The Rage of Dragons – Evan Winter – Episode 67

The Buddies love them some revenge stories like Red Rising and Gladiator; The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter, is a combination of both. The book which takes place in a war-torn fantasy world, had the Buddies getting into some heated battles themselves. Topics ranged from the brain enhancements of being ambidextrous to the pros and cons of getting intimate in a bath house. So pack your armor, your dual swords, and join us as we read The Rage of Dragons, a top-10 podcast book.

Intro: (0:00-1:34)
Stock Up/Down (1:35-23:54)
Favorite Scene/Character (23:55-31:03)
Love/Hate (31:04-42:35)
Casting the Movie (42:36-45:01)
Conclusion/Review (45:02-47:02)

Next Book: SHIFT (SILO SERIES: BOOK 2) by HUGH HOWEY 

Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂

I’m Dylan here with my sword brother Keith what’s up buddy hello hello it’s Echo uh we’re breaking down some best sellers in this week we’ll be discussing the Rage of Dragons by Evan winter the first book of The Burning series if you’d like to recommend a book for us to read to reach out to us about our past episodes you can visit our website buddybuckle.com or signatory damson Twitter or Instagram buddy book a podcast you can listen to us iTunes Spotify wherever you get your podcast so please download And subscribe Keith this was a recommendation from a friend of yours is that accurate Red Rising meets Game of Thrones is with the description which is pretty lofty uh compares to Thor out there so I would say that red rising and at least as far as this podcast is concerned and the books we’ve read on here is the gold standard pun intended yep oh hey I didn’t even I honestly didn’t think about that well done all right cool the rager dragons is epic sword and sorcery fantasy we’ve been here before this was Evan Winters first book like first novel he ever wrote and as I was reading it I was like that’s wild like this is wild this guy has not written a book before I’m pretty sure it was self-published and then got picked up by a publishing house and is now going to be four books the second book’s out the third book no release date yet so uh if you want to get into a new fantasy series start with the rage dragons put this on pause go listen to it we listen to the book but you could read it as well and uh and then come back and join us so Keith let’s jump into it with uh some stock up stock down for the Rage of dragons yeah stock up [ __ ] talking hmm Stock’s pretty high if we learned anything in this book [ __ ] talking works I mean that’s the side of the matter and and I’m not talking about the 1980s 1990s [ __ ] talking where it was like the superhero always been like stick around and doing like you know some stupid pun or some stupid [ __ ] talk especially when the person’s already dead or the fight’s already over they’ll [ __ ] talk a little Austin Powers like not a good time to lose one’s head yeah yeah exactly it’s not that’s not [ __ ] talking that’s just like spitting on someone’s grave you know it’s not really the same in this book first the [ __ ] talks great it’s like Kevin Garnett level should talk where they’re getting deep they’re doing deep Cuts they’re not they’re not [ __ ] around they’re not service level [ __ ] talk but when Tao faces off with his first opponent in the trials or whatever it is like his trial yeah and they’re like you can’t hit the head and he’s getting absolutely dominated and they just start [ __ ] talking and being like uh your mother’s a [ __ ] type stuff and uh essentially and eventually the guy just hits him in the head and he wins which let’s be honest I thought that was kind of ridiculous it’s kind of like the DodgeBall rule I don’t really like that you would get out if you hit someone in the head I feel like that adds a little fear to you headshots was actually one of my stock Downs because it just does it honestly doesn’t make a lot of sense like you’re here I know it’s a training but you have blunted swords like people are were they wearing helmets I forget I don’t think so actually but still I know but like later on everyone’s like people are just getting killed yeah and right it seems like I mean especially I mean talk about another stock down I mean I’m not gonna burn it now but I mean headshots are prevalent throughout this book so yeah I don’t know why that one time you can’t do it it’s like they spend their whole childhood trying to get like through these trials and then the second they get there it’s like okay you accidentally hit someone in the head you’re out it’s like someone tapping Pat mahomes’s helmet in the Super Bowl in the two minutes and they’re like a flag it’s like what what happened here I guess it’s supposed to be like discipline like hey if you’re good in a fighter you shouldn’t have to do that type of thing so I get that but it is weird to be like we’re gonna do a different point system at a different rule system than the real world in order to determine who’s best which is kind of weird but nonetheless but then it also happens the [ __ ] talking that is my boy Hadith who’s a complete gamer like strategic expert yeah he basically does like the the Achilles one-on-one fight with Tao and uh their best fighter or whatever and Tao just dominates him but he the reason he got him to do that is because he was just basically like oh you can’t take us like you’re like you’re too soft and the guy’s like well no I have to fight him one-on-one and then lastly um the negative side was when Kell and okar kind of goads Tao to come out and fight him by being talking about his dad and stuff like that and then he kind of gives away their position so so [ __ ] talking three examples where it all really worked to go to the pretty people it worked and it got them to overreact so definitely a big shock up there some low blows from from Kellen o’car right there though like Tao did the same thing so you can’t really yeah but tau is he’s like Aladdin you know what I mean he’s a street rat so like yeah I get it you know it’s a lot to do it yeah Kellen okar he’s he’s got uh kind of had his own issues I know he’s high class but still yeah he’s a noble but he’s definitely got some some daddy issues for sure yeah yeah yeah I mean wait you know his dad was disgraced left his family destitute his Rich family is now not rich no more and he’s destined he’s got a fend for his whole family so I got I got kellen’s uh like the reasons why for sure he’s he’s not Noble blood he’s he’s Noble brain Noble heart even so uh you know and just then didn’t didn’t expect it from him didn’t expect it from him uh my first stock up is dual wielding swords I feel like it was all the rage in the 90s with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles everyone’s favorite or at least mine you know was Leonardo because he had two swords like that’s the [ __ ] coolest thing ever and I feel like it hasn’t really been a thing since then I’m actually kind of surprised there wasn’t more of this in the Star Wars Universe well we had Darth Maul would kind of reinvented the game yeah he reinvented the game but he had more of like a bow staff dual lightsaber thing than you know two but more recently there have been some Jedi uses it’s actually a jar jar Kai method uh is what they call it when you dual wield and notably Ashoka but I haven’t seen much of the uh like Clone Wars animated stuff but but either way yeah Tau uh Tau takes up the two swords which like no one else really does you know everyone’s more of a normal sword and shield or like dual-handed giant sword kind of thing and he’s like you know what like let’s just go two swords and just go full Attack Mode which is aligned so well with his personality that I loved it you know and like people just aren’t used to that fighting style so it was one of those things that when it happened I was like oh okay this is super cool and full disclosure here I started reading the next one I don’t remember is it in this book Rage of dragons or the next one and sorry spoiler alert basically he gets two dragon blades yeah you get to get it at the end it’s like when you’re playing like an RPG game or you’re playing zeldo Ocarina of Time and you like open a chest your sword power just increases by a hundred so um I loved it I’m like I’m all in that’s one of the reasons I was all into the second book I was like I gotta see these swords cut people in half so yeah dual and sword stock up but you need we need more of it on the same uh wavelength there I said being an ambidextrous so all right a little different take I mean I know you’re also a guy that’s a big ambidextrous yeah you like to swing both ways in more ways than the one I got a touch of the pie basically but yeah this book uh made it a big deal to be able to fight with your off hand which to me it didn’t really make a lot of sense because you think his dad’s like a great fighter you think like if you’re practicing all day fighting and battling you’d throw it you’d change it up you started going offhand you I mean we we play baseball like in baseball if you have time off there’s a lot of times in between like games and things like that people would bat Lefty and throw left-handed and do like their opposite hand right like you just do that as for fun you think they would practice this a bit more plus you would think that with how many people lose their limbs or like a lot of people get their arms cut off they would just have to train with their other hand just to in order if you’re in a battle and your your wrist gets you know broken you need to be able to still fight you can’t just be like well that’s it yeah so it was weird that they didn’t just train automatically knowing that that’s gonna be uh there’s a high probability that could happen yeah I don’t know like I kind of disagree I think yeah you you probably similarly to when you’re outside throwing the football around like you’re gonna throw 100 throws maybe but five of those might be with your opposite hand just because you’re messing around so you’re just you’re never gonna get proficient at it these guys are professional Killers they’re professional fighters so yeah which makes it much more life or death but at the same time it’s not like uh quarterbacks in the NFL are going around spending 20 of their practice throwing with their offhand just in case a delay the thing about like boxers or like soccer players right they both become really proficient with their opposite hand because they need to you also have a shield a lot of people have a shield so like your Shield’s gonna be used so I agree that there’s probably like some practice but it’s not like they’re they’re like Tau and like going into Eco and practicing in the spirit realm for days and days and being murdered all the time but I had a similar stock up in just the the idea of you know breaking your arm usually people like I don’t want to break my arm but if you’re in this kind of society and you break your arm you’re then forced to work with your off hand and then when that arm heals it’s like oh I got a little both yeah he Billy wagnered if you’re familiar with him Billy Wagner the uh the the closer he he broke his arm on his seven he’s right-handed and he started throwing Lefty Jessica like he’s wanted to play baseball still and became one of the most dominant lefties of his error so it worked for him too yeah and for those people out there if you’re playing ping pong or something like that just throw the paddle on the other hand give it a couple of ghosts it might feel weird at first but it’s actually supposedly really good for your brain oh really I mean even simple stuff they say like when you’re brushing your teeth you should switch hands you should use your other hand when you brush your teeth sometimes because it like brings connections together in your brain I don’t know about brushing your teeth but masturbating is definitely a good way to practice

okay there’s there’s the clip noted maybe a little stranger action if you’re into it yeah yeah actually when you give yourself a stranger you’re kind of putting one of your hands into isiogo

nice that’s the content people come here for again we love to see it yeah my next stock up is having your father brutally murdered in front of your eyes so it seems I mean before the testing Tao has this you know hair brained idea to basically get a self-inflicted purple heart and work in jabari’s house as some bar keep or something in Mary Zuri you know just some bananas idea that he concocted and he’s like you know hey Jabari like you know if I ever get hurt well I can I live in your house like what the [ __ ] you talking about but it Enders casigo this little lordling [ __ ] at jabari’s testing and to draw some blood some Noble blood so his father Aaron gets his arm cut off by Kellen okar who maybe we’ll talk about this later but uh you know I feel like there was a lot of hate coming from town towards Kellen when that whole time it seemed like Callum was really trying to stop everything from happening but either way dejen comes in finishes his dad off and the next thing you know tau is ready to do anything to reach his full potential like the fact that he had this ability and obviously it’s driven by Vengeance like vengeance is a powerful drug for sure but the fact that he had that potential in him the whole time for the society what a gift that this man was brutally murdered in front of his child’s eyes I mean uh the whole world is uh is is happy if they even knew exactly what was going on like maybe odily should have his own day because he’s the one that set it all up so if your father is brutally murdered in front of your eyes we would be the next deep jobs so do you do you think you’d ever have that kind of switch where you could just because I think about that sometimes if I if I ever was like wronged by someone I think I could I could switch to be a psychopath and just be like oh my whole life and I was dedicated to ruining your life if you know there’s something about me that’s a little bit spiteful in that way but I don’t know do you think you need to have that switch you could switch on and go a little crazy yeah well I definitely think I’d go a little crazy I don’t know the amount of dedication that like comments are made I’ve talked I still have a Comcast it was like 10 years ago that happened and I still have the hatred in my heart yeah you’re in like the I think you should leave skit when he’s like the when he’s like the live show yeah I love that’s good I think I would have it but the funny thing about the human condition is like as time goes on those feelings in most people start to fade a bit you know there’s a reason why that phrase like Time Heals all wounds kind of thing I don’t think it necessarily heals them but it definitely dulls them so yeah I might be if someone like really murdered my dad I was like okay I’m gonna become a Green Beret and I’m gonna find this guy and murder him like straight out of Conair or something like that hands as a Lethal Weapon but after I got to like whatever Green Beret training is or Navy Seals training I’d be like [ __ ] this is tougher than I thought like I might you know what I might just be out and I’m just gonna live a sad existence for the rest of my life well did they say that the Navy SEAL training like most of the guys it’s not the best in shape guys or like the people that you just look at you’re like oh that guy’s gonna be it’s like the guy that’s like my girlfriend said I could never do it and it’s just like people that have like the most like spite in their hearts that are like yeah someone told me I couldn’t do it so now I have to do it type of thing it’s not like the the best terrain guy yeah Navy Seals training buds training basic underwater demolition San Diego yeah done in your in your neighborhood but yeah exactly all those people I mean I I get obsessed with some of that stuff sometimes so I’ll like watch all the documentaries on it and there’s always these people that come in that are like ripped shredded out of their minds I can swim for 20 miles I can do all this stuff whatever and it’s just some guy that can’t be mentally defeated who ends up making it through yeah hey you have to have that willpower and obviously town does I mean we’re talking about buds training and they’re obviously dealing with some serious physical and mental anguish but going into Eco several times a night and being brutally murdered Yourself by these demons and then deciding like oh okay I’m gonna go back in there he definitely had the mental fortitude to uh to come out the other side I guess my last stock up because I did have one quick one here more of a PSA I guess but uh bathtub intercourse stock up I guess I mean it seems nice and romantic here which is why it’s a stock up and you know if someone was reading this which is funny because I did listen to an interview with Evan winter the author and he was taught his kids eight and he was talking about like you know when he’s gonna let his kid read this book because it’s obviously very brutal I mean the violence is intense and he was like yeah you know he keeps asking me and I was like you know he’s already read all the Harry Potters and stuff like that and so you know maybe when he’s eight he’s maybe he’s read all the money yeah I know Jesus I guess if you’re a writer you’re probably children are pretty good uh prodigies and then they’re on sets yeah but um he was like yeah maybe when he’s like 12 or something like that I was like he might be feeding the geese to this scene if he’s 12. you know what I mean I don’t know that tournament what does that mean are you feeding the geese yet you never heard that if you know yeah Google it uh I mean you can probably figure it out it’s amazing what’s good for the goose is good for the gander is that what you’re saying uh but yeah so the bathtub intercourse it seems you know really nice and romantic in this between Tau and Zuri but for for all the kids out there uh Evan Winters kid particularly uh I I just can’t support it you know I can’t support that idea let’s be clear if you’re in a bathtub there would be water everywhere like it’s just it’s just displacement it’s simple science people moving around in a bathtub is never good when you’re a kid taking a bath you ever try to make tidal waves your parents get mad at you imagine that like times ten so yeah the cleanup the insurance issues not worth it and let’s not forget folks water is not a lubricant people tend to forget this and think those things are romantic but yeah why why are you ruining this I don’t understand this it’s not a lubricant and and the potential for yeast infections let’s let’s just be clear what do you do before you like lay out a perfectly clean bed and you’re like okay now we put our PJs on it’s like a Naked Gun two and a half or whatever when they have the body size condoms on uh yeah yeah so you know when I was a lifeguard The Ripe age of like 17 there was someone that apparently the they’re hooked up in the sauna yeah it was like actual members or whatever oh definitely was members and the and like I remember this uh this conversation this day but like one of the girls there was like why would you do that it’s so stupid like just go home and like find a bed I’m like because it’s cool it’s like just the idea of it I also again I very inexperienced at the time but I was like what that’s like that’s a fantasy why would you not it’s cool to do something outside of or you’re not supposed to do it yeah well you know you might have been a late bloomer but you were a sexual adventurously Bloomer so you know good for you you know I’m proud of you it wasn’t me doing it I would just I was just fantasizing I’m not here to yuck anyone else’s yard yeah I’m just trying to be clear that uh you know if someone’s really dirty you’re more into the science part you’re you’re like uh who’s the dude the the real big scientist guy with a mustache oh Neil deGrasse Tyson yeah this is him talking about aliens being like nope it’s like bro like why are you doing this you’re just ruining something that could be good because you’re like no I know I know it like it’s not the best setting for this or what yeah come on kid throw up

like I said it was just a PSA you can go and do whatever you want shoot that dirty bath water into someone’s cervix whatever you want to do uh what do you ever stock down uh speaking of fantasizing talk down daydreaming or dreams in general and this is directly talking about when he goes to what is it called any Yoga Yoga yeah but he could go there and train and do stuff and actually get stuff out of it why can’t we do that in dreams why can’t we do like research or like train or something or do like somewhat like a matrix slash Inception type ability instead I just wake up middle of the night heart pounding no idea why and they can’t go back to sleep it’s like what’s the point of Dreams it’s really upsetting thinking about how we should be able to like if we were like sophisticated society when we’re sleeping that eight hours a night a third of our life we were doing something productive while we did that you know hey here’s a book you’re gonna read it or listen to it while you’re sleeping and you’re gonna remember when you wake up you know that’d be great why can we have that d man well I don’t even know if vanessa needs to be productive but even like explorative or something something along those lines but yeah I mean in theory you can it is a possibility I mean there’s a thing called lucid dreaming I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that I don’t believe in that that’s made up yeah I’ve had a couple lucid dreams in my life no no I don’t believe you what dude this is Lionel rich and wardrobe all over again what are you saying are you not gonna you’re immediately gonna go to Idaho what did you do in it did you could you go to the library and like check out a book and start reading well of course I couldn’t be like hey I want to read more the next four or four but like you can decide I can think about it right now I can do that in my own mind thinking about it can you no that’s not that Lisa then well it’s a it’s a different it’s a different kind of thing you could practice something you know what I mean like if you were I think it’d probably be better if you were maybe like a violin player or something along those lines just because like that’s something that you could probably kind of do in your dreams basically my point is that you can act with like a cognizant decision in a dream um I although you know let’s say that you were a military commander you could potentially like have these battles play out in your dreams and potentially see some issues you know like Tau in this one uh lucid dreaming I’ve I’ve tried to harness it kind of like towel in this where you really have to be dedicated every time you wake up from a dream you gotta write your dream down in dream journal you gotta find things that tie your dreams together so you can like basically understand that you’re in a dream and then wake yourself up it’s it’s complicated so but it is possible you know we we can all improve my first talk down was because we’re getting the NFL season but the concussion protocol after reading this book is it really necessary Tau sore brothers getting knocked out including himself left and right legitimately left and right in these skirmishes and it’s like oh you know got his bell wrong he’ll be back tomorrow no big deal it’s like what like this guy’s been knocked out like six times so far in this book like how does he not have CT already I guess CT just doesn’t exist and so because of that we don’t need a concussion protocol like there’s no priestesses or whatever coming onto the battlefield being like you know what he can’t go back in tomorrow Skirmish he’s out because he got his bell wrong they’re just like no you’re fine you didn’t get an arm cut officer you’re okay uh concussion protocol I’m not sure what we need it for the NFL let’s take it out they’re probably the life expectancy is a little bit lower they’re not getting to 70 and you’ve seen that CT taking effect so you know live for the moment live for the day that’s that’s a decent Point yeah uh what else you ever stuck down well sticking right with football start down Rudy obviously one of my favorite movies you know you’re the worst person ever I mean this is this is you don’t like hitch you don’t like Rudy I mean five foot nothing 100 nothing not a speck of athletic town and our ability yeah all heart I mean you just never understood that because you were all Talent you grew up too talented you’re an upper class you’re a high class yeah the book started out and uh and he was just getting demolished by everyone and I was like oh this dude is Rudy I’m like I love Tao I just love Tao but the difference between root and why it’s a stock down is Rudy got in for one play and it was like I think you it may remain to been offsides for that play but made a tackle whatever Tau was Rudy but turn into Aaron Donald like that’s who he is a little bit undersized but became the best player of all time like defensive tackle type guy that’s a tower is like he just became an absolute Beast so Rudy’s story is not really doesn’t really hold a candle to The Tao story but uh I love that I can’t believe you don’t like that movie or you’re insane I rewatched it recently because I hadn’t seen it since I was oh I’m sure it’s not good now it’s a Disney movie don’t get me wrong I like Disney movies I like campy stuff whatever the case is you know trying to pull your heartstrings like I’m I’m down for it all you know what I mean when it comes to movie please I’m down for it all and I respect it for what it is but it just like wasn’t very good the scene with Vince Vaughn in it you that’s not a good scene that was fine no sure it was enjoyable that that’s like the best scene so that that scene’s fine but it’s another two hours that’s what you are you’re Vince Vaughn that’s what it is similar to my last talk down this is my last one is infections I mean germ theory is it even real I’m not sure real scientific yeah everyone’s getting their arms cut off left and right I mean these like huge gashes I mean they’re getting like gashed up with these fake swords or blunted swords and it’s just like all right put some tape on it you know you’ll be all right I like where we’re in a world with superpowers dragons incredible things and you’re like well actually they probably shouldn’t have gone to the bathroom because of the infectionism come on dear man Jesus Christ can we can we not hear don’t sound like Rudy this isn’t making me like the story less I was just saying in general I guess like there’s no germs in this whole society none of the sword Brothers seem to come off like yeah you get [ __ ] up but he’s all right and then it’s like the next day like actually we’re gonna have to take his limb because he’s got a gnarly infection how did it go down for two days where they had to force them into the infirmary because he was like sick or something yeah there is germs I just wanted you know I had to mention it I got to mention infections that’s where I’m at foreign what about your favorite scene I think what pulled up my heartstrings the most was when jayad dies when he’s like holding his hand as he dies for a reason I got a little teary-eyed for that that that one hurt that one felt felt bad his downward just didn’t hit his heart because we hadn’t been with him yeah we like we knew his dad like obviously like loved him a lot and like cared about him but it’s also a little bit funny with not like funny haha but just like with his dad when he sees his dad is this like super badass fighter and yeah and then he gets tired and then he just gets like absolutely dominated by like who’s a student you know what I mean he’s he’s not even like a full-blooded ingoyama or whatever that case is I think that’s what it is also he was a cause for his dad so you were like felt kind of bad for his dad not for you your ego kind of got in the way yeah exactly like they were gonna let him go and then he Tau just like had to hold the sword up which you know you gotta respect the two he’s a kid but yeah you know he holds he holds the sword on to him so I respect it and Jaya died to that like uh woman which I did like at the end where they were kind of changing perspectives yeah I liked her perspective I was like they keep on calling these people Savages and stuff and they’re just they attacked their land I was like aren’t they the Invaders and then she was like yeah all these Invaders are coming here like we gotta win back our land I was like yeah all right kind of with her on this yeah and I think like the way that Evan winter the author posed it was like you know he has a lot of questions and ideas about you know what’s going on in society but like not necessarily the answer so he just wanted to kind of build this world where like some of those things are present but in like a completely different fantasy world and then kind of see how they play out uh without really like providing answers to like solve The World’s problems so why we like fantasy essentially yeah exactly you could compare it to real world but also it takes us out of this world so we don’t have to suffer all the Terrible Things yeah and the whole time you know like they’re they’re talking about them as these like barbarians and whatnot and they’re like you guys came on our Shores and like took over our place so like yeah we’re just defending our homeland and like you think you’re better than us because like you have so swords and are bigger and like we throw Spears but like we ride lizards so like that’s gotta be cool yeah Jaya dying was and that was also like kind of a shock because I thought he was gonna be in his fish was like oh it’s a four book series like yeah some people are gonna die but they’re not gonna die right now I forget who his buddy was like who his sword brother was that died in one of the skirmishes oh yeah that was tough he’s asking for uh mercy and they yeah they like there was a whole plan it was like oh nice like now tow’s here like you know God is his mercy and that guy’s like nope smushes his face uh so that’s when you also realize like oh this is real it happens a little bit like Ender’s Game sometimes too like one of the people gets like really messed up or something like that you’re like oh okay like these are war games but like there’s consequences I think my favorite team is maybe Tao’s testing just because at that point he doesn’t yet have the skills but he has to use his brain and considering what we talked about earlier literally he has to use his brain to make the Hashi so kind of like each different opponent he has to figure out like okay how do I get on to the next round I think it culminates with the oodwak fight basically just is like all right I’m just gonna out survive you and I’m just gonna take an absolute beating it’s like one of those boxer movies where the guy’s just like Rocky yeah like it’s just like a punching bag for the whole time but then you know makes it 12 oh yeah exactly Rocky like goes the distance um no one had gone the distance with Apollo before I mean honestly there’s so much here all the skirmishes that they like went into detail about I thought were really fun Hadith as like the general like directing the men and just like unleashing Tau in different strategic ways I thought was super cool obviously like top fighting some demons like totally [ __ ] up and then uh yeah bathtub sex great that was your favorite scene all right good did you have a favorite character in this one I I mentioned yeah Jade I think was just his give you a pump up speech at one point I think then they we first meet his character and I was like I’m I ride a die for this guy from now on it was just like every day that you hurt you see a day you get better like every day you work hard is a day we get better if you’re not working hard you’re not hurting you’re not getting better I was like all right let’s go and I sat down and laid on my bed but yeah I was pumped up yeah well I also liked how he was giving his pump up speech as he’s like fighting each one of the news oh yeah yeah that would have been a really cool scene if you make that a movie or TV show yeah he’s not only like giving his speech but he’s also showing like here’s what you can learn and also like yes I have the ability to smack any and all of you at any time so like yeah get right I also thought Tao’s character was really interesting because he wasn’t that super likable he did a lot of things that were you’re like why are you doing that there’s a lot of stuff that you kind of left his his story Brothers out to dry AI or like again he’s like ego would take over and then like usually you’re the main character is like you want him to be the brains of the operation but he was just like I don’t care about strategy at all I just I just want to fight people I was like oh okay like I guess you know which is kind of different than the typical hero you know yeah exactly and additionally like on top of that is he wasn’t the most likable you know usually yeah for sure usually your main character is like super likable and even if he’s like upset or like is a bit cantankerous like he’s still lovable to some way like Tao’s just on his mission and he isn’t likable for a lot of it well you know either like I’m a Loner and then by the end it’s like oh I need these guys you know by the end that’s most movies yeah whereas this is like three-fourths or like five six of the way through the book and he’s like you guys can’t help me I’m better than all you I was like oh all right all right I guess we’re still we’re still doing that yeah but at the same time like you know the author’s able to make him like you’re still rooting for him like you’re right or die with Tau even though you know that he like isn’t really good at making friendships and he’ll just run into a battle alone and screw everyone else over like with the whole thing with Kellen totally screwed everyone up but maybe it’s just like his work ethic because like the way he gets friends when he’s in training is basically by just showing up every day like he’s like I’m gonna work harder than anyone like it’s just not gonna be possible for anyone to work harder than me and everyone hates him Rudy yeah everyone exactly there you go everyone hates him at first but then they’re like [ __ ] like he’s getting better and like we can learn a lot from him and event eventually his camaraderie shows he’s gonna like die for his sword Brothers at the end of the day which is really the most you can ask for anyone I like Ood walk a lot I thought he was a big softy he respects Howe even after he fought to a draw on the testing and it might take him some time there’s a part in I mean and now this is like getting ahead of it but there’s a part of the second book where he’s like crying over one of their one of their sword Brothers I won’t say who but just like oh you know you just he’s like a total brute and a massive beast and like not someone you want to go up against you know he’s got a soft side and he’s also gonna have your back no matter what what’d you love about the rage dragons I mean the biggest thing is that any book I’ve read it has by far the best fight scenes because usually for me I don’t know about bu but there’s a lot of books we’ve read there’s battles that are going on and I can’t visualize them that well I kind of zone out and make my own battle up in my mind kind of when I’m reading them especially like uh if you think of another fantasy book with like um the mistborn series when they’re like bouncing around things I’m like all right cool I just like don’t really know what’s going on this I like I was visualizing it perfectly it was just like this whole fight makes sense so unbelievable I think fighting scenes and he had to be good at that because 60 of the book is that so yeah if it wasn’t good it had been terrible book but it was great uh it really made the book awesome yeah I don’t know if like Evan winter went into easy yoga to like learn how to just bright bright fight scenes but they’re amazing I mean maybe he does have a background in film I think it’s a lot of like music videos and stuff either way they definitely feel cinematic and the brutality too like the brutality in this is the biggest I think we’ve seen more than Game of Thrones maybe even by the end someone would break their wrist and you’re like okay cool like whatever yeah it’s like they shattered his wrist and I’m like yeah whatever man get up let’s go it reminded me of four star top 10 movie of all time Gladiator I literally had that very similar to Gladiator that’s what I was imagining the whole time I actually have a quick blurb I’d like to read from the second book but that’s just because as I was taking my notes but no as I was taking my notes for the for the first book like putting them down I was reading the second one and I had fight scenes as one of my loves in here and as I was writing it like this fight came up and I was like oh my God like this perfectly it you know shows what’s going on here so it says Tau slashed down with his twin swords it wasn’t necessary the blades were made of dragon scale and when the one held in his left hand crashed into otabong’s sword the one in his right hand chopped through the general sword arm like it was a stock of drought weathered cane it was otobong’s flesh that yielded first it split it separating to reveal muscle tendons in the two thick bones that made up his forearm the dragon sail bisected them both and otabong’s hand sword and a Cup’s worth of blood splattered across the painted floor it’s just like my God this guy is like what the [ __ ] I don’t know what it’s like what thinking about him his son’s watching freaking Paw Patrol in the other room and he’s just sitting there writing this down and visualizing I mean you have to visualize this like the sword bisecting those bones in a Cup’s worth of blood splattering across the painted floors wild I mean this book is phenomenal just for the fight scenes alone so yeah I’m I’m with you there one of the things I loved is any sort of school boot camp uh you know any sort of training or anything in a story I’m all in for I mean we have it in Ender’s Game we obviously have it in you know the Harry Potter books which we love it works so well a bunch of guys and gals in this case is just guys but getting together and like forming those bonds usually through a bunch of trials and tribulations is right up my alley I love it for sure yeah and obviously like you said with gladiator but just a good Revenge Story I mean that’s what all this is and the one complaint I always have with something like the Y A and other books where you read as they should be angry and haven’t fighting for revenge and all this stuff but instead they’re kind of like whining and like complaining about what was me all these bad things have happened to me I don’t think Tao complains the whole book no I think it just goes into to Goblin psycho mode and he’s like that’s that I don’t care what happens we’re just going after it yeah there’s no Katniss Everdeen feeling bad for herself right right oh Peter it’s like you know Tao is just on a mission I don’t really think he like thinks about his dad necessarily throughout this book I mean I’m sure he does in theory but he doesn’t like wax on about it he’s just like I’m going to get in business like it’s all business for me yeah this world building was another thing I really loved I mean between the enraged in goyamas you know they’re like Bane from the Batman series it’s like they just need this gifted person to turn them into an absolute beast on the battlefield I thought that was like a super cool idea isiogo you know the spirit realm and it would make a great video game is what I was thinking instead of going to the gun range in Call of Duty you’re going to Eco to like practice your sword techniques and a lot of it with the like World building stuff felt like we didn’t even really scratch the surf we we identified a lot of what was going on but we didn’t learn about how it came about or like why or like the dragon stuff was just so minimal which I kind of appreciated too like I didn’t want to hold Dragon book although the title is phenomenal The Rage of dragons come on and really tau is the biggest dragon out there because he’s got the rage for sure but the dragon stuff was cool it was like appropriately delivered I think just you know sparingly in the setting it’s just like such a different setting than any other book or fantasy book that we’ve read so dug it that’s that’s my last love or SEC what is that I didn’t understand what that meant it’s just like a swear word it’s just like [ __ ] it’s kind of like more like [ __ ] in the sense that it covers it all uh what about hates hate wise this is probably more of a mead problem and this is why I probably tend fourth of the y a side but the amount of names things that had names and like names for things I was very overwhelmed many times and I think also because the audiobook you aren’t able to read the physical word and the guy was pronouncing with the accents and a lot of the accents were like sound similar it made it just very tough for me again I think that’s my small brain but that’s uh I needed really more like I actually got a cough so I’m like okay I know that guy yeah you know like I had no idea his name but I know who that guy was yeah and I know the big guy and I know you know like I had to like picture them but I like didn’t get a good grasp on everyone yeah the three people in the names on the list I didn’t know the difference being any of those three people kill no car I didn’t know the difference between them and until we met Kelly McCarley okay I know that guy now yeah you mean you’re talking like Kellen o’car odily and Deja and okay yeah right because I’m like I don’t know who these people are like what’s going on no I’m I’m with you there and I think one of the things that I didn’t mention in the love was uh we have got done some shout outs to some uh audiobook narrators but the narrative was so good and this it really put me in the space and honestly I’m I’m nitpicking here and I think it is also like my small brain as well but I mean there’s in glovu there’s in Hashi there’s iagu like those are all there’s like a name for the general that was something and I was like what and that’s not a person’s name I should say like yeah yeah exactly so it’s like you’re in glovo you have to make the ahashi and if you don’t make the ahashi then you make the yagu if you like don’t make the yagu then you become like a dredge I can kind of see that but there’s just a lot of things that start with vowels and it was honestly I’m like I said it’s on me it’s on on me it’s on you it’s it’s you know this ain’t his yeah well I think like Game of Thrones has a like a family tree and all that stuff in the back which is like probably what you needed but I don’t know if the book actually had that but that’s again it’s like with these big fantasy books you almost need to read them otherwise you like you have to have amazing memory otherwise it’s gonna be a tough to uh to follow along for me in terms of hates like I said I’m nitpicking here but the prologue it was just pretty confusing I actually didn’t even know what was happening I was like kind of be like um I’m not really sure I’m down with this like I knew it was a battle going on and there was like some boats that came on Shore but again maybe this is my small brain but I didn’t realize until like halfway through the book when they had mentioned something that I was like oh the prologue is like what happened 300 years ago or whatever like how this group of people like actually got to this land it jumped right into it which I do love and I respect and I always love some lore Big lore guy but I didn’t really understand it throughout the rest of the book until like the end and how it tied back to it but there’s also a lot of references is in there like the cull or whatever which are supposedly these Immortal silver-skinned beings that were on the previous land which is why everyone left but like they’re not referenced again and it was referenced in the prologue so basically after I listened to the prologue it was like in one ear and out the other and then I was gotten to the story it kind of reminded me of um the way of Kings or whatever the Brandon Sanderson won yeah when it opens up like that and I was like ah what the [ __ ] is happening here I have no idea and then it gets into the story so for me you said the lower stuff specifically Zuri would do this but she would like tell the history or how things work and that was in one year about the other and anytime basil Exposition showed up and they were explaining the history I was having a very hard time following it so that in like the ending I the ending of so much happened that I was like what’s going on like what time what’s happening yeah did you understand everything that happened in the ending with like uh jaid’s daughter calling the dragon to attack the other civilization and that’s the reason they’re attacking that I didn’t like I was like wait what what’s going on and because we just got introduced to jaya’s daughter and like just us find out you know like there’s so many things are just kind of happened that it seemed very fast yeah she was like a tactical missile basically so they sent her there to do that with Jaya didn’t obviously know that and it was odily who sent her so like odily Center to basically call a dragon to their the hideni like Homeland and basically like kill everyone because they were gonna make a piece but now that that happened it’s like okay there can’t be a piece it doesn’t seem like the worst strategic move though right like kind of like even though we we’re not supposed to be on his side it seems like not the worst idea right if you really wanted to win no but at the same time they like way outnumber the people that we follow so you can kill a hundred thousand of them but that’s just not gonna I guess this is not a lot you know okay Andy you’re also just like killing people like you’re not killing civilization people you’re just like killing women and children and you know people that are just trying to hustle out there so uh yeah and it like just fit his needs it’d be kind of cool I was thinking if then book two it just followed the other guy and his revenge story of him attacking you know because oh yeah yeah what were they calling the war leader or something the warlord he’s like yeah now I’m never stopping now that you killed a hundred thousand people like I was like yes we should follow this guy now because he’s he’s gonna be more pissed than anyone now yeah well read read book two uh something happened something happens right at the beginning that’s for sure all right my last hate why is there no diplomatic relationship with the hideni I mean I know Queen tafa didn’t start the relationship on a good foot like at the beginning of the book in the prologue when she calls a dragon and murders all those people but it’s been a couple hundred years like it feels like there wouldn’t just be this constant fighting going on like they would have times of peace or or at least there would be like attempts for diplomacy you know it seems like outside of this Mountaintop peace deal there really isn’t any conversation about what’s going on with the hideni or like maybe some hideni that defected or their people that defected the other way they live close to each other you’d think that there would be some sort of inter or something I think it’s because uh Lockheed Martin and Raytheon of uh of the the cultures there are pushing them to continually to attack because that’s their that’s what their manufacturing is for Dick Cheney’s caliber yeah he’s being like all right so we got these new dragons like slaps a dragon on the back like you can’t uh kick it through this so you’ve seen the armor on this thing also yeah you can use their scales to produce your own swords it’s like uh a win-win for you guys yeah I mean this is if this could be a movie or a series we’d be all in right did you have anyone you’d like to cast you said they’re like 16 18 but I I just was picturing like a Michael B Jordan growth uh character as Tao for some reason just because I think he’s plays that role really well of like the the rudy-ass character yeah and then my I only everyone I cast Idris Elba he just seems like the Wily vet he checks out for me yeah the only one that they could think for Tau if it was younger would be like Caleb McLaughlin who’s the guy from stranger things he’s like he’s supposed to be smaller than everybody you know what I mean and like yeah we’ll go off into scary skinnier guy like maybe at this age he could like you know get into like the celebrity HGH scene and like put on some some lean muscle but you know he’s supposed to be someone that you look at and you’re not like oh this is the best fighter like are you kidding me and that’s why people keep taking on towel they’re like oh no way yeah but I don’t know if he has the demon eyes I need something that looks like like they could turn into a legit psychopath which that’s why I was like Michael B Jordan yeah the only other person I had was Keith David as odily I don’t know if you’re familiar with Keith David but uh Delhi is but Dilly’s like the guy that he has the revenge against that Tau has is number one he’s the one that ordered his dad to die and like the main bad guy Keith David’s the guy that says uh I didn’t pull it out to let it breathe or whatever and uh what’s it called what you’re not talking about I know but I want to know in the scariest movie of all time uh the drug movie traffic yeah

you know that one yeah that song well I’ll see my way out what movie you talking about I’m looking it up right now he’s he’s in 354 things yeah it’s like okay I’ll try this quickly never mind we can work through it who’s in it what’s it about it’s a drug movie about The Perils of doing hardcore drugs rec room for a dream yes yes so I record for a dream he hires the prostitutes or whatever yeah and he pulls his dick on he’s like I know it’s pretty but I didn’t pull it out to let it breathe yeah anyways he’s a good guy oh I’m using that for sure not not even penis related not even penis really what else whatever would you use it for other than the Phoenix you open it you open a bag of potato chips someone’s like oh can I can I have one it’s like I didn’t pull it out just let it breathe a bottle of wine yeah exactly 100 that’s perfect all right so um Rage of dragons Keith would you recommend it yeah pretty clear that we’d recommend it but at this point I was seeing where it would fit in I don’t know I I don’t know if it’s top 10 for me I know for you it’s definite uh for me it might slot in the back half top ten but I I also just finished it so I the more we talk about right now the more I remember how much I liked it but like the ending was a little bit tough for me so I’m gonna recalibrate but it’s definitely a recommend for me what about you yeah definitely recommend I mean I loved it I love I love war stuff in general and Fantasy war sounds just as good it’s a top five for me I I did look at my rankings and figured I need to rearrange some of those for sure but it’s it’s getting slotted into the top five probably somewhere around like Mitch rap and city of Thieves kind of thing okay yeah well yeah let me know where that goes and we’ll we’ll update and the fans are clamoring for it you know indeed all right what do we get coming up next up next we’re jumping back into the Silo series we’re doing shift by Hugh Howie we just did a wool and we obviously covered the TV show as well so we’re jumping back into that going on book two of three yeah I feel like you know a lot of times we read book one and we don’t finish the series and this one you know we both liked a lot so I mean we’ll meet your top 10 right now I’m like thinking back I’m like man because like the TV show is is so much more ingrained in my brain now that I’m like was the book that good I can’t remember now you know but the time I remember really liking it so yeah I already said like when we read the second book I’m gonna be like kind of confused because we both read the book and then watched the show and now we’re reading the second book and the show kind of went a different way so uh but yeah we’re gonna we’re gonna get back into some Hugh how we Silo Saga so that’ll probably be coming up to y’all next week but if you haven’t checked out rage dragons check it out and stay away from the bathtub sex Keith uh until next until next time I’ll talk to you next week all right all right now thank you