Crescent City Re-Read Reactions | Who on earth can keep track of everything going on in this series? (We can!)

0:00 The astronomer is a sorcerer, and he keeps a fiery person in a ring to defend himself from hell. Theory, right? Dragon fire is one of the few things that can harm. Princess of Hell, Princess of hell. Yeah, If Cochet is using Vasa for the same thing, I think that's really interesting. You're you're not a divergent fan, right?

0:33 Not really. Yeah. Like when it rains, it pours. I don't. Know all right guys, first of all, if you did not listen to our re release episodes, hello we're back. We missed you so much. We're back we're recording new content. We're so happy to be back. We might not remember how to podcast. We're going to find out this episode so please bear with us.

0:55 That's agenda item number one. Agenda item number two we are about to live through. I think what will undoubtedly be for us, and was already going to be, but now we'll certainly be the craziest fall. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't even. Yeah, I don't even know. I don't, I don't know what to what to.

1:15 Do I don't know what to do? I don't know what to do. Today there are not enough hours. What do we do? We need to create more hours. I. Don't need a time Turner like I. Don't. I don't know. I don't know what we're gonna do. For context, I'm sure you guys know what we're talking about. And by this point, who knows? We'll even have maybe five more book releases. So we are getting, we already knew we were getting a Qatar 6, October 27th, Rebecca Yarrows dropped a huge fucking bomb. We're getting some kind of imperial novella, it looks like. We do not know what that will involve. We've thrown out ideas, Other people have thrown out ideas. They're all great ideas.

1:54 That is coming. September 28th. We are getting what? Isn't it 29th? 29th, September 28th or 29th, whatever. We are getting our last 4th and final spark of the ever Flame book on September 8th, which we have not covered on this podcast, but I have talked about it. It's a great series. You should you should read it if you haven't. We are now getting divergent.

2:19 Yeah, Veronica Roth has. Decided to literally write a different version of the Divergent series, which the ending has been hotly contested for years and they literally ended the movie in a different way than the books because of how hotly contested. Oh wow. She's writing a parallel version which she announced at book Con or announced ahead of book Con and then I think had advanced copies or not advanced copies, advanced copies of like the deluxe version of Diversion at book con.

2:50 It's been a whole thing, and I wonder actually whether Book Con inspired a lot of. This I was actually just thinking that this is because of book con. Obviously this is because. Book Con came back after like five years hiatus since COVID so yeah. So I don't know when we're going to sleep. We'll figure it out. I did not have an Empyrean reread on my list of things to do.

3:14 Yeah, we are both getting married. Awesome. Yeah. So yeah, Empyrean reread I am going to have, I'm going to reread a guitar. I'm going to reread now. Like I'm going to have to fit in Divergent somewhere. I don't know, that's low priority. I guess you're gonna have to read Kindred's Curse. Something else is coming out, I don't remember.

3:36 I mean, Kelly Hart is really sync. Yeah, the next Brimstone, the next Quicksilver Thin Alchemy. Yeah, that's coming out. First of all, I'm so happy. 1st reaction, I'm very happy. I'm really, really, really happy that all of this is happening. I'm really excited. Second reaction, pure panic. Absolutely fucking I Twitch.

4:02 Obviously we're gonna cover the Empyrean release. Like we'll we'll figure that out somehow. I don't know what it's gonna look like. It's only 176 pages. Might not be a ton of episodes, but obviously we will cover it. It might be a ton of episodes, though. Yeah, you. Say that like page numbers, is correlated with the amount of theories that it might. Drive, if we are getting, if we are getting, I'm sorry, I realized this is a Crescent City episode. So yeah, I guess this is actually a Crescent City episode.

4:31 This is our first Crescent City episode, so if you have not read the Imperial brief aside, I apologize. No spoilers here. If we are getting journals from characters that has been referenced, I don't know what I'm going to do. There are certain theories that have been thrown out there where I genuinely like, I would love it, but I genuinely think they would give us too many answers.

4:53 I'm like it can't be true because we would get too many answers. Yeah, I agree. I agree the. Journals fall close to that category for me. I don't. Think it depends. Really in that category, but. I think it depends whose journals, whose journals, Like I think it defends whose journals. And now I'm like fuck, do we need to record like a fucking 20 minute episode talking through these possibilities? We will.

5:17 We'll get there when we get there. Anyways, it's a very exciting time to be alive. It's a very exciting time to be reading fantasy. Love it. Thrilled. I'm so happy, guys, because what this obviously means is that this community is really strong and this community is growing and publishers see that and they think there's lots of opportunity and that is obviously mostly driven by women. And that's just fucking awesome.

5:39 Like we have power, we can make things happen. I love it. I think it's so great. Just keep doing what you're doing. What? I'm hopeful for, and I don't think this will be the case, but what I'm hopeful for is that we're not about to have a mountain of releases and then like a drought for a year. But I.

5:57 Don't think, I don't think that's gonna happen because no matter what, we're getting a Qatar 7 and maybe a Qatar 8 in 2027 and I think we're getting Imperian 4 in 2027, so. Yeah, I think we are too. That's enough. And graphic, yeah. Which I think we'll have clues. So I feel good. I feel good. We're gonna have plenty to talk about for the next decade.

6:22 I. Don't know. So in case you were worried that we were going anywhere, we can't because there's too much to discuss so. Simply cannot. Simply cannot. With that, hi, I'm Ronnie. I'm. Abby. And this is Dragons in the Details, the podcast that helps you better understand your favorite fantasy books through a series of deep dive episodes.

6:46 We are currently in between our AC guitar and Crescent City seasons, really starting our Crescent City seasons, and we are supposed to be kind of on a break, but we missed you all so much that we are recording a bonus episode reread check in to let you all know how our Crescent City reread is going.

7:05 So you should consider this. You could consider this our first official Crescent City episode if you want. Yeah, it's going to be about Crescent City. Yeah, primarily. So disclaimer, this episode is going to contain Crescent City and Acatar spoilers. I don't think there will be any Throne of Glass spoilers, but if there are, we will warn you. Also, disclaimer, this podcast is rated R As always, do not listen to it with your children.

7:30 We curse. These books have curses. Crescent City has the most curse words out of any of them, which I kind of forgot until I read it again. Was like everyone in this book is very vulgar. I'm here for it. But they are literally, I truly never clocked it. I've never got this. Just like, okay, yeah, that's how people.

7:49 Talk. They definitely are and I love it and we're excited to be here. Abby Announcements. All right, deep dive music as always brought to you by Shwood Lee. You guys know this by now. That is SCHWOODLEY reminder. I guess you don't really need the reminder, but our season 3 is on Crescent City. We are in the middle of our rereads.

8:12 If you have not started your reread and you want to follow along with us, it's probably too late now, but we highly recommend reread Crescent City. I know a lot of you doing your rereads. A lot of you are D having me things that you're finding you do you rereads fucking love it, guys, keep it up. It's so great.

8:26 We're so happy that you want to continue this journey with us since obviously ACOTAR is a much more popular book than Crescent City, but Crescent City is great if you like us, if you like what you do, what we do, if you like what you do, But if you like what we do, if you want to keep up with us as we go into the craziest fall of our lives, fall 2026, we would love it.

8:50 It would mean a lot to us if you would follow us on whatever platform you are on, If you follow us on Apple Podcast or if you listen to us on Apple Podcast, if you would leave us a review, that always means a lot to some of the reviews you guys leave are absolutely hilarious and we love to read them and if we think they're really funny, we'll read them on the pod.

9:09 So that is pretty much it for announcements. All right, fun questions. So this set of fun questions is very exciting because Abby posted a poll question. Ask me anything. I don't know. I don't know what's called. On Instagram asking you guys to send us your fun questions for us to read on the on the pod.

9:35 So we have two today submitted by you guys. So the first is from Nancy's romancing to. Nancy, Hi, Nancy is. Nancy, you are. We, we see you. Nancy, we. See you, Nancy. We see. You What is your favorite character from each surgery math series? Well, we're only going to do ACOTAR and Crescent City because we don't want to spoil for Throne of Glass, but we'll talk about ACOTAR and Crescent City.

10:02 Yeah. OK. You know, I don't love the word favorites, so this will be my favorites today. It may not be my favorites tomorrow, but Nancy, I thought it was a good question, so I figured we would talk about it. I don't think anyone's going to be that surprised by my answers. ACOTAR, it's Cassie. It's obviously Cassie. Really.

10:20 Over Nasta, is that what you're saying? Yeah, at the end of the day, think Cassian, as much as I love Nesta and I have no hate in my heart for Nesta, right? But Cassian at the end of the day, I do think is probably a more compassionate human being certainly than Nesta. See, This is why I don't like the word favorites.

10:41 Like how do you describe? How do you describe this? Like, why am I more drawn to Cassian than Nesta? I can't really tell you, but like if I were to pick one person to spend a day with from Acatar, Cassian is who I would pick. And if it was just a friend's situation, even, it was just like, hey, let's go walk around Volaris or something, you know? I think it would be fun to do that with Cassian. Why don't you tell me you're ACOTAR? OK, yeah, I can do ACOTAR.

11:04 So like, I thought that you were gonna say Nesta, so I came up with a different one. I do. I really like reading Nesta. You guys know that. I love reading Nesta. I think she's probably the character but I relate to the most, and I just think that she's like the character that has the most interesting development. But as far as my favorite character in terms of just like interesting character to read and like layers, I really think it's Reese.

11:33 Like if he's exactly who he's written as, as like a character who's perceived as evil, has done some bad things, honestly, but has also been through a lot and is like kind of hard to judge. But as far as how he's presented in the books, you are really like you are compelled to love him and he's incredible sacrificing.

11:55 Then he's a really interesting character if he's exactly who he is. And then if everybody's like, if the Reese's evil camp theorists are are correct and he actually ends up being some somebody that he's not then and everything turns upside down, then I think he's even more interesting. So I think like he is such an interesting character no matter which way he is read, and I love that about him.

12:19 But who do I like reading? Like Nest is my comfort character. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would agree with you. I also do want to shout out Feyra. I don't feel like we shout out Feyra like yeah, enough on this podcast. And I definitely think she's pretty self-righteous by Frosted Starlight and it's a little annoying, but yeah, books one through 3. Feyra, fucking badass.

12:39 Really like her, love her journey, She's great. So we've basically covered our BIG4, which is why I don't like the Favorite Question, but it's all good. All right, Creston City. I actually definitely have a favorite. Yeah, it's it's ruined. It's ruined by a mile. Fucking Danny. I for me, it's too, well, it's two things, but it's really one thing. I love the way that Rune treats Bryce by the end of it, I think Rune is so compassionate and caring towards his sister, even when she maybe doesn't fucking deserve it. But I just, I love, I love their relationship. I love how tender he is with her. I love how vulnerable he is with her. Like I just, I just think, like, I just think he's one of the best characters.

13:26 And I also love well, it's three things I love the way he treats Bryce. I love the way he treats the women in his life he is romantically interested in right? Like I think his journey with Lydia is really interesting and difficult, but also like fair and I thought I I really like their journey and there are and I love the way he treats his male friends.

13:50 Like I love that he cries in front of his friends. I love their relationship. I love again, how like vulnerable they are with each other and tender. And he tells them he's like, I love you guys. Like there's no, there's no bravado, there's no macho bullshit. Even though he's this like tatted out, like he yoked, man. He's just like, no, like this is who I am. I'm tender.

14:10 I love people. Like I'm not afraid to show it. And I love that I love him. Yeah, yeah. I think he's the best. I mean, I think, I think even, I know you said at the end, but I even think at the beginning, like never at any point was he ever threatened by Bryce. Never. Like even when he is mad at her.

14:31 Yeah, he calls. He calls her. I think he calls her a bitch or maybe he calls her a cunt, but he's like a kid. Like it's like it's like called. Her 1/2 breed slut I think was. Like, OK, that's not great. But that was, like, literally 10 years before this book started. Like, he grows, you know, and he obviously regrets it.

14:51 Yeah, yeah, I just love. Yeah, yeah. But that's what I was referring to by the Edge. So they obviously have their quibble. You mean by the time we meet him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the time we meet him, Yeah. I don't know how it didn't happen the first time I read the book. I mean, I know, I know that I liked him the first time I read the book, but I think I don't know what I thought. I think I just maybe spoke thought that I was going to 0 in on Hunt and I was like focused on Bryce and Hunt and like the side characters were the side characters to me. But on this read, I'm like, I was not not trying to knock Hunt, but like if you put Rune and hunt in a lineup, I'd be like Rune literally every time.

15:34 And this is not because I am a Reece lover. And like we have discovered, they are identical. But yeah. I I like Hunt too, you guys know I like Hunt, especially again this read but I prune has a real tenderness to him that I really like. All right, all right. Our second fun question is from. I don't know how to pronounce this almahancha.

15:57 Almahancha. Yeah, I don't know how to pronounce it either. Feel free to correct us liberally please, but I love this question. Where would you rather live, Prythian, Midgard or Aurelia? Love you bye. Love that, love you bye. To be clear, this this, this isn't the question. This isn't love you bye in the question, but Abby, where would you rather live, Prithian? I did post my answer for this on Instagram but I wanted to know your answer.

16:24 My answer is definitely Prithian. Yeah, no question. I'm definitely Prithian. I mean Prithian Night court me up like I want to live in. Volaris, even Summer Court, Autumn Court, any of it. Give it to me. Sounds good honestly. Autumn Court. If we get rid of Baron, put Eris in charge, I think I would enjoy Autumn Court.

16:45 The Forest. House sounds lovely. Lovely just sounds. I think it would have a fabulous library. The books. The books, a crisp, cool morning reading books. I mean, is there anything better? Yeah. So that was my answer. Yeah, I think I would love Belarus. I do think I'd love terrace and green, but I shouldn't choose based on a color. I think I should look.

17:11 OK, so Prithi and for both of us. Prithi and for. Both of us. That one was easy. We'll be neighbors. OK, so cosms from our last season, we've been gone for a while. Corrections, omissions, social media shoutouts that you've received from the last few weeks. I focused on the Places of Perthian episode. A couple people pointed this out. Shout out if you have.

17:34 I had this thought after we finished recording in our Places of Perthian episode. We talked about the hellscape that Bryce sees in the carvings on the way to the prison. I think we both said we thought that that was the Hewn City. Some people have pointed out that it might be under Romeo, which I think is a totally fair call out.

17:57 It might be under Romeo. The quotes we have are the last carving before the river had been one of transition of fake king and queen seated on Thrones, a mountain different from the one with the palace atop it behind them with three stars rising above it. So we have the hellscape. This is obviously Ramiel, right? We have the hellscape and we have Thea and Fion. I'm sorry, I heard that you actually pronounce that name. There's a lot of ways to pronounce that name. I'm going to go with Theon for now, but we have fan Fion sitting in Thrones with Ramiel behind them. So I don't know if it is Ramiel because it's obviously behind them or if it's the Hewn city.

18:36 But you can't see Ramiel from the Hewn city either. So I think it's kind of unclear but it could be Ramiel. I get is what I'm saying. Like there's as much evidence for us to be Ramiel as the Hewn City. The rest of that quote is. She hadn't commented on the lower half of the carving which depicted a house gate.

18:53 Beneath their Thrones. Some kind of underworld humanoid figures rise in pain among what looked like icicles and snapping scaly beasts. Either past enemies conquered or an indication of what failure to bow to the rulers would bring upon the Defiant. I do think the icicles piece is interesting too, because I was like, oh, it's just like stalactites or stalagmites, but like actually they she literally references that later in The Cave of Princess.

19:18 She calls them stalactites and stalagmites. So I'm like, so why are we calling them icicles here? It's probably actually something different, which means it might not be the hewn city. It might be under Ramiel. So I think that's a totally fair call out. It's. Interesting that it's Icicles specifically, right? Right.

19:33 Cold, yeah, but Ramiel always stays snow free, right? Snow never touches Ramiel, so I don't know, OK. Cool. Any other ones? I have three, but they're not very big ones. They're just kind of for fun. One is a comment from Janine Beatrice 171172 and this comment was on. These are all from our latest episode and it was one thing that I haven't seen anyone talk about is do we know if Reese still has his beast form? We know the land decides who the ruler in each court and the beast form is proof of their role as High Lord. When Pharaoh saw her own beast form, I got the impression of the land also accepted her as High Lady. Reese died after that, but was that long enough that the land also noticed?

20:20 If the land notice, does that mean the true ruler over the night court is Pharaoh? I also like to think that if there is someone who is deemed worthy to be high King, Queen has a beast form that represents all the courts. That way no one can dispute their claim. I think it's an interesting comment, mostly because I don't think we've seen Reese's beast form since he's died.

20:39 I think he probably still has it, but I think it's because he is an Asteri and was brought back to life by power that just came back into him. And I think he, his spirit was, we've talked about this, right? The theory that when he died, he, his spirit just left him and was going to another world.

21:00 And I think it just returned to his body once power came back into it. But I think it's an interesting call out. We I don't think we've seen this beast form since since. He I don't think we've seen it since Akor. Yeah, Yeah. I don't think I've seen it. Yeah, I I think we would know if Reece wasn't High Lord anymore. Well, I don't think that's ever.

21:19 But we would. Well, there are physical characteristics, right? And we and and Farah talked about him taking off his damper in Frost and Starlight, I believe when they're like having sex and like the full power of him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. Like I think he's still. High Lord. Yeah, yeah. OK.

21:36 Next one is about the theory is from Mongolian Tray, born 5435 on YouTube. Love the theory of the Ley lines draining the land to sustain the first light course. It felt like a very Asteri thing to do. Sacrifice the plan to sustain their power source. Do you think this mechanism could be somehow linked to the Asteri kill switch for Prythian with the cauldron?

22:03 I think it's super interesting because I think like if I mean I'm not even going to say if like there, we know there's first like core under the prison. We have very good to believe that there is a first like core under the mountain as well because the worm was there and that is why the worm would be there.

22:21 We also have a very good reason to believe that there is one under Ramiel. If there are first like cores around and taking away those first like like if the first like cores are like pooled power, that is like pulling power from the land, which we think that it is because the land above it is barren. Is the kill switch links to the fact that those first light cores exist?

22:48 I don't know. I think it's interesting. I kind of always thought of it in the reverse because when the first light core was removed, like the power, I guess not the first light core, but the power was removed from a ball and a ball and came back to life. So I always assumed that removing that power would bring magic back into those areas, but I think it's. I thought the question.

23:09 I thought the theory was more about how the cauldron became a kill switch and does it have to do with like Ley lines and? Yeah, like is it links to the Ley lines? I think that's an interesting idea, I haven't really thought about it. But I think the theory, I mean the theory of the Ley lines draining the land to sustain the first light course. So the Ley lines would be to the first light course draining the land.

23:34 So I guess if the cauldron, maybe the cauldron would be what like the center of the Ley lines? And if you break the cauldron, then the Ley lines break. What would it? I don't know. I think we should definitely think of. About in this season, I don't have an answer yet, but like how these kill switches are made and what they really are and like, we'll come back to this one, yeah.

23:54 We'll revisit. Good idea though. Great shadow. OK. And then the last one from from AJ Thurlow, who comments a lot. Hi AJ, that Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion. I just learned this, it fucking blew my mind. It's Orion's foot. I'm like, what the actual fuck is going on that Yeah, I just.

24:15 Like Rigel, if Rigeless and Hunt are somehow related, I will lose my shit. That's a not today Satan moment. Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that. But it's a great comment. It's a great comment. Yes. All right. Shall we deep dive? We shall. Deep dive ish. Yeah, it's a light deep dive. It's not really a deep dive this episode.

24:46 Yeah. All right, I'm asking. Yeah, I'm asking. All right, Ronnie, how many times have you read Crescent City, including this reread? So I have read House of Earth and Blood three Times Now. I have read House of Sky and Breath 2 times fully, and I have read House of Flame and Shadow one time in its entirety.

25:05 This is going to be the second time but I'm reading it. But I have read the Prythian portion 20 times. I know 1 Teen times. I know, I know, I know. Me too. Yeah, So what about you? This is my this is my third time reading it this calendar year. Like within the last 12 months and this is the first time I feel like I actually understand what's going on, partly because of our act guitar season. But maybe it takes three times to fully absorb this book. In House of Sky and Breath, I feel like I did always understand what like House of Earth and Blood yielded no new surprises.

25:42 I don't think to me, I mean like I picked up on some new things, but House of Sky and Breath, I'm just like. Yeah, House of Sky and Breath is an absolutely wild book. We'll get into it. Why don't we just get right into the next question? How are you enjoying your reread overall? I love it. I love I this is I really think in terms of the details and the groundwork that she has laid, not necessarily in terms of the story. Throne of glasses, throne of glasses epic. We're going to see how ACOTAR turns out, but in terms of I'm here.

26:11 I know I want to get here here are all the details I'm going to lead leave in along the way. I do truly think this is her best book and I'll her best series. When we the second time, the second time we meet hunt, he can smell Bryce's Starlight. You have no idea. You have no idea that that's what's going on when you meet him. But there's a line he's on the sidewalk. He was like he could pick up her scent of lilac and nutmeg and like something like the like twilight sky. Basically, he's literally smelling the power, her power of the evening star.

26:42 And then we meet Thanato. Is it that is it Fantasos 3 books later, who can smell? Who can smell all people's power? And we find out that Fanatos is one of Hud's fathers, right? Like the groundwork laid in this book, the. Starlight on Bryce. Smells your Starlight smells fresher, Thanatos. It's fucking brilliant. It's fucking tight.

27:03 I love it. I think it's so good the details that she lays the one. I'm still finding new ones. I'm sure when the book 4 comes out I'll go back to book 1 and find even new ones. But like, I think it's such tight story writing, which is really remarkable for how long the books are, honestly. Yeah.

27:20 How about you, I? I, I'm having a great time. I'll just go book by book. Like I love House of Birth and Blood. I always have. I always will. I love a murder mystery. I love slow burn. I loved it the most the first time, obviously, because I didn't know what was happening. And so you got kind of the full effect of the murder mystery and all of the twists and the the ending with Micah and all of that. Her House of Earth and Blood, in my opinion, always a good time. Honest, honestly, if she wrote four books that were like House of Earth and Blood and Bryce and Hunt were just like running around solving crimes, I would have had a great time. Obviously, I'm very happy that we got what we got, but I loved it.

28:01 Everyone. I didn't realize this until I was reading House of Sky and Breath and like posting about it and my algorithm was kind of full of it. Apparently a lot of people don't like House of Sky and Breath. Everyone who's saying that, I urge you to read it again after reading the entire maths first because I'm having the time of my life. Does it take forever on the second time? Yes.

28:22 Is everything fake? Also yes. But it is so fun to keep track of. And also this is where like the Rune and Lydia plotline really starts cooking. And they are the stars of the series to me. That is, I mean, the lore is the star of the series, but as far as the the love story that I care about in this in this series, they are the ones that I love. So I really, really, really like House of Sky and breath a lot. And I like House of Flame and Shadow on 1st read. I literally just started it, so I'm sure I'll like it again. But I'm really, I'm having a great time. I also didn't really appreciate when I first finished Crescent City in general.

29:10 Yeah, when I finished Crescent City, the three books, I kind of just figured like, what could, what could a fourth be about? And now after reading House of Sky and Breath and I remember like that Darian Ariadne have their their kind of moment, but like after reading House of Sky and Breath, I'm like how could there not be a fourth book? What the fuck is going on beneath? Yeah, of course we need another.

29:34 1. Yes. What is going on? There's so. Much question unanswered still just in Midgard that I completely missed because I was so preoccupied with all of the bits and pieces that we were getting from the world's that we do recognize that I was like trying to keep track of. So I think that's really fun too because I was coming from a place of like this feels pretty resolved.

29:58 What else could there possibly be? And now it feels like she's basically about to write a fourth and final book of this series that opens up like another world of possibilities. And I don't know how she could possibly resolve it in one book, which probably means it's it's going to set foundation for another series, which I'm thrilled about. Yeah, I I would agree.

30:18 I I think we can just roll into the next question too from this one. Which was which book are you enjoying the most on your reread? House of Sky and Breath. I I I too agree House of Sky and Breath. I want to say I understand the criticisms of this book because it feels, feels all over the fucking place. You find out at the end that pretty much everything that you were told in this book was a lie. And it's frustrating.

30:47 It's absolutely frustrating. And then it has the most banger fucking ending of any book I have ever read, right? Like, Oh my God, that ending. I understand the frustrations. But I would totally agree with you that when you go back and you keep in your head, OK, I know this is a lie. I know that I know that Emile is not in the bunk quarter, right?

31:10 Like I know that that's a lie. I know that the Reaper, the reapers weren't sent by a Polygon, right? Like I know that all of this is actually rigeless, setting this up. And when you go back and you look through it with those motivations and you realize that almost everyone in every scene, no one is being 100% honest, right? We have Bryce lying, we have Baxian lying. We have Danica being classic fucking Danica. We have the Esteri lying about like Micah. We have Rajalis being fucking Adis, right? Adis is not in this book.

31:42 Adis does not appear in this book, which is really wild. Like he's just not in it. We meet Apollyon and we meet Thanatose, but we Adis is not in this book. We have we have day, right? We have the Hind being like absolutely different. I think when you go back and read it through that lens and you realize that it still all works and it still comes together in Book 3, it's wild.

32:04 It's really good. It's really like what she was able to pull off. I've never read a book quite like this where basically everything is a lie and it's still like pretty tight by the end. I think the day and hind plot line was very obvious though. I think. Oh. Yeah, I knew pretty. I knew pretty quickly.

32:20 Time that they read it was I don't know, maybe that's insulting guys, but like come on, shouldn't tell on after the depth starter, right, If you didn't, I mean, I think he recognized her scent before then, but like if you didn't catch it by then, it's like. Well, he only recognizes her scent because of hypaxia. That's actually kind of wild.

32:38 But yeah, yeah, I think I knew for sure at the masquerade ball. But yeah, I, yes, I would agree you probably should know who day is first time around. But still, when you go back and you reread the book, knowing who day is the whole time, I think it adds another another layer to it for sure. Yeah, I also in this book, obviously, this is where we really start building into like the lore and the world building.

33:05 And I've talked to some of you about this. I know we have this whole Side Story with Sophie and we're like why the fuck? What does Sophie add to this? Why am I learning about the Thunderbirds right? Why does this matter when you compare the Thunderbirds power to the Starborn power and when you think about where the Thunderbirds come from and what hunt can do with charging them up? I think it will be so interesting. I'm really excited to dive into it with the Thunderbirds. I'm really fucking excited to dive into Sir, because there is all over this thing, which I'm really excited about. But I I think the Thunderbirds are still gonna have a role to play in Book 4IN conjunction with Hunt. And what what is going on with

33:46 Hunt? Obviously, yeah. Yeah, I think learning that, the Thunderbirds, learning about the Thunderbirds, what they can do, what Hunt can do, and the fact that both of them were created by Hell, One of them was demolished by the Asteria, and then the other one was harnessed by the Asteria and used as a weapon.

34:05 I think it's going to be pretty interesting. And both can probably be used to charge up Starborn. I know we didn't see Sophie charge anyone, but I think it's pretty heavily implied anyone can charge up Bryce. It seems so. By the way, while we're on the topic of crazy babies, a Hunt and Bryce baby, we're going to have to have like an offspring like fantasy, not fantasy football like Sweet 16, because a Hunt and Bryce baby will be so fucking powerful, like on par with Nicks.

34:32 Like this is what I mean. We're going to have to have Nicks versus Hunt and Bryce baby. Like it's going to be fucking crazy. Yeah, I don't know, like does that baby end up with elemental power or does it just have like pure power, like raw power I. Don't. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

34:46 It's wild. It's wild. Yeah. I don't know. All right. Are your your answers also Sky and Breath for this one? Yeah. Yeah, sky and breath. Yeah, certainly. Did you mean to have me two in a row or should I ask this one? Let's just ask this one. Sorry. Yeah. All right, now that we've covered a guitar, what thing or things are sticking out to you that didn't before? I wrote, I mean so much.

35:11 I'm reading it completely differently. I really am. I really am. I really think our A Guitar Deep dive has helped me. And maybe it's just our own crazy thoughts, right? But like things are falling into place with the A guitar deep dive. Now that we've gone through that, when you read this book with the idea that these powers are a pattern and they come from somewhere and you should pay attention to who has similar powers, I think it really opens the door on that. Obviously kind of our big theory last season was that the Starborn Faye are actually actually have Asteri powers, are a combination of Asteri and Faye powers. There's so much evidence for it as you read these books, there is so much evidence for it.

35:49 There's some evidence against it too. I'm not sure we got it 100% right, but there is so many, so many similarities between the star born Fae and the Osteria Like it. It's literally they're, they are the same power. It's just that they're kind of different beings, different races, right? So then the question becomes, how did that happen?

36:08 We threw out some theories last season. I don't know if I still stand by them. I might I think that is really interesting. Again, the Thunderbirds I think are just insane. Like the like the idea of the Thunderbirds are insane. The idea of being able to harness basically any kind of power and shape it to your will. It's it's very similar the idea, right? So Apollyon says to hunt both you and Bryce are conduits. And when you kind of follow that, that trail, that trail of thought, which we definitely will in this season and kind of like what it means and where it leads to, I think we could be going to like really, really big places. And I'm just really excited about all of that. And then there's little stuff,

36:48 obviously. I just finished reading, I just finished reading Part 1 of of How fast and I realized I didn't prep this, but I realized this as I was reading that Thea opens the portal to hell with Adis using an A starry stair, a stair, sorry. Thea opens the portal to hell with Adis using an asterry star map from Prythian.

37:10 And what Celine says is my mother had noticed the planet on that star map that had previously conquered that had previously gotten rid of the Asteri, which means that the Asteri went to Hell before they went to Prythian, which is not, I had thought based on the timeline, there's an Asteri timeline where it seems like it says Asteri lost Hell, and it seems like it's after Prythian. But it can't be because Hell is on this star map, right? So I'm catching these kinds of little details. Which means that an Aedis was charged with tracking as the Asteri across the universe after the hysteria left Hell, which means Ada's almost certainly knows about Prytheon. A is definitely knows about Prytheon because he knows that the A star is on Prytheon,

37:52 Right. So that means the Princess of Hell probably have been watching Prytheon the whole time. And I'm really excited to talk about it. But it's little details like that, right? Like, little things we weren't sure about last season that I feel like are finally being kind of filled in. And we're going to get a bigger story, a more detailed story this season. Yeah.

38:08 Yeah, what about you? I think a lot of things are like clicking. I think there's also things that are not unclicking but being called into question a little bit more. For me, the the Bryce stuff and Starborn stuff. On the one hand, I don't know Bryce absorbing all power. I don't know how we ever like.

38:32 I don't know how she ever allowed herself to be convinced that she was not sorry, right, Right. She has no power unless she is. Charged up, yeah. She had no power until she absorbed it. She was told her power came from the gates, which was literally a form of tithe. Basically like everybody donated their power to the gates like wishes crystal.

38:58 Is a conduit, right? Crystal is a conduit in this world. Like it's literally. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so like, things like that, I'm just like, holy shit. Well done, Sarah. Yeah, but also like, shame on us and some of these characters, other things that are sticking out. Cormac. And just like how interesting he is and how much I didn't really pay attention to him the first go around. Also how obsessed with him I am.

39:24 I just think like, who was the faith female that he tried to marry at one point? Why, Yeah. Who has been rude fighting about? Shadows and fire. Fucking crazy wild and like actually can wield flames. Also super similar to Azrael talking crazy. So I think characters that I didn't think we're interesting before we really dove deep on a guitar and before I reread Crescent City I think are very interesting. Now I will say after House of Sky and Breath and rereading, I am honestly pretty unclear on the intentions of Hell at this point.

40:02 I think I'm clear on the intentions of Atis. Ada seems helpful. Ada seems in love with Thea and like wanting to care for her descendants. We're not clear on where Thea's spirit is at, soul is at like we still don't know, right? She's not in hell like in houses guy in breath. Like they seem to want to wage war, but we know that that's all fake, right?

40:24 And then we meet Thanatose live, right? And that's confirmed because the Mystics go to hell and he seems terrible, like he's like fuck civilization, fuck my brothers, and like I'm going to eat your souls basically. Yeah. So I don't really know how to feel about hell right now. Who we always found or like, I think the sentiment was always that they were going to be pretty helpful people for the most part.

40:50 The Princess of hell, that is. And I just don't know. We are told, right, that trusting hell has been a downfall in the past. So yeah. Tough to say, Danitos. Danitos literally says Thea trusted us, she shouldn't have. It was our downfall, right? And. Josephus said don't screw us over again. Yeah, yeah, it's, I don't think we're done with, we're obviously not done with hell.

41:16 But like, I do think hell might factor in largely to Book 4 as well to make wild off the cuff predictions about Book 4 before we even started our season. Right, yeah, I think we've we've always had the position or like Hunt and Bryce kind of have the position that Adis helps Rogerless in the Asteria hurt.

41:35 Yeah, I don't know that it's necessarily as black and white as as that. So these things are the things that are sticking out to me. I think there's yeah, similar to what you were saying about being starborn and what it means. I do think there is interesting differences between being made being starborn and also being of the Starborn line displaying classic signs of being starborn like the physical traits that Rune describes and having shadows and having these different star born type powers and actually having the star born line like run true. I agree.

42:15 All right? We're going to have a lot of fun talking about the star born, I think. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. All right. What character or characters are you most excited to cover and why? Yes I have 4:00 that came to mind. 1 is a group Princess of hell. Yes, Jess Barocca. Excited about her. The Viper Queen.

42:38 What is that? What is she? What is? She how is her blood enthralling and Lydia service. Yeah, yeah, very excited for all of them. I mean excited for everyone. But like those four, I'm, I don't even have necessarily fully formed theories on many of them yet, but I'm just reading like and picking up on different things with each of them.

43:00 And I'm I'm like, I'm going to be so excited too ask questions and find answers about them or not find answers. I don't know. What about you? Sometimes we just ask the questions and we don't ask. Sometimes we ask the questions and we find no answers, and then we find the answers three months later, and that's OK.

43:16 That's OK. I am very excited to talk about Rune, and I think that Rune has a lot of abilities that no one has been talking about. I'm excited to talk about them. I also think I previewed this in a different episode. Rune's ties to the Night Court feels so much stronger than braces, and I want to talk about that, and I want to talk about why that would be Lydia. Everything about Lydia, everything about Lydia, I want to talk about literally all of the low, literally all of it. I have Hunt on here.

43:55 I don't think I've spent enough time thinking about Hunt. I think Hunt is really interesting. I again, not to talk about the Thunderbirds and the Prince of Hell again, but like he is our only confirmed character that we know is an offspring of insanely powerful beings. And I don't think I've spent enough time thinking about him.

44:14 I always kind of thought of him as just a jock. So I'm sorry, Hunt, I apologize to you. I also, I also do think he's a really great character. So Hunt, we will be giving you the recognition that you deserve this season. Thur, which I also previously mentioned, Thur is everywhere. We had a precog corner theory about Thur last season. I'm so excited to talk about Thur. He's literally everywhere.

44:39 I don't know who he is. I don't know what he did, but I'm really excited to dig into it. And then obviously we've already talked about them at great length. I think we'll continue to talk about them, but Thea, Helena and Celine I think are going to be very fun to finally officially dig into and and see what the fuck they were up to and what they were doing.

44:58 Yeah, yeah, totally agree. Cool. OK. All right, so now we're going to throw out some precog slash teaser theories. They're not going to be fully thought out. We're in the middle of rereads, but we're just going to talk about some theories that we can't stop thinking about for Crescent City. I, I have more I could certainly talk about off the top of my head, but I only have one.

45:24 You know what? I'll say I have two. I already threw one out about the star map and about Hell actually having come before Prithian. We have, we have an Asteri timeline where it says here let me just pull it up real quick. So we have an Asteri timeline where it says AE170001 lost Hell, but it does not say when they conquered hell. And we have two timeline systems. We have AE and we have VE and we are told that the Asteri came to Prythian 15,000 years before the current date, which is basically 32,000, which if you subtract 15,000 from 32,000, you get 17,000.

46:09 So if the timelines were the same, then Asteri would have left Prythian and then gone to hell and then lost hell. But I think we're getting confirmation that they're not now. And basically because the Asteri star map that they used to talk to Atis came from Prythian. Hell, must have come before Prythian.

46:29 Feel like that was a word salad. Are you following what I'm saying? Yes, I'm trying to remember what does AE stand for again? We don't know. We don't know what AE. Is veneer era. Yeah, I think so, yes. Yes, that is what VE is. But AE we don't know, OK. I'm going to write down an idea for the master section on what AE might stand.

46:47 So you probably have the same idea that I do. Then I have put a theory on Instagram for what I think it is. All right, so that's theory #1 theory #2 Peleus is death. I don't know if you caught this, Apollyon says. When we were talking to Apollyon in one of the dreams, Apollyon says he slew Peleus after Thea's death, before he killed Sirius. But we know that Pelleus went on to father children with Helena, so how can that be possible?

47:15 Obviously that doesn't work. Is it an editing error? That's the most likely explanation. Let's talk through the idea that it's not the quote. This is House of Sky and Breath chapter 62. Apollyon waved a broad hand to the ruined world around them. Why do you think I slew Pellias? Why do you think I went on to devour Sirius all for him, my foolish lovesick brother, in such a rage over Thea's death at Pellius hands.

47:39 His folly lost us that phase of the war. Couple interesting things about Thea's death at Pellius hands. Pellius used the star sword to slay Thea during the first war. This was this was a Celine is like going back through the portal she sees Pellius slay Thea with the star sword so he can touch the star sword. He can that even though he isn't Star War, we have no indication that he's actually Star War and he's supposed to be an imposter. And Celine says she had never seen Pelleas wield the power that he wielded that day on the battlefield. So something has happened to Pelleas before he kills Thea. The Order events that we have here is that Pelleas kills Thea, then Apollyon kills Peleus, and

48:22 then he goes on to eat Sirius. And the quote we have for where we know that he ate Sirius during the first wars, right? The quote we have for that is his butchering of the 7th Holy Star. Sirius, the wolf star during the first wars remained a favorite ballad again around war campfires, and that's from Earth and Blood.

48:38 Chapter 51. So we're told Faye's death of Peleus, his hands, Helius Apollyon kills Pelleus, and then Apollyon eats Serious All, presumably during the first wars. But we know that Pelleus went on to father children with Helena and that is the star born line in Midgard. So what's going on here? We're living in a world with resurrection.

48:58 We are living in a world with Thunderbirds. We are living in a world where people can be reanimated. And when hypaxia resurrects Sigrid, one of those things that Cigarette said it says is I'd rather be a Reaper than come back and be in your thrall. Implying the person who reanimates you. Yeah. Has has a thrall over you. Right.

49:18 So did the Esteri resurrect Pelleus and then basically control him? Was he basically like, he was already kind of a puppet for them? But like, did they control him and that's why that he went on to father the Starborn line? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Being able to hold the star sword isn't so crazy for the sole reason that he, well, was he sleeping with. I mean, absolutely not.

49:42 No, because Thea said Pellius will try to marry you and have children from both. Pellius wants to marry both of you and like, force himself on both of you to have starborn children. Yeah. Yeah, we just, yeah, we just don't know anything about Pellius, unfortunately. No, not yet. That's why it's precog. Interesting.

50:01 The other the only other thought that I had is like, I mean again, not solved because Vespers can't hold the star sword, but like there are many people who can look like anyone. So was it really Pelleas who slew they if they could hold the Star Sword? You think it was Rajilis? I don't know who I think it was because I could be anyone.

50:20 Yeah. The Star Sword. I guess Fionn can hold the star sword. So we'll have to. We'll have to dive into this more. Yeah, yeah, I think. But he was he was there when it was dipped into the Cauldron. Fiona. Yeah. And it's like unconfirmed whether he dipped it in or Oleanna dipped it in, which per Morgan's theory means that yeah, yeah. Yeah.

50:41 OK, interesting. I have one more that's completely off the cuff that I haven't prepped. That's very high level. But why don't you do 1 and then I'll do another one? OK, I have one that I feel like can't possibly be the first time that this has been thought of, but I'm going to say it. And so the astronomer is a sorcerer with people in water tanks, and he keeps a fiery person in a ring to defend himself from hell in theory, right? He keeps Ariadne, who's a dragon in a ring. Dragon fire is one of the few things apparently that can harm. Princess of hell.

51:22 Princess of hell, Yeah. He's been around for a very, very long time. I can't really shake again, like very, very loose precog, but I can't really shake the thought that the astronomer might be Cochet. Cochet also has people trapped in lakes, in a lake keeps Vasa, who is seems to have firepower as well.

51:43 Maybe not the same type of firepower, definitely not the same type of firepower, but two ancient sorcerers both have been around for 15,000 years. So the astronomer, Jessica says that the astronomer is human, but that he has been basically also given powers, not the way she was, but he he like has like amassed power to like keep himself alive, basically.

52:05 Yeah. So, well, if they're a sorcerer meet up, maybe they know each other. I like, I really, I think the idea, I think it's an, it's a really interesting parallel and I've never thought about it. Even if they're not the same, the idea of crochet, keeping Vasa around to protect himself from hell, because it's not only firepower, right? He also has the sprites to protect from like the darkness and cold of hell.

52:29 Like the sprites are in the rings without Ariadne to protect the Mystics from the darkness in the cold of hell. So if Cochet is using Vasa for the same thing, I think that's really interesting. Yeah, the old male said. Some people call me the astronomer and when asked what do other people call you, the astronomer didn't answer.

52:46 And it doesn't matter. But it's a similar vibe, right? Like he amasses prized people and keeps them trapped and have them do things for him. Vasa says the other girls are so like her. We took that to mean humans, but it could Mean Girls with firepower, Yeah. Yeah, or people who are like this, the whole concept of Mystics is that they have the gift.

53:11 Like there is a gift that's required to be able to travel through these worlds and like, find these things. I mean, the Mystics are basically. Scrying is what they're, yeah, they're doing, but like scrying through different realms, which is crazy. Yeah, yeah. But they can also do it on Midgard, because the Ocean Queen says it will only be a matter of time until the Mystics find you to Bryce when she's on the depth charger. Yeah, definitely.

53:37 Yeah, they can do it within the realm. Yeah, yeah. Very interesting. I really like this line of thought. I think it's really good. I definitely think, I definitely think there is some kind of reveal with who the astronomer is because there are, there's so much brought up about his past, his history, what's his name? Yeah, you don't know.

53:54 He's just called the astronomer and he says some people call me that and then won't answer about who he actually is. So. Yeah, yeah, I like it. All right. I have one last precog theory and it's very high level and I don't have a lot of, I don't have anything to back it up right now. Maybe I will by the time we get there.

54:11 I am wondering if the difference between the two shadows that we have talked about and the groupings for that are Rune and Reese. We think so. We think Rune and Reese have similar shadows and we think that Cormac and Azrael have similar shadows. This is why this is crazy. I am wondering if it is descendants of Celine and descendants of Helena and if those are the two different shadows.

54:35 We have talked at great length about how Rune could actually be a descendant of Celine rather than Helena if his mother is Reese's sister, which we could explain why they have similar shadows. Obviously as real being a descendant of Helena we haven't talked about at all. That would be absolutely fucking wild.

54:54 Not necessarily impossible. There could be ways that it happens. Cormac is definitely a descendant of Helena. Right. So is that is that the two different shadow powers that we're getting? I don't know. Precog. Yeah. I don't have any better explanation for this at this point. Yeah, I mean, at this point those two pairings have to, they have the same types of shadows.

55:15 So why do they have the same types of power? There has to be. I know in Akutar we are told that there are reasons for having the same types of power that are not genetic links. That's all thrown out the window in Crescent City right there. It is genetic. It's all genetic. So it's Reece and Rune and Cormac and Azrael. The question is, how did it get to Azrael and how is he Illyrian?

55:37 We know how Reece is like, we know how it happened with Reece. We have no idea with Azrael. And we know that like, his father's an Illyrian Lord, but we don't know anything else. And at this point like, the only common thread between the two of them is Illyrian. Between recent asriel. Between recent asriel. Yeah, yeah.

55:56 I don't know. I don't know. Definitely going to talk about that one more throughout this season. Yeah, Yep. The only other thing that I wanted to talk about within this section, and this is not even really a theory, it's just something to ruminate on and we'll talk about it I'm sure more in our Star Born episode. But when we were listening back to the Azrael deep dive and I was thinking about how I still don't understand how Azrael's power is able to touch the star sword. I think This is why, right?

56:28 But like Azrael's power is able to touch the star sword. Vesperus is is not. This is the only time I've ever been not sure that being star born Fey means that you are just part of steri. I think it might be specifically of Thea's line, and I think it might be that Thea's line is a Steri in Hell Reunited, and I think that might have to be the case. I think that might have to be it and that's why Asteri can't touch the star.

57:02 Sword it's interesting because and we will do a vespers deep dive. We will talk about this more, but vespers can definitely touch Ataraxia. She cannot touch the Star Sword. Bryce can't touch Atoraxia. Bryce doesn't want to be anywhere near Atoraxia, but she leaves Nesta the Star Sword. Yeah, with the assumption that Nesta can touch it, right. So I don't fucking know what's going. On it's either bad or Vesperus is not a steri, which would be wild, which would be.

57:33 I'm not taking it off the table, but I'm. Definitely not taking it off the table. It would be such a fundamental change though, like. I don't know how much more lying to us on the page I can take, but. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like at a certain point it's like, okay, then can we, can we trust anything? Yeah.

57:52 I don't know, but the shadows are clearly significant. Like the shadows being linked to being star born are clearly, there's clearly something going on there. So, yeah, yeah, OK. Did you have any more? I had a mass burst one. We don't have to do it. It's fine. OK. OK. All right. Do we want to do a reading corner?

58:12 Are you reading anything that's not Crescent City? I'm reading Crescent City, are you reading anything that's not Crescent City? I have read the elf Haim, I'm going to say trilogy. There are five books. This It's The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King and Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. There are five books.

58:33 I've only read the core 3 and then there's two more that follow different characters. I enjoyed it as like a little romp. I wouldn't I enjoyed it, let's put it that way. I wouldn't necessarily like do a podcast about it, but it's fun for like and it's a little more. Why a it's not really spicy at all.

58:51 It's not spicy. It's I think it's a good book for like if you're feeling, if you're in the mood for like the fantasy you read as a child and kind of feeling that way again, but it's still written for adults. I think this is I would recommend it for that. I'm currently reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow which I've heard really good things about.

59:11 I actually said I was looking for a book that would make me feel like alchemized and someone recommended it to me and I was like, well I actually literally have that on my night stand. I just haven't started it yet. It's not fantasy at all. It's just Rome. It's it's romance, but it's about a video game. I'm enjoying that but I'm missing the fantasy a lot. I have bought Shield of Sparrows though, and that is going to be my reward book when I'm done with Crescent City because you're all raving about Rights of Starling and I'm getting big FOMO on not reading.

59:43 So I'm going to read Shield of Sparrows. I'm hopefully quickly after that going to read Rights of Starling and I'm really pumped about it and I'll let you know if I like it, but people are like raving about it, so I'm really excited. Nice. Yeah, I think, I think my reward book is probably going to be. Kindred's curse.

1:00:02 I don't know, I need to look at my list and make sure that I'm not disregarding anything. That's like pretty simple. I have a long one at this point that I'm. Like Kindred's Curse is very fun. I I definitely recommend. Yeah, but it's another bear of series. It's the third book is like 900 pages long, but what's another 900 page book?

1:00:25 What's another 900 pages? Yeah. Truly, what's another one? Yeah, truly cool. All right, well, we are on like all of the social media platforms that I think you could ever hope for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube as Dragons in the details pod on all of them. So anywhere you are, you can find us.

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1:01:16 We have a website contact form on the websites Dragons in thedetails.com. You can reach out to us there anytime and we love it when you do It's awesome. We really appreciate it when you guys engage with us. Means a lot. Anything else? Nope, that's it. OK. We will be releasing Crescent City content next, so very, very soon. Love you.

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