thanks for listening, everyone, and I hope I will get to see you all soon with the next book!

Oh boy, it's time for me to start on a new book, and it's another one by Diana Wynne Jones! This time Patricia has commissioned The Dark Lord Of Derkholm, and I'm completely blindsided by how very different in tone this one is from Fire & Hemlock.
The gist of the story so far is that there's a fantastical land that's somehow under the thumb of an insufferable man that I believe is from our world, named Mr. Chesney. He brings people from our world over for these extravagant pilgrimages and all of the people in the fantasy world are forced to drop everything and roleplay for the sake of a bunch of tourists who are interested in nothing but their little live D&D game.
And the people of the fantasy realm have had about enough.
I'm into it. Thanks to Patricia for the commission, and you can find the book here if you'd like to read along! https://amzn.to/2JoPJtz

Thank you, first and foremost, to Tony Collien for commissioning this episode and cohosting it with me! I have been wanting to watch this movie for ages and I've been putting it off because I'm a big fraidy cat.
This movie was really really intense, from every standpoint. The imagery is bleak and heavily shadowed, the language is antiquated to the point of almost seeming foreign, the music is either not present or at such a keening pitch that it makes your nerves fray, and the story...hoo boy, the story. This is a "New England Folktale" for sure, and there are a million layers of reference and symbolism to sift through.
I really hope that if you haven't watched this movie already, you do it as soon as possible. It's a really good one, and I think destined to be a classic. Just be patient with its slow pacing and I promise it pays off.
Thanks again, Tony! Happy Halloween!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy...y'all. Did you know that the way to my heart is a knife through an abusive man's stomach? MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME.
I can't figure out where the hell things are going to go from here because it really seems like the shit has hit the fan in some ways. I mean, shit's going down in the Echolls family, clearly, but there's also the whole thing with Veronica confronting Duncan's dad, and I have no idea how the hell that whole thing is going to play out.
Then there's the case of the week, in which Veronica figures out that the rich kid from the biggest house in the neighborhood is actually just the son of the butler, and I'm delighted at the fact that he's being forced to pay Weevil his money. Maybe Weevil is an unsavory character but goddammit I just want him to WIN.
Thanks so much for listening, and I can't wait to see you next week with a new episode!

Join me for the first Wannabe-style episode of Spoil Me! in which the author of the book, Robin Farrell, joins me on the mic to discuss Resistance Rising: A Genre Wars Novel. I confess that I was a little nervous about doing an episode where I reviewed a book right in front of the author, but thankfully this book was a lot of fun and Robin was cool, so it wound up being really fun.
This book, which one might be able to tell from the title, is a fun mish-mash of all kinds of genre tropes that are played against each other in a way that is surprising, funny, and a little subversive. I really feel like the only thing I need to tell you is that there are spaceships, elves, pirates, steampunks, and a magical ball of light/a crystal that everyone seems to want.
Trust me. Read it. You'll have fun. https://amzn.to/2NEDi1f

I have been really enjoying this book, and I'm really unsure of how things are going to leave off. I feel like the fact that it's a series points to the idea that things can't have a happy ending, but ugh I'm really going to hate seeing Fergun win this round, even if I'm privately confident that he's going to get what's coming to him eventually.
And even if he does get what's coming to him, the damage that he could inflict in the meantime is just astronomical, at least in terms of Sonea and Cery. I am concerned that something is going to go wrong and he's going to have to kill Cery for some reason, although I really can't come up with a convincing idea of what that situation would even look like.
Anyway, I can't wait for the next episode, because that's the final few chapters of the book and I'm dying to find out what happens next! Thank you so much to Ashleigh for commissioning this book!

Oh boy! I'm always excited to start a new book, but the fact that this is the second book in a series is particularly exciting because I feel like I'm really starting a voyage, here. I hope that you all enjoy coming along with me!
I'm gonna be straight with y'all right out of the gate and admit that as of right now, I'm officially NOT Team Atticus. This dude has no sense of responsibility to the people around him and it's really pretty gross. I have felt like this at times throughout the first book, but it's in the chapters of this book that I really get a sustained glimpse into how little he considers the ripple effects of the things he's done.
I'm glad he's finally convinced to do the right thing in the end, but it shouldn't have taken convincing in the first place.
Oh and also, he has to fight a demon on his front lawn. His lawn is busier than Grand Central.
Thanks for listening!

First of all, I'm going to include the link to the Crowdcast for this episode because it's so heavy on the visuals that it's way better to watch than to listen. So if you have the time, please check it out! https://www.crowdcast.io/e/spoil-me-saga
Many thanks to Maccewill for commissioning this episode, which is the first time I have covered a comic book for Spoil Me! and only the third time covering a comic for any UNspoiled! podcast. So that's pretty cool!
This was a lot of fun. The story seems very strange and original so far, the writing has a twisted humor, the artwork is stunning, and I'm mesmerized against my will by The Stalk.
I hope you all enjoy listening, and I hope to see you soon with a new episode! If you'd like to read along, you can buy the first volume here! https://amzn.to/2q3ZW5E

Thank you to Ashleigh for commissioning this episode! If you're interested in reading along, please check out my affiliate link here to get the book! https://amzn.to/2S9PTJh
This episode is when some real shit goes down. Sonea was captured last episode, after a really tense moment where her loss of control could have basically levelled the city block...and very nearly did. She's starting to grow aware of just how true the words from the magicians were when they warned her of her power; she'd been sure this was a play to force her to turn herself in. But nope.
So Rothen now has to gain the trust of this girl who has been pursued by magicians for weeks, who has seen a person get barbecued by them in the middle of a crowd, and who has proven to have power enough to hurt them, which may well make her a threat. It's no wonder Sonea isn't exactly eager to believe what he has to say. But I must admit, she's really trying.
Which makes it so much more infuriating when Fergun has to show up and ruin it. This motherfucker right here. What does he want with Cery? What is his plan here?

Ugh I hate Fergun so much.
Thank you all so much for listening, and again many thanks to Asheligh for commissioning this! See you all soon with a new episode!