After an unintentional summer hiatus, we’re back with the third and final installment of our short series on Borges short stories.

And oh no! It turns out a billionaire creating a fantasy planet with his friends can destroy the world.

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
By Jorge Luis Borges
Published in 1940 by Sur.

Links:
Borges:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges

Tlön, Uqbar, Orbius Tertius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n,_Uqbar,_Orbis_Tertius

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If we claimed we wrote a Borges story and read it in its entirety at the end of our podcast, that would make the story infinitely richer.

Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
By Jorge Luis Borges
Published in 1939 by Editorial Sur.

Spoilers
Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote, by Jorge Luis Borges

Links:
Borges:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges

Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote

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An infinite library implies the existence of infinite Mr. Beast video transcripts.

The Library of Babel
By Jorge Luis Borges
Published in 1941 by Editorial Sur.
Part of the story collection “The Garden of Forking Paths”

Spoilers
The Library of Babel, by Jorge Luis Borges

Links:
The Library of Babel exists!
https://libraryofbabel.info/’

Borges:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges

The Library of Babel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel

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The moral of this story is to not bully the girl with latent psychic abilities.

CW: discussions of violence, blood, domestic abuse, various sexual stuff, misogyny, religious abuse, and I’m sure other unpleasant things.

Carrie
By Stephen King
Published in 1974 by Doubleday.

Spoilers
Carrie

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(novel)

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I guess books are just video games now.

This week we cover “Dungeon Crawler Carl”, the first book in the best-selling LitRPG series of the same name.

Dungeon Crawler Carl
By Matt Dinniman
Self-published in 2020.

Spoilers
Dungeon Crawler Carl

Links:
Summary and info:
https://dungeon-crawler-carl.fandom.com/wiki/Dungeon_Crawler_Carl_(Book)

LitRPG:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG

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Watchmen
By Alan Moore & David Ribbons
Published in 1987 by DC Comics.

Spoilers
Watchmen

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

The Greater Good: Analyzing Morality in Watchmen, by Jeffrey Wu
https://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-8/wu/

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If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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We finish The Way of Kings and are left with boredomspren floating around our computers.

Plus, we read some one-star Goodreads reviews of The Way of Kings and do a quick overview of the other Stormlight Archive books.

The Way of Kings
By Brandon Sanderson
Published in 2010 by Tor Books.

Spoilers
The Way of Kings
Misc. spoilers for Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War
(marked off at the end of the episode)

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_Kings

Japanese Whodunnit writer, Seishi Yokomizo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seishi_Yokomizo

Read Japanese Literature Podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7ivFfWWvKoiavHypZuENzP

Outside, by Brandon Sanderson:
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/blogs/blog/outside

The Most Mormon Magic System, by Liz Busby:
https://sfrareview.org/2021/07/18/the-most-mormon-magic-system-how-brandon-sanderson-turned-agency-into-fantasy/

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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We embark on The Way of Kings, the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s magnum opus series, The Stormlight Archive.

This book dares to explore such important questions as “what if someone who was good at fighting also had depression?” and “what if big swords but no blood?”

Content warnings: discussion of depression, mentions of suicide

The Way of Kings
By Brandon Sanderson
Published in 2010 by Tor Books.

Spoilers
The Way of Kings
Some other Stormlight Archive plot spoilers (marked off near the end of the episode)

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_Kings

Map of Shattered Plains:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/stormlightarchive/images/2/2a/Shattered_Plains.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20121114150205

Bridgemen Squad:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/stormlightarchive/images/2/27/Bridge_BMcS.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200703022429

Kaladin’s New Bridge Strategy:
https://imgur.com/stormlight-bridge-design-side-carry-d9Ocndg

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If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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Fitz’s story finds a poetic, complex, and bittersweet ending, but all we can talk about are Prince Verity’s cool silver arms. Which begs the question: did Robin Hobb want Prince Verity to eventually become this world’s Silver Surfer?

As usual, we also read a bunch of one-star Goodreads reviews about the book.

Plus, we announce what we’ll be tackling next on the Hardcover Hooligans podcast.

Assassin’s Quest
By Robin Hobb
Published in 1997 by Voyageur Books.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin’s Quest

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Quest

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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Are chronic pain, sadness, social isolation, and the unbearable burden of duty worth it if it means you get abs?

The Hardcover Hiatus is over, and the boys are back to talk about the final sections of Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy.

Assassin’s Quest
By Robin Hobb
Published in 1997 by Voyageur Books.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin’s Quest

Links:
Summary and info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Quest

Elderlings in the Stone Garden:
https://shorturl.at/8EkKK
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dkkLX

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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"Huh?! They're not dead?! And now they're trying to bait me into listening to this announcement by being intentionally omnious and vague?! What the hell?!" – All of you, right now

A quick announcement by Danylo about the future of the podcast.

Our favorite teenage wolf assassin is back, but does this mean he stops getting shafted by everyone and everything in his life? No. But has he learned anything from what he's gone through? Also, no. Will he continue to make questionable decisions about his life? Yes. And we get to read about it.

Content Warnings
Mention of sexual assault

Assassin’s Quest
By Robin Hobb
Book 3 of the Farseer Trilogy
Published in 1997 by Spectra.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice
Royal Assassin
First third of Assassin's Quest

Links:
Summary and info: https://robinhobbelderlings.fandom.com/wiki/Assassin%27s_Quest

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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We continue to read about the fraught life of a moody teen who is slowly turning into a crazy wolf man. Believe it or not, this causes problems in his personal life.

Royal Assassin
By Robin Hobb
Book 2 of the Farseer Trilogy
Published in 1996 by Spectra.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice
Royal Assassin

Links:
Summary: https://robinhobbelderlings.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_Assassin

Image of final scene:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/KaxTxBlMQEr0n36ejcsgCc2Zatgc_lX94FjvUFt0oj_jXZp3Zxsettkbvoah5z8wF-JA-QsabcotQHq7Kgk_COzVITGSUFem0lDXk138U62LeMvdiSpDaEjdWA

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
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In the previous book, Fitz bonds with a dog. In this book, he bonds with a wolf. What's the next step, the final evolution? What's the Blastoise of wolves?
These questions not answered in the episode, but it's still a fun discussion of a great book.

We're continuing with the second book in the Farseer Trilogy, Royal Assassin. And goddamit, it's even better than the first one.

And we're sorry about the weedwhacker noise in the background of Danylo's audio about halfway through. If we could go back in time and kill the weedwhacker guy, we would.

Royal Assassin
By Robin Hobb
Book 2 of the Farseer Trilogy
Published in 1996 by Spectra.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice
First half of Royal Assassin

Content Warnings
Mentions of sexual assault

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
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This book is unbelievably good. I love Fitz and Prince Verity and they are my real life best friends.

What an incredibly breath of fresh air! The fellas finish Assassin's Apprentice and are left feeling... good? Excited for the future? Almost as if maybe they should just be reading stuff they like and not stuff that makes them want to give up their ability to read? Find out within...

Assassin’s Apprentice
By Robin Hobb
Book 1 of the Farseer Trilogy
Published in 1995 by Spectra.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice

Links
Summary and info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Apprentice

Chapter-by-chapter summary: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/robinhobbmeganlindholm/chapter-summaries-for-aa-group-re-read-t3975.html

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Tiktok if you’re into that sort of thing.

The blurb on the back cover of this book makes it sound like it’s fantasy for babies, but it’s actually really really good.

Assassin’s Apprentice
By Robin Hobb
Book 1 of the Farseer Trilogy
Published in 1995 by Spectra.

Spoilers
Assassin’s Apprentice

Links
Summary and info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Apprentice

Chapter-by-chapter summary: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/robinhobbmeganlindholm/chapter-summaries-for-aa-group-re-read-t3975.html

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Tiktok if you’re into that sort of thing.

We dive into the mind of Robert Neville, a lonely, sexually repressed, alcoholic 1950s white man who staves off his horniness by blasting classical music and checking out books from the library.

And yeah, he’s the last man in the world. And yeah, he’s killing LOTS of vampires.

(Also did we mention he’s really horny?)

I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson
Published in 1954 by Gold Medal Books.

Spoilers
I Am Legend (books AND movie)

Links:
I Am Legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/

Content Warnings
Sexual assault

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! If it’s funny, we’ll read it on air. Guaranteed.
And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
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Well, we did it. We solved the Three Body Problem.

Maybe the real Trisolaran Empire was the friends we made along the way.

Big sigh.

The Three Body Problem
By Cixin Liu
Translated by Ken Liu
First published in China as a serial in 2006, then as a standalone book in 2008.
Published in 2014 in English by Tor Books.

Spoilers
The Three Body Problem (the whole book)

Thanks for listening!
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Danylo and Mc venture into the past, to then rocket into the future in The Three Body Problem!

Things are not looking good for science, or anything else for that matter!

What could it be?? Aliens??

Yup.

The Three Body Problem
By Cixin Liu
Translated by Ken Liu
First published in China as a serial in 2006, then as a standalone book in 2008.
Published in 2014 in English by Tor Books.

Spoilers
The Three Body Problem (first half)

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
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We finally get to the NSFW parts of Fourth Wing!

And also there is a sweet wizard fight.

Join us as Mc leads us through the joy of audiobook listening to great performers when the actual book probably actually sucks!

Fourth Wing
By Rebecca Yarros
Published in 2023, by Entangled Publishing

Spoilers
Fourth Wing (second half)

Thanks for listening!
If you liked the show, please leave us a review! And if you want to contact us, shoot us an email at hardcoverhooligans@gmail.com.
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