The Naptime Podcast

This is it! Part 5 in our discussion on RF Kuang’s The Poppy War.

We really enjoyed this book and are super excited for The Dragon Republic later this year. We share some of our final thoughts on the book and expectations for the rest of the series.

For PW discussion only, skip ahead fifteen minutes. We start off this episode with our review of season 2 of Netflix original The Dragon Prince.

Also: we’re on Tumblr! Follow us @thenaptimepod for Poppy War, Wheel of Time, Star Wars, Dragon Prince, and whatever else we’re reading/watching at the moment.

We’re back with more The Poppy War! This week: discussion on the back half of Part 2 (chapters 16-20). Altan is angry. Rin is afraid. Altan wants Rin to get angry. Chagan is scary! Bae is back, but not for long… Oh and yes, we did compare Rin and Nezha to the galaxy-far-far-away’s “will they? won’t they?” couple.

This episode also features: occasional Wheel of Time references (yes, again…) and some Enneagram takes on The Poppy War.

One more TPW conversation after this! Don’t forget to like/share/subscribe and join in the conversation on Twitter or Instagram @thenaptimepod!

On this episode we jump into Part 2 of The Poppy War.

Sinegard falls but not after Rin lets the Phoenix take her and burns everything. Rin leaves with Altan to join the Cike at the defense of Khurdalain. Altan is fighting to be respected among the other commanders. Rin is struggling to be a person. Just how much does she want to let the Phoenix have of her? Does she have a choice? The members of the Cike channel their gods’ power to the point where the human being is hard to see, and Jiang’s instruction haunts Rin.

Join in the discussion as we look at chapters 10-15 of The Poppy War. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thenaptimepod.

In this episode we discuss The Poppy War chs. 8-9, finishing up Part I.

Rin takes a break, sees a puppet show, goes back to school, and becomes spiritually enlightened—in just two chapters! The end of Part I of TPW is chock full of theology, spirituality, lore, and politics. The tone of the book makes a big shift, but we’re all in.

Also, does Rin have any sort of concept of “the good life”? She has several pictures of what she doesn’t want, but does she have an idea of where her life is headed?

First part of our discussion of Part Two in two weeks!

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The long wait is over! We’re back and with a new format! We wanted to move to a slower-paced, read-through style—neither chapter-by-chapter nor episode-per-book.

This week we’re talking about Part 1 of The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang’s breakout 2018 novel. The Poppy War is a YA Fantasy that follows war-orphan Rin from the dregs of Rooster Province, itself basically the armpit of the Empire. Faced with a future of servitude in an arranged marriage, Rin pushes herself to rise above her station and pass the rigorous Keju. Doing so, she enrolls in the prestigious Sinegard Academy. She isn’t ready. But also, she is. And of course she discovers far more than she ever expected when she is taken under the tutelage of the cryptic Jiang, the master of Lore at Sinegard.

Spoilers? This episode focuses on chapters 1-7, but all of Part 1 (chs. 1-9) is fair game. As of recording this episode, we haven’t read any further, so enjoy laughing at our predictions, ye who have finished the book!

We open this episode with some re-introductions and ‘Our Week in Fandom.’

Don’t neglect to like, share, and subscribe, but most of all, read along with us!

On this episode we talk about the return of Doctor Who! I.e., Jodi Whitaker’s debut as the Doctor in series 11 episode 1, “The Girl Who Fell to Earth.” We really enjoyed it and thus enjoyed gushing about this episode as well as Jodie’s performance. Speculation about the rest of the series ensues.

We also talk about the Netflix series The Dragon Prince. We rated it 3/5 stars but are looking forward to season two! Dragon Prince is part Eragon, part Avatar: The Last Airbender, part Disney Channel, and part…Dungeons and Dragons?

We start off this week’s episode with some of our currently reading, featuring:

Ayşe Kulin’s Last Train to Istanbul

R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War

(Robert Jordan’s The Path of Daggers)

Claudia Gray’s Leia: Princess of Alderaan

Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist

Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to rate/review. Find us on social media @thenaptimepod

This week we wrap up our two-part series on Grand Admiral Thrawn! Featuring: Timothy Zahn’s two recent Thrawn novels, Thrawn (2017) and Thrawn: Alliances (2018). We work in Thrawn’s role in Rebels seasons 3 and 4—as well as some of our lingering questions and hope for what SW might do with the character. Also, shout out to Jody Houser’s six-part comic series that is based on the 2017 novel. —Full spoilers— for all of that!

We open the show with “This Week* in Fandom.” In which we’re excited about the premiere of Doctor Who (!) and the hype about N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy and each novel winning the Hugo. Check out her recent interview/world-building session on The Ezra Klein Show here.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and to hit us up on social media @thenaptimepod.

This week Alex & Liz return from hiatus with some quick takes (and an oh so hot take) on the fantasy they've been reading/watching:

Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth book 1)

Robert Jordan's The Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time book 8)

and Disenchantment (Matt Groening's Netflix show)

*Full spoiler warning for the aforementioned books, though we don't spoil the end of Disenchantment (except to say that it's awesome!) Thanks for listening! Don't forget to like, comment, etc. Hit us up @thenaptimepod.

This week we at the trilogy that launched the Star Wars Expanded Universe (now legends). The Thrawn Trilogy (1991-3) by Timothy Zahn, introduces Grand Admiral Thrawn, a cryptic military tactician left behind after the collapse of the Empire. While Thrawn tries to consolidate the Empire's forces and stand against the New Republic, rife with its own internal conflicts. Without these books, its conceivable that not only would Star Wars fandom not be as huge as it is today but also that we might not have episodes VII, VIII, etc.

Zahn's books are more military science fiction than space opera, but Thrawn's quest for imperial power touches all of our original trilogy favorites and introduces some new characters along the way. While not a masterpiece of modern science fiction (yes, we had some griping to do in this episode as well), these books have an important place in the Star Wars canon, even those these stories themselves are no longer officially canonical.

Thanks for listening! You can follow us @thenaptimepod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Join in the conversation on social media, and don't forget to rate/review on iTunes!

This week we work through Saga Volume Four (chs. 19-24). Saga is an ongoing, fantasy, space opera comic series about a young married couple and their child. The world is literally out to get them.

Alana and Marko's primary struggle becomes internal as life starts to catch up with them.

Also: drugs.

Also, revolution is rising through the murderous Dengo, a disgruntled janitor from the Robot Kingdom.

The main discussion begins around the four minute mark after 'This Week in Fandom,' featuring *new* Doctor Who, Star Wars casting announcements, plus DC and Marvel stuff.

Thanks for listening! Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, etc. We are @thenaptimepod.