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We wrap up our first book of our second series, The Alchemyst. This section includes a lot of magic, Perenelle awesomeness, and Dee evil. We meet Endor, the coolest grandma and get some more answers to Asia’s questions. We also have an iconic and dramatic fall from grace for Josh, and Charles really let’s Asia lay into Josh’s emotional immaturity. This is a really fun episode in which you can get a lot more of our individual personalities shining through. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-27 of book 2 in the series, The Magician.

This week we break into series number two, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel! We read the first half of The Alchemyst, and we start our new world building, learning all about auras, magic, and Elders. This week we have a really great time swapping the roles. Charles finally gets to fill in plot questions for Asia since she was always answering his questions during Percy Jackson. As always, we have fun with pronunciation and we discuss each other’s aura scents, so that alone is worth listening to. Next week we will be reading chapters 22-41 of book 1 in the series, The Alchemyst.

In this super exciting episode, we wrap up our first series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In the second half of The Last Olympian we have the battle for Olympus, the fight with Kronos, the spies, the rewards, and our official Percy and Annabeth relationship. We discover that the Great Prophecy is only triggered by Percy turning 16, but that the hero is Luke in his redemption and ultimate betrayal of Kronos. We get epic battles, tender moments, and a nice ending to our first series. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-21 of book 1 in our new series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst.

We jump into the final book of our first series! This book is completely different as we basically start with all of our characters in teenager mode and already at warfare. We get some harsh calculations and sacrifices, the progress of the war between the Gods and the Titans and the full contents of the Great Prophecy are revealed. We discuss Achilles, Luke, and Percy, and lots of conversation about spies. Next week we will be reading chapters 13-23 of book 5 in the series, The Last Olympian.

In this episode we finish The Battle of the Labyrinth and get a lot of our longer running questions answered. We have the return of Rachel, the discovery of Daedalus, and most importantly, the resurrection of Kronos in Luke’s body. This episode really flies by with lots of important plot points for the full arc like Percy and Annabeth fighting and the anticlimactic death of Pan. We discuss that you can definitely feel the tension growing towards the end of the series. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-12 of book 5 in the series, The Last Olympian.

We dive right into The Battle of the Labyrinth, in which our characters start getting older and having to deal with more adult emotions. We get some more answers on Rachel Dare and Clarisse, but we also get more questions around some mysterious characters. As Percy and Co. dive into Daedalus’ Labyrinth, Percy starts to receive visions of Greek history, and confrontations with Nico and Luke seem inevitable. For some levity, Charles and Asia also spend an inordinate amount of time discussing pronunciation, so if you want to hear us embarrass ourselves, we cover that as well. Next week we will be reading chapters 11-20 of book 4 in the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth.

We wrap up The Titan’s Curse, getting all five lines of the dark prophecy fulfilled, and some dramatic twists. Our crew meets more gods, titans, and learns even more about the big prophecy of the series. We get lots of explanation around our new characters and a dramatic way to kick Thalia out of the rest of the story. Charles and Asia have fun talking about fatal flaws again and leave off on another cliffhanger as we enter the second half of the series. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-10 of book 4 in the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth.

This week we jump into the first half of The Titan’s Curse, discussing Artemis, more prophecy, and lots of Thalia. We get introduced to a big faction of the fantasy world, the Hunters, and we hear a lot about the spooky spooky General. Annabeth goes missing and we get a big prophecy so there’s a lot to cover. Next week we will be reading chapters 11-20 of book 3 in the series, the Titan’s Curse.

In our final episode on the Sea of Monsters, our crew escapes Polyphemus, has a run in with Luke, some more prophecy fun, and we get a BIG reveal for the remainder of the series. Charles and Asia get into more Clarisse, some more budding romance, and a really nice tie-up to the Tyson plotline. We discuss the merits and successes of the gods’ parenting skills, and start speculation for the next book. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-10 of book 3 in the series, the Titan’s Curse.

We travel to the Sea of Monsters and run into a bunch of obstacles not least of which are Luke and Clarisse. We talk about Luke’s evil plan, Clarisse’s problem solving methods, and lots and lots of romance. We also get into more fun facts, history lessons, and each other’s fatal flaws, and did we already mention the romance? Next week we will be reading chapters 15-20 of book 2 in the series, The Sea of Monsters.

We break into The Sea of Monsters to discuss chapters 1-7 and get into conversations on dreams, poisoned trees, and how only in fiction do we allow absolutely terrible people to be responsible for children. We tackle the not-so-tough questions of when did you figure out that something was up with Tyson and when did Annabeth start stalking Percy? And we discuss the plural of cyclops. Stay tuned if you know what it is. Next week we will be reading chapters 8-14 of book 2 in the series, the Sea of Monsters.

In episode 3 of our mini introductory arc, Asia and Charles wrap up the first book of the pod! We finish off with a journey to the Underworld, plenty more gods, more of Percy’s sass, and a lot of our predictions coming true. Percy and crew face off with basically everyone, and the true traitor is revealed, though we still have mixed feelings on the prophecy. Next week we will be reading chapters 1-7 of book 2 in the series, The Sea of Monsters.

In this episode, Asia and Charles discuss chapters 9-15 of The Lightning Thief and get into lots of world building, a lot of action, and suspicious characters. We meet the war god and discuss how to cross the country with $100. Fittingly for all of Percy and crew’s drama, we finish the episode discussing each other’s greatest fears, and make our final hypotheses for how the book will end.

Welcome to the pilot episode of Throwback Paperback! Throwback Paperback is a new podcast on the Nerd Party network, where cohosts Asia Bonilla and Charles Scheland share young adult literature with each other and re-read books to see how they feel from an adult perspective. To get this new pod going, we’re starting with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, and the first book, The Lightning Thief. We are discussing chapters 1-8, learning about Demigods, blue food, Camp Half-Blood, and lots of monsters. Asia introduces Charles to a series that she read in sixth grade, and you get to know a little bit about us as cohosts.