S5 : Ep 12 - Interview : Elizabeth Evans - Narrating the Maasverse / New ACOTAR Recordings

Summary

Flights of Fantasy Podcast – Season 5, Episode 12: Interview with Elizabeth Evans

Release Date: May 6, 2025

In this captivating episode of Flights of Fantasy, hosts Anna, Kim, and Christina welcome Elizabeth Evans, the renowned audiobook narrator known for bringing to life beloved series such as Throne of Glass, Crescent City, and the newly re-recorded A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) slated for release on May 30. The conversation delves deep into Elizabeth's journey, her meticulous process, the emotional nuances of her work, and the interplay between narrating expansive fantasy worlds and engaging with passionate fanbases.

---

1. Elizabeth Evans' Journey as a Narrator

Elizabeth shares how her career in audiobook narration began unexpectedly. While pursuing her undergraduate studies at NYU, she attended an Audible workshop purely out of curiosity, not anticipating a future in narration.

Christina (Elizabeth Evans): "Narrating books was never something I really pursued or tried to. It wasn't the big dream kind of thing."
(00:02:12)

Her initial foray involved reading short, middle-grade volunteer books, but her portrayal of Celaena Sardothien in Throne of Glass was a turning point that ignited her passion for narrating.

Christina: "The third book I got was the first Throne of Glass book. It totally skewed my perception of the work."
(00:02:57)

---

2. A Day in the Life of a Narrator

Elizabeth outlines her structured routine leading up to and during recording sessions. Preparation begins the night before with rereading the sections to be recorded, followed by vocal warm-ups and physical stretching to maintain stamina during long recording hours.

Christina: "A day in the life starts the night before because I will have read the book already months out, but I'll reread the 70 to 100 pages that we may cover the next day."
(00:04:12)

Her mornings involve vocal steaming to soothe her vocal cords, especially important due to her severe allergies.

---

3. Recording Techniques and Processes

Elizabeth employs a punch recording method, aiming to record in single takes without rehearsals. This technique emphasizes authenticity but requires high concentration to avoid mistakes.

Christina: "It's one take. It's not like rehearsing it to find a final product. You're reading the book for eight hours."
(00:07:08)

When errors occur, the engineer stops the recording, allowing her to resume seamlessly, ensuring a smooth narrative flow.

---

4. Maintaining Character Consistency Across Series

To preserve the distinct voices of diverse characters across different series, Elizabeth maintains comprehensive documents detailing each character's vocal traits, pivotal moments, and arc developments. She often creates vocal samples to ensure consistency over time.

Christina: "I'll make little vocal samples just on my phone or that sort of thing. And especially because I would send them to Sarah for approval."
(00:14:47)

For series like ACOTAR, she utilizes pitch differentiation to distinguish between characters such as Feyre, Elaine, and Nesta, ensuring each sister's voice remains unique yet cohesive within the narrative.

---

5. Emotional Engagement and Handling Intense Scenes

Elizabeth candidly discusses the emotional toll of narrating poignant moments, such as the sacrifices in Throne of Glass or Nesta's personal struggles in Silver Flames. She often finds herself genuinely moved, which can sometimes affect her performance quality.

Christina: "When the 13 sacrificed themselves, that was one of the only times I've had to step out of the booth... I was crying so much that it just distorts the audio too much to keep."
(00:21:34)

Despite these challenges, Elizabeth strives to maintain authenticity, ensuring that the emotional depth of the story resonates with listeners.

---

6. Navigating Fandom Expectations and Pressures

With the ACOTAR series boasting a vast and dedicated fanbase, Elizabeth experiences heightened pressure to meet expectations. Unlike her previous work, this series demands meticulous attention to character portrayal to satisfy long-time fans.

Christina: "With ACOTAR, there are so many moments... it's about embodying who each of the characters are without putting choices on top of it."
(00:33:31)

She emphasizes the importance of delivering the story as intended by the author, avoiding unnecessary embellishments that could detract from the original narrative.

---

7. Dealing with Social Media and Negative Feedback

Elizabeth addresses the challenges of interacting with fans online, including managing negative feedback and maintaining her mental well-being. She employs strategies such as blocking harmful comments and distancing herself from platforms that exacerbate insecurities.

Christina: "I have read it completely blocked where I can't get into it even if I tried, which is healthy because... you're never going to please everybody."
(00:39:40)

Her approach involves focusing on positive interactions and protecting her personal space to continue delivering quality narration without external pressures.

---

8. Personal Reflections and Favorite Moments

Highlighting memorable scenes, Elizabeth shares her favorite parts of various series, including intense confrontations, emotional breakthroughs, and significant plot twists. These moments not only showcase her versatility but also reflect her deep connection to the stories she narrates.

Christina: "I really love the action sequence of Azriel rescuing Elain in Wings and Ruin. I loved all the wedding stuff."
(00:47:25)

Such reflections underline the profound impact these narratives have on both Elizabeth and the listeners.

---

9. Upcoming Projects and Final Thoughts

As the episode concludes, Elizabeth expresses her excitement for the new ACOTAR recordings, addressing fans' queries about runtime differences and assuring them of the complete content despite the edits.

Christina: "All the books are the full book. I think I just maybe talked a little faster or that I speed up for action sequences or something, but it's the full books."
(00:53:25)

The hosts express their enthusiasm for the upcoming releases, reaffirming their support and anticipation for Elizabeth's continued contributions to the fantasy audiobook realm.

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Notable Quotes

• Elizabeth on Starting Narration:
  "It wasn't the big dream kind of thing."
  (00:02:12)

• On the Recording Process:
  "It's one take. It's not like rehearsing it to find a final product."
  (00:07:08)

• Managing Multiple Characters:
  "I want to embody who each of the characters are without putting choices on top of it."
  (00:33:31)

• Dealing with Emotional Scenes:
  "I was crying so much that it just distorts the audio too much to keep."
  (00:21:34)

---

Conclusion

This episode offers an intimate glimpse into the meticulous and emotionally charged world of audiobook narration through Elizabeth Evans' experiences. From navigating complex character arcs to managing the expectations of a passionate fanbase, Elizabeth's insights provide invaluable perspectives for both aspiring narrators and avid listeners alike. As the ACOTAR re-recordings approach their release, fans eagerly anticipate Elizabeth's transformative storytelling, further cementing her status as a beloved voice in the fantasy literary community.

Transcript

[Anna]

Welcome to Flights of Fantasy, your Romantasy podcast book club. I'm Anna, joined by my book besties, Kim and Christina, and together we're diving into the characters, theories, lore, and magic behind all your favorite fantasy romance books.

[Kim]

Welcome, book besties. We have a very special episode for you tonight. We had the absolute privilege of sitting down with Elizabeth Evans, the voice of all of Throne of Glass and all of Crescent City, and the voice of the new recordings of acotar coming on May 30. This was such a beautiful, wonderful conversation. We had so much fun chatting with her. We are so excited to bring you this conversation with Lizbeth.

[Anna]

Yes, we are so thrilled to have her here. And consider this your spoiler warning for everything in the mask, verse, Throne of Glass, Crescent City, Acotar. We will be discussing it all. So if you have not listened to Elizabeth on any of these books, or if you have not read them, then cheers and happy reading. Come back when you've read and we will see you next time. But until then, let's go.

[Kim]

Let's go. Welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you so, so, so much for being here. We're so excited to talk to you.

[Christina]

Thank you for having me. This is so nice. I'm gonna say off the bat that I came from something and I did not method dress. Just so it's out there. I wasn't like, ooh, podcast. You know, it's for listeners.

[Anna]

If you can't see her, she's in, like, this high neck lace. It's very Nesta.

[Christina]

I think it literally looks like I have method dust. I'm so sorry.

[Anna]

We respect it.

[Kim]

I love it. I mean, you know, as other theater kids, we're really into it. Okay.

[Anna]

Yeah, yeah. It's your rehearsal dress.

[Kim]

Yeah. Okay. So we'd love to start off by discussing kind of your journey as a narrator. So we heard that audiobook narrating kind of found you rather than the other way around, and that's just so beautiful and inspiring. And can you just tell us a little bit about how that all came to be and just what the early days of becoming Audible narrator looked like for you, that whole process?

[Christina]

Yeah. So I was in undergrad at nyu and Audible came and did this kind of like, career day style workshop. So I just showed up to it out of curiosity and never really becoming a narrator was never something I really pursued or, like, tried to. It wasn't the, you know, the. The big dream kind of thing. But they let everybody read about two minutes from a book, and then the week after, they brought Me into audition, and I. The first two things I did were these very short, kind of like middle grade vet volunteer books. And then literally the third book they gave me was the first Throne of Glass book. And it was a couple years after it had been published in print. But it totally skewed my. I was like, oh, all. All narrating books are amazing.

[Anna]

It spoiled you.

[Christina]

It really skewed my perception of the work. Yeah. But it was literally the third book I'd ever gotten.

[Kim]

Incredible.

[Christina]

And it's just great.

[Kim]

That's so cool.

[Christina]

And then we did. I did that one and then Crown of Midnight immediately after. So I did the first and second books in one go.

[Anna]

Oh, wow.

[Kim]

Very cool.

[Anna]

So they heard you speaking and then was Sarah like, I want her voice?

[Christina]

I have no idea, actually. It was so long ago now, I don't remember auditioning for it, but I. I bet I did. And most authors, I think I could be wrong, but a lot of them have like, narrator approval in their contract where they'll hear, like, the studio or publishing house will send them like, three, four people, and then they pick. So I actually have no idea.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But I know that it was. It was so early in the game that they put me in direct contact with her. So I've just now, you know, we've always done that since that first Throne of Glass book where I think if you got hired to do her stuff now, there'd be more kind of rungs of people of in between, you know?

[Anna]

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Anna]

Oh, that was like the perfect time and a place you both kind of found each other.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah. It was crazy. Yeah.

[Anna]

Okay, so can you walk us through a day in the life of recording? Like when you get up, like, what's your process before you get to the recording booth?

[Christina]

A day in the Life kind of starts the night before because I will have read the book already months out, but I'll reread the, like, 70 to 100 pages that we may cover the next day, the night before, so it's much more fresh. So I do that the night before. And then next morning I wake up, I'll do a vocal steam. I have like a little steamer. I have terrible allergies, so I do that. And while I'm doing that, I'll look through my very intense long notes and sort of structure the day. So I'll. I'll go like, okay, we have an action sequence that's going to cover these three chapters. So I don't want to stop in the middle of that or I'D love to hit this page by lunch because then there's a change of space for the afternoon or I want to hit this point by the end of the day. So I'm not like, having to pick up right in the middle of a big scene tomorrow morning. So I'll kind of set up the day like that in terms of goals.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And then I'll warm up physically. Nothing crazy, but just like, you're sitting all day, so stretching, that kind of stuff. And then I'll do a bit of a vocal warmup, and then I'll commute to the studio, and then we start reading and stop, like half an hour for lunch. And that's kind of it. And then at the end of the day, what I did on these books, which was nice. The studio I was at is like a 30 to 45 minute walk from my apartment. So I would finish recording, do a quick cool down with, like, a straw, just some slides up and down.

[Anna]

Oh, okay.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Anna]

What is that?

[Christina]

Oh, it. All I know is that it reduces swelling in your vocal cords, but they're like, kind of thing.

[Anna]

Okay. Okay.

[Christina]

Yeah. So I'll do that at the very end of the day. And then I would walk home for, like, 30, 45 minutes. Because it's just I've been sitting all day, and then I don't talk for that amount of time. And then I. I mean, these were such a marathon where it was like I would go home, like, try to chill for a minute, and then I would reread for the next day.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And it was that for four months. And I got married in the middle of it. And then we had, like, Thanksgiving and Christmas in the middle of it, so.

[Kim]

Oh, my gosh.

[Christina]

Oh.

[Anna]

So in the middle of recording Acotar. Oh, wow.

[Kim]

Wow.

[Christina]

I did. I did the first book and then I got married. And it was really fun to do Mist and Fury right after and start with all the wedding stuff.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Well, she has.

[Anna]

I hope your wedding was a little better.

[Christina]

It was. It was too good. I had to pay for it in that book. Yeah.

[Kim]

Vocally, I'm sure.

[Christina]

Yeah, yeah. No, for real. I. I ended up. I, like, screamed so much at my wedding, which was so stupid, but it was my wedding.

[Kim]

I was gonna say, it's your wedding. You have to. Yeah. Sarah would approve, I'm sure.

[Christina]

Oh, she did. I told her she was like, good, great. But then. But yeah, I had a little bit of vocal damage after that, so I ended up kind of having to work through that.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But it was all it was all good. It all worked out. We took a little extra time, a couple days, but everything worked out well.

[Kim]

Oh, that's so cool. And so in the booth, are you, like. Is the goal to do it in one take? Are you, like, stopping. Starting when you.

[Christina]

No, it is one take.

[Kim]

Wow.

[Christina]

Yeah. So we only stop if I make a mistake. Yeah. Yeah. So it's. I sort of wish I could do, like, a PSA that. That would just be out there a little more. That. It's. It's one take. It's not like a movie or anything like that. Yeah. And because I'm on a punch record, what that means is. And anytime I make a mistake, the engineer stops the recording. I hear myself at the last place that I breathed, and then I come right back in. So they're kind of editing in real time. It saves them a lot of work on the other end.

[Anna]

Oh, wow.

[Christina]

But it's. It's one. It's one take. It's not like, you know, rehearsing it to find a final product. It's.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

You're reading the book for, like, eight hours.

[Anna]

You're Gene Kelly. You're doing one long take.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

That's really. I mean, that's so impressive.

[Christina]

Yeah. I will say celebrities. I don't know if this is true, like, 100% of the time, but a lot of them, they're on a straight record where they press record at the top of the day, and then they can do a sentence, like, five times to perfect it. And the real, like, narrators that are doing this day in, day out are on a punch record where it's. It's. It's one take. It's. You start, and then at the end of the day, you've done however many pages.

[Anna]

Wow. I didn't know that.

[Christina]

It's like a marathon.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Anna]

Do you ever pause yourself and go, I like, even if you don't mess up a word, you don't do a retake. You just. You keep going.

[Christina]

It depends, like, if it's a really big moment, if it's something that I know is, like, a defining moment of the book, if it feels like that, I will. But it's something I struggle with at the end of the day or, you know, when a record is done, where I'm like, I really. I worked so hard. I think I did the best I could. But you kind of go, I don't know how it comes out. And you. Until you hear it, you really don't know. But for these books, there's some, like, I know some of the kind of big lines, and so those I would be a little more like. I really want to make sure that came out well. But there is this sort of thing where when you're kind of in the flow and in the pocket, I think things come out well. And then if I start getting too in my head about trying to perfect it, it gets worse. I get more in your head and then.

[Kim]

Yeah, totally.

[Christina]

Yeah. Like, if I'm listening to myself way too much, then I'm not in the book.

[Kim]

That makes sense. Yeah.

[Christina]

There would be. There'd be a couple things, but usually it's. We just go right through.

[Kim]

So. Cool.

[Anna]

Yeah. I always felt like the best shows were ones where I walked away and I went. Like, I remembered it, but I also was like, I don't remember. Like, I think I left it all out there. Like, you know, and I imagine with recording, if you're doing an entire, like you said, an action sequence where it's, you know, three chapters or something, you want to get that out. I can see why. Because it's like you said, it's the flow of the characters in the arc.

[Christina]

Yeah. Well, I think with action stuff, it's specifically the rhythm that you. I mean, Sarah, she writes such incredible cliffhangers, too, that it's almost like you want that cliffhanger and then you want to keep the momentum going when the next chapter starts until there's kind of a natural finishing of a section, and then there's a lull where you sort of sit and take it in. But, yeah, I mean, it's a crazy job. I mean, I'll say, like, I do a lot of prep, and so I know what's coming. And I know, um, in my own notes to myself, every chapter, I give myself a little phrase or sentence that's like Feyre fights the worm. This happens just so I know exactly where, like, what's sitting in each chapter. And I can kind of look at that on a break or at lunch. So I. I have a good amount of knowing exactly what's coming, but got.

[Kim]

It well, and that really, you know, comes through. Because your work is so much of a comfort. Listen for us and for so many people, because I feel like it's this story we love, but also it's this gradual up and down flow, you know, that just like, it really. It's beautiful.

[Anna]

So it translates. Yeah.

[Christina]

Oh, good. I'm glad. I remember when we were in Silver Flames, I wanted to get through the whole hike before lunch that we kind of like a day Sort of started. I forget exactly where, but.

[Anna]

That's so heavy.

[Christina]

Yeah. Because it's so heavy, and there's so much in there that feels insanely personal to me about, like, my dad passed and it. We had a strangely similar relationship, even though it's a fantasy book. So, like, I'll calm down.

[Kim]

No.

[Anna]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But there's a lot that I was like, I know this is gonna make me cry a lot, and I don't want to have to do a chapter and then eat a sandwich and then, like, go back into it. So we. That's one of those where it's like, I know I need to get to this specific moment before we can sort of take a real break. So it's all in that kind of flow.

[Kim]

Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, I can't wait to hear that. Okay, so pivoting a little bit. So for a new release of Sarah's. How early do you get the book before it's published? And then are you just. Are you sworn to secrecy? Can you just, like, not see anyone or speak about anything? Like. Yeah, I wouldn't even be able to look at Anna and Kim. I would just be like.

[Christina]

Yeah. I mean, I. I get them. I get them months out. It sort of depends. I get them early.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Pretty early because it takes me time to read. And then the recording process, like, I get them before, like, a two, maybe three months before that, and then that takes time. And then post needs a certain amount of months, so I get them a good chunk ahead. And they come with, like, all sorts of password protection. All that fun stuff.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

But, yeah, then it. Then it's just like secret keeping and I. Yeah, just keeping secrets.

[Kim]

Yeah, exactly.

[Christina]

Wild. Yeah. Yeah. But it does. It makes me feel really. It's felt like a. It just has been a bigger and bigger privilege as the books keep growing, like, be trusted with that information and Totally. But, yeah, it's really fun. And then I. I fangirl so much over it, so it's fun to. To get them early. And then I remember before House of Sky and Breath, where at the end, the crossover that just, like, waiting for everybody else to get to the end of that book once it was released. And, like, that was so fun. It was so fun for me to like, see the. All of that and how ruin reacted.

[Kim]

And you're like, you guys have no idea what's coming. You're gonna just love it so much.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Anna]

Oh, my gosh. That moment at the end of that book was Kim, who's our other co Host who's not on with us tonight. But she. She had us. Chrissy and I record ourselves.

[Kim]

Yes, she got spoiled, and unfortunately. And so she had us record ourselves reading that last chapter. And so we have that on Patreon of us just losing it. I'm, like, very pregnant and just crying.

[Anna]

Like.

[Kim]

Anna figured it out within three words. And I was like, she has paint on her hands, like, screaming.

[Christina]

It was just, oh, my God.

[Anna]

Okay, so moving on. Obviously, you've covered many characters. What systems do you have in place to keep track of all the various vocal choices, especially when you voiced characters over many, many years, like Throne of Glass. How do you keep track of that?

[Christina]

Yeah, I mean, the nice thing about. I mean, it was such a marathon to do them all as quickly as we had to do them. But what was nice about Acotar is that it was so fresh just to go from book to book to book and to have a little bit of a relationship with those characters ahead of time. But for Throne of Glass, or I do this for. For every book, but I'll read it, and I'll make, like, a crazy document of every time a character speaks, what page they come in, every word that's used to describe their voice. And then if, like, something significant changes, and then all the words I need to double check with Sarah. And then like, a sort of. This is what happens in this chapter. This is the location of the chapter. So I've got this, like, pretty detailed document for each book. And then with. With Throne of Glass, what I would do is make little vocal samples just on, like, you know, on my phone or that sort of thing. And especially because I would send them to Sarah for approval. So I would just. Whatever she would approve, I would just put in a folder that would be like, you know, here's Manon era Fire. And then, like, Manon a couple books later, if there's a big arc that affects their voice.

[Anna]

Wow.

[Christina]

But so I would keep all those little voice memos, and then, yeah, I just have, like, a hard drive with all this information on it. And then for Acotar, because we were doing them back to back, the studio would do little character markers. So when we would get a couple books in, I could be like, can you play Alice? I feel like I'm. I should make sure I'm not losing her. Okay, great. And then so we could do that, because they were back to back. But Throne of Glass, all of that. All of that work was keeping it in my head. And, you know, just the prep of playing the night before the morning of, like, here's my sample for this character to keep it fresh. And then going in and trying to make them match over years. And then we did a re record of the first couple books during the pandemic.

[Anna]

Oh.

[Christina]

So then I had to like, reverse engineer and try to redo everything so it would match the later books. So that was also very fun.

[Kim]

Oh, my gosh.

[Christina]

For Throne of Glass. Yeah.

[Anna]

Wow. Okay.

[Christina]

Which just had to do with the. The audio rights. And then for Acotar, because I'd already done Flame and Shadow, it was really fun to go. I want to land Nesta in this vocal place at the end of Silver Flames. And then she begins in Acotar in such like a hottier place. And then she goes into the cauldron and is totally broken. And her voice is described in like Frost and starlight and then in Silver Flames as being like, almost like guttural and viperish and like an animalistic rage. Those kind of words. So just kind of charting that arc was really fun. And then when we were doing Silver Flames and we were getting close to the end, I would listen a little bit. It's hard for me to listen to myself, but I would listen to little pockets of flame and shadow just to be like, all right, we're getting close to the end of the book. So I want to gear her into this kind of like, now she's a warrior, but she's found a little more inner peace. She's gotten to this place. I'm going to land her there. Yeah. So that was very fun to try to make. Hopefully that's how it comes out. But that was the intention.

[Anna]

Oh, you're making me so excited to go listen.

[Kim]

Yeah, I can't wait.

[Anna]

I'm so excited to hear Nesta's voice.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Okay. We just wanted to geek out and be theater kids for just a second. So you have an acting background which just shines through in the most beautiful way. And we are also from an acting background. We met at theater school, actually at University of Oklahoma.

[Christina]

Oh, very cool. I'm from Texas originally. So like neighbors.

[Kim]

Oh, we're both from Texas.

[Anna]

We all are from Texas.

[Christina]

What part?

[Anna]

Houston.

[Kim]

I'm from Fort Worth.

[Christina]

I'm from Plano. So very close to you.

[Anna]

Very close.

[Kim]

That's so funny. Yeah, we went to OU and then.

[Anna]

I transferred to the city and I went to ada.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Christina]

Gotcha.

[Kim]

Yeah, Very cool.

[Christina]

But yeah, sorry to derail your question.

[Anna]

No, no, totally fine. But yeah, no, man.

[Kim]

So we just, you know, in listening to you and your vocal performances, you're just so grounded and layered in the performances and you bring such an emotional nuance to every character in every scene. And so are there certain parts of your acting training that you bring into the process when you step into the booth, like, you know, physicality wise or getting into character? Like, is that something you pull from?

[Christina]

Yes and no. I mean, I do, I think of them as very different skill sets, but I think that maybe the crossover with acting is that, I mean, it's kind of like you're playing tennis with yourself, that you're playing all sides of the scene or both sides of the scene when it's two characters specifically. So the feeling of like if you were doing a play by yourself and you were having to balance that, that feels like it crosses over. But there is a lot that feels like it's just so different. And it's nice for me to be in the booth where it's like it doesn't matter what I look like. It's not about like the sort of what you would do on a stage or in a, in a movie. So I can sort of convince myself that I am like a, I don't know, 80 year old wizard with a beard. That's not in her book. But you get the idea.

[Kim]

No, exactly. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Christina]

So I think probably the imaginative aspects of it come in, but other than that, I think it really is a different skill set because of how much you're balancing, where the nice thing about when you're acting is you're just in that character or you really embody one thing where it's sort of like you kind of have to be the puppet master. I think when you're doing a book, and I think there are times I've talked about this with some other narrators, it's tough for me because I cry a lot. But there are times when if something sounds almost too realistic, it can kind of take you out of the book. Like at the end of the day, it should still all feel, oh, fascinating. Like you're, you're inside an imaginary world. Yeah, but yeah, there's a little bit of like. Or if I say something too awkward the way that you would say it in real life, it sounds very strange to the ear.

[Kim]

It kind of takes you out. Yeah, yeah.

[Christina]

So I think there's some of that.

[Anna]

But yeah, I mean, piggybacking kind of off of that a little bit. How do you balance infusing those like heightened emotions in those really dramatic scenes? But like you said, you also have to maintain a tone that's, like, easy for listeners to digest. So, like, that must be hard occasionally. Do you.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Anna]

How do you balance that?

[Christina]

That's actually. That's a great way to think about it with relating to acting, because it's like. That is why it feels like such a different skill set that you have the narration that's kind of constantly moving everything forward. So if that's too dynamic and too melodic at times, if there's a heightened scene, it may confuse the listener to think that the narration is dialogue spoken out loud, where my, like, personal taste and flavor is just that the narration is still expressive. But it. When there's a scene, it sort of is dialed back a little bit so that the dialogue can pop out. Where. If I was really going to narrate like that and it was sort of that bounciness all the way through it, I think 1. It would be hard to listen to for so many hours, though. The flip side is, like, I don't know. Sometimes people are like, she puts me to sleep. So. But.

[Anna]

But you don't want to be yelled at either while you're listening to something.

[Christina]

Right? Right.

[Anna]

You know, and.

[Christina]

And there is this kind of constant balance of even if a character is yelling, you have to come right back in with, she yelled like, in the narration. So it's sort of. It's. It's a constant sort of give and take there. Yeah. The nice thing with. With all of Sarah's books, though, is I. I do feel like the entire guide is on the page where those heightened emotions, there's always a really beautiful rhythm where they sort of build to a climax and then they sit for a moment in a really nice way. So I feel like she's done a lot of the work that way for me, and it's just about following the map that she's laid out.

[Anna]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And then just trying to dial things up and down and hoping that, especially with first person, there's a big difference between a character saying I and me when it's their internal thought versus the external. A line of dialogue of I'm gonna do this or I want this, that you need that distance.

[Anna]

Was there ever a time specifically that you were recording where you found the emotion getting the best of you?

[Christina]

Yeah. I mean, so in Throne of Glass, the. When the 13 sacrificed themselves, that was the one of the only times where I've had to, like, step out of the booth. We had to stop so many times because they meant so much to me. And I'm already just like an emotional basket case. But it was so I was crying so much that it just distorts the audio too much to keep. So that's kind of a good example of what I was trying to say earlier, where it's like, it's very real, but it's so real that, like, you can't understand, like, what you know. So, yeah, sometimes it's about, I don't know, trying to find that place to. To dial it back but have it still be very real. All of the Nesta stuff in Silver Flames, I feel like we left in more of the crying than we normally would.

[Anna]

Wow.

[Christina]

And that's only because the books have been out and I. You know, the nice thing about doing Throne of Glass is that I didn't have any thoughts in my head in terms of the fandom. And then with Silver Flames, it was sort of like, this is all very real for me reading it. And I don't think it distorts. We listened back to a couple spots on that day to just be like, are we okay or do I need to redo it? And so I think we left almost all of it in where it'll be a little distorted, but in a way that now we can see people respond to that. That kind of expression of that emotion, because I think it's driven by what's really happening in the book. My connection to the characters in the book and not a sense of ego on top of it, if that makes sense. Yeah. Like, it's not acting for the sake of acting and like showing off acting, it's. It feels very honest.

[Anna]

Yeah.

[Christina]

On my side of it.

[Kim]

Oh, that's beautiful.

[Christina]

Yeah. There was a couple lines that I. That we. That I had a hard time getting out because they. They're just so great. And then I remember in Mist and Fury, going into the wedding, sometimes I would get emotional to the point where I'm like, oh, I think this is me. And I don't know that that Feyre should be this far. So we would like. There's a couple lines in there where she's like, I'm not good and I'll never get better. Some of that was just like, I would feel like in the moment and it would be unhelpful for the story. So we dial those things down a little. Yeah.

[Anna]

There's so much self loathing in the beginning.

[Christina]

Yeah. But I love the arc of that book. So great.

[Kim]

Oh, it really is.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

So speaking of. Of first person and the difference there from all of Throne of Glass and Crescent City being Third person and then jumping in to Acotar being first person. I mean, I guess most of it being first person. And again, you touched on this a little bit. But that difference of prep of like, okay, now I have all these different inner monologue. I have external monologue, I have mindspeak. How, you know, do you differentiate those?

[Christina]

The mindspeak was really tough with first person. Yeah, yeah, it just. It sort of just feels like dialing something up and down and going like, okay, I hope it's coming across just like a step above, but then not feeling out loud. But yeah, I think third person for me is definitely my comfy space because. And I, not I narrator friends that feel differently. But what I like a lot about third person is when that's not at play, it feels like I. Me like Lizzie, Elizabeth, I'm telling the story and then I pop into the characters. And I really love that feeling. First person is also great too, because you're just sort of bathing in the, you know, the luxury of it, in the world of it. But it feels like it's much more. It's much more difficult, I think, to just make sure, like, is this coming out clear? And it's sort of like the beginning of the first Acotar book is a great example of. I see that scene as so filmic and with such kind of like, it's very intimate in the sense that it's snowing in the woods and she's like, you know, all of that stuff.

[Anna]

Yes.

[Christina]

And then there's the hope of like, oh, I hope I'm not so intimate that it just sounds flat or sleepy. So that relationship, I think, is a lot harder in first person where I'm pretty comfy now, being like, she walked to the door and she did this and that. The kind of third person way of very naturally flowing into a story. So, yeah, they're very different, I will say. I mean, we'll. We'll see how people react. I had such a blast doing them. And then it was just kind of when we got into Frost and Starlight, into some of those chapters and then into Silver Flames, it felt to me like coming home because yeah, all the. The other series were in that third person. So it was a nice sort of shift.

[Anna]

It is. Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah, they're both. They're both great. They're both hard. It's all.

[Kim]

Exactly. Oh, you do a beautiful job.

[Christina]

Oh, thanks.

[Anna]

So, okay. Are you familiar with the term book hangover?

[Christina]

No.

[Anna]

No. Okay, so let me enlighten you. So book hangover is what we call like over on bookstagram and booktok, like when you finish a series, Throne of Glass, Crescent City, Acotar, Onyx Storm, any of these, like big series, and all of a sudden you have this like, book hangover. You don't know what to do with yourself. You're like in this emotional void.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Anna]

And you don't. You're trying to come out of it. And I was curious if when you finish recording a series or even maybe it's like there's a specific book that you finish and do you ever feel that, like the sense of like, oh, wow.

[Christina]

No, I feel like I have an actual hangover.

[Anna]

It is work, so it might feel that way more.

[Christina]

Yeah, no, I mean, I think that the tough thing about it, like the absolute best feeling of doing these books is when you're in the booth and you get lost in the story. So I'm like, the self consciousness is gone because I'm just thinking about how much I love telling the story and being in it and all of that stuff. That's also the place where I can control what's happening to a certain extent. So for me, with it being work related at the end of the book, it feels like it's almost harder because now I go, I can't change anything. It's done. Like, that's how it came out. And if day eight of the book, I didn't get a lot of sleep and I'm like, I hope the beginning wasn't too slow or I hope, you know, all of those things are. It's in the can. It's. It's past now. Yeah. And then it lives forever. So that. Yeah, so that, that's. I feel like I have that at the end of the book where it's like, oh, I hope that came out great. And also, like, I don't hear it. I don't know. I just have the, the feeling of what it was and sometimes the feeling of what it can be in the booth. You hear later and you're like, that's what it sounded like. So I feel like that's more my relationship where I'm tired. I hope I did a good job. I have to wait a really long time to sort of. I'll go through and spot check just to. It's. I can't listen to the full thing. It's too weird. But I'll just be like, how did that scene come out? Or how did like Reese's intro come out? Like, how are those first lines? So I'll do that. But that Process is so many months away from when I initially, like, on the day was there.

[Kim]

Yeah. Finish.

[Christina]

Yeah. So I think that's more of my relationship and then. But like a fan, I get very much, like, I want to know what's next, you know, all that stuff. So I feel. I feel those things as well. So.

[Kim]

Cool.

[Anna]

Yeah. Okay. So the nature of being a fantasy book podcaster. It's hard sometimes for us to take our podcasting hat off when we read specifically fantasy books. We're in our fifth season, so, like, I write majority of our outlines, so I'll speak for myself. But when I'm reading a fantasy book, like, I'm constantly looking for the tropes, the themes we're going to explore, the Easter eggs. I can't take that podcast hat off. So I'm curious if, when you're reading for enjoyment, not for, you know, recording, do you have a hard time turning off that narrator voice to, like, do you. Are you always coming up with a character voice or is it easy for you to turn off?

[Christina]

No, it's 100% off.

[Anna]

Wow.

[Christina]

There's no. Because it's like, because I am just reading for enjoyment, there's almost a sense of relief of, like, I don't have to do that. I don't have to think about how am I going to balance these eight characters in a scene if I'm not going to put any accents on anyone? I don't have to do that. Yeah. So it's just.

[Kim]

It's just for fun.

[Christina]

It's just relief. Yeah.

[Anna]

I love that for you.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Yeah, I love that.

[Christina]

Nice. Where I'll read something, I'll be like, man, I don't have to figure this out, you know.

[Kim]

That's great that I just get to read this.

[Christina]

That's great.

[Anna]

Yeah, I love that. Okay, that's good. I'm very glad to hear that.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Anna]

Okay. Little follow up, though. So when you. Because you read Acotar, I'm assuming before you knew you were ever going to record these.

[Christina]

Back during Crescent City, I read the first two and Silver Flame. Yeah.

[Anna]

Oh. But I guess my follow up was. Did you. Well, you knew what characters you would be reading for. House of sky and Breath, House of Flame and Shadow, but before you knew that you'd be redoing all of the Acotar books. Was there a character while you were reading that? You were like, oh, man, if I ever got the opportunity, that would be fun to voice?

[Christina]

No. I remember thinking, I mean, what's crazy is that for years I would get Like a message a week, like a DM a week from somebody being like, are you going to do Acotar? Help you do Acotar? I wish you did Acotar. Like that was going on for so many years. And then by the time I read them, I was still reading them in the context of needing to know those characters. So I was still reading them from the sense of like, okay, I'm gonna have to figure out how to do these two worlds at once and all of that. But I remember being like, oh, the first person would be so fun, like if I did get the opportunity. Okay.

[Anna]

Yeah.

[Christina]

It's just such a different relationship. And I remember being like, oh, that'd be so fun and it would be so hard.

[Kim]

Right.

[Anna]

And look at you.

[Christina]

Yeah. Crazy.

[Kim]

And so you read Acotar during Crescent City because I guess you knew about the crossover that was coming.

[Christina]

Yes. And just like so, so no one comes at me. Like, I just had a lot of reading with Throne of Glass and like other books. So it wasn't, I wasn't like, you know, it just took me a minute.

[Anna]

You know, how dare you.

[Christina]

One of those books are like 800 pages, you know.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, no, so, okay, got it. Since Sarah had told you to read Acotar or you if you hadn't yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Christina]

Yes.

[Kim]

So in regards to the new recording of Acotar, so for the 10 year anniversary and the re release and all these things, how long did have you known this is a plan or as this was a surprise to you? I guess you said people have DMed you a lot and said. Right.

[Christina]

But it was something. I never thought it would actually happen. And I never ever mentioned or said anything about those DMs, but I knew for a while. I'm trying to remember exactly when. It's only. I only knew for a while because it took so long to set up in terms of schedule and in terms of like they needed them by the end of January of this year for May. And it just took so long to kind of get all those ducks in a row. So there's probably about a year between the like actual offer and that. But what was funny is that it, it just was an email from my agents that popped up one day and then I immediately was like, ah. And like texted Sarah being like, oh my God. Oh my God. And so it was a surprise and a shock that way. And then we talked about it and all of that. So that was kind of fun. But I knew for a while and it just Took a long time to get, schedule wise, figured out.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Oh, the other, the other thing I'll say is that we were sort of doing them in secret and then that Spotify announcement came out when I was in Wings and Ruin. And so it was like totally different how in one sort of day we went from nobody knew what was happening to like, my phone is blowing up and all of that stuff. So it was just like that was sort of a crazy thing to get probably about halfway through and then do the whole second half of the books, like, with everybody knowing that they're coming was.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Anna]

Oh, yeah. Well, that fandom, that kind of leads into this next question.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Anna]

So recording Acotar, does it feel different? I mean, aside from the first person, third person narration? I wonder if it feels different than you did when you were recording Tog, because when you were recording Tog, it was a brand new series and obviously you were recording as it was being released. But now with Acotar, there is such a set, big fandom.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Anna]

That Tog did have eventually, but you were already so ingrained in the world. So did it feel like a different pressure going into Acotar?

[Christina]

Absolutely, yeah. And it. What I will say is like the SJM fan base is overall such a loving group of people, I think, compared to other fandoms, or at least that's been largely my experience. But yeah, I definitely felt a lot of pressure. And they're so globally beloved. And not only that, like, people have deep relationships with these characters where as soon as it was announced, I was getting DMs from people asking me to do certain things for certain characters, which is an experience I've never had. Wow. And so I was like, oh, I didn't do that, but great. But yeah. And then I think I was. I really wasn't aware at all. During all of Throne of Glass, I think I did an event with Sarah at Symphony Space that I think was Kingdom of Ash. And that was the first time I saw like hundreds of people and like all of this stuff. And it sort of dawned on me that it was a big deal. But I did that whole series, I think, without any of that in my head. And I think I was probably much more liberal in my choices with that. And then with Acotar, just knowing how beloved they are, it was just conversations and choices, like, they're so globally adored that if I put an accent on one of the major characters, like, that's a big choice. So I think part of the navigating of it was Going like, okay, well, I didn't do this, but, like, if I make so and so Australian everyone, like, there are people in Australia that will be like, oh, my God, you know, so it was. It was choices more like that. And also people have such deep relationships that, I mean, specifically with accents, just for the major, Like Night Court, our major people. I felt like if I put an accent on them, then I'm going to spend all my time getting insecure about the accent, thinking about how it's coming out, and I will think less about the character and the story and what's happening in the moment. So there were choices like that that are definitely choices I made because of the fandom, but for the specific purpose of, like, then all I'm going to think about is embodying who each of the characters are without putting choices on top of it. And so that feels like a different approach than Throne of glass, where 1. I was younger as a human and a narrator, and a lot of the way that I thought at certain times I was like, what haven't I done yet? You know, I was thinking in that, like, how could I fill out the world in a brand new way? Which is a good way to think? But it just felt a little different. Where I remember early on, I, like, had the creative idea that all the witches could have, like, Slavic accents, which in hindsight, like, we're all very glad that that choice did not end up getting made. But yeah, so there were just. There's more of that in my head. And also the feeling of I almost. How can I say this? That will make sense. It's like, I almost want to get out of the way of the book. Like, I want to deliver the book to people, but I don't want to put so much on top of each character that I've made it about me, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, that. It felt. It felt like that mostly. And just the. You know, it was hard every day because I would have. I had a lot more of those thoughts than I normally ever do of just the pressure and wanting. Mostly the pressure of wanting to do a good job for the fans and for Sarah. But, yeah, that was really different. I also just want to add that, like, one of the positive things about the pressure is that the nice thing about Acotar is that there are choices of what people can listen to. So, like, as of, you know, before the graphic audios will come out, like, if you didn't like what I did with Throne of Glass, like, there weren't other versions. So what is nice about this is that the original ones will stay up, and then there's the graphic audio. And so it's sort of like, if I'm not your cup of tea, you're not forced to listen to me read you the book. You know, so that. That was something that I would use as like a comforting like, well, they have choices. They don't have to. If they don't like it, they don't.

[Kim]

Have to, but they will love it.

[Christina]

We'll see.

[Kim]

And just to piggyback off that, the Archeron sisters in general are so beloved and deeply important to so many people, but also they have such different voices and different arcs. So how did you approach, I guess, differentiating them also while knowing from the beginning their whole arc?

[Christina]

Yeah, it was really fun. It was also like, I have a sister. And so, so much of that was just fun to kind of feel like it was familiar. But the main way that I thought of them each is their individual. Like, Elaine really begins and like more of that kind of naive or just very sunny kind of place. And then she goes into her, like, after she comes out of the cauldron, she's so numb. And then she becomes a seer. And so there, you know, that arc, I know is coming in the beginning, but you almost have to forget that you know that arc is coming. So you're in the moment of what they sound like. But the basic way through that was they're all sisters, so they're going to sound similar. But I'm a big believer in pitch differentiation, so Feyre is pretty close to my narrating middle ground. And then Elaine, especially at the beginning, I would pitch up a little higher, which I think gives that kind of sweetness. And in the same way that I feel like when she's speaking, I'm sort of seeing through her eyes. So hopefully it's. It's coming out more than just a pitch thing. But then Nesta was in that really kind of guttural, lower place. And so thinking of it like a chord where there's the. The top, the middle, and the bottom, hopefully what will keep them clear when you're listening and you can. You'll be able to tell hopefully which sister is speaking when. But that was really fun to play with. And then just looking at, you know, where they are in their individual arcs and then in relation to each other was really, really fun.

[Kim]

Yeah, definitely. I love that.

[Anna]

Okay, so one of my favorite quotes that I always try to tell myself is comparison is the thief of joy. And I'm curious How you navigate social media and trolls and focus and not let it steal your joy and not let it distract you as you're recording any of these books.

[Christina]

It's really hard. It's probably the hardest part of all of it for me, and especially, I mean, outside of the kind of troll element. What I love about this job and have loved about it is the off camera nature of it. I know I'm talking to you like on camera right now, so just, you know, do with what you will. But it's now so much more of a world of like, let's film the promo for, you know, social media. And I am pretty shy and that feels really tough. That like, it feels like I got to do all of Throne of Glass without any of that kind of stuff.

[Anna]

The fanfare.

[Christina]

The fanfare or just the kind of like, you know, the video of it? Just the, I don't know, the kind of self consciousness that comes with like the comments about what your face looks like as opposed to just your voice, that kind of stuff, which, like, I don't get a lot of. It's just an insecurity that I think about. But the trolls, it's tough. I. I have read it completely blocked where I can't get into it even if I tried, which is healthy because I feel like that's the place where people who think I should be shot go, oh my gosh, I don't mean it that, like, horribly. Yeah, yeah. But like, it's sort of no matter what you do, you're never going to please everybody. So there's an element of that. And what I try to think about in the booth is how would I want to hear the story, how would I want it to be told? To sort of try to get, you know, that stuff. And then with the comparison thing, I've just been really protective of. I haven't heard the graphic audios, the other narrators on the series. And I'm off TikTok. I'm not on any of that. Just Instagram is the only thing I'm on. But anyone that sort of does the, like filming of themselves reading it, I also don't look at any of that. So I don't have the other stuff in my head. And I'm still sort of like blissfully ignorant in a way that makes me feel like then I can retain my own impulses, good or bad, but it's not, you know, me trying to sound like another actor doing something feeling.

[Kim]

Exactly.

[Anna]

I completely understand that.

[Kim]

Agreed.

[Christina]

Yeah, yeah. But the, the trolls thing, I'll say trolls. Truly, this. This fandom, the stuff I get directly, I've almost never gotten a mean message about any of Sarah's books. I've gotten. I'm on another series that it was my first very different kind of fandom, but it was my first experience getting, like, legitimate harassment threat kind of messages.

[Kim]

Oh, my God.

[Christina]

And it sort of was very jarring. And I, like, reported it and I told the publisher and, like, did what you're supposed to do. And it wasn't a ton, but I was. It was the first time I was getting that kind of stuff. And it. Yeah, it made me really grateful that this fandom overall feels like it doesn't operate, you know, in a general sense from that place, and that people are passionate because they love the characters, as opposed to it being almost like a toxic love, if that makes sense, you know?

[Kim]

Yes, 100%.

[Christina]

It's also, you know, once. Once these come out, like, we're still in the phase right now where anything I've gotten on these has been mostly messages of, like, love and excitement. And then when they come out, like, the other. The other side will be operating with, you know, not everybody will like, the choices I've made or that sort of thing. And I know that that piece of it is also coming. And so it's like, I'll be off the Internet and delete everything off my phone for a little bit.

[Kim]

Yes. Just mute words, take a vacay, and on Instagram. Exactly.

[Christina]

Then it's like, I'm also so aware of the scale of it where, like, the books are a huge deal and they're globally beloved, but I don't know how, like, a celebrity handles the level of that kind of stuff. So the scale of it, I always try to remember. And then it's sort of like, you know, if I've seen, like, a mean comment or something like that, or I. I, like, go out to dinner with friends who, like, don't know anything about this and don't, you know, just try to balance out my life in that way.

[Kim]

Yeah, Yeah. I think that's so smart. I love that.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Okay, so are there any songs or, like, a specific genre of music that you associate with any of the people you voiced in the mass verse?

[Christina]

Yeah, I'm not normally like this, but when we did Silver Flames, I was listening to Charlie XCX a lot.

[Kim]

Oh, I love that.

[Christina]

So I would listen to, like, Sympathy is a Knife, I think is a great nesta song.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

And then, like, DOA Cats paint the town red where she's like, I said what I said. Feels like it's kind of nested.

[Anna]

I love that.

[Christina]

Yeah. So I just listened to that when I was. When I would commute to the studio. But then, like, by the time you've, like, made the tea and you've, like, gotten into the booth, all the sort of, like, it'll put me in the world is gone. But it's just fun.

[Kim]

Oh, that's so fun. I love that.

[Christina]

Oh, my gosh.

[Anna]

Okay, so I'm going to try not to get emotional when I ask you this question, because I just. Aelin is, like, deeply special to, you know, all of us. And I read them as they were coming out. I read the series six, seven times in its entirety. And you are the voice of Aylin in my head, Like, I've always listened to it. It's a comfort. Listen. My husband just listened to it because he's in the car with me while we were moving to a new state, and I was like, we're listening to Elizabeth.

[Kim]

Put it on.

[Anna]

So, you know, and we've heard you say that you feel like you kind of grew up with Aen, and I'm curious, you know, what has that meant to you, to, like, grow alongside her?

[Christina]

Yeah, I mean, it's been not only her as a character, but just the sort of larger piece of it. The fact that I can be such a small part of something that is so meaningful to so many people in all of the series, that has just been the greatest joy and sort of makes me feel like I've done something that has affected people in a positive way. Even though I didn't write it, I'm like, a piece of it. And so that has felt like it's given real serious meaning to my life in a. In a lovely way. And then with Aen, it is like this sort of ghost that's kind of with me all the time in a way that I feel like I get messages from people all the time. I got one today that was. There'll be messages of, like, those books got me through really dark times. And every time I get a message, I think, like, me, too. Like, those books also got me through dark times, and I still think of them in certain moments today. And I. I just, like, I really love her as a character so much, and I just, you know, I don't have, like, great, articulate words about it, but it's been incredibly meaningful. And, you know, not to get so, like, one day when I have children, and they're, like, of a certain Age to read those books. Like, there'll be a whole new wave of meaning then, you know, like, I think about those things that, like, they will exist forever, and she will exist forever as a character and just continue to touch people. And that's huge to me. That's. It's gigantic and. Yeah.

[Anna]

Oh, God. Why do you cry? That's.

[Christina]

I know. It's such a. I know.

[Kim]

I was gonna say, are there any AEN quotes that stick with you or quotes that are your favorites?

[Christina]

Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna be careful to try not to say exactly them because I'm like, not. You know, but, you know, I will not be afraid. Like, when. Whenever she says her own name. And I will not be afraid. I. That's something that comes to me in moments in my life still today. And then I. I'm just always gonna love in sort of a big gravitas kind of way that once upon a time, in a kingdom long since burnt ash, they're just. It's so good.

[Anna]

There lived a young princess very much pulled. We pulled our favorite quotes. And air fire.

[Kim]

That.

[Anna]

The last line, you know, when she says for the first time, she, like, claims her name and my name is Aelin Galathinius, and I will not be afraid. And tying it back to Sam, who I can't talk about without sobbing.

[Kim]

It's just not possible.

[Anna]

Not possible.

[Kim]

Oh, gosh.

[Anna]

Okay. So we've talked a lot about, like, Throne of Glass, but I'm curious, and I don't. Maybe you can't say this, but with Acotar or Cece, was there a favorite moment that you had recording?

[Christina]

I mean, like, the whole hike with Nesta and also the Nesta Cassian scene in Frost and Starlight. I really love when they confront each other and he throws the thing into the river.

[Kim]

The present. Yeah.

[Christina]

Yeah. I really loved the action sequence of Azriel rescuing Elain in Wings and Ruin. I loved all the wedding stuff. I loved, like, Rhys's whole introduction. And then, like, the. One of the hard parts about recording Acotar was Tamlin's arc and having to live, like, convince myself and live in the space of, like, he's the one in the first book.

[Anna]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Before, you know, realizing that it's. It's Rhys, so. But, yeah. I mean, there's so many moments it would just kind of be. There's. There's nothing that I was like, oh, can't I have to do that?

[Kim]

Every moment was just amazing.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Anna]

Was there a CC moment in Crescent City?

[Christina]

Yeah. The End of the second book was really exciting, just because I knew that the world would explode. And then I loved Bryce and Danica's relationship so much. I was grieving at the time, too, at the top of the first book, so that felt really meaningful. And I was, like, grieving in a sort of reckless party girl kind of fashion. And so that all of that felt very like. I. It was just. I loved doing that. And it was really fun having the conversations about, like, this is a brand new world. That was really exciting. And then in Flame and Shadow, the crossover was really exciting. So, yeah, every book I. There's such a joy to do. I really look forward to them.

[Kim]

But, yeah, I remember in particular your narration in my head of the moment where Lydia says, they're my sons. You just did that so beautifully of, like, building that up and then that. That line ending the chapter. It was just. It's so good.

[Christina]

Oh, thanks. I mean, I really. It's. It's one of the. I'm, like, physically exhausted at the end of every book because I really do try to put everything into it, where most of the time, especially for Ackhtar, I was in a studio where you couldn't stand. So it's like you're sitting the whole time. And I like to stand and go back and forth in studios where you can. But I really am, like, trying to put as much physicality as I can into it, because then my brain doesn't have to work as hard to think about creating a certain sound. I'm just sort of. If somebody's running and they're moving, like, I'm doing all.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Christina]

So nice that no one can see me. And. Yeah, they're all of that kind of stuff. Like, I leave at the end of these books. Like, I feel like I left it all there. So I'm hopeful. I'm glad that that, like. I remember the section that you were talking about, like, building up to that and then feeling very like.

[Anna]

Yeah, for me, it's the year. I mean, the ticket off in Throne of Glass, but specifically in Crescent City, Book one, the light it up moment at the end is like, I. I don't know why, but that moment in that book, I connected with it. Two women who want each two are there for each other, and not a man, but best friends. And this Light it up. And hearing you say it and, like, go. I can hear it in my head, the build up to her. Hearing Danica's voice and then running to her, it's visceral. So I just.

[Christina]

Oh, thanks. Yeah, that makes me. I remember when we were doing some of that, I kept peaking the microphone because I'd be too loud, and so we'd have to stop and I'd have to, like. Those would be a moment where I didn't, like, mess up and we'd stop, but the engineer would stop me and be like, it's too hot. Like, you've got to bring it down a little bit. Because I would get into it and I'd just be like, actually yelling. And there was a microphone. Exactly. And it was built. The rhythm of that was built so beautifully, too. That was same with the. Take it off. Take it off. All of that gives me.

[Kim]

Oh, take it off. Your delivery of that is really. It's so good. It's beautiful and also awful. Everything. It's all the feelings that we should be feeling in that moment.

[Anna]

Glorin's pov, then Elite's pocket of even.

[Kim]

Yeah, there's a lot going on in that scene.

[Anna]

A lot going on.

[Kim]

Okay, so to wrap it up, we want to ask you your thoughts on this very hot topic in the Throne of Glass fandom about reading order. Do you have a strong. And people really. This is a big deal.

[Anna]

People feel very strongly.

[Kim]

They do. Do you have strong feelings about where Assassin's Blade is placed in the reading order?

[Christina]

I don't. I really don't have strong feelings. And, like, I'm. I'm happy other people do, but, I mean, I think. I think you should start with Throne of Glass. That's my only sort of opinion is I don't think. Even though it is the prequel, I think Throne of Glass, the beginning of it, sets up the story in the way that you should receive the opening of the story, in my opinion. God, people are going to come for me now.

[Anna]

That's also our opinion.

[Kim]

So the world building is in Throne of Glass.

[Christina]

Yeah. But then I think it's sort of like. Like, you know, whenever you want to read it. I mean, definitely before Kingdom of Ash, you'll need those characters. But I think Heir of Fire maybe is, like, around before you get there. And I think I recorded it third. But, yeah, I think it doesn't. I don't have a strong opinion and. But I love that people do.

[Anna]

They feel strongly. Let me tell you.

[Kim]

They sure do. What are your thoughts on the tandem read idea of doing those back and forth?

[Christina]

Sure, whatever. If you read them. Great. Five stars.

[Kim]

Yeah, exactly. Oh, my gosh. Can you imagine if someone somehow edited them together as a tandem? Listen.

[Anna]

Oh, my gosh.

[Christina]

Oh, Crazy. Someone should float that. Yeah.

[Kim]

Yeah, exactly.

[Anna]

That would be insane.

[Christina]

I'm just. I love that people are so passionate about it that they put the time and energy into, like, do this switch and then that. Like. That is so cool.

[Anna]

Yeah, it is, it is, it is. Okay, I think that wraps it up.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Christina]

Amazing.

[Anna]

Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here.

[Christina]

Thank you for having me. This was so lovely. And thank you for fitting it in, like, around my nuts schedule at the moment. I appreciate that so much. So, yeah, this was so fun.

[Anna]

We were so thrilled to have you. And we're so excited to hear the. The new acotar narrations on May 30. We are pre ordered. We're ready to go.

[Christina]

Oh, the. The two things I could say about that because I. I've been getting a lot of DMs since they pushed it back.

[Anna]

Yes, please.

[Christina]

I don't know why. I have no idea why. Why it's been. And then the other thing is I've been getting DMs because the run times are a little shorter and people are like, is it not the full book? And it's totally the full. Like, every book is the full book. I think I just maybe talked a little faster or that I speed up for action sequences or something, but, like, it's the full books, even though the runtimes are a little different.

[Anna]

So you're not like skipping a chapter?

[Christina]

No, I'm the cut version.

[Kim]

I just made some edits casually, like me, I just decided to cut.

[Anna]

But we're so excited to go hear them.

[Christina]

Yay. Thank you.

[Kim]

Thank you so much, Elizabeth. This was so wonderful.

[Christina]

Awesome. Well, you're both so lovely. So lovely to meet you. You too. Yeah.

[Elizabeth]

Well, friends, that wraps up another episode of Flights of Fantasy Podcast. Don't forget to join our book club community on Instagram and TikTok at flights of Fantasy Podcast, where you can share your thoughts, theories, and favorite moments with us and fellow listeners. We'd love to hear from you. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. Your support helps us spread the magic of Romantasy to even more book lovers. Until next time, keep dreaming Streaming. Keep reading and remember, every good story deserves to take flight.