Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a manga and anime that has quickly become a modern classic. It tells the story of an elf mage who outlives her companions after their great quest, and then begins a quieter, more contemplative journey through memory, grief, and what it means to value the fleeting lives around us. The guys get together to discuss Frieren in both its manga and anime forms, unpacking the themes of time, legacy, and friendship. The pleasure of a story like Frieren is in reflecting on it—and talking it through with friends. Give us a like and subscribe! You can follow us on x / tiktok / instagram / bluesky / substack: https://x.com/undertowerspod https://www.tiktok.com/@undertowerspodcast https://www.instagram.com/undertowerspodcast/ https://bsky.app/profile/undertowers.bsky.social https://substack.com/@undertowerspodcast The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

Peace is a novel by Undertowers favorite, Gene Wolfe. It was his 3rd full length novel. The guys get together to discuss and try to make sense of what they just read. The pleasure of a Gene Wolfe work is in thinking about it and discussing it with friends. 

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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP. 

In this episode we bring to you, our intrepid listeners a series of recommendations, an eclectic series of things we are enjoying. 

You’ll hear about Dragon Quest, Indiana Jones, and the Oblivion remake, as well as The Night Manager (2016), and Squid Game. We run through audiobooks, especially The First Law world of books, the recent Andy Serkis Middle-earth narrations, the Astral Codex Ten Substack based blog and similarly the Astral Codex Ten Podcast, and finally the new anime Lazarus. We finish up with a round of dislikes or un-recommendations. 

Links:

Dragon Quest III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF7ojlK1TjA

Oblivion Remaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbohbX33pvg

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZxxpnK0LqU

The Night Manger (2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ZcaKdvML8

Squid Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbAKYgfYET8&list=RDSbAKYgfYET8&start_radio=1

First Law Trilogy: https://www.audible.com/series/The-First-Law-Trilogy-Audiobooks/B005NAILNU

Midde-earth with Andy Serkis: https://www.audible.com/ep/lord-of-the-rings

Astral Codex Ten: https://www.astralcodexten.com/ 

Astral Codex Ten Podcast: https://sscpodcast.libsyn.com/ 

Lazarus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpG8vtFMkD0 

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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP. 

We are delighted to welcome Mike Kearns of the excellent booktube channel Mike’s Book Reviews to the podcast this week. We talk through a current dissatisfaction in the current fantasy and science fiction psychosphere as well as what it’s like to be an established and successful booktuber. You can find Mike’s excellent channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@mikesbookreviews Give us a like and subscribe! You can follow us on x / tiktok / instagram: https://x.com/undertowerspod https://www.tiktok.com/@undertowerspodcast https://www.instagram.com/undertowerspodcast/ The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

We are revisiting our tropes discussion, this time with a twist. We each prepared lists of tropes we are recently enjoying and some we are tired of but as we pick them to discuss, each of us will take turns steelmanning the opposite of our baseline positions. Led to a fun and hilarious episode and discussion. 

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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

We have a wide-ranging conversation covering the totality of the books we’ve read in our book club thus far. What was the funniest moment? What counts as grimdark? We wind down with a speed round of favorite moments and look at what we are most excited to read the rest of the year. 

OUR COMPLETED NOVELS:

2023 -

2024 - 

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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.

We are back! In this episode we dive into Robert Eggers’ 4th feature film, Nosferatu. We thoroughly enjoyed this film, both on the immediate level and ruminating on the themes and ideas the film presents. Where does the film stack up against Eggers’ previous work? Is Eggers’ our most Wolfian director?

You can watch the 1922 Nosfertu in full on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OZ5Wam2_Uc&t=3s 

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The music you heard was Greener Pastures by Hole Dweller from their Crossroads EP.