episode 2 final

Marissa is introduced as a co-host on the Fiction Corner podcast. They discuss their love of reading and their preferred formats, with Marissa preferring physical books and Brenna enjoying paperbacks or hardcovers. They also share a quote about the joy of reading and discuss their excitement to start discussing the Throne of Glass series, specifically the Assassin's Blade. They mention different ways to read the series and reveal that they have read the first two sections. Alrighty, let's put a bookmark in it so I can welcome you to the Fiction Corner. As I mentioned before, we would be having Marissa on here as a co-host pretty frequently. As you know, she was the main person who helped me shape this podcast and actually gave me the general idea to start it. As I had mentioned in the introductory episode, we swapped books and that led us to an aggressive amount of communication over what was happening in each of the books we were reading and constantly trying to gauge and follow up on what the other person was feeling for the books that they were reading. So, like I said, she is here today, so I will let her introduce herself. Hey, guys. It's nice to be here and nice to be on Brenna's podcast. Yeah, Brenna and I are close friends. We actually met in podiatry school, so I'm a full-time podiatrist. My husband and I are living in Richmond with our cat currently. I recently got reintroduced with my love of reading after reading the Fourth Wing series and I just really discovered just throughout the years that fantasy fiction was kind of my favourite genre, so I just wanted to continue exploring that and Brenna has read so many books and has so many great suggestions, so I'm just really excited to be here and chatting with her about all of this. Yeah, and just to even show off Marissa's love of fantasy books a little bit more, Marissa, what is your cat's name? Her name is Tong, after a Harry Potter character, obviously, which is my favourite book series and I think always will be. It doesn't matter what I read at this point. Wonderful, yeah. Like Marissa said, we met in podiatry school. We actually lived together for a little bit, but she has this adorable cat named Tongsu. We also call it the trash cat, but she just got into everything. Such a wonderful addition to our little home, but wonderful. Welcome to Marissa and thank you for joining us today and then as well as thanks to those who have stuck around and decided to listen to episode two or who have decided to join us for the first time. We are so excited to be chatting again today and even more excited to be diving into our first book. As a reminder, the book that we are currently reading is The Assassin's Blade and the sections that we've read were The Assassin and The Pirate Lord and then The Assassin and The Healer, which we'll go into all of that in a moment. But that in total, at least for my copy of the version, was about 117 pages. And at least for right now, that's what we're trying to keep the reading around, about 100 pages, just because we felt that was something most people could keep up with within a week time frame. But to kick off today, we are asking the debate topic of Dremel, how do you prefer to read and why? So I will let Marissa go first and this is, you know, how you prefer to actually read the book. So audio, hard copy, Kindle, all of that kind of stuff. Or if you have a random fourth option, you know, tell me that. Mind reading. So right now I'm actually reading a soft cover of the book, which I like a lot. I was reading mainly on my Kindle for the last couple months. I think it was just easier because I would buy the book and I would instantly have it. So like, you know, I like that instant gratification and not having to wait for the book to have to ship to me to start reading it. But I found myself getting a lot of headaches and I think I was just staring at screens too much. So I decided to switch to a physical book for this series. I'm glad I did. I definitely like the soft cover a little bit more. I like to be a little bit more aggressive with my books and like kind of hold them and kind of turn them around. So I like that I can easily do that with a soft cover versus a hard cover. Yeah, I don't think I can do audiobooks. I've tried that. I think I just kind of doze off a little bit and like I can't focus on it as well. It's like I'm actually physically reading and then I find myself I like miss things and then like rewinding is kind of weird for me too. So definitely prefer like actually looking at something versus like an audiobook. Yeah, what about you? I would be in that same kind of category. So I know people will probably hate me for this. I am not a Kindle reader. I have tried. I really have. I don't know if it's like what Marissa was saying kind of gives me headaches from looking at her screen, but I am definitely old-fashioned and I have a wall of books and I like to be a serial killer and collect them as trophies to show what I have accomplished with my life. So I'm definitely more of the paperback or hardback. The hardbacks are nicer in the sense that they stand up to my toddler a little bit better because she does like to occasionally throw my books, you know, sweet little thing that she is. But besides that, I don't have a huge preference between softcover versus hardcover. And then I am not an audio person as well. I just I cannot focus with that. And so that's out the window there. And even when I'm driving, I sometimes will listen to music. But most of the time, I just kind of sit in my own silence, which is very exciting. I know. I do the same thing. My husband says I'm like insane for doing that. He's like he always has to be listening to something. But I'm like when I drive, I feel like I'm always listening to nothing. Yeah, we're exciting people. We really are. But yeah, I think that the only downside that I've really run into with the hardback and the paperback, and I'm sure Marissa can attest to this. So I bring a book everywhere, which is horrible because I do bring them to work. Do not pass that along. But they are definitely heavier than said Kindle. And so I definitely noticed like, oh, my back's getting sore. Oh, my shoulder hurts. So. Brenna throws that at her back because she's carrying too many books. That's what I went to the ER for. But yeah, so my pick is definitely, you know, old school paper and print, especially going to bookstores is so much fun. I know I need to go to them more. I order off Amazon way too much. But I do love an old school bookstore. So. Yeah, they are definitely very nice, too. It's just like the smell of them, too. Also, like having a physical copy, being able to display it, too. There's something nice about having a nice bookshelf and being able to display the actual physical book and actually being able to come back to it when you want to. So, yeah, I agree. And it's nice to have a physical copy instead of like always doing it on the Kindle, even though sometimes it can be more convenient. Well, and, you know, I have yet to have an issue with my paperback battery running out. So that's very true. No charger is needed. I'm terrible at charging everything. My husband, Kiefer, he makes fun of me all the time. He'll, like, pick up my phone. He's like, why is this at three percent? I'm like, I don't know. I just didn't want to charge it. I feel like I do the same thing. I'll go and steal my husband's chargers and then it gets into a real big thing. He's like, where's my charger? Exactly. Somewhere. So, you know, it helps me stay out of that bind there. But all right. So the last thing that we're going to kind of jump into before actually going into discussing the book is, like I said before, I really wanted to kind of hit a quote every week that I thought, you know, just kind of encompassed what a reader is. And I would say being a reader and being a runner are very, very similar. That you can be a runner and run a half mile every other day, once a week. You're still a runner. And that's the same with reading. That just because you don't read for a week or even a month, you're still a reader. And I think that's very important to kind of remember, because I know it can be disheartening, especially when you're seeing all these people who are like, oh, yeah, I've read, you know, 45 books this month. And I'm like, yeah, I read the comics this morning. You know, but the quote that I found is by George R.R. Martin, who I hope some of you know, is the writer of the Game of Thrones series. So either watch that or read the books. And we definitely will not get into the debate of how you feel about this season's ending or anything, because that's a whole other story and podcast in and of itself. So the quote is, a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once. And I absolutely love that, because I do think that is completely true. Oh, yeah, I definitely resonate with that, especially, you know, I've talked about this before, but, you know, we just get so into the books and we feel like we are the main characters. And so, yeah, it feels like you are like when you're in the book, like living their lives, you know, for even just that small moment. Oh, yeah, I've definitely gone to Hogwarts. I don't know if you have. Yeah, yeah. I've gotten my broomstick, I've gotten my letter, everything. I have a lot of letters. Yeah, we both have a couple there. Perfect, perfect. So we are going to jump into the actual book now. As I mentioned, I'm so excited to start with the Throne of Glass series, especially because it's just so unique in so many ways. And there's multiple ways to actually read these books. I've seen people who, like I said, you know, we started with the Assassin's Blade, which is the prequel. But I've seen people who read that as the third book, and that's because that's how it was published. I've seen people who, you know, have waited to the end to read the prequel. There's people who, like I mentioned before, have read two of the books in tandem. I've seen people who don't like that way and don't read them in tandem. There's so many unique ways to read this series, and I thought that was very cool. And so, like I said, we started with the Assassin's Blade, and we've read the first two sections, which was the Assassin and the Pirate Lord, and then the Assassin and the Healer. And so this is broken down into those mini novellas again. So just some basic background on the Assassin and the Pirate Lord, at least for us, since we started with this book. You know, we're just getting introduced to the characters. So we're meeting Selina. She's getting woken up in the middle of the night and being brought to a meeting with Erebin, the Assassin King, and then a couple other people who, the only people that I felt were truly important, at least at this time, was Sam and Ben. We find out that Ben was killed under very abnormal circumstances and that his body was left, which really upsets Selina because they were close friends, and now her and Sam are being sent on this other mission to the Pirate Lord. And they're thinking it's one thing with the pirates killing assassins, just to find out that they've actually been lied to about this. And they're being sent to handle a business deal. And that business deal ends up being a slave trade. And then it's kind of the things that unfold from there and their response to it, both Sam and herself being, you know, how do we prevent this from happening? How do we save these people? And it kind of goes from there. But I will let Marissa kind of kick us off with starting with kind of her thoughts on the Assassin and the Pirate Lord. Yeah, so this is an interesting section because, you know, obviously our main character, Selina, she, you know, she like kind of learns that this group that she's been a part of, and it's kind of been her entire life, you know, is kind of doing something that she's against, right? The slavery of these people. And she realizes, wait a second, like, I don't actually like this, but I'm actually going against the organization that I'm a part of and I stand for. And I thought this was really just interesting because I feel like it's definitely relatable to real life. You know, it's kind of like a coming of age thing where as you grow up, you are kind of led to believe what your parents believe kind of thing. Or if you go to church, what your church believes. But then when you grow up, you kind of learn to think for yourself and maybe maybe your beliefs still align with that. But I feel like everyone kind of has differing beliefs from kind of what they grew up with at some point and kind of learning to question things. I think that was kind of interesting. Especially she's 16 now, so she's definitely becoming more of an adult. And so I kind of thought that was kind of fun and interesting, just like kind of like growing up and then also having the courage to go against something that you don't believe, even though you've been a part of this organization for so long and it's been your whole life. And having the courage to like kind of stand up for what you think is right, I thought was pretty, pretty badass. And I love a badass main character, you know, female protagonist. So that was that was kind of cool. What about you? What do you think? No, I completely agree. And I think that's a really good point that and again, I'm going to botch names, like it's my job. So Irvin, her kind of mentor, and I think who she sees as almost like a like what we're associating this father figure, because he took her in, trained her, helped her grow up. He gave her all this very lavish lifestyle. And she knows by, you know, going against him, she's, one, risking her life, that either this pirate lord is going to kill her off, or he might. And that's kind of crazy to think. But on top of that, like at the very least, she's going to lose this lifestyle that she's used to. And I completely agree that, you know, as we grow up, what we think does change immensely that a lot of times we're, you know, put into one kind of circle. And we think, oh, everything is this kind of black and white ideal. And, you know, I'm going to stay on the good side of that line. But then a lot of gray just starts to happen and things start to change. And so I think this was almost like the first shank or first crack in the armor of her relationship with the Assassin's Guild, especially because at the start of that section, they mentioned Ben, who I feel like they didn't go into a ton of detail about. And, you know, again, they might have in some of the other books. And so we might just not know much yet. But I did think that was kind of important that she saw him as family, and he's been killed. And there's a lot of questions that aren't being answered. Right. Like, there's something sketchy going on that they're not talking about because they don't want other people to know. Yeah, I was interested about that, too. They did not, like, go into that at all. Yeah. So I'm really curious to see what's going to end up happening there, whether it's in this book or in some of the other ones that, you know, like I said, it's kind of this, the initial chink in the armor of, okay, she's realizing something is being kept from her. And so then she goes on this mission thinking it's for one reason, just to find out, I've been lied to about this, too, which is another big thing of, you know, I'm following this blindly. What else have I been falling blind and not questioning? So and then, you know, like we said, that this for her and then her partner, Sam, the trading of slaves for her was like a hard, no, it was a hard stop that she didn't really question everything before, like, oh, it's fine to kill this person or this person for, you know, whatever reason. But this is like a hard stop for her. Right. Yeah. She found her, like, limitation. Yeah. So I thought that was really neat. And I'd actually sent Marissa a couple of different questions, just kind of more to think on and not necessarily things that you have to answer, because it may be a little intense. But one of the first ones was, what would you risk your own life for versus what would you risk someone else's life for? I do think those are two very big, two very different kind of thoughts. Yeah, those are very deep questions. What I would risk my own life for? I mean, I guess, like, biggest things, obviously, my family, my friends would, you know, I would consider, like, the most important parts of my life. So, you know, risking my life for them, I would find, like, I would, you know, I would do easily. Risking my life or risking someone else's life for, that's a tough one, because it depends on who we're talking about here. Are we talking about my husband, who I, you know, understand I'm closest to, or are we talking, you know, some random Joe Schmo down the road that I have no idea, like, anything about him? It sounds terrible, but I care a little bit more about, you know, my husband than I do some random person. The Joe Schmo, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, so yeah, I don't know on that one. That would, that's hard. What would you say for that? No, I completely agree. So as far as my own life, it would definitely be, like, my either close group of friends or my family. And then from there, risking someone else's life. I really think the only thing that I would do that for or expect someone else to risk my life for would be my daughter or, like, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. That's about it. And then, let's see. And then, okay, these, like I said, that was the deep one for this chat. So then the next questions are, you know, she was tricked by her master for this, by Arabyn, like we said. Is this going to end up being a trend? Because we saw the trickery with it. I do feel like then in some way there's more to that. So, you know, is this going to be a trend that she keeps getting ricked into these, you know, weird kind of loops? Yeah, it's almost like they're, like, not trying to, they're just, like, not telling them the whole truth, right, of what they're doing or why they're doing it. It's like they brought them into this world and they're just expected to do this job and assassinate people. But it's like they were never really questioned why. And I think that they were kind of brought up that way to not question it and just to go do your job. And that's, you know, and I'll keep giving you a comfortable life. I'll give you all these nice clothes, these jewels, whatever, you know, but you need to do this for us kind of thing without question. And now that we're hearing about, like, the stuff that happened with Ben and now, you know, they didn't know about the slave trade, you know, I feel like they're just hiding a lot of things from them because they don't want anyone rebelling or not doing their job. So, yeah, I'm curious to see, like, what else we're going to find out and what the bigger picture is, I guess, from the Assassin's Guild and, you know, what that leader is kind of trying to do here. Yeah. And then my other big thing was I'm curious on, because she kind of mentions random other, like, assassin groups. I wonder how many other ones are going to be mentioned and how big they're going to be. Like, are they going to be almost aligned with each other, that they kind of support one another, or are they, you know, going to go head to head? Yeah, different things. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I'm definitely curious about that. Any other thoughts before we go to the next novella? No, no, I'm good. Perfect, perfect. All right. So then the next one is The Assassin and the Healer. This just showed right after kind of what Selena went through. So she comes back to the Assassin's Guild, is severely beaten to the point of unconsciousness, and then is basically told, hey, I am shipping you off to this other assassin's group to be trained as punishment, is what it sounds like. And so this is kind of her couple weeks in between that transition period is where she finds herself. And so, Marissa, thoughts on, or first thoughts on that? Yeah, so I actually liked this section better than the first. I really resonated with this one. I thought this was really cool, meeting the other girl. Like, I thought, what's her name? I think it's Iren is how we pronounce it. Iren, okay, okay. Yeah, I thought meeting her was really, like, eye opening, just because I feel like it also is very relatable, you know, just like the idea of, like you mentioned, being stuck, and kind of just taking the easy way in a way, you know, she was hoping to travel more and to get into the Healer's Quadrant. But, you know, she ended up getting stuck in this, like, you know, back alley. And yeah, this terrible area town, just bad people. She's like, just basically a bartender there. And so, like, her life isn't very good. And she, like, ran out of money. But instead of, like, kind of, like, just kind of picking up and going for it, she like, I think she gets scared. And she doesn't, you know, doesn't want to take the risk, essentially. So she's taken kind of like the easier way, but she's miserable, right? So I think that's pretty relatable. I mean, I've had issues with my job recently. So having, you know, having those issues and just kind of feeling stuck in one scenario in that situation, it sucks. But it's sometimes just easier to stick it out versus trying to come up with something new. And, you know, obviously, that can be worse, right? When you're just trying to stick it out. So yeah, I mean, that feeling is stuck. I feel like everyone can relate to. I feel like everyone's felt that at some point in their life. And just, you know, debating on do I take the easy road and just kind of keep going and or do I actually make the effort and, you know, make the change to be happier, essentially? Yeah, no, I completely agree. Even though this one, I think it was a little bit shorter. I liked it a lot. And like you said, I thought this one was, you know, obviously, the first one was more, I think, black and white that, hey, they're trading people. That's not okay. But that in this version with Irene, that you can see little bits of yourself. And it's just kind of deciding, you know, for her, like Marissa said, she, yes, has this safety for her that, you know, she's got a place to stay. She is fed. But it is a shitty situation. It sucks because she's treated horribly. She isn't paid well. It's just all around unhealthy. But at the same time, by giving up that safety, she is then taking the risk of going for something she actually wants and failing, which I think is just the most horrifying thing. And I'm sure other people are like, oh, that's easy. But I do think that is a very scary and hard thing to do and that you keep putting it on the back burner and the back burner until you've had so many excuses of why it can't be done. And it is so much easier to have that happen in the everyday life. Right, yeah, and like, I mean, like that first novella we talked about, that was like more of like a physical battle, right? She's like battling for the slaves, like physically. And this one was kind of more like the mental battle of like, you know, man, like, do I make the change or do I just stay here and like be miserable, essentially? Yeah, and that's one of the things that I also like is that Selina at multiple points is like, yeah, your life sucks and is miserable, but you need to at least fight for that, which I thought was really interesting. And then I'm not sure if Marissa remembers this part, but this was like my absolute favorite quote from the first two. But this is Selina and Iren talking, and Selina says, let me give you a bit of advice. The girl said bitterly, from one working girl to another, life isn't easy. No matter where you are, you'll make choices you think are right and then suffer for them. Those remarkable eyes flickered. So if you're going to be miserable, you might as well go to Annika and be miserable in the shadow of the, I'm going to say this completely wrong, Taura Sesame. But I think that's completely wonderful that, you know, you might as well take a chance and be miserable once you get there, but have tried and try and succeed versus being safe and miserable. Yeah, just like taking risks for something you love kind of thing. And even if it doesn't work out, like taking the risk anyway, because it could end up being something better. Yeah, but instead of letting life happen to you, you're happening to life, which I think is very important. So, you know, some of the things that are just things to think about are, you know, what goals would you be willing to fight for? And I think that is different for everybody. You know, like Marissa pointed out, both her and I are kind of trying to figure out our jobs and our careers and what happiness and that looks like. And, you know, deciding, you know, how much can we fight for that? Because again, we are adults, we have a mortgage, we, you know, have things that we have to pay for, like electricity and hot water. So, you know, it's always, again, that safety versus risking it and failing again, which again, I think really resonates with a lot of people. But any final thoughts on that section or either section? No, I really liked both stories. I definitely think it was cool to, obviously, I like her character a lot, you know, and I think, you know, there's a lot of cool, like underlying things that really do, like resonate with people. And so it was fun to talk through them and hear your thoughts as well. Awesome thoughts. Alrighty. With that, that kind of concludes, you know, our episode two and those first two novellas. So next week, we'll just be focusing on one novella because it is a little bit longer in nature. It's The Assassin in the Underworld. Or no, no, no, no, I'm sorry. The Assassin in the Desert is the next one, I think. We're getting everything all mixed up here. Let me double check on that. I'll add that. The Assassin in the Desert. Yeah, The Assassin in the Desert. Third time's a charm. So The Assassin in the Desert, final answer. But if you have any questions, comments, or want to come chat on here with us, which I would love, please swing by our Instagram account. Or if you just want to make fun of us for how we mispronounce things, that's okay too. The Instagram account is the.fiction.corner.podcast. Hopefully not too complicated, but come check it out. We talk about other random books as well on there. Again, the main focus is what we're reading, but let us know how we can improve and go from there. But with that, I will let you go and read my little bookworms.