Listeners, we made it to Episode 10! A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir made J & K fear for the fate of our favorite characters and ships in upcoming 4th book of the Ember in the Ashes Series. At one point we discuss the possible importance of the Nightbringer’s true name and wonder if true names “are a thing” with fae. Further research confirms that true names are indeed “a thing”. Episode notes are short this time because it’s New Year’s Eve, and I (K) am about to go make a hazelnut and chocolate crepe cake. Happy New Year! We can’t wait to read more wonderful books in 2019 and keep sharing our conversations with you. <3 Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

In episode 9 we are discussing Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo For the first time, J & K have quite different feeling about the ships in this book, but we are both very excited about the upcoming King of Scars, which will be released on 29 January 2019. Content Warning: In this episode we discuss sexual assault and self harm If you or someone you know are the victim of sexual assault and would like assistance, please call RAINN (Call 800-856-4619 or visit their website for assistance) or if you are a member of the LGBTQIA community in crisis, and would like someone to talk to, please contact The Trevor Project. (1-866-488-7386, text 678678, or visit their website to chat) If you or someone you know are the victims of child abuse, please contact ChildHelp (1-800-422-4453) for assistance These resources are free and confidential! There are some spoilers in this episode for the BBC Sherlock, and there may be a moment where you hear the upstairs neighbors vacuuming. Below is additional information on some of the topics discussed in this fortnight’s episode: We have mentioned it before, but it deserves repeating: read “How to Spend Your Privilege” by Brittany Packnett We talked about “sowing your seed” in relation to the Apparat, and there is a great video from John Oliver that shows how that money may be used, and how the government protects those who may take advantage and profit from donations J is absolutely in love with Oncat, and here is a bit more information about witch familiars. We might have some real life invisibility cloaks in our future! In Ruin and Rising, Alina is able to make things invisible, and that’s also possible in real life! Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

J & K thoroughly enjoyed the dark and twisty world of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Episode 8 features not one but TWO of K’s now infamous research rabbit holes. #RavenclawFTW. Content Warning: physical, mental, and emotional abuse If you or someone you know has been the victim of child abuse, please call ChildHelp 1-800-422-4453 for assistance The first is about all the different kinds of faeries. If you want to know more about sprites, dryads, nymphs, selkies, kelpies, banshees, elves, gnomes, goblins, pixies, etc. etc. etc., you can find an encyclopedic list here (complete with illustrations!). And while we’re at it, have another resource. The second research rabbit hole is decidedly less whimsical: forced and “legal” transracial adoptions. Below you can find an excerpt from the episode script that includes resources. Certainly Taryn and Jude’s situation is more in the vein of forced adoptions. Indigenous children from all over the world experienced this on a wide scale. See Canada’s forced adoptions. This shit is going down right now with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and subsequent financial payout. Or the “Stolen Generations” of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Real forced adoptions of indigenous children are one-thousand-million percent more pernicious, violent and sinister than the ONE case we see in the book since they are a strategy for erasing indigenous peoples and traditions from the face of the earth. One strategy of many, I should say. Let’s settle in for a few minutes and talk about the role the United States Government has played. As an American, and particularly as a white American, I figure the least I could do is find out more about my country’s history on this issue). I’m just going to talk about the mid-1900s to now, since this shit has been happening for centuries—since waaaaay before the USA was the USA…. Between 1941-1978 it is estimated that between a quarter to a third of all First Nations children in what is now the United States were separated from their families, communities, traditions, and histories. Thousands of children. How did this happen, exactly? A lot of this was due to the creation of the Indian Adoption Project in 1958 by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), which was a response to the widespread poverty and abuse on reservations by out-adopting (aka permanently placing indigenous children with white families). According to the  2012 report “Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Forums” by the First Nations Orphan Association, quote “The policy of out-adoption intentionally placed Indian children with white families, with the assumption that they would have a better chance at succeeding if they were separated from the unfortunate conditions of reservations. This practice differed entirely from all other adoption policy at the time, which favored “matching” children with adoptive families who shared similar traits, especially race or religion. Indian children, it was presumed, were in special need of being “saved” from their roots” end quote (2). Plenty of other groups did this, like Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services. So instead of asking WHY the conditions on reservations were so dire (hint: it’s because of the colonialism and genocide this country was built on) and trying to undo all the damage, white people got all white-savior-y and systematically removed indigenous children from their communities, thereby blaming indigenous people for problems that white people created in the first place. In 1978, the  Indian Child Welfare Act was passed to try and keep the system from removing indigenous youth from their communities, but as of 2003, 3x as many indigenous children were in the foster system per capita as compared to white children. Check out this BBC short documentary “Native Americans Recall the Era of Forced Adoptions”. Here are a few Native activists and accounts you should most definitely be following and learning from: @lilnati...

Reading A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir  led to discussions of the prison system, mythology, and accountability. We loved how exciting a prison break can be. And this book had surprises around every corner, which had K reading the book immediately after finishing the first. Question: Are Avitas and Elias full or half siblings? Below are some articles and information about topics discussed in this fortnight’s episode: There are lots of different types of mythology out there, not just Greek mythology, but we talked specifically about Persephone and Hades in this episode. If you aren’t already, we highly recommend following Rachel Cargle on Instagram. She does a lot of work unpacking white feminism, and has a great article called “When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels.“ Also, read this article, “How to Spend your Privilege” by Brittany Packnett. Even back in 2003, the American Psychological Association realized prisons were not doing the work of rehabilitating people. Pod Save the People  Serial podcast Ava DuVernay’s 13TH Brené Brown Read this Dear Sugar about leaving, even if you love a person. Laia probably could have used this advice regarding Keenan. If you want to read some great books with emotional manipulation that also happen to be very 90’s, check out the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

In episode 6 J & K are discussing City of Bones by Cassandra Clare which K is reading for the first time! As always, we found many things interesting, because apparently that’s what we do. Content warning: In this episode we discuss child abuse. If you or someone you know needs help, there are resources for you. Please consider contacting the National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 or ChildHelp 1-800-422-4453 for assistance Around 4-5 minutes, you may hear a cat in the background, because Lainey, the podcat, wanted some attention. There is also a season 1 spoiler of Riverdale in this episode (not that big of a spoiler since it’s about Hermione and Hiram). Question: What are your thoughts about the religious aspects of City of Bones? There are many things mentioned in the episode that aren’t part of the book, and here are the links to all of those: Here’s a look at the racial bias in marijuana enforcement from the ACLU The difference in the way the US teaches slavery and Germany teaches the Holocaust from NPR’s Code Switch Lindsay Mack’s Tarot School in case anyone is interested in learning more about tarot For anyone interested in learning more about Beyond Good and Evil  by Friedrich Nietzsche Or more about moral relativism We have mentioned Carry On by Rainbow Rowell in a couple of episodes, so if you haven’t read it yet, here’s a reminder to add it to your TBR *update – 6/25/20 – there are a lot of issues with Rainbow Rowell’s writing that we didn’t know about at the time when we recommended Rainbow’s books. We won’t be recommending them in the future, and we won’t be reading them for the podcast* There are two episodes of Witch Please that talk about werewolves and their connection to illness. Please listen to them both! (I can’t remember which episode they talk about Lupin in Prisoner of Azkaban, but all episodes of Witch Please are amazing). If you haven’t already, watch 13th for a look into the ways in which the today’s prison system is modern day slavery. Here are a couple articles about the rituals and history of tattoos from PBS, The Smithsonian, and Tattoo.com If you didn’t know there is both a TV show and a movie based on The Mortal Instruments Series (J & K have only seen the movie) Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

J & K talk about book 2 of the Grisha Trilogy, Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo. We forget Fyodor’s name and find many things “interesting” (should we find new descriptors? probably). Content warning: discussion of sexual assault If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact RAINN Call 800-856-4619 or visit their website for assistance Sorry for the late posting! K was finishing a dissertation chapter draft the muggle way….hence the delay. Thanks for your patience! Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

Content warning: discussion of sexual assault J & K talk about book 2 of the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. We forget Fyodor’s name and find many things “interesting” (should we find new descriptors? probably). Sorry for the late posting! K unfortunately does not have a Quick Quotes Quill, so she […]

Episode 4 already!?! We can’t believe it either! This week we’re talking subverting your government, assassin schools, terrible mothers, and rape culture in Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes. An Ember in the Ashes was fact paced, violent, and exceptionally amazing! Content Warning for discussions of rape and child death.  Full transcript below or access the PDF version of the episode transcript As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. The Library Coven is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy The Library Coven {fka JK, It’s Magic} Episode 4: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir transition [00:00:12]   [upbeat flute and string music plays]. kelly [00:00:12] Hello! And welcome to J.K. It’s Magic. A bi weekly podcast in which two bookish besties read YA fantasy through a critical lens. Why? Because critique is our fangirl love language. And because talking about books is pretty magical. I’m Kelly. jessie [00:00:25] And I’m Jessie. jessie [00:00:26] And today we’ll be discussing An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. The story of Laia, who unexpectedly becomes a spy for the resistance in order to save her brother and Elias, a member of the Empire’s training school who’s fighting to become the next emperor without becoming his mother. transition [00:00:41] [jaunty string music plays] jessie [00:00:46] Initial reactions. kelly [00:00:48] I couldn’t put this book down. I took a few, maybe a chapter two or two for me to get interested in it, but then I finished this book and started the second book A Torch Against the Night, and I finished that one pretty quick to, like, ignored my partner all day one weekend. [laughs] And I have A Reaper at the Gates, so I’m probably going to finish that. Also, in addition to the other books that we’re reading for this podcast. jessie [00:01:14] So you won’t remember any of the books. But I’m going to get there [laughs]. kelly [00:01:18] I need to take notes. Yeah. jessie [00:01:19] Yeah. Um kelly [00:01:21] Can’t stop. Won’t stop. jessie [00:01:22] Yeah. Despite how violent this was, it started out a little slow for me, even though we start the book with a child being beaten to death. Um, but I had trouble putting it down once it got started. Uh, there was a lot happening. I really fell in love with the characters. I cannot wait to read the next one. And I stayed up way too late finishing the book because I had to know what was happening [laughs]. kelly [00:01:48] Just like old times. jessie [00:01:49] Just like old times. Like staying up all night to finish Harry Potter. kelly [00:01:53] Exactly. transition [00:01:53] [jaunty string music plays] jessie [0...

Hello, listeners! Episode 3 is our first fantasy-adjacent mini-sode (that didn’t actually turn out so “mini”) in which we discuss Ship It by Britta Lundin. This conversation got pretty meta since we dove headlong into discussions of fandom, capitalism’s co-opting of diverse voices, and shipping (#obvi). We laughed, we cried, and we definitely adored this book. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Mascoutin, Miami, Mesquaki, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peankashaw, Peoria, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Wea (Jessie) You can support Indigenous communities by donating to Mitakuye Foundation, Native Women’s Wilderness, or the Navajo Water Project. These suggested places came from @lilnativeboy

We loved Children of Blood and Bone  by Tomi Adeyemi so very much. This book is  powerful and poignant and we couldn’t recommend it more. Hope you enjoy! Content Warning: in this episode, we discuss a lot of really difficult topics including racialized violence, torture, and abuse. If you or someone you know is the victim of child abuse, please contact ChildHelp 1-800-422-4453 for assistance Here’s a list of the resources we mention throughout the episode. There are more that we did not talk about and so many that we probably don’t know exist. But we commit to keep learning. Please contact us with other resource recommendations. Legacies of slavery – mass incarceration, racial wealth gap If you haven’t seen Ava Duverney’s documentary 13th (2016) about the legacy of slavery via mass incarceration in America, it’s time. You can check out this NYT review, and the film is available on Netflix. The New Jim Crow. Mass Incarceration in the age of Color Blindness (2010) by Michelle Alexander. This is at the top of J&K’s non-YA fantasy TBR list. Vox’s series of short documentaries, Explained, explores the racial wealth gap in Episode 3. This post summarizes the episode and has a ton of great recommendations for further reading. Available on Netflix. Books and articles about experiencing racism (and/or privilege) Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2015) by British journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge is a collection of seven essays. NPR had this to say about the book. Reni Eddo-Lodge writes even more on her website, and she now has a podcast called About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge (downloading an episode right meow!) Between the World and Me (2015) by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Brittany Packnett’s post in the wake of Nia Wilson’s tragic death, “How to Spend Your Privilege”, is one of the most succinct and direct calls to white people (i.e., “You didn’t earn it [your white privilege], so give it away”). Amandla Stenberg’s interview with Variety in which she addresses being biracial and light skin privilege. Trevor Noah’s memoir Born a Crime. Stories from a South African Childhood (2016). The interview he did with NPR is so good (a bit long, 43ish minutes). Hair Things You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain (2016) by Phoebe Robinson, who is f-ing hilarious, btw. The movie Good Hair (2009) featuring Chris Rock. Here’s the trailer. More bullshit from the NFL, this time about hair pulling, a technically “legal” (yet controversial) move according to the game’s rules. White feminism BS Let’s stop the white washing of the Me Too movement by A. supporting survivors and B. recognizing the badass Tarana Burke, who has been doing this work for a looooong time before white feminism had something to say about it starting in 2017. Transcript to come Spring 2021 As always, we’d love to be in discussion with you, magical folx. Post or tweet about the show using #criticallyreading. Let us know what you think of the episode, anything we missed, or anything else you want us to know by dropping a line in the comments or reaching out to us on twitter or Instagram (@thelibrarycoven), or via email ([email protected]). You can also check out the show notes on our website, thelibrarycoven.com. We really appreciate ratings and reviews on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platforms. Help us share the magic by spreading the word about the podcast! Please support our labor by leaving us a one-time tip on Ko-fi or purchasing books from our Bookshop! Even better yet, become a monthly patron via Patreon and you can unlock a bunch of exclusive perks like mini-sodes, bonus episodes, and access to our community of reader-listeners on Discord. The podcast theme song is “Unermerry Academy of Magics” by Augustin C from the album “Fantasy Music”, which you can download on FreeMusicArchive.com. JK, it’s magic is recorded and produced on stolen indigenous land: Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute (Kelly) and Chickasha, Kaskaskia,