Dust Jackets: Venerate or Sacrifice? (Plus Is Katabasis Really Romantasy?)

Show Notes

Sarah hates dust jackets so much she bins them the day she buys a hardback. She brings them to The Offering expecting an easy sacrifice – and faces a surprise. Sophie turns up with evidence (a hot-pink surprise under the Dungeon Crawler Carl jacket), Sallie makes the case for the flap as a built-in bookmark, and Oscar chips in with the price tag on a first-edition Great Gatsby jacket.

Before that, Sarah’s halfway through Janice Hallett’s The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, Sophie’s back from Keswick with a stack of discounted hardbacks (Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling, Douglas Stuart’s John of John), and Sallie’s listening to R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis – which sparks a debate about what actually makes a book romantasy.

We’re live at The Book Cellar on Stokes Croft, Bristol on 26 October to celebrate the new ACOTAR book. Tickets have sold out, but we’ll be streaming on Instagram and TikTok from around 9:30pm.

Next week: A Court of Thorns and Roses, chapters 6–16.