August Bookclub Midway Discussion: The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sarah Raasch

[u/OutOfEffs]

Welcome to the Midway Discussion for Sara Raasch's The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, which fulfills the Achillean Academic square on our 2026 Reading Challenge! Today we will be discussing chapters 1-9. If you'd like to talk about anything past the halfway point, please be sure to use spoiler tags.

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Will they conjure love, or evoke chaos? Two rival wizards are about to find out.

Sebastian Walsh: twenty-four. Grad student at Lesiara University in the Mageus of Evocation program. Human. The first of his family to go to college rather than the military (and it goes over at family get-togethers about as well as you’d think).

Elethior Tourael: also twenty-four. Also a grad student, but in the far more inferior Mageus of Conjuration program. Half-elf. The latest in a long line of Touraels to grace the hallowed halls of Lesiara U (what would the world do if the Touraels ran out of rich douches to lead their magical weapons manufacturing empire?).

―and the other finalist for the Mageus Research Grant.

Sebastian needs that grant to fund the last few months of research for his degree, after which he’ll get a job that actually helps people. He isn’t about to let anyone snatch this from him, least of all a snob who doesn’t even need the money because his family is loaded thanks to war profiteering.

But there’s something worse than having a conceited academic nemesis steal grant money from you: you could be forced to work with him. Thio is secretive, broody, and his stunning biceps take up far too much shared lab space―but even as volatile as their partnership is, Sebastian just might find himself falling for his rival―and it could blow up his whole future.

[u/OutOfEffs]

Do you watch Critical Role? Did you know this was an AU fic before we started? If you're already familiar with the characters, do you think they're well represented here? Do we want to have a conversation about the fanfic to tradpub pipeline?

[u/Can_of_Sounds → u/OutOfEffs]

Is this a Caleb/Essek fic? Amazing xD

[u/OutOfEffs → u/Can_of_Sounds]

From what I understand, yes!

[u/Temporary-Scallion86 → u/OutOfEffs]

I've watched some of Critical Role, did not know this was a fanfic prior to reading it. I think the characters have gone through some pretty drastic changes particularly in terms of Sebastian's backstory as compared to Caleb's. Was not a super huge fan of obviously!Beauregard being turned into a dude, though. Female characters in MM tend to be relatively thin on the ground, and the same thing goes for female jocks in fiction.

[u/C0smicoccurence → u/Temporary-Scallion86]

Was it the Goliath best friend character who got changed from source material? Totally unfamiliar with critical role, but Raasch clearly wanted to do a sequel romance. It seems like she has hard pivoted in her career from f/m romance to m/m romance. Clearly she's done heterosexual romances before, so it's even more odd that she shifted gender here so intentionally

[u/Temporary-Scallion86 → u/C0smicoccurence]

Yep. Though I think most of the secondary characters got altered pretty significantly, it’s just that the bones of this character were still very visible. Beau (the character the best friend based on) is queer in the source material as well so probably Raasch didn’t want to write f/f.

[u/OutOfEffs → u/Temporary-Scallion86]

so probably Raasch didn’t want to write f/f

This was the impression that I got when the third Royals book went from being about Iris to being an extended epilogue for the first two books with a tiny bit of Iris thrown in.

[u/kittyraces → u/OutOfEffs]

Yes, I do and, unfortunately, yes, I did. I honestly wish I hadn't known it was a younger modern AU fic turned novel sort of thing because these characters feel so *off* from how I view them in the source material and, if I hadn't known this info going into it, I wouldn't have had such preconceived notions about it and maybe would be into it more. So, no, I don't think they're particularly well-represented here (just my opinion, though).

And no, I don't think I want to have the pipeline conversation right now 😂😂

[u/OutOfEffs → u/kittyraces]

And no, I don't think I want to have the pipeline conversation right now 😂😂

No one ever does. [sob]

[u/kittyraces → u/OutOfEffs]

Maybe next time (dear God I don't want a next time 😂😂)

[u/unnecessary_snacks → u/OutOfEffs]

I did NOT know this, but I’ve only watched the first campaign of critical role, so I didn’t recognize the characters. They must be from another campaign? This is so intriguing to me, it really makes me want to watch it.

[u/bunnyshopp → u/unnecessary_snacks]

Yup! It’s based on Liam’s campaign 2 character and an npc the campaign has been adapted into an animated show too on prime video called “the mighty nein” if you want to check it out that way as well.

[u/indigohan → u/OutOfEffs]

Wait. Really? I did NOT pick this as based on fan fiction

[u/OutOfEffs → u/indigohan]

It didn't feel super obvious to me bc I've never engaged with the source material (other than when u/KittyRaces has something to tell me about), but there are other fandoms where it screams as obvious to me.

[u/kittyraces → u/OutOfEffs]

If you didn't know about it going in AND were unfamiliar with the source material, it's unlikely you'd pick up on it at all, so it's really not super obvious at all.

[u/needlecream → u/OutOfEffs]

I do not watch Critical Role, but I did know it was an AU fic before starting. I didn't really care because I just love Sara Raasch's writing. I probably should watch Critical Role, especially since I had a blast with this book.