Welcome back! Anna and Jeffrey are once again joined by Charles of the insightful and hilarious podcast, When Will it End? Up for discussion: chapters 42-43 of A Court of Thorns & Roses, much to the chagrin of Jeffrey. Join the three of them as they dive into the fun world of nouns and relationship labels before a quick detour into Survivor. What is this podcast really about? Well, Charles tries to draw the comparison between these media empires, but it might be a stretch.
Chapter 42 opens with a sex scene that Jeffrey and Charles find poorly written. The logistics of this is strange - why did Amarantha allow Tamlin to sneak away to speak with Feyre? Why don't they speak to one another? Why isn't Tamlin encouraging Feyre? No gratitude, no thanks, no words... just fondling. Is it purposeful? Is it a depiction of who Tamlin really is as a partner? Anna says that we have to wait till book two. Damn. Anna defends the first person narrative structure as a way to depict Feyre's loneliness and Tamlin's inability to act/love and she does remind Jeffrey and Charles that the nadir of their feelings for Tamlin is shared by all, so we all have that to bond over.
They have a back and forth about whether or not this book is good, whether SJM is brilliant in her writing, and whether the sexy scene in chapter 42 is written well. Anna defends as the boys disparage - how typical. Charles, with gumption, agrees to write his own version and is presented here and read by him. We'll let the listeners make up their minds about it. Charles notes that Garth Greenwell is a male author who he believes writes sex scenes well.
Rhysand's character becomes more complex as Tamlin's becomes more one dimensional. Who are we supposed to root for? Rhysand spends time with Feyre opening up about his feelings while Tamlin has spent most of his time with her being closed off. Has Tamlin been handicapped by the curse or is he just garbage? You bet that that's discussed at length.
Chapter 43 is all about the third task. It's fairly quick, though brutal. Feyre finds herself in an impossible task - take the life of three fairies to save Tamlin. Anna, Jeffrey, and Charles discuss what fairy they would embody when faced with death and whether or not they could perform this task. Is it difficult to kill people you don't know for the greater good? What say you, listener? Because Feyre spends a lot of time discussing how horrifying this task is and there is shock in the studio - Anna and Charles were blown away by this scene. This scene is great and tense and interesting... Until Feyre goes on her vision quest. What the hell was that?
What does all of this mean for Feyre moving forward? Will she be able to move past this? And what a cliffhanger - does Tamlin survive?!?!
There is discussion about suicide, rape, and sexual assault in these chapters. If any of these topics bother you, perhaps this episode is not for you.
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