 We're live. Hello, everyone. Hello. We are here today to discuss the winter of the witch. Oh, hang on. Let me grab mine as well. Now Riley's gonna be joining us in a bit, but I am nervous because I know I'm about to be outnumbered for the start of this. So, yeah, I'm a bit nervous. By the way, to anyone watching, I reckon that we're just going to be like spoilery from the beginning because we can't really not be like, I feel like at this point in the series, like, we're just going to be spoilery. So if you haven't read it and you don't want to be spoiled, don't watch. Hang on. Don't watch. Just get out. But yeah, we're going to be discussing this and let's just get started with our ratings. No, I still gave it five stars. I'm not, I'm not, I would never give anything less. I still loved it. It did feel a bit slower this time. I don't know if that's because I was like rushing to read it. And I feel like I've been all through all I can't speak. For all of the books, I've had the audio book. And like, although it's helped me get through it quicker, I don't actually think I like the audiobooks as much as I enjoy it reading it physically. And so I feel like that's hampered my enjoyment a little bit. I wish I had just read them physically, but like because of time, I read them via the audiobooks as well. But yeah, it's still five stars for me. It's not going to be five stars to these two. Which one in the trilogy is your favorite? I'm very curious. I still think the girl in the tower. I still think the girl in the tower is my favorite. I really love the girl in the tower because I like how it's like contained. Like I feel like it has its own story, whereas sometimes I feel like with middle books, they don't. And they're just a bit like filler, but I feel like it had its own like plot with what's his name? Cassian. That was his name on it. I'm really bad at names. Yeah. No. Yeah, Cassian. Wait, no. I wish I was calling Cassidy. I know who you're talking about. It's that dude. Yeah, that dude. Anyway, but yeah, I feel the number two is my favorite. So let's get into what you guys wrote it. I'm still hoping Riley rated it. I don't know what she rated it, but I'm hoping she rated it fairly high, so I'm not on my own. But Nicole, what did you rate it? So I was quite conflicted. I loved the first part of this book. Like it was my favorite. The whole introduction. I felt like the stakes were so high. The whole bit in midnight was like my favorite. And then it just like, so that was like a four and then it just went progressively downhill and was a two in the end. Sorry, Nick. Okay, that's fine. By the way, anyone who's watching this read it, put your rating in the comments as well. Aaron. I gave this one a surprising three stars. This is my favorite in the series. Actually, this is my least favorite. And there are some significant reasons why first this is the first one I read completely physically. I listen to the first on audio and I do not actually think I would recommend these audio books for people to enjoy the story. I feel like maybe if you're reading it, maybe the audio books are cool. But I do think they take away from my enjoyment a lot. Also, I feel like this one actually had a plot. There was a lot throughout the whole story. I feel like that's when I was messing the cause of that had a lot more agency in this book. She was a lot more assertive. And the set honestly not being a mouse out was like the best when she was in the lake. In the forest with the little, oh my God, the little mushroom. Yeah. That whole part of the story was so good. Honestly, this could have been a four star read if it didn't get a little convoluted in the middle. Because I feel like I understand not me going into like all the other stuff. But I understood what the thing with the bear happened. But that was kind of what we were building up to. And it was resolved very quickly. Yeah. Secondary plot, which I thought this was the main plot, but okay. That was my main issue. Especially like Constantine. I felt like we'll be leading up to him from the book one. And then that was over like two seconds. That was and then the whole tartar thing I did not care about. So that was where my enjoyment like really did. Because up until that point, it was about a three or four. Yeah. I read in the in like the acknowledgements. Catherine Arden says like, because that like mirrors a real battle. The battle at the end, like history. And she was like, I always knew I wanted it to end at that. And I feel like because she always wanted to end at that. Like it almost like felt a bit. It does feel a bit disjointed from the rest of the series for it to end there. I think so I get what you mean. So we see what did everyone else rate it? 3.5. Five stars, two or three. That's okay. Don't worry. I won't hate you. The last because his favorite. I gave it five stars. My favorite in the series. Okay. So like a mixed back. Oh, 4.5. Okay. That's pretty good. I saw. I saw that too. I remember when we were in the last live show, I was like, I'm so excited for some new characters. And I said mushroom. And everyone was like, what the fuck? And I was like, oh my God. It's so cute. Imagine him like like a pop of smoke. And like, would she hit him with a thing? He's so dramatic. Okay. I feel like we've got so many different things to discuss. I don't really know where to start like so many different aspects of the book and how all the different parts like ended up. We've got two comments here about the bear in this book. Do we want to talk about the bear? Because I do actually feel like he became like more of an interesting character in this book. Like when, but like, I feel like we're getting right into the end of the book. But like when, when he became like in servitude to Vassia, like we got to see a lot more of his like sarcasm and comments. And I don't know, I quite enjoyed him in this book. What did you, what did you guys think? I feel like I was kind of positioned as like the villain character. But as we got to know him more, I feel like he actually became more complex because he really is a chaos spirit. And then really was like his overall goal the whole time was to inspire chaos. Not necessarily to like destroy everything, but destruction brings chaos. And I think we were able to see that as the story progressed, because even when he was on her side, he was like, you know, this is like a little bit of chaos, even in these vows and all this other stuff. And it was, it was fun because he was unexpected, like a lot of characters he can kind of predict. For example, if you talk about Morosko, but most of all you kind of predict what he would do based on the stoic spirit he was versus like the bear was shocking me. Left and right. Yeah. Vampire thing. I was like, what? I just knew it was going to be something else, but I didn't expect it to be a vampire. But we had them in the first bit, didn't we? Yeah. You know, once I was like, I want to just bring about destruction. I didn't see vampires as like. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was really interesting when we saw him like more constantane. I think that's when you really started to say that like he has more complexity to him. And I was like totally expecting this to lead up to like a showdown between the two twins. Like that didn't happen. No. So it was really interesting how they kind of end up having just sort of live like side by side in the world, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think I quite enjoyed that how they kind of like end up begrudgingly accepting each other's existence and like just having to kind of live with it. It would definitely, I definitely, it wasn't where I saw the series going when I read it the first time. Like the whole, the chatty wanting them to like wanting Vasya to unite everyone and to like not carry on this like centuries old war. I never saw that coming because like the whole series, it does feel like it's leading up to like this big battle between them when I get more like a push to unite them. More than anything. Because the twins are parts of the same whole essentially or they're supposed to be because one is two seasons, one is other two seasons and like you can't have one really without the other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What did we think? I don't even know what to talk about. There's so many things I want to talk about. Okay. I'm going to go back to the start. I'm going to try and work my way like a bit more chronologically. What did you think of like the land of midnight and Baba Yaga and all of that part? Like was that your favorite part? I loved it. That was like high four stars, that whole part I loved. When she was meeting all the little spirits and like it was, that was like the part that I enjoyed about book one. I remember I told you that when we were talking about book two, I missed the little spirits. She was like, she doesn't interact with them as much because she was on her little questy quest. They were so cute and they were like, don't do that. Don't do that. He's going to kill you. And then she like went into the water. I was like, you're not going to kill me today. But I might die right here right now. And I was like, I just love seeing her stand up for herself. I love seeing like the forest and like the spirits and all these things that come together around her to support her. She was like on her last leg. And like the little, the movie or whatever that was in the, you know, it was like her, she always kind of went back to her childhood. And like, she's a put in the bread and a thing and like giving her blood to them. And just a little bit of thing you're going to do for us. And they did so much for her. The, the water was just throwing fish at her like, here, eat girl. I love that part so much in her meeting her and her Nan. Was Bobby Yaga like, her dad being the sea king. You know, I was like, what was I going to say? So what do you think like caused Vassia to like suddenly be much more assertive in this book? Like I was thinking, do you think it's more losing Solovee or do you think it's more like almost dying in the fire? Like what do you think meant? Cause I feel like it's quite a big shift in at the start of this book to her being much more assertive for herself. I think, cause you know how she kept on sort of giving, especially Constantine, I feel the benefit of the day, I think going back and saving them, even those who have done no wrong, they should keep going back and doing the right thing. And I think after the fire, she sort of saw, okay, like it's endgame for me if I keep doing that. You know what I mean? I think that's part of it. Yeah. I stepped into her like full witchiness with this. Remember, she's like, you know, I'm not burning here today. And there's a lot of, I feel like a lot of times she was fighting with her nature, fighting like she would be okay with a little bit of it. But because she was so shamed by, but she's like, even me trying to be helpful, everything that she did was to be, was to be helpful. Even her mistakes and you know, trying to fix them and rectify them was to be helpful. And like these people just like rose up against her. And it's just like, y'all would take my life. I mean, no matter how much I'm trying to help you. But my magic does not let me down. These people don't let me down. And it was like, I guess when you got to the point where people wanted to burn, literally bring you alive. And you've been just trying to help them. Well, there's no whole part then it's like, well, now she's like, had enough. She's been completely fed up. And it has a completely embraced who she is leaning into that. And it's okay with being shunned by our community because she's already gone as far as they're willing to go. Yeah. I love, I love this comment. I'm not going to be running along to claim my place in the Royal Family the second I had, I was descending from the sea king. I tell them that I would have never left the forest. I would have had their little war and their little battles. That would have been their business. And I would have stayed with the mushrooms and the fish. And we would have just had a great time. I would attend it to the horses. Yeah. I would have let Russ burn. Yeah. But she's still like, oh, I'm still going to come out and see how everyone is and, you know, travel. I'm like, girl, just stay with the mushrooms. Right. So that's not her. That like, that's kind of sometimes what you're saying, like her assertiveness, like it comes from her actually figuring out how to use her magic. Because I feel like this was the first time we saw her being really in control of her magic and like actually understanding it and like not being, not being afraid of it anymore. And she didn't have anything to do with it. She no longer has Sasha. She no longer has the living. She no longer has the king. She didn't have anything. Yeah. Yeah. I think there was also a part of her up until the, I guess the end of last book that wanted to sort of meet expectations of others. Like she wanted to please her family. She wanted to do the right thing. Whereas like, I think she realized that she, you know, doesn't want it. Like, I mean, she realized that all along, but she wasn't going to conform to it. I feel like Fooley. Her niece kind of really sit her out. Like she saw like what happened there and like seeing, you know, when the guy kidnapped her and all and she's like, she's so much like me. And I think we saw the beginning of the book. She's like, you need to do this. You need to have her still feed this beard. Like this is important. She's to come with me because like she's constantly going to be fighting her own nature. And she won't be happy here. And it was like, you know, she had to survive because like there was Masha to now like see it. She probably won't have kids. But like, you know, her niece is like her in so many ways. It's like, she knows that someone if she doesn't, no one will see about her. Yeah. One of my favorite things about this, this book is like the lineage like, wait, there was a comment. Yeah. Like learning more about the backstory. Like the fact that like, like that like Vavra is her great art and like, Baba Yaga is like her great, like finding out all about that. I just think it's so cool. My book has a family tree. Oh yeah. Mine does too. It's really interesting. I would like the story of how the Wichita Woods and the Seamaster had children. I really like that. I would just like logistically have it. You know, what's he going to do when he finds out what happened to all his kids? His long lost kids that he didn't know he had. It's going to be a revenge story. Let's see. You don't know. You know. It's going to be a revenge story in the making, Catherine. Well, okay. Wait, someone, okay. Thoughts, this isn't, thoughts on Sasha in this book. Does everyone hate him? Oh, really? No. I still love him. I thought he was so insistent. Well, sorry. I felt like Sasha was pretty consistent in this book. Yeah. I love him. What? I really love Sasha. I have like a real, I have like stuff. Him and Dimitri. Like Dimitri is the MVP. Like that moment where he put Sasha in the prison to make sure like, you know, to suss out what's actually going on because he's loyal to Sasha. Yeah. Not to Constantine and everyone else who's plotting. Oh my God. I love Dimitri. Dimitri was my favorite. Not to be a secret incest shipper. Honestly, I was thinking that while reading it, and I kept thinking about our last line when we like figured out that they're related. I was like, damn it. I kept thinking it too. And I was like, no. And I'm like, honestly, because it's the 1400s, the problem wouldn't be that their cousins is that they're both in mid. He was going to face up into the grand prince of Moscow, who finally united all of us. You know? Nope. Well, my question is how... I was just trying to work out how distant cousins they are. I think the second, or third? No, they're her cousins. Because remember, when they were in the camp... Let me get the family tree. When they were in the camp, he was like, oh, it's a wonderful way to get rid of your cousins. Because they already had Vladimir. Now you send us two more of your first cousins. What was someone saying? Ogre and her husband are technically first or second cousins. It was just the deeper part. They're not first cousins. Oh my god. Honestly, I thought we were going to get a little demon shit with the way the bear kept kissing Constantine. True. I don't think so. He was like, go on, boy. Full on mouth. Kisses. He was like, what is this? The demon king going to be with the witch? Is this what we have happening here? Okay, Catherine. Oh, damn. But yeah. Sasha and Janitri, MVPs, we love them. I was so sad, and Sasha, I was so sad. It makes me so sad. It makes me so, I love him. I love Sasha so much. What an icon. Okay, anyway, let's get rid of this. He is based on a real person, like the battle and stuff. His actual name was the name of a historical person. Who did what he did? Oh, wow. That's so cool. TBRCon. Anyway, Catherine was like her story. There was a part of history that she really enjoyed, but there was a lot of missing parts. And so she wanted to figure out, like, what were the things that happened between these historical events, and maybe how these people might have been connected. Because like the thing that Dimitri did, and with hiding, like, pretending to be someone in the battle, like a boy, that really happened. He was the first person who united Russia under this, and he was friends or like partners with this person. And so like, she was like, I'm weaving together his history with fantasy and like pushing this nature together. Yeah. Wow. That's so cool. I love that. I love that. I do love like history and fantasy combined. Like that is probably like my favorite thing. Like I'm a hoe for like Victorian fantasy to get. I just love it. I'm trying to find a Tudor inspired fantasy because I love the Tudor period as well. And I can't find it. I can't find it. And people are like, oh, it has, this book has like little elements, but I'm not talking like, okay, this is, this is a big, I'm going off. But like, it doesn't have to be like set in the real, like it doesn't have to be set in history, but I just want something like of that vibe. But I can't find it. But anyway, that's not important. That's not important. I just really want it in me. I just want to tell you about it. Maybe Catherine will give you one of those next. Because this book came out in the beginning of 2019. She got to be writing something. I think she's almost finished something. I think if I remember. Well, she's got two middle grades out as well since this. And I've read one of them. They're quite good. They're like horror middle grade. They're quite good. Well, I haven't read the first one, but I think like she's got like another book coming soon. I think I'll leave the link to that video because the video was about history and fantasy and I think all those people have like very like historical based fantasies. I think there's other maybe that was talking then I think she might have something maybe that might be up your house. Okay. I just love it. I was just going on. Hang on. I'm not making any sense. I was just going on her Twitter to see if she was talking about what was out next Okay. I don't know what to talk about next. Let me look at that. I have a question for you guys. Who do you find the scariest like out of all like the men and all the villains who did you find the most terrifying because I found it to be Constantine. I thought he was so threatening the whole time. Yeah, but he's also a bit pathetic like at the same time. Yeah. He's always how he can use up to influence others. Yeah. I think you really get to see the beginning of this book. We reminded him of the Prophet. Yes. You reminded him of what? The Prophet from the Year of the Witching and it was like especially with the religious fervor where he was able to wrangle them up and like he was lying. He didn't even believe himself. He was not. God isn't even real, but whatever like all these other villains they have power to do things with like he is a regular, regular man who is doing a weird scary thing that regular men have done throughout history and weaponizing it against a woman. Yeah. Yeah. I think I would find him the scariest like just most unsettling because I think with like Medved for example like we saw like more dynamism to him like more like nuanced him throughout because he's like because you were saying like how he's like a chaos spirit but like my man Constantine was just unhinged and scarily unhinged and with that oh yeah. He was actually less than half of her. I think that was made it even more disgusting. He was like you're so ugly but I want you. What? She was like 12 years old too like she was so young. Yeah. She thought it from her big eyes and too far apart her nose and her hard lips that she's ugly but I just love to think about her so much I want her so much. But literally all the men thought and thought that and then they still wanted her and it was like she typed that so many different ways like that was a choice big clue how ugly she was. I wonder when she was in like the I think it was like in the Tata 10 and it was like she was ugly but her big eyes like it drew the eye like men noticed her I'm like why? Yeah I thought it was giving me not like other girls and I'm just like I don't mean this she's a witch obviously like other girls was like does she have to be ugly and like the man was like you know I don't want you but I haven't slept next to a woman in a long time Ew I saw I saw on Goodreads like this person saying oh by the end of it I wasn't sure if Constantine was more villain or victim and I'm like he's a villain He's a villain, no question no question Even Dimitri was like I can't get rid of him yet because the people were right literally Yeah I was very unsatisfied with how he ended That's what I was just going to ask I was so unsatisfied The Doma boy who never talked to him and he never talked to them because he was scared of him but the one time with his, we just need for the plot to happen Doma was like hey your blood is the answer Doma was the answer and then he took the blood as the answer Yeah I really wanted Vassia to kill him but then does Vassia never kills anyone does she Yeah no I think I would have loved that but that's what I'm used to I don't think she does I'm trying to think I can't remember a time but I may be wrong I think that's part of her because she ends up sort of saving everyone and she never ends up killing anyone But I just wanted her to kill him or just some other satisfying death like getting the masses to get him somehow like turn on him Oh yeah I didn't necessarily have to be Vassia I just wanted a satisfying scene where it's like yes Yeah Like letting him have the power to like do it himself that annoyed me Yeah And it also helped me I was kind of surprised that we still had like 150 pages after that Yeah Did you have a word count? Did you have a minimum? Because the story was over True What are you saying? Those two scenes could have been more those two parts of the movie I feel like it could have been more one together a lot better because it kind of felt like you know how when a series ends and like an author give you like a little novella or like a little epilogue because like throughout the story like yeah this war was on the brink but that was like a subplot that literally became the entire plot at the end of the book and like I know it was supposed to mirror the unity between the frost king the bear and the frost king the them uniting and then all of the rest uniting I know that was a parallel that she was doing but it was not seamless and it's like execution Yeah Yeah it does feel like two endings like I don't know but I just what I'm thinking is Sasha didn't need to die You guys are wasting with the power of the water and the life and the death but he didn't want to go to any Yeah my man was like listen he said I'm done but all before he's like I have to be here for my sister and he's like if it was any of the foreshadowing later I would regret it Yeah What are you doing? What are you going to do here? Sasha had to get Sylvia back that was the only way because he was like you only could because I can't tell that they're both too stupid to live Nuklai was happy but when Sylvia was back I was like I got a little misty but I was so shocked by how early in the novel he died with the last life we were like we kind of got it out of you that he was going to die and he died like straight away I'm like what? Straight away That had to happen for her to like kind of be brave because she would went when they ate now she was mad about her brother her sister and I but when they hit them that's it and then when I found out Sylvia was just a baby he's like he's still a baby he's a child this is about Constantine I just wanted to see him get his ass beat once I just wanted to see I just wanted to crowd to turn their clubs on him and just like just beat him I know I put like a note in here like he needs to get bitch slapped I was literally just lying his death was not satisfying he got to be more romantic and his lover's arms what? he's like you told me God wasn't real he's like I lied yeah he's like what? okay I was gonna lie too there was a really interesting quote about like faith like there is no God there's only faith I really liked that quote and I like and the authors know how like this actually was the thing that happened where paganism and like Christianity were like living side by side until like they reconfirmed the revolution or whatever because remember when they went back to Olia's house all her little forest creeps were strong because the sisters Denise had been feeding them she was giving out all the presents yeah yeah what did hang on let me see why I want to talk about this we haven't talked about Marosco that's why I was going to say this yeah so we like it firstly oh let me talk about the romance what did you think of like his prison being a place where he was like adored and loved like what did you think of that? it's smart I mean if I trapped you in like a hole in the floor you're gonna all your life you're gonna be like I'm gonna get out of this hole but if I put you in a castle people around you're having a good time good wine, good food and you really want a to leave, you're comfortable it's everything that you want because you want to be remembered and worship and adored or whatever yeah the only thing I didn't like about that part was when we first met up with him and he'd like forgotten everything I just hate memory loss I just wanted one of the most pointless things like you always know they're gonna remember again and it happens like 5 pages later like what is the point but other than that I absolutely loved that like we got to see a side of him that we hadn't really seen before that's been hinted at but we haven't really fully seen and I really appreciate it but I was a bit shook when I first read it I was like you don't remember her when she's like talking to you but you get like like that's what it takes you to remember her I'm like listen like come on remember her when she says please remember me I also thought it was interesting when he was like the bear is bound under three different things but she got to the bear so easy yeah hey Miss Yaira you gonna do it? alright now come on yeah yeah that is funny but um yeah their relationship oh my god when near the end he calls her beloved I was like I had to do as I could oh I did like the whole thing sorry you go no you go no I wasn't going to say anything important I was just going to say how she makes him more mortal and he kept referring to that I loved that yeah he was literally melted but she was like he'd been there for like a day and he's like listen I can't do this no longer and she's like what I'm like listen this man is like fading away in front of you let him go and she's like he had to go talk to her she said I know you wouldn't mind if it was a spirit or whatever I could tell he gave me a fucking I mean you tell him the spirit and then she shows it to her and she's like nah he said this is the most pointless thing ever none of your segments can bind me like what a I'm not a man hey Glee I did love I loved their relationship I just think it's so slow and gradual she talks a lot about how she's felt betrayed by him or in different moments or like their relationship isn't easy I think he teaches her a lot of painful things as well as teaching her love as well so yeah I love their relationship oh my god and also the bit where she started talking to Olga about him they had like a real cute sister sister moment like you know I've been with a man not a man I loved that bit but also like I don't usually like it in emberx when like someone can tell that a character has lost their virginity just like I can just tell I've seen enough times I'm like no you can't no you can't this is where you walk and you're present what oh it was the different one in the state that was the different you shouldn't have said everything you weren't around the kingdom yeah I was like what was I saying it doesn't make you so oh my god I just love thinking of them like in like a little cottage in the woods together with the horses and the mushroom and like oh my god he was no precious he said remember that I was first and when he was like what did he say he said like when she called him back he was like the comic relief like it was like it was so heavy but he's like little bits and when she asked for some time mushroom he was like yeah I got you and then he just brought it she's like he's gonna kill me but you're souring all the booze he's like yeah let me do it and he's like even though you don't have mushrooms where you're from because it's too cold it was so precious like I would love to see that adapt just because I want to see these little mushrooms but then it's like in the book it was like he looks like a little like small man and I'm like then that kind of from where I imagined him was like like a curled up little thing but then you just got to imagine him as like a cute animated mushroom and then he glowed green and then he goes away and he's like how did you all picture Mariska because I'm not gonna lie I'm picturing the Night King from Game of Thrones no I mean when you think of winter frost demon spirit come on he fits wait what's the I haven't seen the game of thrones hang on google then he's not attractive hang on I'm gonna I'm gonna get of him up yeah we looked at Fender in the first live that was in the first live yeah yeah yeah wait oh my god my guy hang on wait okay I'll share my screen share screen let me have a good day we're ugly together no my man he's really attractive that's not very good one there but like that leaves me Night King lives that's how I pictured him people never draw vassia ugly as well I'm like listen hmm she looks so pretty there she's never that clean huh she's never that clean no oh wait is this that's constantly wow oh I love this one that's amazing I like that a lot because like there's an accuracy would you tell him you trust me I'm a dad you're the eye and you'll be in darkness forever I feel like you know so why won't I have no short hair pictures yeah exactly I think I also pictured him like an older version of like Jack Frost have you seen that um animated movie I can't remember what it is yeah it's so weird isn't it we're in the screen we're in the screen huh I was like hoping that she would go back to like is she even talking about like Alosha and like I wanted to see him again because he was such like a big part of the first book she's like hi guys send Marsha to our brother he'll know what to do because he was here when I was a child yeah oh I missed him I wish we could have like popped it or I feel like we need like uh if we ever have a short novella I would like to see how he's doing um hang on yeah yeah I want to know how he's doing I love Alosha oh my god I love him so much he's probably married by now he might have a kid you know I can't imagine that he feels like uh this voice dress was nearly like 14 that's true but I feel like guys are usually married off like a bit and there's like no one even for him to like marry him or like to like marry the house now yes he gets to choose that's dead that's his house he gotta have a wife for mom it's gonna be 2.0 oh oh dear is there anything else that we should if anyone in the who's watching in the comments you want us to chat about that we haven't already um something I would like to bring up this is one of my critiques I didn't feel like there was always consequences like I feel like not consequences but I feel like aftermath of things weren't really drawn out so like after the whole constant thing that we were kind of just onto the next conflict yeah and this was where kind of my issue was I felt like we'll just check like ticking off all those different conflicts not necessarily like having like some of them there was a lot of investment and then some of them there wasn't like I personally didn't find any investment in the whole thing you know that's what yeah up to but there was so much investing in Constantine than so little aftermath because we were just onto the next thing and I felt like even from the second book we were sort of doing that because we had the Cassian Cassidy you know that dude and it just felt like so the same thing and we're taking it off so I'm kind of curious to see what people think about I feel like that has to do with like the size and this will even need to be like 150 pages shorter or needed to be 150 pages longer because if it was shorter we would have cut out the whole tartar thing and like it would have been a short conclusion but like the thing with the bear and all that like that would have had a bit more impact with that ending because that was the end of like overarching kind of plot the subplot of them like uniting I didn't even see that riddle so when she was like you failed I mean understand how she'd failed yeah because she was trying to do so many things and so few pages like there were so many battles and it was like dun dun dun dun like thing after thing after thing that it needed to be longer and have more time to flesh all the elements out and for it to have more impact shorter so that fewer other things could have been done yeah I guess I always felt like the pace was dictated by like like in war time you don't have time to like sit and reflect on like oh this person's died or whatever like I feel like it was the momentum was carried along by necessity like shit just had to get done and so there wasn't necessarily time but like the consequences to fully um happen I guess like in a way that it would normally but um I did get what you mean but I feel like in my head I was just like oh well out of necessity out of like outside forces shit's just gonna carry on moving um but yeah and it didn't bother me like um until the constantane thing just like when something leads up to it I just you know I want I want to feel satisfied and I want to see like consequences and when that happened I sort of always always never really get that for anything in here and it just kind of puts on even like after the Tata thing like we literally end there and we don't see the aftermath like I mean that might just be my preference as a radar um but yeah yeah I was just saying how Sasha died like all really because Celebrity Celebrity whoever was dead and then he was like not dead for one final I think he like stabbed him and then like he like I was like adrenaline was like whoo and then he was like ah shit because he realized he'd been stabbed I guess Sasha is the best warrior I've got in this whole army the monk was an interesting choice and I'm like I don't think there's anything violent how Sasha did this great warrior in a monk the whole time okay but that again goes to the um acknowledgments like she always knew Sasha was gonna do that because he's based on a historical figure and I'm like historical figure did he die too right there yeah oh that was unfortunate I don't know if he died exactly like that but he if you he definitely died like right after being like winning that fight I would have rather been like you know what he thought he was okay like all the like um wounds together like they told him so after it like they were like fine things haven't settled and they had to like saw quiet death in the forest like that that would have made more sense than me or like I would have enjoyed that I think a little bit more because it just didn't seem as realistic that he done all this and like you know all that and then he was like I love how you're acting out yeah you want to go holy like you're soul my soul all that's you've seen today was from um okay what about this one least favorite character I don't know what is this well I mean constantly because I hate him not because he's the worst character I just hate him um and I think like we were saying he resembles so many men throughout history and so many men that like still exist that yeah probably my I mean like it's like is your least favorite character someone you hate but you like kind of enjoy hating or is it like a character you don't think is like that good of a character I try to think you know who I think was so random the cell cell of he's probably him yeah because he was like kind of in book two wasn't he he was on yeah he was really yeah because he was he just seemed so irrelevant and then he just had this like suddenly sort of important role and I was like yeah was pain mm-hmm um okay favorite these favorite scenes I don't know the whole mid-light section my favorite like hands down probably same I think it was my favorite when she went to go like find food in the forest and then like she met all those little animals and uh that or also the little mom is with her and uh show her whatever her name was the like flame horse when she finally they started to get along and she's like they made me come to you right you need me he's also just like mm-hmm there's like massive important holes being like the mushroom told me to come so I'm here I I there were just to be honest there were a few scenes I feel like just in between that slowed the pace down so I can't like name them specifically but they were just scenes where like people talk and like we're gonna go do this now and like discuss it do you know what I mean and it kind of slows the pace down so like they were probably like my least favorite scenes but they're not really like scenes in their own in their own right necessarily but um yeah I would say like the part in midnight was like my favorite scene I think it's so cool as well like how every couple of steps she's like in a different place in a different environment like I thought that was so interesting as well like the idea of it's like a patchwork quilt of like an area with like you know you're walking in between lands and stuff and how times were so frozen because it's like always midnight I really liked that yeah yeah um um what was it one oh sorry we haven't all answered sorry I'm carrying on Nicole have you answered or you have um midnight oh yeah I think the tartar bit was probably my least favorite or Constantine dying just because that's so disappointing and then by the tartar bit I was like not interested I was like what but just having another thing that you know we're gonna leave the result I'm not interested oh my god are you okay I was about to sneeze but I lost it oh no I hate that oh my god I'm so sorry if I sneeze at any point I'm sorry okay I think we're good oh my god do you know my allergies have been so bad recently I could just stand there on the verge of a sneeze for like 15 seconds before I sneeze it's so painful oh my god I hate it wait can you talk about something else I need to blow my nose I'm gonna mute myself I think my least favorite scene was when they had like got together and they were going back to Moscow the whole sequence was very unnecessary when they were like in the wheat for field and like the thing had attacked them like this is like this is unnecessary we had traveled through worlds in time and like a sentence we can just travel back to Moscow yeah right now I just go to that because the way that we use time we don't have to do this we can just go right on the walk into the city I remember a bit I really liked the bit where like Morozko and Sasha like sort of finally formally meet and they like butt pits yeah I love that my brother in my spirit man what was one element you wish was introduced earlier don't laugh I don't want to hear that earlier in the series imagine I don't agree I really liked the first book that was my favorite out of the trilogy I don't know because I really see it because I liked book one so much I was satisfied with what we got in that and I was like prepared for everything to be expanded upon but because my enjoyment went down with each book I feel like I can't answer this question maybe the reverse what do you think was element of book one that you would have liked to see continue on throughout the series because why'd you put me on the spotlight there yeah thinking I think what book one did really well was there was a lot less conflicts and I think the containers contained element of the story really worked well but I don't know I'm going to think on that I don't have a full answer for you I do love the containment of that first book like how small it is and like I don't have another word like containment or small but like how I don't know I feel like you are disagreeing with me on this Aaron but I feel like book one actually has the best plot like in terms of like I do I feel like it has I agree I feel like that wasn't book one so maybe I can't agree or disagree because I don't recall there being one I feel like that's the best book structure whereas I feel like with this book I felt like the constantain bit was like the climax and then we still had 150 pages and we were like where are we going like I just kind of felt like it was a bit convoluted I guess but yeah I agree I think book one was the best structured yeah sorry I should side effect for my witness well I didn't like the actual side effect of the magic because only women can use the magic and the side effect is going crazy so like the crazy women thing just was a bit easy for me I guess like there could be a lot of consequences of using the magic like even if it was like losing her humanity which isn't necessarily the same it's going crazy or like not being able to control it or like something but just you're going to go mad and I'm like okay hmm I guess it's a real type I think this answers my and for the previous question magic I think I would have liked more magic to be introduced earlier yeah but I don't and I just like magic yeah I feel like this series does grow well like there's like an expansion of the magic a bit in each book and there's also an expansion of the place like book one is so contained and then book two we go into the city and then in book three we kind of like access this world beyond our worlds like I feel like it does grow well but I also think we can see like if magic if some is something that you like enjoy then book two I think is like really lacking in that a bit something you enjoy which I found from the I mean Baba Yaga's great granddaughter like she's just this amazing witchy person and like if it was a life or death circumstances I don't know she's had many life and death circumstances in three books yeah I think that like with what I thought was interesting about the magic was like the idea of like having to forget like I know you say you're like memory loss but like remember like how Vasya was like in order for something to happen I just have to forget it's not the way it was so like if you wanted to set something on fire I have to forget they're not on fire and like I just thought I was an interesting element of it because I've never really read that before in terms of like how it works I guess like it is alright yeah but it being like it being rather than like oh I want to set that thing on fire you have to like almost do the opposite you have to like forget that that's not the case um so I thought that was interesting but yeah oh about this one do you wish Constantine came in later in the stories of Illyn or are you happy he existed as a dealer antagonist for most of the series cool no Constantine at all for me because he was in the first book like a very creepy disgusting man that he was lusting after this like little girl and like being weird and then we thought he all died and then look at the second book and then he magically appears there too and just so happens to be the guy that Sasha rescued and then just so happens to be the man that Olga nurse break the hell who didn't kill her baby he was just so convinced like certain things were like there was something missing so like plug in Constantine his art was like that consistent yeah he was an unnecessary character for the most part for me really I don't think he was unnecessary I think he made the other villains unnecessary like that Cassie and guy and then yeah till someone else I think what I thought originally was going to happen in this series was Constantine was going to get defeated at the end of the girl in the tower and then this last book was going to be about Mehved but because it didn't end up being Mehved being like a villain that didn't really happen um but no I feel like he should have been more in book two actually because I felt like that was the set up yeah he did go a bit missing in book two and how is it being this book missing a bit here and all that Jochen defeated a priest now that's just the balance you work out for me Jochen do all this magical forest animals and summon the snow all of it like you cannot depose a priest yeah I don't know I quite enjoyed him like just existing in the background does this like creepy guy who I don't know I quite enjoyed that of him like it was saying he represents like so many real men in history that especially in terms of like witches whenever you hear about witches and you know the witch trials and then being burned he like represents so many people who were involved in that in those killings I kind of think he's necessary for the story yeah I don't necessarily like his placement though all he's like how often or how like I don't know I think that was a bit it was like the way they acted like he was the only priest I must get the only one the whole city but that's his power and I think that's what's really scary is because he's really attractive he's got like this voice that everyone listens to like he's charming and I think that's what makes him really scary yeah movies I don't know that it would be a good TV show oh yeah the trilogy of movies would be awesome hmm or even like a mini series but like I feel like this would not work like you can't drag this out for so long it's not always only so much you can do with it yeah I agree I don't think it could be like well I don't know maybe you could do it as like a one season kind of thing but I don't think it could be like three series like it could be three movies it couldn't be three series I don't think I do think I would read another book in this world if it like was what happened in the aftermath I always enjoy aftermath stories or like when she goes back to the forest like she's just strictly in midnight and she's rebuilding it and like reestablishing these relationships and like connecting the winter and the spring like all these things I would read that I don't need all the like grand Moscow all that like just stay in rust in in midnight with the lady of the lake with your knees like and like be happy that I would read that I don't need no I'd love to see I would love to see her niece like in midnight and like how she is I'd love to maybe see her like grown up your time jump or something yeah yeah I'd really like just that and like how she has like come into her power and like all of that I really like that did you guys hate Olga as much in this book no I really liked her oh okay cause it's like you hate your time in the last book didn't you I do think Riley and Aaron dude she was not being a good sister she's been a hater at this point she just accepted that life was as it was and she was letting a girl get a people bread and she's like alright well I can't run from this reality also her husband never mentioned her which I thought was so odd in all the time like I didn't realize that he was their cousin through like marriage I didn't connect it to it that was Olga's husband until like they literally said it was Olga's husband because yeah there was nothing we had never seen them together like yeah he didn't seem like anybody's husband or dad no no no nothing he didn't even know he had a new kid that he didn't have a new kid yeah yeah I remember when Vasya rescues him he's like who are you she's like I'm your wife's younger sister I'm like he must be saying why is my wife never told me she has a younger sister like this I'm going to want the book well let's see what's coming if they have one season where it's book one but she escapes to midnight at the end to live out life as Babayaga's ex boring magic and stuff and they're going to meet the sea king I want to meet the sea king there could be a whole trilogy about like the things going on with the sea king and I'm sure he got a thing going on in his world yeah oh my god I want to know more about the sea king like who is he even like a prequel series where Babayaga meets the sea king and then the star goes to her daughters I would like to see it so how did Vavara live so long but her mom like Vasya's mom died so young because she's in midnight oh no out in the world well maybe I mentioned it yeah I don't know maybe it's because like her mother died in childbirth so like but maybe Vavara like hasn't encountered hasn't done anything that made her die do you know what I mean maybe someone like tried to like if you went up and stabbed her maybe she'd die but like otherwise she's just going to carry a living maybe I might be wondering incorrectly but I remember her saying sort of something like she came more alive when or more water when Olga came and she got to look after her so I thought it was sort of something like Maroskoe how he sort of disappears a bit and then comes back and because Vavara is originally from midnight I think that's why it happens isn't she doesn't have any power the mum was born in the world not in midnight I can see that yeah that's what I thought but I don't know if I've just made that up I mean that would be the theory if it was the case but I feel like Miss Catherine don't know either yeah I feel like no but I don't mind there's some things that aren't explained and that's just the way things are I don't mind that like I can live with that if it's like done well you can interpret how you want as well and sort of make connections or excuses where it works yeah okay is there anything else we want to discuss or should we wrap it up I can't really think of anything else I feel like we've done it all I feel like we've done it all thank you very much oh so we we're going to say what are you going to say should we say our least favorite book in the series oh yeah okay okay I feel like for me this one is my least favorite then the Berlin Latin girl then the girl in the tower for me okay Nicole my favorite is the Baron tower my least favorite which one is that Baron the tower forgive me it's only you I'm still buffering even though I've been here for an hour I'm very excited to get Alice number one it's what I just said and then the girl in the tower I got confused that's why I combined them and then this one was my least favorite as well um winter the witch is the best and then book one and book two are equally bad for me for different reasons I feel like because you read them back to back you just have this experience of them that's like you know the same nothing happened here we just frowned on the forest nothing happened here we just all I really enjoyed book one I thought that was a very solid book I'm going to stand by that so I feel like the audiobook have a G though as well like the audiobook I didn't really like them I don't think and I can't tell you why but and my screen rate is as I was reading it I was reading it in a Russian accent in my brain and it was terrible but it was like I couldn't help it because all the words that I'd seen like I'd listened to them be pronounced in this like Russian accent also I think maybe that was a bad choice but then they read it does so as I was reading it I was like laughing to myself because like look at this is my own brain making these sounds was whoa I think there's something about this story that it's like it's just more magical if you're in control of how it's narrated and like how it's said do you know what I mean like I feel like having someone else say it it was nice for a reread but I also think yeah I don't think I think it's better to read it physically probably someone's like we hear the Russian accent yeah in my brain forever yeah oh dear okay well thank you both for joining me to read this series and to making yourself read all these books when you were never done anyway is there anything either of you want to go promote about your channels before we go anything no anyone no we've got things coming but you know oh yeah yeah okay yeah thank you everyone for joining us for this read along it's been so much fun and I don't know what else to say that's it thank you I'm so bad thank you for hosting I'm having us alone in this season in the cold yeah just from the cold it's the other way around sorry it's been a weird summer though like it's raining right now we've had it's been a colder summer than usual so I did get some of the vibes it was a weird summer because she was reading these books and now all of us really has to suffer yeah maybe there's something called oh dear okay I'm gonna end the broadcast thank you everyone and we'll see you soon okay bye