cassandra clare

Ben and Nate are joined by Amy and Chantelle of Uncited: An English Lit podcast to discuss a masterpiece of the English literary canon: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. 

Please check out our guest's podcast over at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncited/

You can reach them on Twitter at 
https://twitter.com/UncitedPod/

And on Instagram at 
https://www.instagram.com/uncitedpod/

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Buy the Books - https://bookshop.org/shop/wabpod

**Content Warning** In this episode, we discuss novels with a variety of themes, including domestic abuse, incest, rape, sexual assault/harassment, and toxic relationships. Please be advised if these topics may be triggering to you. 

The bookworms are back, and this time they are discussing romances that make or break books. First, though, Marissa and Megan review the books they've read in the past two weeks, including The Poppy Wars by R. F. Kuang, Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen, Elizabeth Lim's Spin the Dawn, and others.

Next, the two avid readers dive into the question of the podcast: can romance make or break a novel? Marissa starts off by explaining her own take on this question and how it lends to her reading experience. From there, the readers bring up a variety of books from Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass, Morgan Rhodes' The Falling Kingdoms, George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, Cora Carmack's Roar, and others. Then, we move on to common romance tropes that ruin (or make!) a novel for us, including Accidental Pregnancies, A Love Interest Cures Trauma, and others.

From there, we wrap it up by discussing what books we're looking to read next, and we finish it off by drawing our next podcast topic.

Want your question featured on our podcast? DM us your question on Insta and we'll add it to the book jar. 

We talk in detail about most of the books in this episode, but definitely expect spoilers for: 

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
• Sabriel by Garth Nix
• Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs

It's party time in Deadline City. A *monster mash* if you will. This week we have two powerhouse authors stopping by: Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. Cassandra Clare is the creator of the Shadowhunters universe and Holly Black is the author of over a dozen books, most recently The Folk of the Air trilogy. As a duo, they're the co-authors of The Magisterium Series. With expansive worlds, deliciously bad characters, and morally complex anti-heroes, we couldn't wait to have a candid conversation about writing monsters, villains, good guys, and everyone in between. 

It's that time of year again... when your brain is mush from all the reading you've been trying to stuff into the last few days of the year, because you haven't quite come to terms with the fact that you won't reach your reading goal for this year and that good habit you tried to pick up last, oh, what, a month or two, and you're too ashamed to even admit your shame to yourself.

Sound familiar? It's okay. It happens. 

But, hey. We made it through this year. Good for us.

And in celebration, we're learning from our #nopressure2020 and going into 2021 with wherever reading takes us.

Happy new year, good bye 2020, and go read. 

Oh, and we made a reading challenge for 2021!

As we near the end of September and the air begins to gain that familiar chill of autumn, our YA book month is heating right the fuck up!

This #HumpDay we are reading the horny af, 2007 classic, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, the first in the Mortal Instruments series!

*Stefon Voice* This episode has everything: 

A clutch two minute synopsis
Mae Whitman worship
A woman protangonist
Demons & demon hunters
Dated gender roles 
Werewolves 
Cucumber sandwich shaming
A traitorous twist 
And a Star Wars

What's a Star Wars you ask? Well it's when your two main characters have a steamy (debatable) romance only to find out they're brother and sister!

Listen to us work through the traumatic joy of this week's read, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare(y)!

Briana and Maddy discover that they are secretly part of another world filled with demons, angles, and human/demon/angel crossbreeds. In spite of fighting with and killing actual demons, both Maddy and Briana struggle to accept the existence of the demons and their world. Follow the two of them as they discuss the over sexualisation of female protagonists in film and television, the representation of homosexuals in the supernatural world, and farting. Yes, farting.

Because hanging out listening to us talk is the best half hour of your week, we've gone free form again! Geek Herring and Chill is just that, time to sit back, relax, and listen to us ramble on. This week, we really do just ramble on about what we've been up to in our lives!

Have you read The Mortal Instruments by Cassanda Clare? Amanda's just started them! After listening to her friends obsess about them for years, she's finally got stuck in.. and let's just say she is STUCK. IN.

But this actually brings up an interesting topic! So you know in most books, there's a BIG BAD GUY. And that big bad guy is usually, well, A GUY? Voldemort, Valentine, Sauron... you know what we're talking about. Is there a fantasy series with a big bad gal? We can't think of one, so let us know!

What we did come up with?
 Disney villains are more often than not women.
 Cersei from Game of Thrones is definitely evil, but is she BIG BAD GUY evil? 

What else did we chill with? Well, you're just gonna have to listen and find out!

Oh, PS. Leave us a comment wherever you see this episode if you're #TeamChillinIllinKillin or #TeamLame!

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please check out some of our others!

• Geeking Out About Halloween: Costumes, Movies, and Cultural Appropriation
• Geeking Out About Disney+: Star Wars, Marvel, The Simpsons, & 90s Feminist Cartoons
• Geeking Out About Game Of Thrones

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Geekily yours,
 Amanda & Monika

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The Second Batgirl – or magoo42 as you might know her – joins us to talk about early 2000s Harry Potter fanfiction boards, being caught in the middle of fandom drama, and her role in the MsScribe saga. Our lives will never be the same. Or at least our views of early 2000s Harry Potter fandom. Either one.

Read the MsScribe saga here

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