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Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, hosted by Brigid & Clint. This is the second part of our coverage of The Faith of Beasts, the second novel in the series! This episode is spoilers for the entirety of The Captive's War Universe.

In this episode:

• We check in with Tonnor Fries, who let's face it is not having a very good time.
• Dafyd starts leaning into authoritarianism but that the locals are getting a little punchy.
• The Swarm reveals itself and it goes about as well as they could possibly have hoped.
• Jessyn and <3 Garral <3 have theeee cutest effing meet cute and we can't wait for them to get a room.
• Clint riffs on Anjiineese sexuality, JSAC's love of love, and his maybe/probably/definitely correct theory of what World is.
• Brigid takes a victory lap, grabs all the religious references she can, and connects Ver Cannadan to the immigrant experience.
• We finish off TFOB Pt. I STRUCTURE with a discussion of some very important and horny small moments.

Join us next time when Jessyn's romantic vacation unexpectedly turns into a group thing. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

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Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, hosted by Brigid & Clint. This is the first part of our coverage of The Faith of Beasts, the second novel in the series! This episode is spoilers for the entirety of The Captive's War Universe

In this episode:

• We talk Anjiin origin myths, and how the Story of Ke fits into what we already know.
• Lord Dafyd Alkhor deals with many nightmares, alien, procreative, and logistical alike, and starts a Carryxese streak on Duolingo.
• Rickar warns Campar of the dangers of Love in Hell, and meets a new mollusk friend.
• Jessyn begins her messy bisexual getaway on World.
• Brigid summarizes the first four chapters and does The Swaaaaarm voice more times than you could possibly anticipate.
• Clint runs down the major post-TFOB theories of the Deathless enemy and wonders why there isn't a grid network on World.
• We go long on the choice to introduce reproduction into the story, and what it means for the narrative going forward.

Join us next time when we finish off the first part of The Faith of Beasts. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

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Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, hosted by Brigid & Clint. Episode 31 is a spoileriffic overview of our first read of The Faith of Beasts, the second novel in the series, published just a few days ago! This episode comes to you from our UNDISCLOSED SECRET LOCATION (that we will never reveal) where we read the book together with friends.

In this episode:

• We give our off-the-cuff impressions of the wonderous and amazing book that completely reframes everything we ever thought about anything.
• Brigid takes a well-earned victory lap for nailing the most important theory we ever put forth: the Jessyn-Irrina ship.
• Clint is blown away by surprising revelations about Campar and details why the final reveals about the deathless don't necessarily mean his Trap World theory is dead.
• The Swarm experiences gender euphoria, and we all learn to appreciate baby factories.
• We draw connections between Human, Lothark, Deathless, and Carryx societies while saying hello to some old friends (hi Corval!) and greeting some new ones (hi giant slug!).
• We give a rundown of what we learned from the JSAC subreddit AMA and lay out a plan for covering TFOB completely.

Join us next time when we give our hot takes and first impressions of The Faith of Beasts. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

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Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast that is normally about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, but today we are finishing our coverage of the second book from main Expanse narrative with the last set of chapters of CALIBAN'S WAR, also by James S.A. Corey. This episode is spoilers for the entire Expansiverse!

In this episode:

• James Holden for the first and surely final time does something insanely stupid and heroic, and gets away with it!
• Bobbie faces her demons, the Creature, and experiences some truly disgusting body horror.
• Prax finally finds Dr. Strickland and Amos decides he should maybe do something about some of this.
• Chrisjen Avasarala gets an unwelcome promotion and has a very welcome little convo with Jules Pierre Mao.
• Naomi finds out that Jim's parents are racist and we maybe learn why they decided not to have kids.
• Clint talks about problem solving and shooting first.
• Brigid details how Caliban's War is about mourning, loss, and the end of history.
• It's MILLER TIME BABYEEE

Join us next time when we do quick reacts for THE FAITH OF BEASTS, omg omg new TCW content omg. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

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Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast that AT LONG LAST is about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, hosted by Brigid & Clint. Episode 29 is a SPOILER FREE preview of The Faith of Beasts, the second novel in the series, due to be published in under a week!

In this episode:

• We give an overview of the podcast's structure for new listeners and talk about some of the main theories we've developed so far.
• We lay out our plan to gaslight everyone when TFOB proves those theories wrong.
• Brigid wonders about the importance of religion in the story, and gives her illicit romantasy recommendations.
• Clint offers a theory about MacBeth and talks about why Ekur-Tklal is actually the universe's greatest hater.
• We compare and contrast how The Captive's War and the Expanse deal with the differences between story and plot.
• The plan for covering The Faith of Beasts is laid out in detail.

Join us next time when we give our hot takes and first impressions of The Faith of Beasts. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

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Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast that is normally about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, but today we are continuing our coverage of the main Expanse narrative with the sixth set of chapters of CALIBAN'S WAR, also by James S.A. Corey. This episode is spoilers for the entire Expansiverse!

In this episode:

• Bobbie and Chrissie board the Roci, and hilarity ensues as the crew try to figure out how to deal with the big woman and the loud grandma.
• Chrisjen wields the full weight of her soft power to avoid getting obliterated by Nguyen's fleet and cuts off Errinwright at the knees.
• The Martians ride in to the rescue as we get the hugest space battle of the series (so far).
• Holden is thwarted by democracy.
• Clint gushes over Bobbie's preparations for battle and death.
• Brigid crushes the summary of this penultimate part of book two.

Join us next time when we cover the seventh and final part of CALIBAN'S WAR, where we find out who is that guy. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

All our links

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast that is normally about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, but today we are continuing our coverage of the main Expanse narrative with the fifth set of chapters of CALIBAN'S WAR, also by James S.A. Corey. This episode is spoilers for the entire Expansiverse!

In this episode:

• We talk a little TFOB in advance of publication in one (1) month!
• Naomi and Sam Rosenberg become roommates. This is probably not a euphemism?
• Jim Holden makes an interesting career choice, but he survives by Posting Through It.
• Prax sets up an extremely successful gofundme, in some respects at least.
• Bobbie introduces herself to the crew of Jules-Pierre Mao's pleasure yacht.
• Brigid triples down on #timidike ship, and tells the funniest joke in this podcast's history.
• Clint walks back his previous take on this book's pacing and explains the concept of comity.
• Avasarala takes the weight of many worlds on her shoulders, sounds cool while doing it.

Join us next time when we cover the sixth part of CALIBAN'S WAR, where the Roci Crew face down the UN and Martian fleets. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

All our links

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to the Mercy of Pods, a podcast that is normally about The Captive's War by James S.A. Corey, but today we are continuing our coverage of the main Expanse narrative with the fourth set of chapters of CALIBAN'S WAR, also by James S.A. Corey. This episode is spoilers for the entire Expansiverse!

In this episode:

• Bobbie Draper plays her hand at espionage, is unsurprisingly very good at it.
• The Roci crew discover something special hiding on their ship, and the results are a banging good time.
• Prax saves the crew by applying his botany superpowers.
• Avasarala watches Venus toy with humanity, and realizes she's being toyed with herself.
• Brigid talks Romans and Goths and other myths of antiquity.
• Clint gets to talk about Varys's Riddle and refuses to give legal advice.
• Soren has a no good very bad day.

Join us next time when we cover the fifth part of CALIBAN'S WAR, where Bobbie and Chrissie take a luxury cruise. Follow the Mercy of Pods on social media at themercyofpods, or email us at themercyofpods@gmail.com. Logo by Matt Howse. Music is Push The Button by Sid Luscious and the Pants. Read Brigid's stuff here.

All our links