Mark Reads ‘Wolf Speaker’: Chapter 6

In the sixth chapter of Wolf-Speaker, YOU ARE KIDDING ME. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Wolf-Speaker.

Chapter Six: Rebellion

NO, I AM SO DONE. I AM JUST SO DONE.

• I’ve had the privilege of enjoying pretty much everything I’ve read for Mark Reads. I want to believe that this site has made me widen my tastes. I go into books wanting to like them instead o looking to pick apart everything ever. I mean, I still do that, but I really want to be in more fandoms, have more books to recommend others, and to enjoy myself.
• I’m saying that because I need to impart on you how truly significant this is: I love this series on a level that’s like… it’s pathetic, and I don’t care. The Immortals is making me life WORTH LIVING. This is some His Dark Materials type shit, and if you followed along with me while I read that PERFECT TRILOGY, you know how much that series meant to me. I am pretty sure this quartet might catch up to that. MIGHT.
• My god, the potential for where this story can go at this point is incredible. HELP ME.
• So, Daine wakes up to her human self! She’s fine! She is not a bat!
• She also wakes up to Maura being an awesome human being. Here’s the thing: I appreciate the realistic way in which Pierce writes her characters. They have these full, vibrant personalities. All of them are flawed in some way, and they don’t always get along perfectly. But what I enjoy the most is the fact that she builds up these friendships, especially between women, whereas another fantasy author would probably pit them against one another ~for drama.~ I am all here for this. I love it, I don’t care if she repeats it 40 times in a row for all her books, I AM HERE FOR THIS.
• Tkaa can speak English now. He continues to amaze me. And he keeps giving unbelievable advice over and over again.
• I honestly expected that the giant bell sound was coming from a new type of immortal. I am pleased that it was actually Numair.
• OH GOD, NUMAIR IS BACK FUCK YES.
• Like, where is the fandom for Quickmunch? Where is it? This is all I want from life.
• I know I shouldn’t even ask, but do people ship like… the animals? Like is there a Quickmunch/Eatsmoths ship fandom? Think about that beautiful romance.
• I can’t believe I just typed all that. Sigh.
• Anyway, back to Quickmunch. Like, this is just too much for me to handle, y’all. I am enamored with the idea of joining with another animal. I like that it’s not just Daine taking over the animal’s mind. She is sharing it with them, and they have conversations. It’s how Daine is able to communicate (albeit in a limited way) with Numair. I love it.
• This chapter also features (AMONG LIKE 500 OTHER THINGS) the next step in Daine’s need to become tolerant. I’ll admit that even I was shocked when one of the Stormwings spoke to Maura as if they were friends. Everything I’ve seen from them was vile and gross, and Pierce laid that prejudice out for me to feel bad about it. Holy shit, LORD RIKASH.
• “You come from a race that spends more time murdering your own kind than do all the immortals put together, yet you insist you are better than us.” Does anyone have a bandage for the sick burn this Stormwing just dropped?
• No, seriously, how fucking great is this? This book is showing us that even if we think someone is evil, perhaps we’re just unable to perceive someone opposed to us as anything but that. Are we being unfair or is that indeed the reality of their nature? In this case, Daine’s now seen evidence that a group of Stormwings aren’t evil.
• I’d be interested to see more of this. Daine hasn’t let go of the rage she feels just yet, as evidenced by her sending the birds after the Stormwings. But Maura of all people might be the one to convince her otherwise.
• “I can’t believe you like them,” she muttered. Maura glared at her. “Well, I can’t believe you like wolves.” With every sentence she speaks, I fall a little bit more in love with Maura, y’all.
• “Then you’d better tell him Belden and Yolane are going to rebel against the king, and soon.”
• Wha
• what
• what
• DID YOU
• DID YOU JUST CASUALLY REVEAL THAT DUNLATH IS GOING TO START A GODDAMN REBELLION
• The brilliance of this from the point of view of a reader is that it helps to explain so much of what happened in this book and Wild Magic while painting a brand new path to the future. This is going to be about fighting a rebellious fief, isn’t it? Certainly, King Jonathan will go after these people, right?
• Anyway, Maura is the surprising source of so much information about what Yolane, Belden, and Tristan are planning. It does give a reason for why they’d breach the Divine Realms. Why not get immortals on their side when they rebel against the crown? But it didn’t answer what these humans were doing specifically in the Long Lake Valley. What were they mining?
• Can we talk about the fact that Numair was turned to stone by Tkaa, broke out of it, and then immediately asked Tkaa to do it again so he could see if he could break out of the stone once more? Only him, y’all. ONLY HE WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
• Tkaa thanked Daine for giving him an interesting experience. My heart swelled two more sizes because of this.
• I think the words of power are way more significant than I previously thought they were. Someone is going to have to use them, which means something awful is going to happen somewhere else. I’m scared.
• Oh god, Daine can’t tell Numair what’s happening to her body when she joins with another animal! That being said, this chapter also suggests that Daine has far more power over this strange metamorphosis than I thought. Is it possible for her to become any animal and then change back to a human? Is she just unaware of how to do this? Perhaps Numair doesn’t actually know that this is a side effect. HMMMM.
• The end of this chapter is great for a few reasons. First of all, I’m really satisfied with the way Maura is written. She’s been indoctrinated with so many negative and misinformed thoughts that it’s going to take some time to unpack this stuff. But throughout all this, she still has a good heart within her, and Daine can see that. I think they’ll both help one another shed their own respective prejudices and become better people.
• But the end of chapter six is also fantastic because Tkaa inadvertently reveals just what the Dunlath people are so desperate to mine from the ground in the Long Lake Valley: black opals. This is so much more serious than I ever thought it was, y’all.

I’m so excited to see how this all comes together.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Mark Links Stuff

– I am going on tour in 2013! There are 27 tour dates spread across the eastern half of North America. Please help suggest venues, offer up a place to crash, and RSVP for dates near you!
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- You can, however, commission me to read bad fic/fiction on ANY Mark Does Stuff Tour date. You can claim a specific date to have a live reading right here.