24. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Hello, dear listeners! This fortnight we’re reading Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, a new retelling of Mulan. We found some pretty problematic areas in the book, but found the story quite captivating overall. As a note, we did receive this book as an ARC, but our feelings and reactions to the story are honest. Content Warning: This book deals with some heavy violence issues. It comes up briefly in the episode. First, we would like to point out that we talked about there being a “miracle cure” for a disability in the book. Apparently, this was changed in the final book, but there are still issues of ableism and…
23. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Magical listeners! We’re taking a break from YA this fortnight to bring you an episode about the incredible fantasy novel The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. The show notes happen to be long this time — why not research-it-up and check out the links to learn some stuff? About magic, fiction, history, religion, language: The author has curated a reading list of narrative sources, primary sources, and folktales about the “early Islamic world” (a very broad term) for those who are interested in learning more. Book 2 of the Daevabad trilogy, The Kingdom of Copper, came out in January 2019 (we can’t wait to read it!). The Empire of…