The Bookmonger Society

Full-Episode-2
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[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to episode two. Now, something happened with episode two that I'm not gonna bullshit you. We use a free podcast studio at a local city basement. That's where we are right now. And because we use this studio and we are not podcasting professionals, we borrow all of the equipment that you see in the shots.

And, um, here's the deal. We don't really totally know what we're doing yet. It's only our second episode and the settings on the little machine over there, I don't even know what it's called, they got all fucked up. And so the audio kind of does this weird cutting thing, and that's why I'm wearing these to make sure that this next episode, episode three, which we're recording right now, doesn't have the same problem.

So here's what I'm gonna ask. I'm gonna ask you to give us some grace, okay? It's a little bit painful to listen to in my personal opinion and yours if you're a judgy bitch like me. And so my advice to you is to listen to this. At [00:01:00] one and a half, I find that at one and a half you don't notice the clips so much and you can actually hear us a bit better.

So that's gonna be my advice and, uh, we're gonna do better. We're gonna get better every time. That's our commitment to you. Um, but yeah, episode two's a little bit painful to listen to, but give it a go. Let us know what you think. Bye. She was only allowed to eat. Unseed. Unsalted, overcooked vegetables might be one of the most cruel and unusual punishments of the book.

Yeah, it was awful. Mind fuck, torture. Actual, fucking fine, but no salt. Right? Take my eye, but do not take my soul unforgivable. This is episode two of Reading Manacled chapter six. Through 25 warning. So yes, this podcast will include very dark themes, as did the last episode. So there will be spoilers, spoilers, abound, warnings all the way around.

Again, little listening ears [00:02:00] should not be present for this podcast. That's right. And last time I feel like the spoilers, because it was only the first five chapters, the spoilers weren't as crazy as they're going to be. Yeah. This one, yeah. They were a little weak. Lost last time. These are going to be very significant spoilers.

Right. So if you would like to read this book and be surprised, might I suggest going and doing that right now? Yeah. And then coming back to listen to this. We'll still be here. That's all we can do for you. Now let's get into bookmarked. This is the first segment of each show where it's like a previously on, we kind of do a, a check-in with me because this is my first time reading Manacled and Leah's old hat.

She's read it twice. I'm so jealous actually, that this is your first time through. That's what it, that's what a great book will do to you. And so last episode I got through five chapters. Now we are into six, which is where the first raping happens. So it's intense. I think my [00:03:00] entire. Mental state can be summed up in five words.

Hit me. Would you like to guess what they are? How could I, I could never guess what's in your budget. Just tell me. Okay. Malfoy always comes for me. Yeah, he does.

Moving right along to the margins. These are basically notes that I was taking as I was reading through this weird little moments and mostly my vibes from reading this. So my first point is that this mind fucking is so gruesome, like the actual raped me like. Keith, obviously it's rape, but it was pretty tastefully done.

Like I've definitely read way more, way more graphic rape scenes than this. Like the rape to me was nothing. I got to where he fucks her mind and I was like, oh, oh, oh my God. Oh my God. So this was in episode one where [00:04:00] we talked about, this is like the high school reunion from Hell Yeah. This mind fucking was like, you don't get anything to yourself.

No. Like to some degree having your body rampage is obviously a terrible thing, but literally not having a single secret, a single thought to your, just to yourself. I was like, that is so. Next level. Well, yeah. It's like there's no part of her left. Un. Yes. It was very hard to read in some parts. So at one point, Draco says, just as soon as you can bring yourself to walk through that door by yourself, like he's so fucking mean to her about it.

Like it's not enough that you are in my brain and you can see everything that's happening, but you also have to high school bully me about it. So many dimensions of. Utter cringe. And Hermione as a character is someone who is also very private and very proud. And so this in [00:05:00] particular, again, feels doubly devastating.

Yeah. And she actually goes through the, the mind faking several times. Right. Lots of gentlemen are in there mind poking her. Oh God. And, and each time as more and more happens to her throughout the chapters, it just becomes more and more violating. And then they get to a point where Voldemort actually starts shredding her memories.

Yeah. Um, and so the last thing that I'll say about this is by the end of chapter six, I made a note, 'cause again, this is a romance, so I know that Draco and her somehow fall in love. So by the end of chapter six, I made a note that said if I'm going to like him at some point, that's gonna be a. Fucking miracle because like, I cannot stand this motherfucker right now.

Yeah. Like what he is doing to her. I was like, this, this fucking guy. Entirely valid. Yes. Yeah. And selling you is a, a magic maker. So, well, we're gonna get into it a little bit. Okay. Point number two [00:06:00] is kill him in like all of the ways. So in episode one, I was like, I don't really know why she isn't just not thinking about this stuff, that she knows that he's gonna read her mind.

And then like, after he mind fucked her, I was like, I would like you to keep imagining additional painful ways for him to die, for my benefit and for yours. How many ways could we kill this? Cocksucker, like how many ways, right? How many ways, like if you're going to violate me in that way, I'm going to make it as uncomfortable for you as possible, right?

Uh, like I want you to watch me thinking of all the worries that I want you to die. I would've enjoyed that actually. Yeah. So 0.3, we actually cut this from the first. Episode, but I originally had this take about how I tend to see men use food very specifically in books like George r Mar.

Martin guy wrote Game of Thrones. He, he uses food a lot in symbolism. And so like every time you see a pig or a boar in [00:07:00] that something bad is happening, basically like a regime change is on the horizon. And so I was like, oh, it's interesting that food is just food here. But then it becomes like so deep because really food like just is food to Hermione who has the time to think about what you're even eating when you're entire existence is just a shell.

There are so many layers to this. Yes. So Astoria as a, you know, terrible human being. Right. So this is where fucking hater, she gets a little bit interesting. Right. So, and then we get to that whole I situ anyways. Okay. We're staying girlfriend, we're staying on the, all right. I'll, I. I'll hold my opinion of you that I had after I was reading that, but go ahead.

It's fine. Okay. So she orders the elves to make completely separate food for Hermione that has no flavor whatsoever over boiled, no salted, nasty food. This is found out because during one of the check-ins, yeah, yeah. With Stroud, she's like, Hey, why are your sodium, sodium [00:08:00] levels so low? And she's like, well, I haven't had any salt.

And she calls in Draco, who feels all blindsided. Like, I didn't know. I thought she was eating the same thing that we were for men. And he like starts to like chastise her for like, why wouldn't you tell me? You were eating this awful food and she, and she was like, motherfucker, if I was going to give you a list of complaints my unsalted food would be at like not even on the first page.

And on top of that, I can't speak to you unless spoken to, right? So listen, I like this book, I'm into it. However, if you say or are still like not convinced, you wanna read the whole thing or maybe you get it. Hermione has a terrible life here in the first act. Leah and I have caught you up so nicely and you just wanna get into act two.

I think we can. Too long didn't read literally quite a few of the chapters. Like everything up until 19. [00:09:00] Oh my god. Blasphemy, absolutely not. Don't listen to anything she just said. I wholeheartedly disagree. I think you can. Here's what happens. Hermione starts to remember that Harry was dating Ginny and that Ginny was not trying to get pregnant.

I actually misread that and thought she was trying to get pregnant, which I think might be like just some of my intuition coming out because, well, we won't get into my wild speculation yet. Ginny is like involved in dating Harry, which that doesn't, that's like news, right? Like Harry and Ginny. It's not like they were an item in Harry Potter.

Yeah, they were. Oh, they were? Yeah. Fuck. Okay, amazing. The whole idea here is that they are trying to mind poke Hermione and get everything that they can get out of her until she gets pregnant, and then once she gets pregnant, basically, this is a theory correct? Like they don't really have a lot of empirical evidence about the relationship between leg.[00:10:00]

Gacy and pregnancy. Right. Because isn't the theory Yeah. That once she's pregnant, if they try to let gacy her, that it would be disruptive to the pregnancy. Right. So yeah. So part of the reason that they put her through this program is Yes. Their theory is that during pregnancy, I don't know, some sort of magical alchemy that happens during pregnancy, I dunno, is going to remove the calcification around her memories so that then yes, they can get into her memories.

Right Through legitimacy. Right. Two birds, one stone repopulate with a badass wizard or witch. Because Draco, although I hate him, is very powerful indeed. Obviously. And Hermione we love her, is probably more powerful when she isn't manacled. And so they're gonna have a badass baby and then they also get the memories.

So things start to come out though. Like she is, they're starting to decalcify on [00:11:00] their own. So here are some other things that are happening. So Voldemort continues to be, I explain things my way and then you correct them. Okay. So Voldemort continues to be tethered basically to like life by objects. Is that what Horse Crux do?

Yes. Okay. Correct. Look at me. Okay. And then Montague. Great name again. By the way, that JK Rowling 'cause Montague's in the books, right? Or is he not? I don't remember him in the books, to be honest. Oh. But it's been a long time since I read them, so that's terrible. Sorry. Yeah. Um, yeah, like Astoria, I mean, these are great names.

She really has a knack for naming characters. Agreed. That's JK Rowlin. Um, so I love the name Montague, but he's a. Fucking asshole. Okay. And so it turns out that Montague is basically responsible for capturing Hermione. And because he is responsible, he thinks he deserves a prize like raping Hermione too.

He sees her as war, like a war prize. Yeah. Yeah. He's [00:12:00] disgusting as well. But here's the thing, Hermione, as it turns out, seems like she was a bit of a bad bitch. So did anyone doubt that she was a bad? No. I know. Come on. But I didn't think that she was gonna be like. Doing a prison rescue and killing a bunch of assholes.

You know what I mean? Like that was that, that took me by surprise. Mm-hmm. So here is at this point where, so around chapter, probably like 22 ish, I start to believe the following about our girl Hermione. Okay. I think she was the logic of the resistance. And you kind of gave me a clue on this last time, 'cause you said that there are two very distinct ideas about the ideal of hope.

Mm-hmm. So it was a little bit of a clue, but I believe that Hermione was like the logic of the resistance. Basically the resistance with Harry and the dudes, um, was like, listen, we're we're the good guys. We're just gonna win. We are gonna work on our shield spells and you can't go around killing people [00:13:00] even if they're trying to kill you.

And Armani was like, that doesn't math. Okay people, I'm gonna learn how to heal you because you definitely are gonna get hurt because here is something you might not know about bad guys, but they're bad guys and they're looking to. Kill us. Hurt us, ma us, destroy us, imprison us, rape us mind. Fuck us.

They're bad guys. And I would like to help you. Solve when you get hurt, I will. I I will come and help you. That's the most pragmatic thing we can do for this resistance to help you idiots. Yeah. None of you have any foresight, so I'm just gonna be here taking care of all of y'all. Yep. Accurate. That's what I now believe Harmione's role in the resistance was.

And she also, I think towards like the 24 25 chapter starts, like talking about and remembering how isolating this was for her. Like she really lost her connection with Harry and they, um, [00:14:00] she also was in favor of tit for tat. Like if they try to kill you, maybe you kill them back or kill them first instead of just thinking like, we're the good guys.

Light always beats dark. Yeah, no, the whole theme around good versus evil in this book is. Around that specifically, she goes to bat for using dark magic throughout, for all of the reasons just laid out. And they're like, no, then we wouldn't be the good guys. So no, we're gonna continue to just stun them and imprison them otherwise, like why even fight in this war at all if we're just gonna be just like them?

And so what ends up happening is that in order for them to stay in their blissful ignorance, Hermione and a few select others end up having to make all the hard choices and make all of the sacrifices so everyone else can stay in their little blissful bubble. And so then, uh, I kind of mentioned this already, but it's the next point, so I'm just gonna reiterate it again, which is that at some point we learned that Hermione has destroyed like half a prison [00:15:00] where Ginny was held captive to rescue her, but she was already a goddamn mess, frankly.

And then Malfoy killed her. Do I have that right? You, uh. As it stands where you are in the book? Yes. Okay. 'cause really, again, I think you can pick up at 19. A lot of shit goes down 19 to 25. So I'm gonna go through like almost every one of those chapters. 'cause they're really interesting. Yeah. Because otherwise it's all just like, I mean it's, it's important.

I get it. And like I know probably philosophically she's like making you sit with her mighty and her pain and suffering, but like it does get a bit much. And I just was like, okay, I get it. She's sad. This sucks. We hate Draco. I understand. And then by 19 I was like, okay, now some shit's going down. It does pick up really quickly.

So yes, there's a chunk of chapters that is all very yes, internal and philosophical, but I just love that shit. So I recognize that that is, you know, you said you can [00:16:00] figure out who you identify with. Yeah. It's funny about this podcast. It's fine. Leah and I aren't the same person. We don't have the same perspective.

So if you are like, Lea girl, she's speaking to me, do what she says. If you're like, I could do without, skip the ninth ahead. But then you would miss the paper cranes and you would miss Oh my gosh. Narciss the paper cranes. Yes, narciss is okay. I didn't realize the paper cranes were, what we're stopping for.

Is it just interesting because that, that's one of the memories that Voldemort gets rid of for her? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just the deeply personal, thing that she did with her dad growing up. Yeah. And then that was something, another thing that was taken for her, from her that was tied to her identity.

Yeah. But it's something that she then, oh, I can't, anyways, it comes back at the end. I'm gonna leave it alone. Okay. Sounds good. What do you, what else do you have in here? Narcissist Portrait. We got BMORE shredding, her memories. We have the Agora phobia, we have the Stockholm Syndrome, which we need to get into.

That's what the, those are the chapters [00:17:00] that I like though. They are in those chapters. Yes, yes, yes. Maybe I'm getting wrong. Okay. So then let's get into it. Should we go, should we go into 0.5? Yes. Okay. So there might be more to Mel for than meets the Eye. I don't, I don't know. Course there is. So I don't really want this to be like a book report where I go through all of the things.

So here's what we're gonna do. Okay. I'm gonna put you on the witness stand. Ooh. It's gonna be like you're a star witness in a trial where I have some questions for you. Okay. Hit me on the night of March 20th. Graham Montague assaults, our girl, Hermione Granger.

But luckily

the authorities of the Manor one, Draco Malfoy comes to save her.

And this is where we get our first clue about how the author is going to pull off that. How in the hell are we not going to despise Draco? Malfoy? Hermione from the depths of her mind thinks Malfoy always comes for me. Now, Hermione and Mal FO's [00:18:00] relationship is not that of a danel in distress and Malfoy comes and protects.

This is not the vibe. So why would this be her thought that escapes in this moment of terror? Couldn't it be Miss Leah? Mm-hmm. That the reason Hermione thinks Malfoy always comes for me is because. They have a previous relationship, perhaps even that they were in love and couldn't it further be true that he and his proximity to the dark Lord is the very reason that she would've known how they would try to extract the information from her mind and couldn't it even further be possible that the way she was able to protect these thoughts might be with the help of an expert wizard like Malfoy.

Because wouldn't they know that their relationship would obviously kill Malfoy as a traitor because he [00:19:00] likely is sympathetic if not actually helping the resistance and the rebels. Couldn't it be that he's a darn goat and that all Malfoy evilness and apathy is just a ploy to keep the dark Lord in the dark?

See what I did there until her memories are unlocked and they could figure out what to do together.

One question, what about Hermione makes you think that she would need mouth voice help with that? With with which part? Like locking away her memories? Yeah. Well, I think, 'cause you said that there are people who are prone to being better at mm-hmm. Ancy versus legitimacy. Mm-hmm. And I think that, well you told me that Hermione was a natural alum.

Mm-hmm. Sir. And, and uh, Draco is obviously very good at [00:20:00] legitimacy, so I feel like he would have been like, okay, here's like how you gotta structure this because this is what I have been trained to do and what the dark Lord is obviously gonna do, and then what I might have to do to eventually, although I don't, I don't know if he knew that they were gonna get to this point where they were doing all of this handmade stuff.

I don't know. I'm under the impression that's kind of like a newer development. Yes. So I don't know if they were plotting this, that he would've been able to foresee that in particular, but I think that they probably worked together because I also, at one point, oh my gosh, this is so lovely. So basically what had happened was Astoria tries to pull out harmione's eye.

I'm gonna just, I don't actually know if this is where I'm supposed to be, but I am so disappointed in you. Because you're sitting here on the first episode, like, I actually feel bad for Astoria when you knew the whole time that she was going to attempt to poke out. Not one, but she was gonna go [00:21:00] for both of her mind's, eyeballs, and you still have the capacity to feel bad for this bitch.

I am not here for it. I did not like it one bit. I hated her. I mean the same amount because I didn't like her to begin with. But you didn't like her because she was two dimensional. Now you don't like her, but she's still pretty two dimensional. This is like, uh, my, my man doesn't like, like me. 'cause you guys were in love before or whatever.

I do, I do think, okay, so here's, here's something I do like, I'm not all negative about it, but here's, here's something I do like I do at this juncture. Believe that malfoy is, you know, he has to play a role or they're gonna be found out, which is very bad for both of them. And if he did. Was helping with the resistance, everyone else, right?

Mm-hmm. So like the stakes are pretty high. He's gotta be believable. Mm-hmm. You know? Um, so I did like though that the dark Lord doesn't seem to be onto him unless all of the torture that he's doing is something else. Like the dark [00:22:00] Lord is kind of onto him, but he can't find the evidence that I don't know yet.

But he at least is passing as believable enough. Mm-hmm. That they're not coming for him. Mm-hmm. And so I did like that Astoria was perceptive enough to see all of these little differences in mal FO's behavior with Hermione that made her jealous. Yeah. Girl's not dumb. That is the one redeeming thing I can say.

I was like, okay. A story. Yeah. So now chapter 19. Okay. Uh, let's talk about this. So, um, chapter nineteen's packed. Okay. Mel FO's, bitch Wife comes in being a jealous bitch, basically. And, um, again, she sees all the little ways that draco's different with Hermione than he is with her. And so she comes in and tries to poke her min eyeball out.

And, uh, Draco is in the Jack Republic. Where is he some other country. Hungary. Yeah. Across Belgium, across Europe somewhere. Yeah. He's like eight countries away, basically. Yeah. [00:23:00] And so with a flying leap, he comes and saves Hermione. Now, I will say that Malfoy to me, in the way that he's described as a character, this to me feels like the Timothy Chalamet kind of vibe, skinny and rat faced.

Wait, I'm sorry, who is Timothy Shalam? What? I'm sorry. Oh my gosh. Okay, so here's uh, the trend that's happening in the youth. They are attracted to, I have crossed the generational divide. They are, um, attracted to rat faced skinny men. That's what they're called. I don't think Timothy Schlamme looks like a rat.

Do not come for me. I'm, that's what people are saying. Okay. It's the description that everyone else in the world is giving. But Timothy Schlamme is, um, very talented actor. He is the, he plays Bob Dylan in whatever that movie about Bob Dylan is that just came out. He, did he win an Academy Award? He [00:24:00] either not.

He is nominated for an Academy Award. He won Academy Award. Oh, he's the Dune kid. He's the Dune kid. Okay. He's also in Dune. Got it. Okay. Yes, he's a very talented actor. But here's my whole point about this is that, um, you know, Malfoy seems like a, not like a Superman kind of character. So this is his Ooh.

Like come to the rescue of Lois Lane in like this super human way. Yeah. Because you're not supposed to be able to leap like eight planets, even if you are. Uh, magician. A magician, a wizard. Yes. Even for wizarding standards, what he did wa was crazy. Yeah. And so then this is where this says, I love this scene.

He has to try to fix herm mind's eyeball. Astoria pokes. Not he does, doesn't get it like all the way out, but she definitely does some damage. And so Malfoy has to try to repair it and he asks Hermione to give him the spell, and then he has a unexpected proficiency because these healing spells [00:25:00] require a very specific gentle touch.

Mm-hmm. And he is able to do that, which further mm-hmm. Gave me my case that they were in cahoots the whole time before because it was almost like he was trained. By an expert healer and they go to great pains to talk about how Hermione was the ees healers of them all. She traveled all of the continental Europe to learn all of these tricks and went to all of the best hospital, had healing hospital.

I don't know where she all went. Yeah. All the, she went training programs and Yeah. Apprenticeships and all the things she put in the fucking work. She learned the things and I think she probably taught her man a thing or two. Yeah. That's probably an excellent theory, don't you think? Yeah. Mm-hmm. By the way, I have this point in my notes somewhere, but what is happening for me right now?

Being right about all of these things that I are reading, um, that's just fantastic writing. So like all writers [00:26:00] know that there are going to be various levels of the people who are reading our shit, and there are going to be people who really pay attention. Mm-hmm. Read all of the sub-context and the subtext and the, they really go to great lengths to try to like, think about the book deeply.

And then there are people who are just gonna be like, Draco's hot, and like, just read, read me through it, whatever. I, I'm not no shade. If you think Draco's hot and you wanna read it, amazing. Um, no problem. But I do like, you might not pick this book, pick another book. Yeah. There are apparently thousands you'd choose from.

Um, and so I do think that she's done an excellent job of like seeding these ways that you can read a lot into it and create your own theories. And then I hope. Some of my theories are right and some of them are wrong. That's the best place to be as a reader, not that you've predicted everything. Mm-hmm.

That's what makes a book boring when you're like, yep. Saw that ending coming. Right. Like, that sucks. Um, and so I think she does an impeccable job of seeding these little Easter eggs for [00:27:00] people to either pick up or not. And I'm sure it's an even much more enjoyable exercise. Like when you taught me about how Harry Potter was always talked about, like the boy who lived.

Mm-hmm. And then Voldemort says the boy that died. It's like, things like that are fucking dope. There's so much that we could talk through, but considering. Your theories. Yeah. That Draco and Hermione, uh, were at minimum in cahoots together, as you say, possibly in love. Now think back to like that whole first act from his perspective.

That's such a mind fuck, right? Because Hermione is obviously in a horrible state, right? She's got the manacles, she's being raped on a consistent basis. But can you imagine being a person who had to rape someone you cared about and 'cause if you didn't, she would be executed or tortured and then executed and those were your choices.

And then you find yourself sympathizing with a rapist and you're like, am I a monster? Yeah. Like, is wrong with me. Yeah. There is a point where [00:28:00] Hermione goes and eavesdrops on the. Spring fling party or whatever they're doing. Yeah. And Spring Equinox party and that a story is hosting 'cause she always has to be in the newspaper.

Um, so and so Hermione overhears that basically all of the rest of the Handmaids like have it real bad that Draco is doing his duty, but kind of doing it as least terrible as possible. And that's like a lot of her inner monologue that's happening in I think chapters 2021 around there where she's like, I mean, I hate to say it could be worse, but I guess it could be.

And then she does get threatened that if she doesn't get pregnant, she'll be given to Luc Lucius. Lucius Lucius, which we learned last time is Draco's dad. And he's really. Got a bone to pick. Oh yeah. Because of what happened to his wife. And so like that's a [00:29:00] way worse scenario. So again, Draco is put in a position of, now I really have to get you pregnant or my dad is going to destroy you.

Oh, so much. So, yeah. So she's at the, you know, I'm gonna call the spring fling party because I like it so much better. So she's at the spring fling party and Yes. So she, she hear overhears all of these gruesome stories about how all the other Handmaids are being treated. Yeah. She had kind of assumed that they were all in a similar situation to her.

Right. Like they were just for the most part locked away and then brought out to be impregnated and then put back away in their, you know, little holding cell. Come to find out like, no, they're actually just brutally raped all the time. Yeah. So she gets that information on top of just being in a constant state of.

Terror all the time. Yeah. She starts to recognize that she's experiencing Stockholm Syndrome because she can't maintain that level of fear consistently all day, every day. And so she knows her body and her brain [00:30:00] are trying to protect her by rationalizing some of these things. Yeah. Like at least I'm being raped tastefully.

Right? Like, and but then she was like, how am I possibly trying to rationalize the fact that I'm being raped? So there's like these layers of trauma over and over again. Yeah. And so then, um, my point number six, I got a lot of points on this. One is Magic Babies apparently needs some magic baby. Um, so like.

Basically the working theory from Stroud of why her money has not been impregnated yet is that it's too clinical. They're just doing the table and the from behind and that the ma magic baby needs to feel something more apparently in order to which, considering the way the other handmaids are being treated makes absolutely no sense, but Right.

But carry on. Yeah. And so, um, they go through this whole thing, uh, in, so they start doing it on the bed and [00:31:00] face-to-face basically, and Draco really does not enjoy this. He's taken potions, giving her potions thrown up afterwards. Well, yeah. Okay. Back up because basically, yeah. What Stroud does is to make this more enjoyable.

Yeah. It gives Hermione a potion to make her extremely aroused. Yeah. And so then she's in a position where, yeah, she's being essentially turned on by rape. Physically, but in her mind, she's so entirely disgusted. Yeah. And feels entirely betrayed by her body. Ugh. That, that scene was so hard to read because Draco's experiencing the same thing.

Yeah. And as we talked about earlier, he knows her on a level that she doesn't actually know him anymore. Right. And so then yeah, he is vomiting afterwards. Oh God. It was so, it's brutal. Hard to read. Yeah. My point number seven [00:32:00] is, is it love? Or a potion. So I have another working theory starting on chapter 23.

Hermione and Severus are in his potion lab because she's becoming his little apprentice, which also the Harry Potter and the rest of them do not like all of her friends are pissed at her. And Severus is brewing love potions. Hmm. That seems like an odd memory to surface. I mean, yeah. That's essentially what is coming back.

Like Severus, um, was trying to find ways to make Yeah, women more. Compliant. Yeah. Like not because he wanted to, because he was being ordered to. Yeah. And fun fact, for anyone who is coming into this, having Red Harry Potter, but not Manacled. Yes. Nate is still alive in this version, which he obviously dies in the original.

Yeah. But anyways. Well, okay, so I actually was second guessing whether Draco and Hermione were in love or if it was the potion. So you don't have to answer that, but [00:33:00] like that's what's in my mind, that's why that's actually more of what I was thinking. It actually seemed too linear to be like, oh, like he was brewing the kind of potion that was like the aphrodisiac for her.

I actually didn't even think it was like that straightforward. I thought it was more alluding to questioning if Hermione and Draco were actually in love, or if one of them had taken a potion, like pre all of this. To convince each other or to convince whoever was playing the game that they were in love with the other person.

That's actually what I meant more of. But I bet that's not right because you obviously, your reaction says it's not. But that was my working theory, actually. It's not a bad theory. Um, I guess you'll find out, uh, I will find out how they actually fall in love for real. Point number eight, again, uh, Sunland master of sadness, right?

So that's how I ended, this whole section in the margins last time. Really effective continuation [00:34:00] of the staccato nature of her writing. Very short, little fucking devastating sentences. And at one point in chapter 11, man, she just writes this one sentence, which absent of the rest of the context is a throwaway sentence, but it just says she wanted a hug.

And I was like, fuck m mighty, oh you poor thing. Like I'm not a hugger, but bitch, I'd hug you. I mean, can you imagine? Yeah. Just being in a situation where your only physical contact was clinical or abuse. Right. For years, really. Yeah. So yeah, just wanting some form of small physical touch that was affectionate and not harmful.

Yeah. Ugh. Okay, so that was 0.8. And I bet you think I'm done, but I'm not. She's never, I have one last point, which is 0.9, and this is drunk [00:35:00] malfoy. Here's what basically happens in chapter 23. Malfoy gets drunk and. Kisses are against a wall. Mm-hmm. And I feel like as a reader, I was like, oh yeah. I was like, at this point I am like, they're already in love.

And like, you know, he's, he's really holding it down and trying his best. And he has what I perceive as just a little bit of steam to blow off. Can I get a little bit drunk once and just like, make out with my girlfriend? You know, like, it kind of felt like that to me. Um, and there is, was a well-written scene and the whole thing, but I don't know.

And then like, she gets into it and he sort of like remembers himself and takes a potion to be sober right away, which like, what's the point of getting all those calories if you're just gonna get sober right away? I think that's a total fucking waste. Um, shows my age, but like, I, I don't, I don't know that he would really do that.

Yeah. But you, I mean, as a storyteller, you have to [00:36:00] show a crack in his facade at some point, right? Yeah. So, okay. Draco is a man with a plan. Right. And behind all the scenes, all of his carefully laid plans are falling apart. Okay. And he, and he just, yeah, we just went through, you know, the much more emotionally traumatic reap scene.

Yeah. That is bringing up all kinds of shit for him. And yeah, he's probably just like I, he's at his breaking point. He can't hang much longer because this Yeah. Has gone on far longer than he anticipated. I see. Alright. Onto the writer's desk. This is a section where we talk about technique, narrative structures, thematic choices, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Uh, so this is the, this is where I made my first point, which I already made, which is that writers like when they make readers think they're smart. And so, uh, the cross-examination that I did of my [00:37:00] witness earlier that diatribe is wild speculation. And so that's a good cornerstone of good writing is when you as a reader are going through things and you're like, I knew it.

I knew it. When you actually read that, that thing happens that you predicted. Yeah. And then again, as I mentioned, when you can be surprised by other things that you totally didn't see coming, that is, uh, just a great experience and you're gonna get so many more. I'm very excited, so excited for you. My point number two is something, uh, I alluded to a little bit, but, uh, warnings in literature.

Okay, so chapter 21 starts with this warning. I'm gonna read it authors note, a gentle reminder that depiction is not a authorial endorsement. Basically, I ain't saying it's right. Then she continues. Third person limited point of view necessarily involves some distortions of vision and missed slash misconstrued events.

But it is what it's, this is on the two chapters where she takes the, the aphrodisiac [00:38:00] potion and then starts to enjoy her body starts to enjoy the rape, and there's this disassociation between her mind and whatever. And so this to me is the author basically saying that like a, I don't agree with, I'm not saying this is like a good thing.

This is just. My interpretation of where Hermione mind would be at in this circumstance. And I see this in a lot of actual book descriptions. Like I've seen book descriptions that are like, no, nobody dies. Or like, like they end up together at the end because it's a romance. Mm-hmm. Like that is part of the category of a romance book.

They always should end happily ever after. And so, I don't know, what are we, what are we fucking doing here? Because I feel like, like if you gave a reader's warning on the Grapes of Wrath about its last scene, if you don't know what happens weird, um, like you, it would, it would like ruin it. I don't have any problem with the trigger warnings at the beginning, but I think like the mid, the mid chapter, like [00:39:00] a, just so you remember, this is a story like a little bit, I was like, isn't this for adults?

Can we not just read Yes. And.

Okay. I have two sides to this, to this thought. Actually, on one hand, yes, I, I think there just needs to be some built-in trigger warnings. And because of the way that this was published chapter by chapter, she's again giving the reader like, Hey, this is where some of the really traumatic things happen. If you want to skip to the next chapter, this might be a good time to do so.

On the other side, some people, yeah, just want a certain type of ending. They want to read a certain type of story, right? They're like, I have enough fucking shit in my life and I don't need to add more to this. So, right. They want to know, is this gonna be a happy ending? 'cause if it's not, I'm just not really emotionally prepared for this right now.

Yeah. So I think there's a little bit of that, but I do wish that it was optional. Right. Like that those, yeah, for the most part would be like, if you want to, yes. Read the triggers. If you [00:40:00] want to have a hint on what type of ending this is, yeah. Read over here. If not, that's a good idea. But one thing. You brought up too is like the idea of like happy ending romance.

Did you know that as a genre, categorically a romance in a romance, they have to end up together. Yes. But in a love story they don't. Yeah. So books like normal people or alone with you in the Ether, which adore would be categorically a love story and not a romance. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I did know that. 'cause you know, all the things so, well, I don't know all of the things.

Obviously I get a lot of shit wrong. However, um, I did know that about romance, which is why I, I find it particularly irritating when I look at a romance on like, Amazon's, like, they end up together. I'm like, obviously they have to romance. It's part of the genre. It's like saying like a fantasy book is gonna have magic.

Obviously it's gonna have magic. They all do. Now, I'm trying to think of a fantasy book that does not in fact have magic. Every fantasy should have a magic [00:41:00] system. Part of the genre. Yeah. Otherwise, yeah. Otherwise it's sci-fi maybe, or, yeah. So like mine, my book is sci-fi Fantasy because it has both elements of like, I have to explain.

So, or like, so in Dungeons and Dragons, I believe, I am not a dungeon master by any means, but I had a friend explain to me that in Dungeons and Dragons, they think about magic from like hard to soft. Okay. Criteria. Yeah. That's fair. And like, I like hard magic. I don't like, it's kind of in my, my critique of the, in the first episode, even where I'm like, legitimacy feels like the Trump card.

It feels a little too good to be true. I don't love that. 'cause that to me is softer magic, where it's a little bit like. Like how Malfoy get all the way there when he's not supposed to magic. You know, like he's just that amazing. Um, like that to me feels a little like, I'd, I'd want it to be like, well, he had to steal two other wizard thumbs, um, if full,[00:42:00]

I don't know. Uh, side note. Yes. Um, one thing that Slan you shared about the writing process for writing Alchemized, she's like, how do you basically tell the same story in a different world? Yeah. And she's like, some of the things that you would think would be really hard were actually not that hard to restructure.

She's like, the hardest part actually about this story was trying to tell this story in a world where people can't just like teleport. Yeah. From one location to the other, she's like, that one was actually really hard. Yeah, I can, I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. And then point number three that I have here is there's a ratcheting up of the stakes.

One of the exercises that I love to do when I'm writing is to think how I can increase the stakes over and over and over again to think about how high they can go. And so I, I liked that ratcheting up of the threat of her going to loose. Lucius, ah, day Lucius. Um, that makes total, it looks like Lucious, but in my head, ally, I saying eu.

Um, [00:43:00] for some reason I do think that some, I, I brought this up in the first episode where I thought she was doing a really good job of closing off the walls so that a reader was like, well, why doesn't she, Justin, why doesn't she just, and why doesn't she just, and there are some of the reason that I don't like so many of the chapters between say seven and 18, is that it feels like there's a lot of things in there for like Harry Potter fans that I just don't know anything about.

And so they just ended up being like a lot of extra detail that I was like, do I care about lay lines? Like at some point, like the cage there, like the cage in Lucius's layer that she like happens upon, they talk about lay line. And I just was like, what are, like, do I care about this? Eventually you do. Um, and, but like.

Not enough at the beginning. Right. You know what I mean? Like, I wasn't doing this podcast. I'd be like, you know what I like, it just is, there's some, there was a lot of that in the middle.

Yeah.

Where, um, even if it does come back around, I bet I don't like, [00:44:00] again, if I'm not doing this podcast, I wouldn't probably remember that it happened anyways.

Which I think that is the hard thing about exposition that I think about in my books all the time is like, I have all these little things that I think are super important. Mm-hmm. But then I really have to go like, I mean, are they like worth my reader's time? Like for real, for real? Or can I, if I didn't include it here and I included it later, is it gonna feel like a big enough payoff?

I have yet to decide. I guess if hers, of all of these little things that I'm like, I don't care. Yeah. Are big enough later. That is something that the design of a really good author is if they can drop those small details of the things that may not be important yet, but will be important in the future in a way that feels.

Narratively seamless. Yeah. Um, is really hard to do. It's really hard to do. Really hard to do. Yeah. Because yeah, at one point you're like, do I really care about this? Like, if you get too many at one time? Yeah. Or you get Yeah. Like the info [00:45:00] dumping where you're like, I don't care. Or then you get to when it's actually important, you're like, wait, wait, I don't have enough context for how this is possible.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it's a, it's a fine line. It's really challenging. Yeah. For me it's like an eight outta 10 right now, but that's probably, I'm not all the way through the book, so maybe the two outta 10, I'm gonna be like. Those were amazing points. Um, but I do think there are things sort of just left dangling, like at one point, like she reads the newspaper where they expose that she has been given to Draco and it's sort of like, ooh, like is there gonna be a rescue mission here?

Mm-hmm. But then she never like really thinks about it again. So I'm like, well that was kinda a bummer, you know? 'cause it sort of like sets you up that like, this is gonna be a continuing thing that you're talking about. And so even if she eventually gets rescued, do I think that her reading it in the news, I don't know, like it, it doesn't, it feels like it's probably not gonna have a great payoff to me, but we will see.

That's fair. There's not a huge payoff, but that's what she thinks that Montague [00:46:00] is. She's like, what if he's part of my rescue party? The rescue party? And that's why he being Yeah, that's a good point. Being so intentional about searching every corner. Of the mansion. Yeah. Right. Like, that's why he's so insistent.

So he's like, she's like, I don't wanna like tip anything off if he is right, because she does remember who he is. All right, I'll buy that. I like that. Sure. Oh, so some of these points we like already covered in the previous episode. I think that, that the, everyone's the hero of their own story continues to be a main theme here.

And I, I am absolutely living for this Hermione against Harry Potter. I, I fucking love that shit. I think that's dope. Um, and I think it is that, oh yeah, Harry Potter is positioned as this sort of boy who can do no fucking wrong. Mm-hmm. And then Hermione is like actually behind closed doors kind of a loser, you know, like, or whatever.

Not a loser, but you know, just like, um, well and obviously not as chosen as y'all thought. Um, 'cause he dies. Yeah. One thing I thought she did really well [00:47:00] is she made you as the reader understand all the ways that Harry intentionally isolated. Hermione. Like now, even when you go back, you're like, oh yeah.

She's always just kind of been treated as this third wheel. Yeah. But those thoughts aren't coming directly from Hermione in this story. So Hermione, I mean, loves Harry and Ron to the end. Right. Is loyal to them. Yeah. To the end. Yet, as the reader, you're like, but they're really kind of fucking over. Yeah.

Like pulling Draco talk is is the one who's like. Oh, sounds like they don't really fuck with you. Right. Sounds like they don't actually care about you. Yeah. Yeah. That was actually what I found in some of the other fan fix as well, is Ron is just sort of like universally hated by anyone who is a fan of Hermione.

Harry kind of goes either way, he can be good or bad, but like Ron is universally disliked. That's amazing. I love that point number. I have no idea is the role of the press. So this is something that I really loved. One [00:48:00] of the reasons that I love sci-fi or fantasy in particular is because it takes you out of the logistics of this world.

So it lets you disassociate a little bit with like, oh, this is like a Wizard E World. But you should also be constantly kind of like in the back of your mind thinking like, what's happening here that also reflects maybe what's happening in the real world, right? And so, one, I had two main thoughts here.

One is that just stylistically, I loved the kind of like lady whistle down society paper tone that this newspaper has. I thought that was very charming. And then two, right? Like, I like how VOR uses the press to his advantage. And that really ultimately the, the hand. Are not about repopulation at all.

They're about keeping people distracted ag, uh, on like what's actually happening. And he uses, it, uses the press to spread rumors about who [00:49:00] is doing things in the war, that it's the rebels that destroyed that hospital, or it's the rebels that did this other thing or whatever. I just think that's very much like how.

Bad guys use the press. Yeah. It's a lot of, you know, magician misdirection. Like, don't look over here. Look over here. Mm-hmm. And then this is my last point, talk about an ending. That is, I really had to pull myself away from starting on act two to do this thing. Basically, act one ends with a series of UN mostly uncredited quotes.

I'm just gonna read some for you. You seem pleased to have successfully hoarded yourself. Happy to know you've got your chess piece locked in place. That's why I thought maybe like Hermione gives Draco the love potion to have him fall in love with her because she wants to use him as part of the resistance and mm-hmm.

She doesn't think. That I don't know. She, she doesn't think it would happen without a potion maybe. Sure. Your mine, you swore yourself to me growled into her ear. That one's got a little bit [00:50:00] of that. And then finally Malfoy was standing over her, his face white, his eyes glittering with rage. I have warned you, if something happens to you, I will personally raise the entire our order.

Is it RA or raise? I think it's raise. I think so too. But it sounds weird when you say it. 'cause it sounds like it's like raise Yeah. The order, but it's RAZE. Okay. That's why you should read instead of just listen to this. That isn't a threat. It is a promise. Consider your survival as much a necessity to the survival of the resistance.

As potters, if you die, I will kill every last one of them

now. Boy. Yeah. How did you not continue reading? Oh man. Couldn't stop. I am committed to this podcast's format. Damn it. Okay. How, how did we get through this whole thing without even like addressing montague's assault? Oh. Um, I kind of just went [00:51:00] over well, okay, so like Montague. I mean I, um, yeah, I don't know.

I just don't wanna talk about it, I guess. That's fair. It was gruesome. It was hard to read to your point about how, how brutal when they have sex and like enjoy it, but they don't wanna, that is worse than the chapter six rape. To me, the montague scene is worse than the chapter six rape. Like it's awful.

Yeah. Like the Montague thing is terrible and then Draco disembowels him and the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. And that was what kicked off as story of trying to gouge Hermione eye out. Yes. So like, it was like, yeah, I just skipped over it. Drama on top of your drama mon. I was gonna let you get away without ever knowing that, I mean, ever knowing the details, but, well, I guess we still didn't really talk about the details, but Yeah, he like bites her and, oh God, it, he's gross.

It's gruesome. He's gross. He's sick, he's gross. Um, okay. Canon who dat, who are all these people is my [00:52:00] 0.1. So like, this is kind like I already said, there's lots of names in the middle chapters and I'm just like, I don't know who these people are. Amicus, carro, CIE, Aliber Al very, like when you read these names, are you like, Ooh, this is like all the stuff that I remember from Harry Potter.

Are you like, Hmm. Yeah. So some of those names I feel are more catered to the diehards, so, okay. Yes. I, Harry Potter fandom is a spectrum, right? Right. And so there are people who like, yeah, I watched the movies, they were good. It was great. And then like on the other spectrum, side of the spectrum, there are people who were like, no, I, you

know,

read the books obsessively as kids.

I know the names and details of all of Dumbledore's cousins and shit. Yeah. I don't know. I know Ev I know everything you cannot out trivia me about Yeah. Harry Potter. Okay. So I would say I am. I didn't read them as a kid, so I didn't read them until I was an adult. So I'm like, yeah, I read the books, watch the movies.

They're good. I'm for it. But I am more [00:53:00] dedicated to Manacled than I ever was with Harry Potter. So just to give caveats for anyone coming in, depending if you are like a diehard fan over here, like this just may not be for you, and that's totally fine. That being said, some of those names that you mentioned, yeah.

Yeah. They're like, again, minor villains to bring in some of the people who are like hardcore fans, but they're not like narratively necessary. Yeah. You know, so, yeah. Yeah. All right. They're just more like a nod. Fair enough. My second point here is what is happening in the real world? Because they like PA to get to this world, right?

It's like the magical eight and a half foot door, or whatever the fuck right. Died in three quarters, nothing in three quarters, eight and a half. I was pretty close somewhere. That's just coming off my memory. I did not Google that. I was like eight and a half I think, or some. Anyways, what is happening in England while all of this is happening in Harry Potter land, it's all a little hazy.

So yeah, it feels a little brushed over to your point, the wizarding world, the magical world has to stay like under the [00:54:00] radar. They can't let bugles know what's going on. And so throughout the whole war, you know, Baltimore is threatening, exposing the whole wizarding community. So that's all oh point of contention as well, which you'll get into later.

So yes. So technically, yeah, the world is kind of going on as normal, but now all of a sudden, like these pockets of why are all of a sudden like these massacres becoming more. You know, prevalent across Europe. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And then question two. So as I mentioned, Voldemort uses the press to be like, I'm the good guy, but he is literally the dark Lord.

They call the him the dark. Mm-hmm. Lord, he uses the dark magic. His brand is very, I'm the bad guy. So when he's like, oh, what the rebels blew up that thing. Like, I mean, nah. You know what I mean? Like why, why, why, why? Who would believe that? I mean, I guess it doesn't matter if they believe it or not, as long as they're either fearful enough or apathetic enough to just not intervene.

So, who's [00:55:00] in the magic world that's like apathetic? Like who, what are they doing over there? Like, if you're not gonna be with him or against him, what? You're just like fucking chilling there being a clerk. Yeah, well, yeah, if you're in another country where the battles are not going on, like you have a choice whether or not you're going to join and intervene or stay on the sidelines and see, let's just wait and see how this plays out.

I see. Alright. Dark marks, darker thoughts. Point number one, the dark order needs an HR department. Okay. So at some point Hermione realizes the vul Mort is also torturing malfoy. This motherfucker's just like the worst boss, and I feel like as an organization, he must have employees quiet, quitting on him all the time.

Yeah. And he also, um, you know, I'm, again, I think Malfoy is with the resistance and na duh. Because your boss is a fucking asshole. Right. I mean, I don't think being a death eat comes with a whole lot of like health [00:56:00] benefits or work-life balance. It's, you never really think about that when you're making that choice.

It's kind of a shit gig. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you wanna be a bad guy. Well, have you ever thought about how you're going to pay for your kids' braces? Probably not. Probably didn't know how, you know, frequent torture sessions Yeah. Would be coming. Yeah. Yeah. My second thing is, man, everyone's obsessed with women being hairless.

I'm so glad that you bring this up actually, because Finish your point and then I'll comment. Go ahead. Yeah. I mean, so there at one point, I don't even remember who comes in. Stroud. Stroud comes in one of, at one of Hermione check-ins. Stroud, like runs a curse along her so that she becomes hairless everywhere.

And she's like, oh, that might burn for a little bit. But some of the, some of the rapists have been complaining. So we're just doing this with everybody and um, I don't, I don't listen. I think we take hair back. Fuck it. Let's get hairy ladies. I agree. Let's bring hair [00:57:00] back. Yeah. Make hair cool again. Did you ever read the Outlander series?

I did not. Okay. There's this Yeah. Obviously. So she goes back in time. Yes. Falls along with a guy in the 17 hundreds. Right. It's whole thing. She's not shaving at this point anymore, even though she's used to in her old life. So at one point she's in France and they act, this is a common practice in France that was not in fact in Scotland.

And so there's this whole scene between them where she sha she waxes and he's like, what the fuck did you just do? Yeah. And she's like, perfumed herself. And she's like, I thought you'd like it. He is like. Am I a bumblebee? Like what? It was just so good. So anyways, yes. I think we should bring hair back.

Yeah, bring it back. Alright, we are rapidly wrapping up. We are going to end with the, to be continued because this journey does continue for me. And so to be continued, I've already spelled out a lot of what I think is gonna happen in Act two. I'm [00:58:00] sure there are tons of details that I cannot wait to grasp.

I want some juicy paragraphs upon chapters about Hermione not getting along with Harry Potter and his friends. I want that bad. I want to know where, uh, Draco and Hermione first meet and how they get all together and the whole thing. I wanna know what's happening with Ginny. Um, again, I misread that she had a baby, but I do think she has a child and that then maybe that baby is with Harmione's parents and that's why Harmione's parents.

Are all locked away. 'cause you gotta give, you gotta put her somewhere that, uh, isn't gonna be obvious. Him or her. I guess, I don't know why I assume this child is a girl. I dunno. Things are coming to me. I don't know what they're, and then part two, in episode one I said that I thought maybe Draco designed her chains, but now I've changed my mind because he keeps looking at them like he's trying to figure out how to get her out of them.

Because I think that tho these things, again, are [00:59:00] brand new magic or whatever. Like they're a brand new invention that even he isn't sure how to manage. And if he's going to get her out of this situation, he's gonna have to figure out how to get those things off. I'm not gonna get away. Okay. Yeah, you're onto it.

Um, so that's what I, those are, those are my wild speculations. And I am going to read act two. And then our third episode is gonna be all about act two.

I can't wait. And then Act three is gonna be episode four, and by then alchemized should be released. It's gonna be a ride and it's, and then we're gonna review that. We will have be really fun. So much to unpack. So are you gonna read it slowly with me? Alchemized? Yeah. Oh no. Oh no. You're gonna have to take good notes, remember where you were at, at which point, well I will probably like slam through it and then go back and I will [01:00:00] reread it with you.

Okay, that sounds good. Deal. Yep. Okay. And we'll see you there hopefully. Bye. See you.