Mark Predicts ‘The Realms of the Gods’ / Mark Reads ‘The Hidden Girl’

Oh my god, LET’S DO THIS. First, let me terribly predict the last book in The Immortals quartet, and we’ll follow that with a video/review of the short story “The Hidden Girl.” Basically, it’s a post about being unprepared!

OH GOD. Y’all, how do I do this? HOW IS THERE A FOURTH BOOK?

Let’s deal with my predictions for Emperor Mage first.

• Daine will find a way to enter the Divine Realms. Yes? Please? OH. MY. GOD. Yeah, she can do it BY DYING. HELP. 1/1
• The Emperor Mage is Emperor Ozorne. This was pretty easy! 2/2
• That means most of this book will take place in Carthak! Neat! 3/3
• We will see Riskah in this book! YES. 4/4
• Numair will travel with Daine. oh my god I AM ON FIRE. 5/5
• So will Alanna! BLESS YOU, LIONESS. 6/6
• Kitten will grow a lot, and she’ll learn to use her fire. MEH? Not really. But she rules! 6/7
• I spaced out for 10 minutes while writing this and listening to Tegan and Sara because WHAT ELSE DO I HAVE TO GO ON? NOTHING.
• Oooh, Onua will be back in the narrative! YES! I miss her. nope. 🙁 🙁 6/8
• Daine will become FIVE separate animals during Emperor Mage. WAY MORE THAN THIS, OH GOD. Especially if you count her turning certain parts of her body into animals. 6/9
• I am so painfully unprepared that it’s not even funny anymore. Actually, I did pretty well with these, and it did not help at all. -1,000/10

Hey, so, not so bad! Let me show you how terribly I’m going to do with The Realms of the Gods.

• Slavery will be ended in Carthak.
• Daine will find out more about her father and her mother.
• Something happens in the Divine Realms?
• THERE AREN’T ANY OTHER PLOTS THAT WEREN’T RESOLVED IN THE LAST BOOK?
• HOW IS THERE ANOTHER BOOK?
• WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME, TAMORA PIERCE?
• HAVE YOU NO MERCY?
• Wait, I thought of something: Kitten will breathe fire. Look, it’s not going to happen, but let me at least try to predict a thing.
• No, you don’t get it, this post has been haunting me for days. I can’t come up with anything else to predict!!! I DON’T GET THIS. I know y’all are super entertained by this, but I swear, I CAN’T THINK OF A PREDICTION.
• Wait, Onua will show up again! PLEASE?
• WHERE IS CORAM AND RISPAH? Can they show up to?
• I’m just stalling at this point. I give up. I give up.

h e l p

So, let’s talk about “The Hidden Girl”!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

• GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT SO GREAT
• So, at the end of my video for “Elder Brother,” I mentioned that there was an unfortunate implication regarding veiled women once you took the story out of the context of itself, and I wanted to see if Tammy could write from the point of view of a veiled woman in a way that showed that some women choose to be veiled, that it is empowering and uplifting and meaningful to them.
• AND LITERALLY HERE IT IS. AND OH MY GOD, Teky’s brilliant smackdown of Fadala’s horrific analogy is great. Veils are not chains, and they’re not slavery. The issue here – and one that Teky and her father work hard to dismantle – has nothing to do with veils and more to do with systemic misogyny. That’s precisely what they want to undo: the very nature of the society these people live in that values and honors men, listens to the voices, and appreciates their opinions as always greater than that of women. And this story pulls it off extremely well in this context.
• That’s not to suggest that this isn’t problematic, and I would of course defer to anyone who actual wears a veil or a hijab over anyone else. But I was so surprised that Tammy took this story in the direction it went!
• And look, it’s no secret I’m an atheist, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate and be fascinated with religious customs. I love this world that Pierce has built, especially since there is no concept of atheism at all. It’s not a matter of believing or not believing because the gods are definitely there. All of them are! So, it’s fun navigating this world where there are many gods, they compete for attention, they are affected by a lack of worship, and they can still be misinterpreted.
• My god, this story was great. I WOULD READ A WHOLE BOOK WITH TEKY.

We start The Realms of the Gods on Monday!

Mark Links Stuff

– I am now on tour!!! I have 26 events spread out across the eastern HALF of the U.S. and Canada. They are all free and all-ages. Come see speak about the Mark Does Stuff Universe and read terrible fanfiction live!
- Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now published and available for purchase! It’s available in ebook AND physical book format, and you can also get a discount for buying the ENTIRE SET of digital books: $25 for 7 BOOKS!!!
- Commissions are still open while I am on tour! There may be a day or two delay to get them done, but I am accepting them graciously to help fund my tour!