SPEAKER_01: 0:08

Hey Bookish baddies, welcome to Black Girls Lit.

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Where fine women, fine literature, and fine libations collide.

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Step into the lit life. Black Girls Lit starts now.

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Black women are so complex.

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What's up, y'all? This is Nicole.

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I'm here with Black Girls Lit. Tasha. I'm Lex. I'm Star. And today we have joining us our special guest still here, Miss Stephanie. Hello, hello, hello. Hey Steph.

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This is the second of three very special episodes where Black Girls Lit are deep diving into the legacy of Aresha series. Today we're looking at the second book, Children of Virtue and Vengeance. Remember, this month only August, because it is a very special month, our own stars birthday month. Okay, okay. Happy and this episode actually will be dropping just before her birthday. So honestly, when you guys are listening to this, we probably will already be like mid-birthday celebration. Yeah. Because we're dropping on the 1st, the 15th, and the 29th. Um, so tune in, be ready for it. Let's go ahead and jump right into book two.

SPEAKER_01: 1:25

I'm going to talk about our BGL cocktail to go along with this episode. It is called The Gold Star. Shout out to Star. Happy birthday, girl. Okay, so as we started episode one for this whole series, our spirit of choice is rum. My fave. In the gold star, you will see some pineapple juice fresh, some ginger, fresh lime juice, and turmeric. The rum that we're choosing today is the El Dorado rum. It is a gold rum. Last episode we used a white rum. So we're kind of stepping up in our color palettes here. So let's try it. It's sweet. It's very ginger forward. That's what I taste first. You taste ginger. I taste the pineapple.

SPEAKER_07: 2:19

Yeah, all pineapple. Oh it's good though. Almost no rum. But don't drink it all. When you go on like those vacations, like Jamaica or some kind of Caribbean. Very Caribbean.

SPEAKER_01: 2:29

But olive.

SPEAKER_04: 2:30

It's a little sweet.

SPEAKER_01: 2:32

Yes. But don't drink it all, ladies, because this is actually the cocktail we'll be doing with our first pairing later in the episode. So sip, sip, be cute about it. Don't drink it all, though.

SPEAKER_02: 2:43

She gotta remind us uh don't drink it all. I know her y'all long. Like listen, she knows us. It felt a little juty, definitely judgy.

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Didn't mean to be. I just want to make sure because you know we're giving y'all a drink and something that goes great with it.

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So you're right, you're right. Okay.

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So we're getting into book two today by the number one New York Times bestseller, Tomi Adayemi. Nice. Today's book is The Children of Virtue and Vengeance. This is the second in the Legacy of Aresha trilogy. Let the Battle Continue.

SPEAKER_09: 3:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00: 3:23

Let's go ahead. And keep in mind, it was the second moon we're on.

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So we're gonna go ahead and jump it off with our ramises, and y'all know how we do. We either cheers if we love it as a four stars, babysit, if it was okay, you know, like a three stars, babysit, if we had we got through it, it was a struggle, but we got through it. Took us a little bit of time, or send it back if okay, we did read the book because you know we we are about reading the books here, but we did not enjoy it at all. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and start off. I'm gonna go ahead and I will say oh I'm sort of torn here. I'm gonna be like a sip and a half. I'm gonna be like three and a half stars.

SPEAKER_07: 4:04

Hey, what is happening with you?

SPEAKER_05: 4:06

I know. It's not like me. Because this thing, if you read the first book, you had to read the second book. Like the way it ended, you know, you you had to read it. So I did read, I read like right back to back. But you know, we'll we'll get into it. I'm coming at a sip and a half. I I'd be a three and a half if I had to be honest with you. Okay, um, Nicole, where you at?

SPEAKER_07: 4:26

Any mini money, money, babysit. Babysit. Oh, okay. I just hears the babysit, okay? I know. Maybe on my genre of books in general. It became I mean, I like some of the stories, just became a lot of fighting. I'm a peaceful soul.

SPEAKER_01: 4:49

But uh, yeah.

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We'll talk about it later. Let's where you can't. Where you at? Where you at? Where you at?

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

I think I'm gonna be on board with Nicole with the babysit. This was a tough, I don't know about y'all, but I struggled to get through this book. I did listen to it on audiobook, but no, that's a lie. I read half of it and then I listened to the other half on audiobook. And the reason I switched to audiobook because I felt like when I was reading it, I was just going through the motions, but not like retaining the story. And so I was like, let me try listening to it, visualize. I felt like I was listening to war manuscripts the whole time. So yeah, it was it was tough. It was tough for me. So yeah, babysit.

SPEAKER_04: 5:36

Yeah, it was a struggle, it was a struggle to get through it. It was like on and on and on and on, unfortunately. Babysit for me as well.

SPEAKER_00: 5:48

So I'm gonna do a sip and babysit. So let me do like a 2.5. I have to get on board with everybody else. It was just a continuation of can I get some more good parts? Like can I get some more good feels? It was just a never-ending saga where, as we said, we'll get into the book. As far as I'm tired, I'm tired, I don't want to no more. I don't want to, I don't want to anymore. So yeah, I give it a 2.5.

SPEAKER_05: 6:20

Who? Not the rave review that uh book one got.

SPEAKER_07: 6:25

Yeah, let's I respect the author still. Still respect. Oh, totally, and maybe I might have read it so soon. Like maybe I should have waited some months or and then come to No, I think you still have the same end result.

SPEAKER_04: 6:38

Yeah, because they agree. Yeah, no, okay, so I said the same thing, and maybe because yes, we did read them years apart, but the reread, did you reread book one? Okay, so even though I think if we had just picked up book two and started there, we probably would have had a different perspective. Of course. But reading them back to back is where it was like this long, drawn out, never read soccer.

SPEAKER_07: 7:08

Yes, the purpose, right? Like she ended the first one saying that she was motivated because of some stories you have to read in the back, but she was motivated by current events that were happening. The other part I was trying to look at while I was reading it was like maybe she's just trying to send a message of like, we get tired. Like this is tiring.

SPEAKER_00: 7:23

But it was also within a short period of time, though. It's not like it was elongated over years and years of life. It's only been war months. Like she was like, so it's like it was just a lot compacted. It was like you haven't even recovered. And so one book to the next book, you had two weeks or a week to recover. And then from book two to three, we can't really get into that much. But you go several weeks and then you're malnourished, and then you're supposed to jump back into war like it never happened. They never get to celebrate a battle, correct. And when they did celebrate a battle, they were penalized because they were attacked in the middle of it, you know? So it's like you couldn't really even enjoy a moment. Like, I was too afraid to enjoy a moment because like what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_07: 8:10

But I think that was the whole purpose, right? Like, if we're saying it's comparing it to modern day black people in America, you have a nice, oh Jen, this thing has it. Oh, Jen, we just got Juneteenth as a holiday. Finally, it's a national holiday. Not to say anything like that, and then I don't know, other things happen. Like it's like right when you're trying to take a deep breath, like, oh, this might turn around, and then we're in war.

SPEAKER_01: 8:35

I feel like it didn't have anything to do with the story. I think it had again not to not to get on the author at all. So in doing some scouring on book talk, they talked a lot about sometimes second, they call it literally the second book slump, where it's like usually in a series, the second book is mid, like across the board with like any series. And I've read a lot of series, and I can agree with that. Like, I can agree, and I just feel like this book fell into that category of the second book slump. Like, we needed more, we needed more development, not much happened, we needed a break, we needed something, and I just I just feel like it just simply fell in the second book slump. I don't think it really had anything to do with the the story. I think it had to do a little bit with the writing, a little bit. I I feel like I could not digest it like in my brain. Like I was just, I just feel like I was just reading, yeah, and that's it. Like nothing was I could see how you say that. Yeah, I had to go back. I was like, what was the second book about? Yeah, I couldn't.

SPEAKER_00: 9:48

Because I felt like I read so much in the in a three-week time frame. It was a lot if you're reading it for the first time, which for me it was all books. So it was a lot. So I had to go back.

SPEAKER_01: 9:58

I was like, what are the what happened in the second book?

SPEAKER_00: 10:02

Like, because it was just so much.

SPEAKER_04: 10:04

And yeah, I could see how you say that. It definitely got to a point where I felt like I should have been taking notes, but I didn't want to. Yeah, yeah, no, for real though. I probably should be, but I don't even care to at this point. There was a part where I was like, when did this happen? Like, when did this when did this person come in come back into the story? Like, did I miss something? It was a lot happening.

SPEAKER_01: 10:28

But you know what? I think this is a good segue though, into our first question. Which character do you have the most issue with at this point and why? So let's get into Rowan. Sorry. Oh, well, okay. Sorry. But can we talk about Rowan first? I think we talked about Rowan. Everyone liked Rowan. I liked Rowan. I liked Rowan.

SPEAKER_00: 10:50

He is straight up, but like even towards the end when he was working with the Queen, I was like, that's trifellin. But he was the right. But he was direct, but he didn't know what the money is. Right. You have no money.

SPEAKER_01: 11:01

But Zelly was also paying him at the time, right?

SPEAKER_00: 11:04

Well, she didn't have the money.

SPEAKER_01: 11:06

Oh, it was on back, it was on okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 11:09

She was treasure, she was on credit. She was got cash, you won't know. It was available with the queen. So that was the only reason I was like, how can how much do I trust you? You know, with him. But no, Amari, that Amari was very, she kind of pissed me off in the second book because of the way that she handled things. Because it's like you were trying to get the power, you're a little jealous of Zealie, what she was going through, and how her people treated her. And I feel like you're like a little mad about that. And because you're the princess, and I guess you thought that you were going to see that kind of her being in the kingdom, she's seeing what Zealie was getting in her kingdom, and she wanted a taste of that. And everybody's listening to Zili, where for her, it's like, I want them to listen to me. And the one time they do listen to you, you kill a whole village. I was like, oh girl. I was upset with her.

SPEAKER_05: 12:11

Stephanie is mad. Let's a very quick show. Stephanie hates Amari. Stephanie got mad beep with Amari.

SPEAKER_07: 12:23

And that's how I feel all over the place. It was like she was trying to come into her own power, but she didn't know what that was.

SPEAKER_01: 12:29

But before we keep talking more about Amari, can we do this first pairing? We just introduced the gold star, and that's with our El Dorado rum. So we're pairing this chicken. How is this prepared, Nicole? Tell us about the chicken.

SPEAKER_07: 12:43

Suya. Ah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:48

Pairing is not bad together.

SPEAKER_05: 12:50

Which character I had do you most have issue with at this point? And what?

SPEAKER_07: 12:56

This sounds weird because y'all let me know if I'm ready, right? But right here. And now I just don't get it. And Mari and him are going through the same kind of the fight of heart and power. Is power more important to me? Or is my heart more important to me? Like you could see the battle between which one stands first.

SPEAKER_05: 13:13

I am in agreement with you. At this point in the book, I got mad issues with anon. Like I was like, bruh, for real for us. Again, first of all, I was mad with him from Still Left Over from First Book, where he didn't let the girl get all scarred up, where he let her daddy catch her. Um and then even I and then this book, you know, he's still trying to, he wanna come to her, he wants to come to Z Lee in her dreams, like, ooh, let's make love and on this dreamscape situation. But I hear in these real streets, I can't see. I'm sitting up and right. I'm right. I'm I'm with my mom and it's like.

SPEAKER_01: 13:46

She's a little secret.

SPEAKER_05: 13:47

And I feel like I'm trying to bridge some worlds, but when I'm telling you that I'm trying to bridge our two worlds, but when it really matters, I'm really just stepping up for like being the royal. My brother. So maybe he was conflicting, you know, you got a kingdom oversell, whatever, blase, blase. No, I had mad issues with him. I was like, nah. He kept making it seem like he loved her, like I said, in the in the dream world, whatever it was, where they was at. But when it came time to step up, I feel like he let her down time and time again, and she kept putting faith in him. And then when she stopped putting faith, then his sister put faith in him, and he just kept like messing up. And I was like, bruh. Who's not here? No, you ain't ish. Like, I so that at this point at the book two, I was like, numb no mail. Like, can he not be unalived at this point? Can somebody unarmed? Just can somebody request from the back of the room. Can somebody please unalive alarm? Like, that's where I was at. So he me and him, I had beef with him. Like, so what about the mom though? Like, I was talking to the queen. Who y'all? Naeema, is that her name?

SPEAKER_04: 15:00

Naeema.

SPEAKER_05: 15:01

I didn't really feel like she was one like the main character.

SPEAKER_04: 15:05

She wasn't the main, she wasn't a main character, but she played a very big role. For real. In in this section and the Discord and all that that was going on because she had an opportunity, right? Like the father was dead, and we know he was a tyrant, and now we're in a place where magic is back, and everybody, right, has this magic now. So there isn't those that have it and those that don't. So it was an I feel like an opportunity for her to unite her children, like unite the kingdom, you know what I mean, and just chart a new path. And she didn't.

SPEAKER_00: 15:42

But she didn't want that because she was the one that started the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04: 15:45

Exactly. So it's like and that was my issue, like with her, because and then it also didn't like the narrative, right? That is supported, where women, mothers and daughters, have this theme, truly this a strange, this beef, but the son is the golden child. You know what I mean? It kind of supported that narrative. Anand is a few.

SPEAKER_00: 16:13

And he was supporting everybody being united.

SPEAKER_09: 16:17

It was we just weird.

SPEAKER_01: 16:19

He was a I called him a baby on multiple multiple occasions. But honestly, I didn't really have that much of an issue with Anand because guys, sometimes I just whatever. Honestly, I think the thing that caused me the most unrest was not necessarily one character, but the relationship between Amari and Zelly. That bothered me. Oh yeah. Only because I felt like one, we gotta choose. Are y'all gonna be friends, sisters? We love you, we love each other, or are y'all gonna hate each other? I feel like no grace was extended on either side. Did Amari make mistakes? Absolutely, big mistakes, but also you have to understand this is the first time she's ever had powers. And in the book, the author made it very clear that Titans have a power that's different than the magi. Like it's much, it's I think she called it blood magic or something. Like it's it's something much stronger, something that's like uncontrollable, all of these things. Was Amari right for getting mad and like offing this whole village? No, she wasn't. But was she coming into her powers and trying to figure her stuff out? Yes. And I feel like before before that happened, there were instances where she tried and like things went awry, but she was never given any grades. It was like, you're a Teton, you know better, you have all this power, like, stop. And same thing with Zelly. I feel like there was just this jealous, like this. I can't describe how Amari was feeling towards Zelly, but it was like definitely this animosity a little bit at one point in that book where I was like, Can we just are y'all gonna like each other or are you not?

SPEAKER_00: 18:15

Like, can we come together? Backstabbing in a little bit of time. It was too much backstabbing. It was a little complex. Like, no, my idea is better than your idea. Let's choose my idea. And then when my idea wasn't received, you're mad at me. You're yeah, it's some resentment towards. There was never any grace.

SPEAKER_07: 18:33

It wasn't at all friendship. They understood each other though, too, because they said no, our values don't align. Like, we don't have the same end game. Like they knew.

SPEAKER_01: 18:41

Well, yeah, I think they knew, I don't think that's understanding each other, but I think they knew where they where each other stood. Because I think it was in this book where, like, I think it was this book where Amari, like they were kind of essentially like swabbing sob stories. Like, Zelly was like, There's no reason for you to be upset because you grew up in money, you do. And both my or I'm not gonna say all that, but like I went through what I went through, but Amari was like, no, at least you had parents that loved you and like supported you. Like, my dad wants damn near kill me every day of my life. There was never any like compassion, empathy, never compassion. It was just always this like so what like this competition or this like oppression a little bit on, and it was just very disturbing to me, only because at the end of the day, you're two black women and you're both trying to do the same thing, you're both trying to have peace. And so it's like if y'all can't have peace amongst each other, how are you both going to be leaders and like show that that was where the maturity became an issue because you didn't have it?

SPEAKER_05: 19:52

You're right. They both they both wanted peace at the end of the day, but they were definitely like disagreeing.

SPEAKER_00: 20:00

On the way to happen.

SPEAKER_05: 20:01

And they just never gave each other grace. In the beginning, they were more aligned about how to get there. But there definitely was points where they disagreed on the route. Like, hey, we try to get this in point, but at some point, they definitely was like, hey, it's a porking road. I'm gonna go this way, and you want to go that way.

SPEAKER_04: 20:22

But the resentment, I think, started with Zaley. Because if you think about it, it was once the magic returned, and everybody had. She was like, She wasn't slashing. She didn't like that. Yeah, like that, I feel is where it started. Because Amari was still on Sun trying to maintain the relationship for what it was before. And the resentment was whatever guilt or whatever Zale was feeling about the ceremony and how, like, now all of a sudden everybody got like y'all got it too, but we've been convicted for years because of this thing. And now, so I think the resentment and the downfall of the relationship started there.

SPEAKER_05: 21:06

That is true. Okay, we both have magic. We don't have to say magic. Yeah. This is passed down to me from generation. The gods gave it to me in this different way. You know, we have these certain ceremonies, we respect it like this. So even when you think about when Amari was like, hey, just teach me the incantation. She was like, No, you don't even get it. Like, I'm not just finish because to you, it's just some words to say. But to me and my people, there are there is meaning, like there's something behind every one of these words. So you want me, you just like, you know, teach me language, but you're not really feeling it like I'm feeling it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:45

Add that to the list of my frustrations with Amari. Add that.

SPEAKER_03: 21:53

She don't respect the culture, child.

SPEAKER_01: 21:55

Don't respect the culture. Well, I mean, I feel like cultural appropriation. Yes, because I was like, they're the same. A good example is like Sarah's saying cultural appropriation. Black people, black women got persecuted for the hairstyles we wore for braids, for cornrows. The minute Kim Kardashian comes out with two cornrows to the back, it's chic. Correct. It's acceptable. It's high fashion. We love it. It's boxer braids. But when Negroes were doing it all their life, it was unkempt. It's dirty. It's and I feel like I almost feel like that's almost how Zeli felt about the magic. Because that's why they were considered maggots, is because y'all are less than you have this thing that we think is evil. But then when the nobles got it, it's like, oh, we're power, like they're powerful. We should, this is more reason to bow down to them. And it's like, is it not magic?

SPEAKER_04: 22:59

And they didn't they didn't respect it, they weaponized it like immediately, immediately they weaponized me. Like it wasn't trying to understand it, it was power.

SPEAKER_00: 23:12

Like you still are power maggots and abuse, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 23:16

Like, and there's still less than like what it was like, what?

SPEAKER_00: 23:20

Like, where's the logic? Where's the logic?

SPEAKER_03: 23:23

But so I think it's time for a shot. Oh, but we're done shooting the birthday.

SPEAKER_04: 23:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05: 23:29

Okay, we just shoot it up.

SPEAKER_04: 23:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01: 23:32

Oh, is it paired with the foo foo? The foo foo. Okay. Well, let's Zali.

SPEAKER_04: 23:38

Girl, my friend, I am not with I cannot. You know, I'm gonna take this shot because I don't know.

SPEAKER_03: 23:45

All right, cheers to star. Happy birthday. Let's do it. Yes, let's switch. Cheers to Arisha. Yup. That's good. Yeah, that was real smooth.

SPEAKER_05: 24:02

I expected it to be a little bit down. I definitely can tastes like the caramel note today. Ooh, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_08: 24:09

So it has been aged for five years. As you know, he alcohol that's aged. It's usually aged in barrels. That oak will really bring out most nice too.

SPEAKER_04: 24:18

I can taste the oak. Can't you taste the oak?

SPEAKER_05: 24:21

So y'all know this. Next don't know what oak tastes like.

SPEAKER_04: 24:26

She already told y'all that oak. There's wood in here. You would taste it. You taste that oak. You taste it now. I taste the caramel.

SPEAKER_01: 24:33

I taste the oak.

SPEAKER_04: 24:36

Her palate has developed. Her palate has developed since that episode. I mean, y'all that I taste the paylon for the job. The wooden cup we have in here. And she's like, oh, this is what wood tastes like.

SPEAKER_05: 24:46

I definitely taste the caramel. I like the I like that. Everybody took a shot? Yeah. I'm just ice on it. That was delicious. Just wondering, is there any more of this? Yes. Yeah. Because word on the street is the final drink is a mocktail, and that is not okay with me.

SPEAKER_04: 25:04

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05: 25:06

It is very much okay for all of us.

SPEAKER_04: 25:07

So, question number two Was there a way that the Magi and nobles could have gotten along and prevented a civil war, or was that just not realistic? Nicole seems to think absolutely not under no circumstances. Steph, what's your take?

SPEAKER_00: 25:23

Um, I feel as though it could have happened if the mom wasn't involved because she caused the rift that was already in place, as we found out in book two. So that being said, I feel it could have happened if the mom wasn't involved. But with her still being there and wielding power over her children because she can manipulate them, it wasn't gonna happen because she had the military on her side more than her son. And clearly the daughter Mari was not gonna have any involvement because she was gone this whole time. So it was really Anand and his mom.

SPEAKER_07: 26:04

So we're talking about nobles and Anand. The never watching punk kids die for fun. Right, and that's that's why I was like, we're talking about nobles that just now, just for fun, they had coins, went to an arena in the middle of a desert to watch kids that were male nerves die in arena. Then they got power. Now they have magic, and you're saying these people would have never been in a civil war. I was like, there's no way right there.

SPEAKER_05: 26:32

Right, there's no way that they were going because in order for there not to be a civil war situation, the nobles or the people who were once in like the powerful positions would have to give up a certain level of power to be like, hey, you know what? We're all equals. If I am in a position of power, for me and mine to be like, oh, you know what? Never mind, I'm no longer in a position of power. Now we're all on the same playing field. I just don't feel like they were going to do that. And on the same token, I feel like the people who were persecuted before that, so yeah, the magi who were treated like straight maggots. I mean, as they were called, I've had a certain level of animosity. I am never trying to be your friend, I'm never going to look at you without a certain level of distrust. So there's no way we can be like, oh, we're gonna form councils and be kumbaya, because there's always gonna be a certain level of distrust in everything you say, I'm looking deep into. I'm wondering, oh, well, what do you mean by that? Well, what? How would you when you say that, what you mean? You know what I mean? I'm looking at you sideways all the time. So I feel like on both sides, I don't know how there could really be a place of peace when there's that much levels of betrayal and distrust. Because again, if I have been persecuted, again, if I've seen my my mom, my sisters, my brothers shrunk up, taking away burnt steaks, all of a sudden they were doing something magi. For me, now you'll come and be like, hey, you know what? Let's make peace. Any chance I get, don't turn that. You better be sleeping with wood eye open, because I still got deep with you. But we're not gonna be.

SPEAKER_04: 28:42

Would you say we get a league? We get wage war, yes. We live another thing. Yes, there is there is absolutely a level of distrust. There's absolutely a level of animosity, but the fact of the matter is we do get up every day and we live in peace. Like we get up every day and we live peacefully. Yes, we do. Like we get up, we go to work, we go to work with each other, we go to sporting events with each other, we go to concerts with each other, we go to the grocery store with each other. Like, what? Yes, we do. We're not talking about our everyday. But but I'm saying I'm saying the parallel. The parallel has in the entire series, right? And again, the author, her, her whole intent and purpose was the parallel of what is going on current and present day. You know what I'm saying? And she just created this fantasy world to tell the story, but it's yeah, the reality of it is, yes, we do. Yes, we can. Like, we do it. And not that it's it's always, you know what I mean? Like it's not always kumbaya, it's not always the most comfortable thing. It's maybe not necessarily the thing that we wake up like, I get to, it's still a struggle, but yes, we absolutely do do it. And can it be done? Yes. Like, could it have been done in this situation?

SPEAKER_07: 30:02

Yeah, it could have been. You're saying, like, the magi give them more power than they already didn't have. Not the nobles ever giving up anything. Say that again. I want to make sure I hear you. I'm saying pretty much from the analogy I'm hearing you, is the magi, which would be us, we just give up power not to fight. We're not gonna fight. We'll stay in peace to keep you at peace. We don't ruffle your feathers. You live in the world that you created. We might say two comments to you, but you still get to have your world. Like it's never the mat the nobles giving up some type of power, some type of relinquishing of the people. Or even taking accountability. When do but when do you say it's no longer but isn't is that realistic?

SPEAKER_04: 30:50

I don't think that's realistic, though. Even outside of war or anything like in what world ever are people with power going to give up power? Why would that be a thing? But that doesn't mean that that automatically equals war.

SPEAKER_07: 31:07

Like, but this is the first time the magic was actually gonna rise up and be like, forget this joint. We will die, we will fight you. We will no longer sit here and say we don't need to have power. We have power.

SPEAKER_00: 31:17

But the royals were still trying to find a way where they could coexist, where they could still run the kingdom and still be over the power. No, Amari wanted it too. Amari wanted them to coexist as well. It was just not the queen. Not the queen. And I feel that's where the issue runs into could they coexist is more of the queen. I feel like the kids were trying to get them there, and if they can give them understanding, this is a era, this is a time where there's no social media cameras, this is just there's no newspaper, this is the kingdom giving you this information. So if stories could be told, I'm such a good person. Like I want the goodness of everything to come out, you know, and people are good. So I'm trying to always look at the good of things. So I feel like it could happen. I'm not gonna believe the story you tell me necessarily off-rip, but over time, as they say, actions speak louder than words. So it you have to give it a chance. No, I'm not gonna like you tomorrow because we're coexisting, of course not. But if you give me the time and we could show each other that we are really trying to make this work, then maybe they will build a trust. Still not within a year or five moons or 12 moons, however moons there are. But the thing is, they could build that to something where they can can coexist. Will there be other people that have power? Yes. I mean, they're not gonna relinquish their power. That's what they were born to do. It's just a matter of let's not discriminate against other people. And as I said, when they do come together, everything that they can build as one could make your island such a beautiful place. But you guys are just fighting each other and you're messing up what could be. And because on the other side, the grass is actually greener, but you're not giving it that chance because all you've been told is the darkness of it all because of one person that was caused by your queen.

SPEAKER_01: 33:16

But I also feel like to the accountability point, I feel like accountability is such a huge thing, and I feel like the magi and the nobles were never going to prevent the civil war unless the nobles took accountability for the wrong they did. The wrong meaning the raid. They simply just killed magi just because they were magi. And that sort of stuff messes people up. I mean, Zellie's mom got strung up in front of her face simply because she was a magi, not because her mom was a bad person, not because she did something, simply because. And I think that's kind of what was I don't want to say swept under the rug, but more so swept under the rug by Anand and the other nobles. I think Anand was trying to work towards peace. I think, like early in the second book, the whole thing where they were running out of food and the nobles had food, and so he was like, all right, we're gonna ration it out to everybody. But then here comes Zelie and her people, and they burnt the whole thing because fk y'all. Like we're not like we're not yet, sure, this is an olive branch, but let's not forget, you killed my mom, you probably killed my mom's mom and my mom's mom's mom. And you never said I'm sorry, you never said I was you were wrong, you never said that I made a mistake, nothing. They just blew over and said, Okay, here's the olive branch. Can we have peace now? And I feel like when you do it that way, there was no way they were gonna prevent a civil war ever. Accountability is so huge. Just saying I'm sorry can not say that it can replace the life of someone that you lost or erase the hurt, but at least it's like, okay, you know, and I know that you were wrong. We can take steps towards that, and that never happened. Nowhere in the series, it never happened, so they were never gonna be at peace, ever. Personally, is how I feel.

SPEAKER_05: 35:30

Star is disagreeing so bad. She's like, Can I jump out of the seat?

SPEAKER_01: 35:35

She said, not not even making parallels to the real world. I'm talking about in the book, they were never well, even parallels to the real world. I'm like, Yeah, we never got our 40 acres.

SPEAKER_05: 35:47

We do have a lot of people. Well, this is a thing, but this is the thing. You're talking about kids, so we're talking about well, it's cool exists, but we're talking even in, I have friends who are no lie, have they're biracial. So they got like white dad, black mom, okay, and not me, because I'm I'm 47. So they like in their 45, 46. When they were born, like one of my friends, no lie, her parents had to leave the country, went to Canada to get married because her existence was against the law. So we only talk about we know people are like, oh well, I don't know why y'all are mad. Slavery was hundreds of years ago. I never had slaves. No, we're talking about real reason stuff because again, basically listen, she so let's say about because she's a little beyond this. Listen, she's 45. Her parents' marriage was not legitimate because it was black and white. So we're talking about coexisting and making that parallel between okay, well, can the magi and the non-magi, the nobles, the royal, whatever, can we create this world where we're gonna be at the co we can coexist, but if there's still gonna be rules and laws where we definitely have a visible line of hierarchy, is that peace? We're just waiting for one person to like hype us up a little bit so we can be like, hey, guess what? We have magic and F y'all, we about to come in here and magic out of magic y'all out of this place, or the other side waiting for just one somebody to give them a little bit of power to be like, hey, let's shut all this magi stuff down, let's put them back in chains, right? What world do we live in? Yes, every day.

SPEAKER_04: 37:33

That's the world we live in. Like, what are what? Yes, that's exactly the world we live in. Like every single day. Yes. Like, why are y'all saying no when yes, that is absolutely our reality? That is our reality as black people in this country. Yes, it's our reality, but is it absolutely real? But is it right? Is it it that wasn't the question? The question is saying, was it realistic? Was it not realistic? It's realistic, it's hell. We do this every day.

SPEAKER_01: 38:03

Well, I guess I was taking it more so is preventing the civil war realistic. I think that's what preventing the civil war.

SPEAKER_04: 38:10

I don't think it was. So it's a two-part question. So let me reiterate, it was a two-part question. The first part of it was could they have gotten along and prevented the civil war? Probably not. Like the civil war had to happen. As in real life, the civil war had to happen. That we're not gonna be slaves no more. What y'all want to do about? That's what it was, right? And now, after the fact, okay, we don't, okay, we don't want the smoke every day. Y'all go over there, that's we've gone through the stages, the Jim Crow, the separate but equal, the 50 years ago. Like, no, it wasn't hundreds of years ago. Like, there are some of us that have grandparents who picked cotton. Like, nah, it wasn't that long ago. You know what I'm saying? So the second part of the question, like, is it realistic for the coexisting and without the apology, without the reparations, without the ignorance? Oh, well then, yeah. Goddamn right. We do this every day. Like, let's talk about it. Yes, it's realistic. We we've we figured out how to coexist in peace unless somebody wants the smoke, like so.

SPEAKER_01: 39:16

Rather, the question is is it realistic? Yes, is it right? No. But I think I was answering more towards could the civil war be be prevented? Absolutely not. And is it realistic for the civil war to be prevented? No, not in that, but like, do we coexist with white people and brown people and red people and yellow people and green people? Yes, we do. All those people, we absolutely do, but do we still have our struggles? Do we still remember the trauma? Does the trauma still affect our everyday life? Yes, absolutely. It's in literally at this point, it's in our DNA. Like a lot of the stuff that we do is rooted in slavery.

SPEAKER_03: 40:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_05: 40:07

So it's a yes and or a no and what? Because I'm looking at it like, okay, well, no, because shit is not right. And we absolutely not right. People can live today. That they was done with, fights that my grandparents thought that they was done with, and fights that I thought, hey, no, hey, my kids, I don't need to tell them such because we that's a fight that's already been won. We not fighting, but then when all of a sudden, oh, we fighting the same damn fight and shit. What year is this? And so it's still there. So I guess when I said no, because we still gotta keep fighting every day, I guess that's why it's coming from. Yeah. But you're right, yes. Can we coexist? Can we do the thing we doing? Yes. But also at the same time, not forgetting that, hey, at any day, please understand.

SPEAKER_03: 41:03

Because you say the wrong thing, we're rising up.

SPEAKER_01: 41:06

Yeah, like and that's that's human incorrectly, we're rising up. All right, so the the next drink that we are doing is another mocktail, because you know, hashtag inclusive. This is a blueberry bash mocktail. Yeah, we're gonna drink that. It looks like we have some jalaf rice. I love jalaf rice to go along with this, but it is a mock tail to our girlies who are being mindful of their alcohol intake. So, cheers, ladies.

SPEAKER_05: 41:38

And your liver will be kind to you. Period.

SPEAKER_01: 41:40

That's what I say. Oh, word. That sounds like the next quote of the week. Y'all better like that post because that's definitely quotable. That's real good. What's in here? It's blueberry, juice, guava juice, and lime, and a splash of um sparkling water. Okay, I do expect it. I'm gonna have you a rumped mine. Okay, so the next question is as we're scooping our jalof, how do you respond when everything you were taught to believe reveals itself as a lie?

SPEAKER_05: 42:15

Okay, because let's talk about when Enan found out that what everything that he thought, and you find out the truth by so you move it in a certain way based off of your beliefs, what you've been taught, and all of a sudden it's revealed that, oh wait, that is not correct. What do you do? Like, do you all of a sudden like you just change the way you move in life? Like, how easy is that even?

SPEAKER_07: 42:38

I think a lot of things just uh apply in the time. I think sometimes truths apply when they were there. Now his was definitely a vir. I think sometimes our parents did certain things that we probably wouldn't agree with today.

SPEAKER_01: 42:49

But also on the other side of that, like I not that I've grown, I don't think I have grown up blind to like the realities of the world. But I can only imagine, like, if it was ingrained in you since birth that people with red hair are evil and you should stay away from them every day or every very frequently you're hearing, hey, if you go next to that red-headed girl, she's gonna put a curse on you, stay away from her, but you should be scared. I think if you grow up in an environment like that, you're obviously going to be fearful or you're going to perpetuate whatever whatever stereotype or cycle that they've given you. So I can only imagine when, like, you're how old were these kids? 19, 18, 17, and you find out that that's not true. I imagine that that is a bit of a like it's gonna take some time to be like, okay, like everything that I thought, everything that was ingrained in me, I mean, books, literature, everything that I learned is a lie. I feel like that's a lot to take in. But that does that mean you don't do it? No, because if it's wrong, it's wrong. But I can imagine it's it's a lot. Like you, because you then you're questioning your whole reality. And I feel like Anand was going through a little bit of that because he was legit scared of magic, like legit, made him nauseous to even think that he had these powers that he was told was evil. Not to say that his actions were justified, but I can I can only imagine like the struggle that he was going through, like trying to figure out what actually was right for himself and what was not.

SPEAKER_04: 44:52

All right, bookish baddies. Well, with that, we're bringing episode two or book two, book two to a close. It was a ride. This one um challenging for sure. Um emotions ran high at some point, but we're not done yet. We'll be we'll be back for um book three. We're going to again hold off on the lit challenge until we finish book three. I'm nervous. So it'll be at the plan. Yeah, because now it's it's building up now. Yeah, it's a whole thing. Cheers.

SPEAKER_07: 45:34

Uh oh, it's your burn day. Hold on, hold on. What's the uh thing that we say?

SPEAKER_04: 45:39

Up to it, down to it. I think it's those that don't do it. We do it because we're used to it. Drink mother drink something like that.

unknown: 45:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 45:49

She said just a little sign like that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 45:52

As she spitted the whole lyric. Just a little something like that.

SPEAKER_06: 45:57

Thank you for listening to the Black Girls Lip Podcast. Tune in for our next pour and our next page, The Children of Anarchy and Anguish by Tomy Addyami. Make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and follow.