Hosts Daniel, Heidi, and Colin dive into Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education: we unpack El’s razor-sharp narration, the Scholomance as a brutally clever setting, and the book’s mix of dark academia, survival horror, and reluctant teamwork. We talk mana economics, enclaves and class politics, El and Orion’s complicated dynamic, the shadow of prophecy, and the monster designs that make this school feel like it has teeth. Plus, we dig into that cliffhanger ending and what it sets up for what comes next.

Reading along with us? Next episode: Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar

Email us at contact@wordswordswordspod.com Join the conversation in our Discord! https://discord.gg/d34D3ppFUh Follow us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/wordswordswordspod Tiktok too! https://www.tiktok.com/@wordswordswordspo

Daniel, Colin, and Heidi set reading challenges for themselves for the upcoming year, and decide what the punishment will be if the goal is not met.

Hosts Daniel, Heidi, and Colin discuss Stephen King’s The Running Man (as Richard Bachman): we unpack its breakneck chase plot, nasty reality TV satire, and the way its media machine feels uncomfortably familiar. We dig into pollution and class collapse, propaganda as entertainment, the book’s disability and eugenics undertones in a pre-ADA world, and that feral ending that dares you to ask who the story is really for.

Reading along with us? Next episode: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Book 1 of the Scholomance trilogy)

Email us at contact@wordswordswordspod.com Join the conversation in our Discord! https://discord.gg/d34D3ppFUh Follow us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/wordswordswordspod Tiktok too! https://www.tiktok.com/@wordswordswordspo