Conquered kingdom. Outlawed magic. An heir who refuses the script. In this episode of The Book Corner with Mich Atagana, I am joined by Kevin Maina (@mainamind) to dive into Sara Hashem’s duology: The Jasad Heir and The Jasad Crown.

We talk survival that becomes leadership, romance that respects politics, and why magic feels like memory more than fireworks. Expect deadly trials, sharp negotiations, and a heroine who chooses precision over prophecy.

In this episode:

• Sylvia and Arin as a study in power and consent

• How the Alcalah trials reveal character under pressure

• Empire myths, resistance costs, and the lie at the centre of history

• A quick listener practice: write one boundary your future self will keep

Follow the show, rate and review if it moved you. I am @globemich and Kevin is @mainamind.

Kevin Maina and I step into Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, a dark-academia descent story set in 1980s Cambridge, where ambition feels like a religion and brilliance comes with a price tag.

Two rival PhD candidates make an impossible choice and head somewhere they were never meant to survive, all for the kind of academic validation that can decide a life. What follows is part underworld journey, part satire of institutional power, and part psychological reckoning. We talk about what the book suggests about mentorship, ego, co-dependence, and the quiet violence of systems that reward devotion while pretending it is merit.

If you have ever wanted something so badly it started to rearrange your morals, this one will hit.

In this episode:

• What “katabasis” means, and why descent stories endure

• Dark academia as a machine that feeds on ambition

• Rivalry, intimacy, and the thin line between collaboration and cannibalism

• Power, mentorship, and who gets to be called “brilliant”

• What you bring back from the underworld, even when you “win”

New season, new voice at the table. I’m joined by Kevin Maina (@mainamind) as we dive into a gothic, time-spanning feast about appetite, autonomy, and women who refuse to be consumed. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil moves from a 16th-century colony to Victorian England to modern Boston, braiding three lives into one reckoning.

In this episode:

• Why the three timelines sing together

• The most haunting images and why they linger

• How the book turns “monster” into a choice rather than a curse

• A simple listener practice: write three lines that begin with “I will not starve”

Follow the show, rate and review if it moved you. I’m @globemich and Kevin is @mainamind.