Welcome back to Rocket Talk! In this week’s podcast episode, Justin invites fellow blogger Amal El-Mohtar to talk about what makes Naomi Novik’s newest novel, Uprooted, so wonderful. Fair warning, mild spoilers ahead!
Namoi Novik’s Uprooted is available now in both the US (Del Rey) and UK (Tor Books UK) markets, and you can read an excerpt here on Tor.com.
Amal El-Mohtar is the Nebula-nominated author of The Honey Month, a collection of short fiction and poetry written to the taste of 28 different kinds of honey. Her work has appeared in magazines including Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and Apex, and anthologies including The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, Glitter & Mayhem, and Kaleidoscope. She writes reviews for NPR, Lightspeed, and Tor.com, is a 3-time winner of the Rhysling award for Best Short Poem, a recipient of the Richard Jefferies poetry prize, and co-edits Goblin Fruit, an online quarterly dedicated to fantastical poetry, with Caitlyn A. Paxson. She divides her time between Ottawa and Glasgow; find her on Twitter @tithenai.
Rocket Talk, Episode 54 (1:01:30)
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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at justin@staffersbookreview.com. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.
Why not, like, interview Naomi Novik? Most of us (believe it or not – the book only came out this week!) haven’t read this book yet, so this podcast is basically pointless. So disappointing to wait 2-3 weeks for a new episode and it’s a total throwaway – Coode Street are much better.
I’ll keep that in mind.
Throwaway episode? Really? Maybe because I read the book and loved it as much as Justin and Amal did, but this was a fun episode and refreshing to hear fan/squee discussion about an incredible book.
There is so much hate and vitriol in genre lately that something resembling a squee episode is no bad thing.
I admit I winced every time you guys mispronounced “Kasia”. Otherwise: yes, you’ve convinced me (more) to read this.
Taran: OH GODS NO is it pronounced “Kasha”? I hide my face in shame!
I did my best to never pronounce a name.
You canny fiend, Landon!
You all kept saying, “It’s totally tropey, but so good… totally predictable… but so good… totally cliche… but so good.” But 25 minutes in, we still havent heard what is so good about it. Definitely scared off a bit.
SPOILER: THE DRAGON IS NOT A DRAGON
FACT: IT IS THEREFORE NOT AS GOOD AS DRAGONLANCE
TRANSITIVE LOGIC: DRAGONLANCE IS THEREFORE THE BEST BOOK OF THIS AND EVERY YEAR
DRAGONLAAAAAAAAANCE
I admit I listened to this after reading the book, but I really enjoyed the discussion. I too loved the book, but I had a hard time figuring out why. I think I have a much better understanding after listening to the various ways Novik deconstructs different tropes without completely destroying them. I think what Amal says about this being the way some of these tropes were always meant to be written is very true. Oh, and delving into the nuance of female friendship! Because it does involve everything from pretty jealousy to extreme generosity all at the same time.