 And we're live here to rant. I mean, talk about make it empire by Harry Goodkind. It's a chunky book. It's a long book. It's longer than, it's not longer than some of the stone of tears, I think is the longest. Luckily, because they're like, luckily, I was going to say, luckily, that's more than I like best. So for it to be the longest, thank goodness I'm enjoying it. But yeah, this one is on the longest. Like soul of the fire is definitely on the shorter side. And this is a little longer side. So hello. Hello, everybody. Hey, Jessica. Hello. Hello. Nice. I'm sorry I had to work late, though. I have not had dinner yet. But I was just telling Bethany I went to the store and they had the new Dream World Coca-Cola. So I decided to try it. And I think I was just on the cusp of figuring out what it tastes like. I think it tastes like, have you had those ice drinks? Like the, like, it's not like iced, but you know, it's called ice, you know, those drinks? I have never tried them. Yeah, I've never tried them. Okay, well, the one that tastes, it's not called tropical, but it's like a tropical thing. It's like orange passion fruit or something like that. Like the like orange one that looks tropical. Okay. That's kind of what this tastes like. Weird. That's interesting. And having corn dogs, you can still taste. That sounds good. Instead of too late reading your new release book, what new release book? She can't just say that. No, I'm not talking about icees. I'm talking about ice. Not icy. It's like one of those like vitamin water drinks or something or whatever, you know? It's not vitamin water, but it's like, I feel like they shelve it next to- Well, they're all sugar-free. And then like the ones in the bottles are just sugar-free. And then the ones in the cans have caffeine in them. Trister. There you go. Okay. Well, is it orange mango? Well, whatever it is, that's what this tastes like. It also has caffeine in it, so I'll be up all night. Okay, so at least it's a small can. They only have the small cans. I did not choose to look like a giant. Okay, well, I was not expecting that, but I'm glad you're enjoying that. Okay, so you and I both hated Naked Empire. Let's just start there. Yeah. When I was reading it, I was like, did you, when you read it where you were like, oh yeah, I did read this one or were you like, no, I didn't read this one? I'm not, I don't know. Because like quickly, like when I was reading, I was like, oh yeah, that's why I stopped. I was like, that's why this is the last one that I read. Yeah, I don't think I, or if I did, I don't think I got very far with it. Like I don't have much memory of this plot, basically is what I'm saying. Like it's not very familiar. Well, I definitely remembered reading all of it. The two things, one of which is kind of spoilery, but I don't think anyone should care because this book sucks. The two things that like, when I thought of this book all these years later, when I was like, what's Naked Empire about? In my mind, I was like, Jensen's claustrophobia and Richard stops being a vegetarian. Those are the two things that I remembered about this book. Oh, I hated it a lot. That's so funny, Jessica. You guys hated it, but didn't mind it the first time. Okay. I think the first time I read it, like I think, I mean, I think that's why I stopped because I disliked it, but I didn't remember disliking it as much as I disliked it now. I think I remember thinking then that I was like, this is getting kind of old. Like I feel like you're just like reaching for plots at this point. And like it didn't, I wasn't so keyed into how preachy it was. Like it was, but I was like less thinking about it being preachy and thinking more just like, I don't think, I think you've run out of stories and that you're just like, trying to make up a reason to have a story. And like, there is some of that, but it's not that he's run out of story. It's that he's making up a story just to be a vehicle for the whole box thing. Just to be a vehicle for. And it's a thing, I think what bothers me so much about it too is, it's preachy about something that doesn't easily make sense in this fantasy context. You know what I mean? I'm like, it's, I mean, it's essentially like railing against like community governance and rehabilitating criminals. That's like basically what the whole book is about. I'm like, oh my God, okay. Yeah. Well, it's also like, okay. So that is what it's about, but it's also it's just like beating a dead horse because like I started skimming because I was like the littlest thing would happen and off we go with some more soap boxing. And it's just repeating itself. It's just saying the same thing over and over and over again. And I'm like, you've made your point and your point would have been stronger if you stopped making it like 100 pages ago. Yeah. I just felt like it was absurd. I disagreed with it and I didn't think it made sense. Also, I couldn't get the past, past the fact that Richard does some horrible things that I couldn't just ignore in this book too. I mean like. Having Chase back was the only good thing. Chase and that Rachel. Yeah. And Katelyn did nothing. Like she was there, but like she did nothing the whole book basically. Yeah. I mean, it's also at this point, like not that this is the first time he's preached or that the first time that he's had Richard do some preaching, but at this point it no longer reads to me like Richard. Like it reads to me like suddenly Richard's body was possessed by the ghost of Terry Goodkind who was like, I got some thoughts. Like it doesn't, I was like, this isn't Richard. Like this isn't Richard. Mm-hmm. Well, not to mention the moment where because there are a group of like innocent civilians. The straw man of truth. Yeah. Oh my God. Because there's like a group of innocent civilians protesting, his response is to just like kill a bunch of them like women and children and stuff. I was like, what? Like who are you? I, yeah, I just couldn't. Yeah, it was, it was weird. It was really weird. He's preaching about how to, in a nutshell. Hold on. I mean, I haven't in my Goodreads review. Okay. Okay. It's mocking non-violence, the rehabilitation of criminals and community based governance. That's basically like the thing that's going on. Well, those are things that it incidentally mocks, but like its ultimate point is that like by being a pacifist, you're putting the burden on other people to protect you and you're not taking responsibility for yourself. It's basically like, it's always about responsibility for yourself. That's always his point. And his point here in particular was when that, when personal responsibility meets with violence, it's like, cause he's often talked about personal responsibility, but here it's about like by choosing not to be violent, you are expecting someone else to be violent on your behalf and that's wrong. And like, again, with a lot of shared good kinds of points, I'm like, like we could, this is a conversation we could have. I'm not like, get out of here. That's a horrible position to have. Like you're wrong flat out. It's like you take it too far and your straw men are ridiculous. So like, if that's your point, you're like, that's a good point to make. And like, yes, that's true. People who choose not to engage in violence often do assume someone else will do it because like, probably would have been killed if the army hadn't defended your homeland so that you didn't have to, you know, like. But he takes it so far, it's just absurd. I mean, like, people are like, oh here have my child, maybe that'll make things better and you'll feel better. I'm like, that's not what people don't do stuff like that. Like it just doesn't, it's, it's dumb. Well, would also like assuming he's right, assuming he's like, he's preaching the good word and that everyone should listen to Richard, assuming that's the case. It's just the way that after thousands of years, after one speech, people are like, you're right, we've been wrong. All of our ancestors have been wrong. Right. You're right. I'm just like, no. No. People don't change their minds like this so fast. Well, and also, I'm good at public speaker, you are. Because they made it sound like the whole, it was like genetic, which is why they separated them out in the first place. So Howard, so if this is like somehow, some genetic thing, how is you going to fix it, fix it? Yeah. It's absurd. And it's also, okay. So their avoidance of violence, right? It's like so extreme, right? And that's what he has a problem with. But you know what also is extreme is the avoidance of violence by the original people that put them there who would do anything, create this elaborate scheme to like section them off with like an underworld barrier and this whole thing just so they could live in their own separate commune. And I'm like, I thought she hated them and you're sectioning them off because they're so pacifist and you are not. So I don't know why you who are extremely not pacifist and hate the pacifist wouldn't just kill them. I don't get why you're going out of your way to preserve their way of life in this seclusion. You know, like it was so elaborate to like seclude them like that. Yeah. Sorry, I'm like, had like somebody trying to call me in the middle of this, which I'm like, I can't, I can't talk right now, but was it Terry Goodkind? And he's like, Hey, Hey, you're too dumb for my wisdom. No, it's our babysitter. I just, I'm like, Oh, I should text you and say anything's wrong. Yeah, I don't know. This, this whole book was just annoying, honestly. Yeah, the natural instinct to preserve your own life or that of your family. Like it's, it's, it's just very extreme. I mean, I'm not advocating for this, but since the position in this book is like, you know, we must protect the world from the dangerous pacifist. I'm like, why did you just kill them all? I mean, like that would teach them that pacifism isn't the way to go. If you slaughter them all, they'd be like, Oh man, we should have not been so pacifistic. Well, it's also weird that like for a group of pacifists, like their solution to needing someone else to do violence is to poison him and like coerce them into doing it. Yeah, I was like that escalated quickly. I feel like as pacifists, they would like not even know how to make poison. Well, or like, or, or like, how is coercing somebody with the threat of death being a pacifist? Like, I don't know. It was weird. It didn't make any sense honestly. It was not internally consistent. Well, which is where like, again, like if we assume these people really think all the things that they're thinking and you're Richard and you're meeting them, yeah, like I'm on Richard's side. I'd be like, are you, are you fucking kidding right now? You're telling me that, oh no, violence is not the answer, but we did poison you so that you would do violence. Like we do expect you to do violence because you are not one of the enlightened. Like I, again, if that's really the situation, which is a stupid situation, but if it is, yeah, I'm totally with you, Richard. That is ridiculous and that is hypocritical. So like, yeah, go off, but also don't also do all the other things that you did and also don't lecture them because no one ever changed their mind after an angry lecture from some crazy guy that cut his arm open. Like that never convinced anybody. He did make the entire, yes, this is exactly, yeah. I mean, honestly, that's, yeah. So like when people talk about Pillars of Creation, kind of not moving the plot for us, like that's a way better book. And he like squeezed in some like moments of like, here's my thoughts on things, but it was still a good story and it still showed a lot of the world and his points. Again, I usually like his points better when he keeps them to more of an individual level and everything to do with Jensen was, you know, like an individual, what does an individual choose to do in the situation? How does an individual regard their responsibility towards others, towards their family, towards duty? When we get grandstanding about the entire society, I'm like, no. It's like, it doesn't work. It's like, no. And also, right? Like, Zhigang, nothing happens, he says, listen, it 100%, Amanda, 100%, seriously. Yeah, it was definitely the prettiest book so far. And like therefore the prettiest book of his I have ever read, which is like in retrospect, I didn't, yeah, I didn't key into that being the reason, but it makes sense to me that after that one, I was like not gagging for the next book and not being like more, please. I was like, I'm good, I'm good. Time to find a new author. Okay, sorry. I have to mess it. My babysitter is like messaging me about tomorrow. I'm like, give me one sec. I'm like, this is helpful on a live stream. It's great. The kids are going back to school next week. It's gonna be great. It's true love. He did write a spin-off series within this world. I think he did also write some things outside of this world. I've never read that, but I think he did. Correct me if I'm wrong. Someone who knows. Yeah. Well, I think he has spin-offs. Somebody's saying it gets a bit better in the next book. I think he has spin-offs in this world and wrote something else too, I wanna say. That's what I was gonna say. Also like, yeah, you know, yeah, but also like I think the first confessor he wrote later, that's supposed to be a prequel. Yeah, and also the dead of bones is a prequel. Right. Which that we're reading in December, right? We are. Oh, I feel like I remember agreeing to this. I definitely forgot about that. Everyone ignore my TBR video that goes up Saturday where I'm like, only two more after this and then we're done for the year. It's a short book, so it's like, it'll be quick. Oh my gosh, okay. What are people saying? Terry, good kinds. World views are contagious. Oh man, it's, yeah. Yeah, the prequel is really short, so I don't think it's gonna be a part of it. I feel like it's the difference between having a plot in which we like squeeze in moments of like soapboxing versus writing an entire plot that's constructed to hold up the soap box. Yes, yes. Cause I don't mind if it just fits within the story, but yeah, this whole thing was constructed for. There you go, it's not happening. I'll change the discord. Oh, okay, that's also a solution. I forgot that we put the schedule on the discord, but okay, thank you, Jessica. Yeah. I feel like there's been so many read-alongs we've been doing this year, Liana. What's these two, this and first one? But they both have so many books in them. It feels like a lot. Well, we knew this was year-long commitment, so. It's true. It's true. Oh my gosh, speaking of the discord, can we appreciate, like you need to go in and look at this, because Aaron saw a Richard Cosplayer at a costume contest and put a photo in the discord, like, excellent, Aaron, I love it. I don't know if she's watching this, but that's amazing. Okay. I feel like one of the things about the Keeps Care that carries us through these books, as we've said before, is the characters, and Richard, Lanking Richard. So that like when he has his like, you know, God moments, when he has his moments of like, doing epic things and you forgive him his moments of free genus, his moments of blockheadedness, because he's Richard and like, you love Richard. And then in this book, you're just like, fuck you. Oh my gosh, shut up. Shut up. I mean, honestly, yeah, because normally I love Richard and he was just awful in this one. Just because there's not even a schedule in the discord. I never post to the schedule. So I don't know what the problem is. Do you guys want to take this off screen and have it out? But I also feel like in other books, we've praised the fact that there's a sort of balance given between, it's not like that Richard is always right or proven to be right. Oftentimes he's proven to be wrong or that by the end of the book, he's right about some things but wrong about others. And the people who was arguing with, they were right about something but they were wrong about others. You know, Stone of Tears is a great example of that. And in this book, it's just, no, everyone is wrong except for Richard. Richard is right. And there is no middle ground. And like usually when he's that adamant about something and that blockheaded about something, it's usually in these books because he's taken it too far and is wrong and needs someone like Katelyn to be like, but you can't, it can't be that far. It can't be that you haven't thought this through. It's not that simple. It's not that black and white. And then this book, Terri Goodkind was like, oh yes it is. Like, but it's definitely not. No, it's, it is absolutely not. Yeah. Okay, if it'll let me do this, Priscilla, I'm gonna put a link to join the discord in the chat. I think I let it do it. So there you go. I, it is in my discord, but like some of the channels are patron only, but the one for the read-along is not. So you are welcome to join if you would like. Yeah. This was just a bummer. I'm like, Katelyn did nothing. Richard was annoying. It was super preachy. Not much happened. Jigang is still out there and we've done nothing about him for how many books now? I really, really hope too that in the next book or books, we get some kind of payoff for those stupid little beacon statues that like were such a big deal in the beginning of this book and then went nowhere. So like, why do we have, you know, the like hourglass one where the sand goes up and then the one where like Richard is like turning black slowly. Like, okay, cool. Why did that happen? Are we gonna get- We don't know. I mean, maybe we find out in the next book. I don't know. We better. They made a stupidly big deal about it. But also, is Jigang still in the next book? Like, are we, do we, like what? Oh, yeah. I mean, no one has taken care of that, motherfucker. So, yes. That's also so annoying. I'm like, it's just been dragging on for so long. At this point, I feel like we can expect that Jigang will be only resolved at the end of like the next trilogy. Yeah. Like at this point, it's gonna be the Thanos that all of this has been building towards. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what the statue thing was. Well, what was interesting too, is I kind of wonder if the people were right about Jensen being able to do magic, even though they all think she can't, that maybe making the statues was her magic when she's under pressure or something. Wait, who felt that? Like the kid that poisoned Richard. He was trying to say that she was, she can do magic and that like when she, they went to her being under pressure in like the cave, that like she created the things they found. You know what I mean? But she wasn't there when they found the first one. No. So, I mean, they probably exist for something else too, but he was saying that like part of it was her magic. I don't know if it's sure or not, but I was wondering. The kid that poisoned Richard knows fuck all about anything. And in fact, he cannot even see magic because he's one of the, whatever they're called, the pristinely ungifted. Right. But I just wonder like, I don't know, maybe not, but it would be interesting. It seems like they're trying to hint at something. Cause remember she got like really freaked out and then something happened. I don't know. I just, let's see. They made an attack of claustrophobia, which is the one of the two things that I remembered about this. Wait, did I say this when we were alive or did I say this? You said it when we were alive. Yeah. Okay. I think. Yeah. Yeah. And Richard backtracking on vegetarianism was so stupid. Oh, and you can see it like telegraphed a mile away because in the beginning of the book for no reason, we get Kaylin being like, well, Betty's sad about her kids being dead, but she actually won't care in a second cause she's an animal and animals don't feel it like humans do. So she won't give a shit that her babies are dead. And I'm like, I feel like someone's gonna stop being vegetarian quite soon. And in fact, that was the case. And it just like, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't make any sense in terms of like what's happened so far in this world. Because like, if that is true about his gift, then his gift should never have worked. This should, like. Well, I mean, were they trying to say that like he didn't have to be a vegetarian if he wasn't killing so many people? Was that the deal? No. The deal is that he, by thinking that he needs balance is a suggestion that he was wrong to kill in the first place and they needs to pay it back by being vegetarian, but he's not wrong to kill at all. And so there should be no reason to pay anything back. There's no balance required. And I was like, so then his sword should not have worked from the moment that he started being vegetarian. Like why is this, why is this now the case? I mean, it's probably Terry had a change of heart. Uh-huh. And it's just, at that point, bro, you made your character vegetarian, you built it into the magic system that he's vegetarian. Just, you know what? He's vegetarian, just suck it up or come up with a better reason for him not to be. Yeah, you know, it was because it was part of his gift that he was a war wizard. Yeah, like being a wizard, yeah. But a war wizard specifically. Cause they were saying, they did this whole thing about how different wizards have different restrictions and different weird idiosyncrasies that are tied to their gift. Now, like it makes sense that for Richard in particular, that the way that this manifests itself in him, his weird idiosyncrasies that he can't eat meat because as a war wizard, he would be, you know, authoring so much death that his gift demands balance. Balance, yeah. Which is interesting, which is funny cause like it is interesting and it made sense in the context of the world. And then you're like, well, we're just gonna wreck on that. This book is like, so like Richard is like, we love Richard, Richard is, you know, one of our family, we love him so much. But then like, we haven't seen him in a minute. And in the interim, he decided to go down some men Shapiro, QAnon rabbit holes on the internet. And then he showed up to Thanksgiving full of ideas. And you're like, what happened to you? Oh no. That, yes. Oh no. Yes. Jessica, but Terry said he's not a vegetarian anymore. So Richard can't be a vegetarian anymore. Yeah, Terry did think he was Richard, I think Megan. Yeah, it seems likely. Well, I mean, it seems, in so far as Richard is like the mouthpiece for his ideas. And if Terry was like, you gotta be vegetarian. And I, you know, if I, my, my, my character, who's the mouthpiece for all things moral and right, then he should also be vegetarian. And then if Terry was like, fuck, why am I a vegetarian? And what, well, you know, well, shouldn't be vegetarian. Richard, Richard. Why is he vegetarian? Oh man. Yup. Like he could have written it, but it's because he wanted to make that point that like, I'm just, I mean, that was the wizards, whatever, eighth rule or whatever that like, deserve victory that like, you know, it's, he's right to take these lives. So he doesn't need to pay it back. Oh my God. And now that he understands that rule, he no longer has to abide, but like, cause it's all- Not only doesn't have to abide by it, but it's hurting him to abide by it. I'm like, what if you're not on the mood for a steak? Like, what if you just happened to be in the mood for pasta primavera tonight? Is your gift gonna be like, I demand ribs? Like, what is this? I don't know. Oh, yeah, no, this book was bad. It was like, I feel like the only, the only halfway decent part was the side characters, like the bits and pieces we got of like the side plots with Zed and Nathan and stuff. Like Nick the slide is like a cool new baddie that it instantly dies again. So you're like, yeah, because Jigang is the only villain that can actually be legit. Oh my God. You could have had Nick the slide stick around for a few more months. Yeah. That's like an interesting thing to have to deal with as somebody who can watch you. That was interesting. I'm just tired of it. And it's very creepy that he could inhabit Betty. Betty's also the best part of the book. She's very cute. So Kaelin, Kaelin casting aspersions on her grief over her kid's death is not called for. Betty is a delight. Betty is a delight. Betty is a better. Betty is a delight. It's true. It's true. I do also. I mean, it was in the same book I think where Tom says something to Jensen about, you know, like well, if all else fails, I know like something about where to bring Betty. And he's like, if all else fails, I know a lady who makes sausages and she's like Tiki inside a joke. And I'm like, is that a joke? Like that's not funny. Like I still find it very weird that you ate goat sausages with Betty standing next to you when you bought them from the lady. Like I just find that all very like, talk about cognitive dissonance. Like, Terry, Terry, Terry. Do you eat dog in front of your puppy? Like, is this something that you do? Maybe. Yes, so much of this. Yeah. Oh, I mean, honestly, them being a part is the best thing in these books. It's never good when they're together. She's so boring. Like she does, he like can't come up with anything for her to do when Richard's there. Because the only time that she can be right is if Richard's not also there and presenting an opposing view because Richard's always right. So like if Richard's there, he's right. Nothing else needs to be said. But if she's not with him, she's somewhere else. Someone else needs to take up the mantle of being right in this other place. He's not, he isn't. So she can be the Richard of that area. Yeah. So when he's there, she's just kind of boring and weak and does nothing. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Oh my God, at the end I was, I literally just skimmed it because I knew that was gonna happen where he like is like more of this, fetch to this ingredient, stir it in. You just like somehow knows. You really couldn't have written in where like he found where the guy had written it down and hidden it and you're like, just in the nick of time, we found the recipe for the end to know. Let's make it. No, Richard's gift is guiding him. Well, you know, Leanna, it's the whole thing of why he can't have rules because he has to go with his instincts. Which again, I accept as like a pretty solid plot convenience you've written in, like respect man, you wrote in a way to not explain things, but you've taken it too far. As I said, everything is like, if you're written yourself into a corner like that and you're gonna utilize that to get out, like, okay, cool. But this is not that one of those times, like you could have found a different way for them to find the antidote. Oh, for sure. Yep. I don't know if I sent it to you. It's like a water bottle that's sprung a leak and there's a guy coming up to it with tape and they're like fantasy authors with plot holes. And they put the tape over and the tape is labeled magic. That's funny. Yep. Now this book is not only garbage, but long garbage. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was literally skimming all the speeches because I knew what he was saying and he was still saying it and then he would say it again. And then someone else would say something that would set him off again and he would say a speech again. And I'm like, Oh my God. I was listening to the audio book on like three and a half times speed and I was just like, okay, all right, let's just get through this. Yeah, no, I was reading it physically, which honestly, I got it way faster because I could kind of see where the speech would end and be like, I'm going to go skip to there. There were a lot of speeches. There were. There were. So many. And again, most of them said the same thing. Like you already made this speech like 50 pages ago, sir. Would you like to just be like an insert, like see 50 pages ago? Oh no, Jessica, it took you 21 days to listen to. Oh no. Because like at that point, these speeches, like they don't feel like they're in universe. They feel like they're at you because if it really was in universe, most books will say like, if it's something that you already saw happen, but the character needs to hear about it having happened, then a book will usually say, and then I explained to them what had happened so far, leaving out the part of blah, blah, blah. But they won't like, have you sit there and listen to them tell it over again when you're like, I was there, I saw all this? Like, are you telling it to me? So like the fact that we got all these speeches on repeat, it's like, okay, so these are for us. Oh yeah, of course they are. They're not in universe. No, no, this is for us. He's really trying to hammer at home because people just aren't getting it. I was looking at it on my Kindle and the tapping was becoming rhythmic with me changing the page. I have to say, I mean, this is definitely my least favorite of what we've read. This makes me want to re-read Temple of the Winds. It was much better. Yeah, it had a plot and some stuff. I'm still upset about Dreffen, but you know, if no one asked me, at least not the important people. Yeah, let's hope. Yeah, this book just exists only, only for Richard the soapbox. There's not like, there's, again, a difference between a book that has a lot of soapboxing versus a book that is soapboxing. Yeah, the book is the soapbox. The book is the soapbox. Yes. The medium is the message. Justin is, Jensen is kind of the blank slate for Richard to clarify. Yeah, I mean, I think that is probably accurate. That and all of the pristine and un-gifted. Yes. Except that the pointer stick is inevitably an agile and he's got to like do something dramatic. The board is his arm and the agile is the pointer and he's like, this is magic. And you're like, sir, I don't know why anyone would be convinced by that. He's just bleeding. I've seen blood and I'm in fact, I'm against it because I'm a pacifist. I don't know if I mentioned. So I'm against what you're doing right now to yourself. Please stop hurting yourself. We are all against hurting yourself or others. There were so many weird things in this, like the fact that they had a kid who was kind of like their oracle. And that too. Like the same thing with like the speeches, convincing people, you know, who've lived this way for thousands of years, like, oh, you're right. We've been wrong this whole time. Wish I thought of that. But when he does it to the kid, a kid who's been told that you're like this, not a messiah, but you know, you are like this like chosen speaker child. And that Richard shows up and is like, no, like the kid would be like, yes, I am. How dare you? Like the kid would not be like, oh, okay. Good. I can do something else now. I was like, this just doesn't, this is not how people are. It's not at all. Oh my gosh. Because it's good or because it's bad. I know, right? I think it can't be worse. It literally can't be worse. I feel like it would be hard. And Richard bullied him into truth. Well, it makes me wonder if this book just like tanked because the next trilogy had a total, you know, sort of redesign. And so it makes me wonder if like this book, people hated and the publishers were like, dude. Oh, you gotta do better. Or if Terry Goodkind himself was like, I was just in my feelings a lot when I wrote that. And I would like to go back to normal now, please. Yeah. My wife got me some Camuiltea and I'm ready to continue. We had a rough year. I'm still, who built the statue? I'm still confused about that. Oh, the big one? Yeah. The wizard that imprisoned them. So he built a statue of himself? Yes. With inscriptions on it to try to warn future wizards not to break down the barrier that was trapping the people in there. Why would you build a statue of yourself? Maybe he was a narcissist. I don't know. I also feel like the, okay. The fact that the message is like, beware for these people cannot see evil. I just, I don't understand why they are dangerous to you. Like at worst you just mow them down because they won't do fuck all about it. Like I don't know why they're like, this is a danger that the world must be protected from these pacifists. Like what literally what are they gonna do? Lock them away. Like it makes sense. Like their original theory that they were like quarantined like this was because they were pristinely ungifted and they wouldn't want the spreading of that. That makes way more sense. The fact that they would keep them there because they're pacifists you'd be like, they will never be a problem to you. Well, so this is why I think maybe it's true that they are not totally ungifted, that they have magic because he's trying to undercut that whole thing. It's just maybe a different kind of magic that we don't know about or something. That's what I wonder because he's trying to be like, I don't want that to be the reason that was the false reason. So actually. No, I think the reason that wasn't the reason was because then he couldn't make his great point about how pacifists are the worst thing in the world. So bad that they need to be put in. Right. I mean, I think that's part of it. But I think to support that it seems like. I mean, my sort of truth journey did end there. Yeah. Now I will continue. Yeah. Amanda says we will see on the last book. Great. Okay, we'll see who's right. That's my theory. My theory is it's gonna turn out that they actually do have some other kind of magic. It's just a different. It just looks different or something. And is immune to all other magics. Right. I mean, he's done more absurd things than that. We'll see. We'll see. The concept of someone being so magic-less that magic cannot affect them is a cool concept. Like. It is. Go back to praising him a little bit. I liked one. That's why Pillars of Creation, I like it. Because the introduction of that as a concept, I was like, pretty cool. Pretty cool. And I like Jensen. Pretty cool. We're all gonna run with everything. I mean, according to Sarah Goodgown, we already are wrong about everything because we don't share his world views. This is true. It's gonna be interesting when we're done with all of this and I'm gonna go through and decide which of these books I'm actually keeping on my shelves and which of them I am not. Because. Well, being a completionist, if I have a series, even if like one in the series I dislike, I'll still keep like the one that I dislike because of, you know, completionism. I should block this person. I'm working on it. Okay. It's still going great. Oh, that's great. So, you know, feel free to entertain people while I handle. So, yeah, hopefully the next books are gonna be better than this one because this was not good. I guess they can't be worse. I guess they can be worse. Oh, yeah. Okay, hopefully that worked. It wasn't the book of the year. I wonder what Terry's world view is now. Yeah, I would definitely, like if we weren't doing this read-along like in the future, I would probably skip this. Like I don't anticipate wanting to read it again. It also doesn't move the platform at all. So it's not like you need to read it. Like honestly, if someone is reading the series, I'd be like, but skip that one, literally. Like cause there's sometimes books where I'm like, or series where I'm like, ooh, but you know, just push through number five in the series. Cause it's not very good. And they'll be like, can I skip it? And like most of the time I'm like, unfortunately not, but you know, just push through. And this one I'm like, you can absolutely skip it. There's literally nothing of value in there. Just Cliff's notes, Richard's not vegetarian anymore. Okay, move on. Yeah, no, I don't think anybody really needs this book, honestly, for the series. So we'll see. And thankfully everybody seems to be saying that the next ones are better. So. I mean, honestly the thing I'm most excited or I guess I should say before rereading Make It Empire and being like, wow, that was awful. In general, I was most excited to get to the next one because it's the first one that will be new that I've ever read before. Yeah. No, I mean, I think it'll be interesting to see kind of where it goes. Cause he continued to have a career after this with people who I think this book wasn't a career ender. No, I think like, I mean, high praise, you know. A book that didn't and Terry Goodkind's career somehow. Yeah. But you know, it sounds like he's definitely more inclined to like cannibalism than pacifism because cannibalism implies you killed somebody and we're all about that. As long as you killed them. We're good. Oh, you're so much faster than me. Yeah, I have it open on the other screen now. So. I have it open too, but I have a tiny screen. It's okay. I've got like a giant desktop, so good. Should have been called naked plot. You mean like non-existent plot. I mean, the thing that's naked about this book is Terry Goodkind's like world views and his like, it's naked, his intentions. Truly. Yeah. It's not even hiding behind a plot anymore. Caitlin, yeah, it's somebody who's clearly purposely trolling the channel and making new accounts. So in case anyone's wondering, we'll deal with it. Fun times. Indeed. Yeah, so I don't know. Anything else? I mean, yeah, normally I'd be like, who do we fancast as these characters? But I don't want anyone to ever have to be these characters. I also, oh, you watch Leisure the Seeker, right? Yeah, I did. I don't have a long time ago, but. Cause like, I remember this is when I got to Naked Empire, I remember thinking like, oh, this is where that one episode came from. Cause there is an episode where Richard finds some like, like a, some pacifist that he needs to rally the troops and get them to fight with him. So he like trained them to fight cause they've never fought before and then they go fight. But it's not like, you know, the whole of Naked Empire. But like, that does happen in the show. And I was like, remember when I got to this book, I was like, oh, so that's where this came from. Yeah, I haven't seen it in a long time. So. I only remembered it because like, I didn't remember that episode or, so I remember reading this book and recognizing that episode. So rereading this book now enabled me to remember the episode that I had remembered when I, for the first time that I read this book because part of reading the book was going, oh, this is that episode. Interesting. The first time that I read it. Okay. A memory nesting journey. It would be fun to re-watch it. We should, we could think about doing like a thing, at least watching like an episode or something. Well, if we do that, I vote for the episode where Zed dresses like a princess. I'm down. That sounds amazing. Or anything from season two because like that's when Kara joins them and Kara is so great. Yeah. It would be fun to go back and re-watch them. It's been a long time. So. I had the DVDs, but I don't know where they are now. They're probably my parents' house. Somebody said I used- Yeah, I watched the show first. So like when I was reading the books, I was like, oh, look, I guess I went to Naked Empire. I was like, this is that one episode. Yeah. See, I definitely read the, read books first and then the show came out and yeah, but I was, it was, it was interesting. That's interesting. I didn't enjoy it like before reading the books. I could see that. Sometimes it's hard if you have like something in your head of like what the characters are like or something, I don't know, or like what happens. I watched it by myself, but I also watched it with my roommates in college. Like it was like a group watch that was fun for us because it was kind of a silly thing that you didn't have to pay that much attention to and we could all watch it and we all like had a, oh my God. So fast. I'm on it. I was like, she's going for it already. Gotta be quick. Oh man. Well, I don't know why we're being targeted so aggressively this evening. I don't know, man. I have an idea of why though. Oh really? The name of this book. Oh, oh, you're probably right actually. It's probably like doing something weird with like promoting the live on YouTube that actually makes a lot of sense honestly. God damn it, Terry Goodkind just screwing us over. Every turn. Thanks YouTube. Because people are like, ooh, live chat. Maybe you should put like an asterisk in the title of the live stream. I mean, it would still be the, or you mean instead of one of the letters to like break up. I mean, at this point it's too late. Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah, no man. That's just, that's the truth. Yeah, that's probably why it's doing this because I was like, what is going on? Like this is unusual. Like this has happened to me before, but not very often. Yeah, exactly. Nat kid. Yeah, an ampersand or not an, what's that called? An ampersand. I don't know. Is it just called the at sign? I don't know, that's what I call it. Is there a name for it? This can bother me all night. Oh my God. Great. Okay. I feel like this is our sign. I feel like- I can't even think about the book. Yeah. I mean, I- I'm just watching this trying to beat, now it's become a game where I'm like, I'm going to beat Bethany. That's true. I mean, I think we've kind of said what we have to say about the book, honestly. Like, I don't know what there's like. I feel like, not that I wanted this to happen, but I feel like it's also kind of a perfect, like this is, this is what this book is. Because the book is crap. So, Jessica, their trolls, listen, they're just trying to like, get her eyes out of people. It's, you know, whatever. Nope. This is the kind of stuff Richard should rage against. It's like an adult whack-a-mole. It is. It is. It's not true for a set. Yeah, I think- It's kind of it, because I have got Bethany to beat. It's right. Exactly. Oh my God. So yeah, so we'll be on my channel about Chainfire next month. And it's a kid thinking- It'll be better. And maybe it's that kid who thinks he's cool because he gets to lead an entire commune of pacifists. I was just thinking like, when the kid, you know, when I was saying a kid who thinks that he's the leader, like wouldn't be like, oh, great, I don't have to be anymore. I was thinking, excuse me, of the kid in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, when they are also like led by a kid. And that kid is like definitely on board for being the leader of this temple and like is one of the baddies. Okay. Good. I think it's time to go. Yeah, I agree. All right. Well, thanks everybody. Thanks everyone. Have a better evening. And next month's chat will hopefully be less. There's no nonsense in the title. So we'll be good. That's true. We should be good. All right. Bye. Bye.