Mark Reads ‘Young Wizards’ starts in one week!

Hello, friends! In just a week, a brand new project will begin here on Mark Reads to replace by three-and-a-half year journey through Tamora Pierce’s work. I will be reading all ten of the currently-available books in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, and I have some VERY EXCITING news for you about this project.

This is a FIRST in the Mark Reads universe, but the lovely Diane Duane herself has offered up a totally incredible discount for all of the books in the Young Wizards series JUST FOR US. It is LITERALLY FOR US. Meaning DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK OUTSIDE OF THIS COMMUNITY FOR ANY REASON

http://bit.ly/markreadsYW

Please do not ruin this totally amazing thing by being a jerk. We’ve never had an author do something this cool for us, so please respect this community and Diane Duane. While all e-book downloads last for a few days and clicks, it is imperative that you treat this like a privilege. We do not want Diane Duane’s kindness and generosity to be disrespected. If you are not able to afford these books but would still like to give them a try along with the Mark Reads community, feel free to reach out to me, and I will do my best to work something out for you. (My assistant and I can be reached at markreadsandwatches at gmail dot com)

If you’re new to Mark Reads, posts for Young Wizards will alternate with posts with my read of the Discworld series. I post five reviews, one each weekday, meaning that some weeks, there will be two YW reviews, while others will get three. I use a Master Schedule to plot out all reviews on both sites, so you can check that to see when I’ll get to each chapter! Which brings me to my next important point.

We will be using splits occasionally throughout this project.

Normally, chaptered books are treated the same across Mark Reads: I read one chapter, then I review that chapter. Because video recording is now a part of the Mark Reads universe, this has necessitated the splits for chapters that are significantly longer than what I’m comfortable reading in a single sitting. Now, what are these videos I speak of? Well, in order to capture the spirit of my first reading of a chapter, any person can commission any single chapter of this series for me to read to them on camera. You’ll get a nifty dedication at the start of the video, and I will most likely yell at you and blame you for all my problems as a work of fiction destroys me. My videos are all on YouTube currently, and are posted overnight on Sunday morning.

So, how will splits work? Well, the lovely team behind CrossingsCon (WHERE I’LL BE A GUEST THIS SUMMER) have worked out the splits for each book, and they are listed below! On the Master Schedule, you may see “Chapter 1.1” and “Chapter 1.2.” That is how we shall denote all of the chapters split in half so that it’s clear what part I’m covering. Now, a great deal of this series has been claimed by you lovely, lovely people, so what happens if you commissioned a chapter and it’s been split into two parts?

Never fear. Both parts are still yours. If you’ve not purchased a second commission, please do so, but there is NO RUSH on this. You can wait until the day it goes up on YouTube, I promise! This is a new thing, so I didn’t want to spring this on anyone and have them stress out about it. This also means that you don’t have to fight anyone over getting the chapter you always wanted. THOUGH IF YOU WANT TO HOST A CAGE MATCH, I CAN’T STOP YOU.

I’ll have more information about spoilers, ROT13, and A SECRET when the first review goes up in a week. Until then, here are the splits/wordcounts for the series. Feel free to ask me anything if I’ve been confusing!

So You Want To Be A Wizard
Ch 1 Prologue (which is the title of chapter 1, not actually a prologue) – 8079 words
Split after “as if impatient to be read.”
Ch 2 Preliminary Exercises – 8311
Split after “Well, we better put these needles back first.” “Yeah.”
Ch 3 Research and Development- 8456
Split after “That wasn’t an accident…” Kit said. “Let’s go.”
Ch 4 Temporospatial Claudications: Use and Abuse – 10636
Split after “Nope. It’s gone.”
Ch 5 Exocontinual Protocols- 6247
Ch 6 Entropics: Detection and Avoidance – 6659
Ch 7 Contractual Magic: An Introduction – 8923
Split after “the ticking of the rails, was missing.”
Ch 8 Major Wizardries: Termination and Recovery – 11773
Split after “called the trees to battle.”
Ch 9 Timeheart- 2070

Deep Wizardry
Ch 1 Summer Night’s Song – 2030
Ch 2 Wizards’ Song – 4960
Ch 3 A Song of Choice – 4783
Ch 4 Seniors’ Song – 4770
Ch 5 The Blue’s Song – 9478
Split after “keep the Blue waiting.”
Ch 6 Ed’s Song – 4145
Ch 7 A Song of Battles – 5041
Ch 8 Fearsong – 4512
Ch 9 The Gray Lord’s Song – 3644
Ch 10 Truthsong – 6819
Ch 11 Foregathering Song – 9461
Split after “radiance of the water, were the whales.”
Ch 12 The Song of the Twelve – 12376
Split after  “Under whose Mastery would the Stranger fall? . . .”
Ch 13 Heartsong – 1532

High Wizardry
Ch 1 Initialization - 3770
Ch 2 Passwords – 2574
Ch 3 Up and Running – 2775
Ch 4 Escape Key – 3464
Ch 5 Search and Retrieval – 6376
Ch 6 Randomization – 8448
Split after “I’d say it’s mutual….”
Ch 7 Variables – 4398
Ch 8 Pattern Recognition – 3059
Ch 9 Uplink – 2531
Ch 10 Reserved Words – 5123
Ch 11 Fatal Error + ch 12 Save and Exit – 16710
So my ebook of this has ch 11 and 12 combined. The real ch 12 “Save and Exit” is not coded as a separate chapter. So the real 11 and 12 are each 8k-ish (and so split below), as the chapter after is the ch 13 you asked us about. I’ve messaged DD about it, but we haven’t gotten a response, so I would assume the ebooks we bought for you are in a similar state.
Split ch 11 after “a little advice would come in real useful around now…”
Split ch 12 after “Wanna bet?” it said.
Ch 13 Reconfiguration – 3574

A Wizard Abroad
Ch 1 an Sionainn / Shannon – 11199
Split after “the sooner it’ll be September.”
Ch 2 Cill Cumhaid / Kilquade – 8093
Split after “went back to their eating.”
Ch 3 Bri Cualann / Bray – 9249
Split after “She rather hoped Ronan would.”
Ch 4 Ath na Sceire / Enniskerry – 6616
Ch 5 Faoin gCnoc / Under the Hill – 5208
Ch 6 Baile atha Cliath / Dublin – 7512
Split after “Unless someone else can think of something better.”
Ch 7 Sliabh O Cualann / Great Sugarloaf Mountain – 6315
Ch 8 Chearta na Chill Pheadair / Kilpedder Forge – 7219
Split after ““Come have some tea at my aunt’s,” Nita said. Kit groaned.”
Ch 9 Caslean na mBroinn / Caher Matrices / Castle Matrix – 6134
Ch 10 Lughnasas – 4991
Ch 11 ag na Machairi Teithra / The Plains of Tethra – 7738
Split after “among the leading wizards, and battle broke out.”
Ch 12 Tir na nOg – 6218
Also has a glossary of Irish terms at the back.

The Wizard’s Dilemma
Ch 1 Friday Afternoon – 4975
Ch 2 Friday, Early Evening – 4324
Ch 3 Friday Evening – 7494
Split after “up the stairs to Dairine’s room.”
Ch 4 Friday Night – 4206
Ch 5 Saturday Morning and Afternoon – 9835
Split after “because it just hurts too much.”
Ch 6 Saturday Afternoon and Evening – 2956
Ch 7 Saturday Evening – 3952
Ch 8 Sunday Morning – 6578
Ch 9 Sunday Afternoon and Evening – 2387
Ch 10 Monday Morning and Afternoon – 2729
Ch 11 Monday Night, Tuesday Morning – 5206
Ch 12 Tuesday Morning and Afternoon – 3889
Ch 13 Tuesday Evening – 4148
Ch 14 Late Tuesday Evening – 4805
Ch 15 Late Tuesday Night, Wednesday Morning – 7461
Split after “the tiny hissing feel of the playroom space’s own kernel.”
Ch 16 Wednesday – 7390
Split after “Ready?” Pralaya said, dropping his own transit circle to the ground. “Ready,” Nita said. They vanished.
Ch 17 Thursday – 2419
Ch 18 Friday Morning – 5935
Ch 19 Friday Afternoon – 10858
Split after “Let’s just find out.”
Ch 20 Dawn – 1834

A Wizard Alone
Ch 1 Consultations – 7325
Split after “Don’t order anything!”
Ch 2 Investigations – 6792
Ch 3 Pursuits – 7886
Split after “I think so. He’s there somewhere. Come on.”
Ch 4 Conversations – 11238
Split after “finished his toast, and then left for school.”
Ch 5 Quandaries – 11881
Split after  “and got his parka off the hook.”
Ch 6 Elucidations – 7653
Split after “I’ll have to catch him in the morning, she thought. But bed first.”
Ch 7 Complications – 7863
Split after “Kit lay there for a long time, staring at the wall.”
Ch 8 Entrapments – 7605
Split after “the black creature beside him stepped through, too.”
Ch 9 Reconstructions – 13823
Split after  “Let’s think about what to do.”
Ch 10 Liberations – 3276

Wizard’s Holiday — this has a lot of merged chapters in my version as well; as long as you are proceeding from wherever you left off on to the next page / using bookmarks, you should have no trouble.
Ch 1 That Getaway Urge – 5690 (merged with Time fix, but start with the dedication.)
Ch 2 Dealing with Unforeseen Circumstances – 6420
Ch 3 Planning Your Trip – 7837
Split after “Just hurry up,” Kit said. “I need some moral support!”
Ch 4 On the Road – 9250
Split after “with just the slightest pop! of displaced aire, they vanished much more thoroughly.”
Ch 5 Arrivals – 10217 (merged with ch 4)
Split after  “Sure,” Dairine said. “I’ll show you.”
Ch 6 Customs and Other Formalities – 6334
Ch 7 Local Excursions – 7559
Split after “she snorted and sat down herself.”
Ch 8 Taking in the Sights – 7521
Split after “then popped them loose into another place entirely.”
Ch 9 Disruption of Services – 11733
Split after “But, eventually, Nita did sleep.”
Ch 10 Travel-Related Stress – 7898
Split after “If they’ll let us, Ponch said.”
Ch 11 Subversive Factions – 9873 (merged with ch 10)
Split after “turned to follow Nita toward the entry.”
Ch 12 Areas to Avoid – 4417
Ch 13 Flashpoints – 6329 (merged with ch 14)
Ch 14 Interim Destinations – 4444
Epilogue – 1514

Wizards At War
Ch 1 Situational Awareness – 6773
Ch 2 Force Support – 6770
Ch 3 Initial Reconnaissance – 8481
Split after “get things into their normal comfortable mess.”
Ch 4 Engagement – 6015
Ch 5 Target of Opportunity – 7552
Split after “You would not be alone,” Roshaun said.
Ch 6 Collateral Damage – 3184
Ch 7 High-Value Target – 9780
Split after “Fine, we’ll rot together.”
Ch 8 Active Defense – 11638
Split after  “Bye-bye.”
Ch 9 Operational Pause – 8472
Split after “I’ll check your spelling,” Filif said, going after him.
Ch 10 Friendly Fire – 9790
Split after “no way to say goodbye…”
Ch 11 Acceptable Losses – 10523
Split after  “many entrances to the heart of the hive.”
Ch 12 Regime Change – 8419
Split after “Get me up as soon as anything starts to happen. ‘Night, guys.”
Ch 13 Strategic Withdrawal – 23376
Split after  ”Knew I could count on you,” she said, and headed that way.
and again after  “Everybody into the mochteroofs!” Filif said.
and again after “against me than that. Now come here.”
Ch 14 Catastrophic Success – 11010
Split after  “Start with the knot, end with the knot… now!”
Ch 15 Armistice – 7178
Split after “and hang in there. It’s all you can do.”

A Wizard of Mars
Ch 1 Terra Cognita – 5249
Ch 2 Gili Motang – 14530
Split after “Come on,” she said, getting up. “I need to change.”
and again after “but the deepest possible blue—”
Ch 3 Syrtis Major – 6845
Ch 4 Wellakh – 8125
Split after “above the floor, was a sun.”
Ch 5 NIli Patera – 10253
Split after “where one of the satellites orbiting Mars could see it.”
Ch 6 Arsia Mons – 10460
Split after “She stepped through the circle.”
Ch 7 Stokes – 6660
Ch 8 Shamask-Eilith – 8846
Split after “her expression was grim. “‘Ours.’””
Ch 9 Gusev – 10044
Split after “frozen in place.”
Ch 10 Burroughs – 6353
Ch 11 Olympus Mons – 9970
Split after “followed Helena upstairs.”
Ch 12 Tharsis Montes – 11592
Split after “Let’s go,” he said.”
Ch 13 Oceanidum Mons – 14379
Split after “out of the room, and shut the door.”
and again after “the closet went dark behind him.”
Ch 14 Aurorae Chaos – 9835
Split after “the voice said. “It’s started…””
Ch 15 Meridiani Planum – 5045
Ch 16 Elysium – 4899

Interim Errantry
Not On My Patch: a Young Wizards Hallowe’en Story
Part I: Beginning to “…turn out to be true.”
Part II: “The weather at least…” to “Hit it—”
Part III: “Things around them went…” to end
How Lovely Are Thy Branches: A Young Wizards Christmas
Chapter 1: We Need A Little Christmas
Part 1: Beginning to “…scooted after her.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 2: Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful
Chapter 3: O Tannenbaum
Part 1: Beginning to “…Nita’s turn to get nervous.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 4: Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella
Part 1: Beginning to “…who made us what we are…”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 5: In The Bleak Midwinter
Chapter 6: I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Lifeboats
Chapter 1 JD 2455600.4380: Start with “Rubrics”
Chapter 2 Sol III: 2/2/2011
Part 1: Through “Say an hour or so.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 3 Rirhath B / the Crossings
Part 1: Through “…things went quiet.”
Part 2: Through “…ambling down that way.”
Part 3: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 4: 11848 Cephei IV / Tevaral
Part 1: Through “and the force field vanished.”
Part 2: Through “had to do was make it true.”
Part 3: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 5: Thursday
Part 1: Through “trotted off to the pad, hopped up onto it, and vanished.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 6: Friday
Part 1: Through “…food before we’re done…”
Part 2: Through “…crumbs spraying everywhere.”
Part 3: Through “…now be grabbing for.”
Part 4: Through “…a bit more peaceful.”
Part 5: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 7: Saturday
Part 1: Through “in us instead of a bank.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 8: Sunday
Part 1: Through “…a voice spoke. ‘Cracker?'”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 9: Monday
Chapter 10: Tuesday
Chapter 11: Wednesday
Chapter 12: February 14, 2011: Tevaral
Chapter 13: February 14, 2011: Earth

Games Wizards Play
Epigraphs + Time Fix; Chapter 1, Hipparchus **EXTRA TIME**
Chapter 2, Coney Island **EXTRA TIME**
Chapter 3, Wellakh / Hempstead
Part 1: Through “…the dim brown light of a garden shed.” (not a natural break)
Part 2: To chapter’s end
Chapter 4, Antarctica / Knox Coast
Part 1: Through “…stepped into the center of the group.” (not a natural break)
Part 2: To chapter’s end
Chapter 5, San Francisco
Part 1: Through “…a passing butterfly.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 6, Mumbai
Part 1: Through “…headed up the stairs.” (not a natural break)
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 7, Hempstead / Elsewhere
Part 1: Through “How many judges?”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 8, Hempstead / Mumbai
Part 1: Through “…hear you present again…”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 9, Manhattan: Javits Center
Part 1: Through “…started walking faster.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 10, Javits Center: The Cull
Part 1: Through “…to him made Dairine grin.” (not a natural break)
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 11, New York: The Losers’ Party
Part 1: Through “Let’s see…”
Part 2: Through “…take some explaining…”
Part 3: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 12, Mumbai / Shanghai / Elsewhere
Part 1: Through “…Penn without a glance.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 13, Canberra
Part 1: Through “…it’ll be the last…” (not a natural break)
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 14, Canberra: The Post-Semis Mixer
Part 1: Through “Kit stopped breathing.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 15, Antarctica and Daedalus
Part 1: Through “And she vanished.”
Part 2: To chapter’s end.
Chapter 16, Sol IIIa, Sol, Sol III
Part 1: Through “…smile on her face.”
Part 2: : To chapter’s end.

Interim Erranty 2: On Ordeal
Roshaun – Prologue
Roshaun – Chapter 1, Part I — Beginning of chapter to “Let us by all means go in.”
Roshaun – Chapter 1, Part II — “Despite his attempt…” to “…the city house faded away.”
Roshaun – Chapter 1, Part III — “It was just one tall…” to end of chapter.
Roshaun – Chapter 2, Part I — Beginning to “Another!”
Roshaun – Chapter 2, Part II — “Rho gasped and blinked…” to “…work with Thahit alone.”
Ronan – Chapter 2, Part III — “He shrugged.” to end of chapter.
Roshaun – Chapter 3, Part 1 — Beginning to “What happened, though?” **Not a natural page break.**
Roshaun – Chapter 3, Part II — “The desire not to discuss…” through “As regards the safe space: enable.”
Roshaun – Chapter 3, Part III — “Nothing visible happened around him…” through “for Rho to go home.”
Roshaun – Chapter 3, Part IV / Epilogue — “He reappeared…” through end of Epilogue
Mamvish – Prelude / Chapter 1, Part I — Beginning of prelude to “So you’d better look out!”
Mamvish – Chapter 1, Part II — “Names take longer…” to end of chapter.
Mamvish – Chapter 2, Part I — Beginning of chapter to “…a waste of her time.”
Mamvish – Chapter 2, Part II — “So on Vish went…” to end of chapter.
Mamvish – Chapter 3, Part I — Beginning of chapter to “Running,” Vish said.
Mamvish – Chapter 3, Part II — And so they did:” to end of story.
Ronan – Prelude / Chapter 1, Part I — Beginning of prelude to “…it’ll rain just to spite us.”
Ronan – Chapter 1, Part II — “From someplace else…” to “have made it in here as yet…” **Not a natural page break**
Ronan – Chapter 1, Part III — “Maurice was game” to end of chapter.
Ronan – Chapter 2, Part I — Beginning of chapter to “He blinked again.”
Ronan – Chapter 2, Part II — “He realized his eyes were closed…” to “everything empty and still and bright…” **Not a natural page break.**
Ronan – Chapter 2, Part III — “He shrugged.” to end of chapter.
Ronan – Chapter 3, Part I — Beginning of chapter to “…So best get on with it, then.” **Not a natural page break**
Ronan – Chapter 3, Part II — “There in the center of town…” to “…if they’re dead!”
Ronan – Chapter 3, Part III — “The wind really started to scream…” to end of chapter.
Ronan – Chapter 4, Part I — Opening of chapter to “…his clenched fists empty.”
Ronan – Chapter 4, Part II — “But that outcome…” to end of chapter.”
Ronan – Chapter 5

The Book of Night With Moon
Chapter 1, Part I
From opening to “…long ago, when things were simpler.”
Chapter 1, Part II
From, “Eight feet above the ground…” to “…the man with the gun stood staring upwards.”
Chapter 1, Part III
To end of chapter.
Chapter 2
Book of Night With Moon: Chapter 3
Book of Night With Moon: Chapter 4, Part I
Beginning of chapter to, “…heading west for Central Park.”
Book of Night With Moon: Chapter 4, Part II
From “She was surprised…” through “Let’s dull his claws a little, shall we?”
Chapter 4, Part III
From “The run to Grand Central…” to “Let’s see what’s so hot down here.”
Chapter 4, Part IV
From “One thing, anyway,” Urruah said, to chapter’s end.
Chapter 5, Part I
From chapter’s opening to “But go prepared.”
Chapter 5, Part II
From “They thought about it for a while,” to “‘…without being anywhere near another player’s stance.”
Chapter 5, Part III
From “As they went, Rhiow said to Saash,” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 6, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “…tempted to start stealing sandwiches out of ehhif hands…”
Chapter 6, Part II
From, “Sidled, they slipped in…” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 7, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “She led them down into the dark.”
Chapter 7, Part II
From, “She remembered the way well…” to, “At least they can sting you only once.”
Chapter 7, Part III
From “Saash was elbow-deep in the catenary now,” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 8, Part I
From opening of chapter to, “He would not look at her.”
Chapter 8, Part II
From “He sees something, Rhiow thought,” to, “…as soon as I get topside again.”
Chapter 8, Part III
From, “‘Luck,’ Rhiow said…” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 9, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “Go well.”
Chapter 9, Part II
From, “When she got in…” to, “Rhiow looked at Arhu in amazement.”
Chapter 9, Part III
From, “He grinned at her,” to “‘It’s coming,’ Arhu said.”
Chapter 9, Part IV
From “‘What?’ Rhiow hissed…” to chapter’s end.
MR: Chapter 10, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “Now, though, she knew much better.”
Chapter 10, Part II
From, “Rhiow looked over the map…” to “…and fell out of sight.”
Chapter 10, Part III
From, “Arhu! No, it’s all right…” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 11
MR: Chapter 12, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “…uncertain in his own way as Arhu had been.”
Chapter 12, Part II
From “But if we don’t get him to cooperate…” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 13, Part I
From chapter’s opening to, “He would probably have ignored me anyway. Urruah!!”
Chapter 13, Part II
From “Straight out over the deadly River…,” to “I will command!”
Chapter 13, Part III
From, “Instantly the huge power…” to chapter’s end.
Chapter 14