Episode 19 - The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley

Evil dragons. An impossible love. Our favorite fully realized horse. Whatever malak is. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley is much more than just the 1985 Newberry Medal winner (although Aerin does look mighty nice next to that gold seal). Rereading this one shook us to our cores and inspired an impassioned discussion about how female characters complicate the hero's journey, sneaky flashbacks and time jumps, debilitating dragon-inflicted wounds, and mik-bar cravings. Settle down inside your gray castle on the Lake of Dreams and steel yourself - Feelings ahead.

EPISODE MEDIA

Dragon-Slayer vs. Dragon-Sayer: Reimagining the Female Fantasy Heroine (aka the paper that we rightfully ripped apart during our discussion on the book's feminism)

For our Pretend Foodies - Robin McKinley's answers to questions about malak and mik-bars

Episode 18 - The Storyteller's Daughter, by Cameron Dokey

Sleep deprivation, stories-within-stories-within-stories and questionable romance come together to make up this engaging, Shahrazad-centric retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. The titular character is a teenager tasked with telling her new husband a story so good he'll spare her life just to make it past a cliffhanger (we're just grumpy that we don't get to hear much of that story ourselves). We fill in the blanks with a discussion of the novel's sometimes questionable approach to girl power and plenty of reminiscing about the role of storytelling in our lives.

We're curious: have you ever read this or another of the Once Upon a Time books (not the show, but the early aughts YA series)? Let us know in the comments!

Episode 17 - The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. Le Guin

We couldn't be more delighted to travel to Earthsea and explore human nature & super goth spirits with Arha/Tenar/The Eaten One, a teenage girl forced into a cult who spends all her free time exploring a haunted labyrinth. And getting into scrapes along the way! Join us in marveling over Ursula K. Le Guin's gorgeous writing and the glorious weirdness of this book's plot structure. Plus, a discussion of whether Le Guin's works are more appropriate for children or adults - or every single living human under the sun. You can probably guess where we land, but why not check it out?

EPISODE MEDIA

• Recap of Margaret Atwood & Ursula K. Le Guin's discussion of science fiction and literary genre labels
• Ursula K. Le Guin's disappointment with the Studio Ghibli adaptation of the Earthsea series 

Episode 16 - Redwall, by Brian Jacques

Creating this episode was an unexpected nightmare. Grace is 100% positive that the ghost of Asmodeus is now haunting her and Madeleine thinks that Cluny might be just a lil bit aggravated by her dismissal of him as a selfish grump. No matter what, the truth about the mysterious history of human life in the Redwall universe is now out there for all Dragon Babies to discover. If you're a fan of Pretend Food, know that this book is basically a founding father (aka a founding Badass Lady) in our obsession with fantasy victuals. And if you've been waiting for some pseudoscience related to badgers, this is definitely going to be your jam. We love you all.

MINI EPISODE - Rewatching The Black Cauldron

Hey buddies! This is a MINI EPISODE, so exciting! We decided that we were too intrigued by the 1985 Disney adaptation of The Book of Three & The Black Cauldron (titled The Black Cauldron) to not rewatch it. We saw this as kids but didn't remember... anything. It is a weird film! Here are our thoughts!

Note - we were plagued by sound issues while recording and there is some volume variability in this episode, for which we are very sorry. It was a quick little fun mini thing so we did not re-record - we're currently getting our next real episode re-recorded and fixed up so that you're not diving for the volume and feeling crazy throughout. Thanks for your patience!!