Sam and Dan review The Book That Broke the World, by Mark Lawrence: book 2 in the Library Trilogy.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening.

Having given the prestigious Escapists Anonymous 'Book of the Year 2024' award to The Book That Wouldn't Burn, there were high expectations for the sequel to deliver on this great promise. We delve into the introduction of new characters and new perspectives. We discuss the broad range of dangers that our cast face, from newly discovered species to power-hungry humans. We enjoy the blossoming romances (or is it just animalistic lust?!). And we give our conclusions on where this novel leaves us heading into the final instalment.

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Sam challenges Dan to read his first two Discworld novel, and in this episode, we discuss both Pyramids and Guards Guards and compare views.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading both books before listening.

Pyramids and Guards Guards are books 7 and 8 in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. We discuss why Sam felt these were a good starting point for Dan to enter the world and how Dan found both books, before delving into conversations on Pratchett's writing style, his relative strengths and weaknesses, and his considerable legacy and influence on the genre.

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Sam and Dan review The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, by Shauna Lawless.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening.

The Children of Gods and Fighting Men is the first novel in Shauna Lawless's Gael Song trilogy. We delve into our first historical fantasy. We explore the key themes, the historically accurate plot and how the history drives the plot, and our two main characters, one who experiences a journey of enlightenment and the other who is firmly set in her ways.

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Sam and Dan review The Great When, by legendary writer, Alan Moore.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening.

The Great When is the first novel in Alan Moore's planned series titled 'The London Quintet'. We get into the various plot strands that are introduced and tied off throughout. We discuss our main protagonist, Dennis Knuckleyard, along with some of the prominent side characters. And we discuss Alan Moore's incredibly abstract world-building and his depiction of a post World War Two London.

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Sam and Dan are joined on the podcast by self-published author, Dan Hanly, to discuss his debut novel, The Great Leap (book 1 in the Children of Innauron series).

SPOILER ALERT: While we try to avoid spoilers, the interview inevitably refers to events that occur throughout the book.

We ask Dan all about his thinking behind the world, characters and plot in The Great Leap, along with trying to tease out some of his thinking on the rest of the series. We also cover Dan's writing philosophy and the experience of being a self-published fantasy author.

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains references to potentially triggering adult themes contained within the book.

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Sam and Dan wrap up the discussion of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening.

Now that we have finished the book, we discuss our feelings on its conclusion, including whether it was in fact a conclusion at all. We get into what we thought of the character development in our two protagonists, Nahri and Ali, as well as the severely problematic romance with alleged war-criminal Dara. Finally, we discuss whether we plan on continuing with this trilogy.

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Sam and Dan discuss chapter 10 - 19 of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening.

We still can't really figure out where this story is heading. We're not sure who our main antagonist is supposed to be. And in some cases, we don't know if we're supposed to particularly like our main characters. In spite of all of that, we talk through the issues and make some guesses on where the City of Brass is going to end up.

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Sam and Dan discuss chapter 1 - 9 of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass, book one of the Daevabad Trilogy.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading the chapters we're covering before listening.

We discuss our first impressions of our two protagonists, Nahri and Ali, as well as what we think of the magical Djinn world that exists behind a veil within the recognisable 18th century real world. We try to figure out who our antagonist is and what direction this story is heading and, as alway, we try to make some predictions, which are largely just stabs in the dark!

Join in the conversation by following us on social media @EscapistsAnonymousPod.