Description

• Do you want us to read Chalice of the Gods chapter by chapter in September?
• First off, we shoutout a couple birthdays and anniversaries from this past week.
• 
  The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities is now in paperback (listen to Prophecy Radio episode #2 for our discussion).
• 
  The Sun and the Star is a #1 NYT Bestseller!
• We do some cleanup following the Sun and the Star book tour, including this interview on Read Riordan.
• Rick also wrote a blog post on May 11 to talk about everything he experienced during the tour.
• Rick is already signing tip-ins for Chalice of the Gods, which doesn’t come out until September.
• Read Riordan has an excerpt for Last Canto of the Dead by Daniel José Older, out on May 16.
• If you need to refresh your memory on Ballad & Dagger, you can listen to Prophecy Radio episode #33.
• J.C. Cervantes has an adult romance, The Enchanted Hacienda coming out the same day!
• Be sure to enter Sarwat Chadda’s giveaway for Fury of the Dragon Goddess.
• We also talk about our own giveaway we’re doing for The Sun and the Star!

• What is the book actually about?
• Go read the Sun and the Star book review that made mark Oshiro cry.
• Did we actually think it was Bob calling out to Nico?
• What did we think of Mr. D’s characterization in this book?
• Were we excited to see Rachel again?
• Getting to talk about Sally Jackson on Mother’s Day is next-level awesome.
• It was super interesting seeing Percy and Annabeth from Nico’s point of view.
• Nico and Will’s differing opinion of the Underworld was an obstacle, but not one that they couldn’t overcome.
• Okay, so the Underworld is kind of scary, but it’s also beautiful and full of life.
• Everyone loves an opposites-attract story, but what’s that like in practice?
• Gorgyra’s chapters were, surprisingly, one of our favorite parts of the book.
• It was so great getting to see Solangelo from their POV.
• If you’ve every experienced anxiety, depression, or PTSD, then the effects that Tartarus has on the demigods will feel very familiar to you.
• This book really tests Solangelo’s relationship, but they continuously choose each other throughout it, and that’s the most important part.
• The spoiler section starts at 00:59:21.
• We revisit the Mary Sue interview and get a little emotional about the title of the book.
• Persephone’s Garden was a really wonderful, surprising addition to this book.
• Is there any world in which Will doesn’t know “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” by Lil Nas X?
• It’s time to talk about all of the wonderful and terrifying monsters in this book.
• The troglodytes were totally standouts, and we wouldn’t mind seeing them again.
• Menoetes is dating WHO!?!?
• Amphithemis’ character was so interesting, especially because his character didn’t go in the direction we were especting.
• We discuss how the Aeternae ended up in this book and why they were the way they were.
• And here we thought Small Bob couldn’t be anymore amazing than he already was.
• Bob went through so, so much while he was down in Tartarus.
• On the count of three, repeat after me: KAREN WAS RIGHT.
• Nyx really was the perfect villain for this book, and we have a wonderful discussion about how important it is to choose happiness.
• Can you believe even Nemesis and Epiales rebelled against their mother?
• We discuss Nico and his Coco Puffs.
• Didn’t Bianca choose rebirth? What’s up with her still being in Elysium?
• Hades was actually being a great father in this book, and we’re all for it.
• That conversation between Piper and Nico at the end was SO IMPORTANT.

• You can also read an edited transcript of it at this link.
• Rick and Mark had so many nice things to say to each other, and it was so lovely to witness.
• It’s also amazing how much of a collaboration this story was, and we love it!
• Is there any chance that we could get more standalone novels in the future? (Karen has some ideas.)
• What did Mark and Rick learn from each other?
• Becky is a genius and she deserves ALL the credit.
• Oh, and we can thank Mark for Nico’s flashback.
• We find out the exact moment Mark decided to do the book.
• That final scene between Nico and Piper is so, so good.

• You can always leave comments for previous episodes!
• We love that a lot of older fans are finding our podcast.
• We’re still totally willing to do that doughnut episode.
• Who had the better arc, Nico or Lester?
• Would we want a Thalia standalone novel?