In the second chapter of Wizards at War, all of the young wizards learn what’s at stake. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Young Wizards.
It’s like Diane Duane set up this whole series to lead up to this moment so that the title of it would hit hardest. YOUNG WIZARDS WILL BE THE ONLY ONES AROUND TO SAVE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, Y’ALL. I love this! I love this idea! I love how Duane has pulled the rug out from under me in just two chapters. Where do I even start? Honestly, I just got react to most of this.
“It’s the Lone Power again, isn’t it?” Dairine said.
“That’d be an easy first assumption,” said Tom. “But early indications are that something different from the Lone One’s usual pattern of attack is going on. We’re continuing to investigate…”
See, that was my initial thought, too. Who else could it be? Maybe the Lone One is just changing up their attack… but for what? Why?
“So here’s the neighborhood,” Tom said.
THIS LINE IS STILL SO FUNNY TO ME. Tom just pulled off a wizardry that is probably pretty simple, yet was incredible watch unfold in the text. IT’S A MAP OF THE ENTIRE LOCAL GROUP. The room went dark! It’s like they’re all in space itself! (Well, they technically are, but you get what I mean.) And after all this, Tom just casually remarks, “So here’s the neighborhood,” and this will never not be hilarious.
“…over by the small irregular galaxy known on Earth as GR8.”
That’s where I’m from, just FYI.
Anyway, one of the things Duane conveys expertly here is the scope of time. She’s got a tall task before her: in a relatively short amount of space, she’s got to convince the reader that the world is going to end in a few short weeks. Maybe a couple months at most! I’d say she succeeded because I felt so numb after reading this. It’s happening, y’all. The adult wizards failed at their intervention and have actually caused the dark matter incursion to spread faster. To me, that’s the one thing here that’s most upsetting. While the adult wizards have always existed on the fringes of the story, they were still there. The younger wizards didn’t always rely on them, but here, we discover that they lost. Not only did they fail, but their powers are rapidly disappearing, leaving only young wizards still in their latency behind.
They’re alone. And that’s frightening!
“Now, after all that,” he said, “believe it or not, we have some good news for you. For the duration – for as long as there is a duration – as far as wizardry goes, the lid is off.”
There is a silver lining in all of this, though. Dairine’s grounding has been lifted; the power normally allocated to the senior wizards is being spread to the young wizards; and as Tom notes here, the normal rules are gone. These wizards will all be granted a freedom they’ve never had before. So as intimidating as this conflict is, I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO. But above all, there’s another twist to this: the network of young wizards that will all work together to stop this incursion. So maybe I’m wrong in saying that they’re alone; they have each other. Who else will the reach out to? Will we see wizards from previous books at work here? CAN DARRYL BE ONE OF THEM, I MISS HIM.
As it stands, Filif and Sker’ret are staying. (WHAT’S GOING ON WITH SKER’RET’S FAMILY, Y’ALL.) I suspect that Roshaun will, too, once he figures out things at home. Spot… look, Spot, what are you doing.
“Three true things await discovery,” Spot said.
“Darkness overspreading,
A commorancy underground:
And the Moon is no dream –”
I understood two of those; the first line is a reference to the dark matter, and the third is aimed at Nita’s dream about the Moon she had in the last chapter. But what is a “commorancy”???
Anyway, so Roshaun and Dairine will most likely travel to the silicon-based planet where Dairine created a new lifeform in order to gain allies. Right??? That makes a lot of sense, and who wouldn’t want an entire world that’s one giant supercomputer on their side? I’m hoping that both Kit and Nita reach out to lots of the wizards from previous books to see who is available to help. As dire and horrible as this situation is, the sheer potential that Duane has dropped in our laps is infectious. I cannot wait to read more.
I am thrilled to confirm that I will be a Guest at CrossingsCon 2017! Badges are now available, so COME HANG OUT WITH ME THIS SUMMER.
https://youtu.be/v_0tajLTa2s
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