In the second half of the fifteenth chapter of Games Wizards Play, the finals begin. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Young Wizards.Â
Trigger Warning: For discussion of abuse
I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING BUT I THINK IT MIGHT HAVE TO DO WITH ROSHAUN BUT I DON’T WANT TO GET MY HOPES UP IN CASE I AM WRONG. I just… what the hell is coming? What is this? What is it about Penn’s spell that seems to unlock this nightmare?
I don’t know yet, and I’m hoping this final chapter (how is there only one left!!!!!!) will wrap this up for me that feels satisfactory. I mean… there’s a lot left to resolve, right? Not just the Invitational, but Kit and Nita’s relationship, Penn’s and Mehrnaz’s futures, the visions… I DON’T KNOW!!!
Despite being well aware at this point that Nita’s visions had to matter, I still experienced some shock as the text finally caught up to the future that Nita had glimpsed in her dreams. Well, mostly caught up, as we don’t know what the bits about Kit and Carmela mean. And truthfully, I was distracted by the Invitational itself, so my attention was on that, not the visionary abilities of Nita. Who can blame me??? After spending hundreds of pages with these characters and this competition, I was finally getting to the LAST five performances. All that training and sacrifice and hard work had come to this. I WAS DISTRACTED, OKAY.
I was more or less right that the five remaining competitors would have to use their spells in real time for an audience, and wow, y’all, what a nerve-wracking situation. The initial round was bad enough, and I certainly understood why Mehrnaz and Penn were so freaked by the semifinals, but this? Performing your wizardry in front of THOUSANDS of your peers, nevermind those who are watching remotely? HI, I HAVE ANXIETY, THIS WOULD BE A LOT. So, on one level, I absolutely get Penn’s terror. But he’s got a whole different set of issues to deal beyond the anxiety of performing his wizardry in front of others. The guy loses his normal swagger and confidence as soon as he watches the first competitor successfully manage his spell, so it certainly doesn’t help when both he and Nita are hit with a horrible wave of dread about what’s going to happen.
But before I get to The Thing, WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT MEHRNAZ. I JUST HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS FOR HER ARC IN THIS BOOK! Even without knowing what happens next, I am so thrilled that she makes the decision to cut off her toxic family once and for all. That’s a huge decision to make, and granted, there are logistics she’ll have to work out. But as someone who has had to do the same thing multiple times (in a different context, of course), it’s great to read a book where a character does something like this, where it’s not painted as an unforgivable or unreasonable act. I get that family is important, and in our culture here in the US, we’re told from a young age that family matters above almost everything else. That makes toxic and abusive situations all the more difficult to escape because of the stigma that comes with cutting off contact with one’s family. Here, though, it’s presented as something that will make Mehrnaz happy. Satisfied. Safe. AND I LOVE IT.
All right, so let’s get to The Thing. What the hell is “coming�?? Nita’s dreams over the course of Games Wizards Play featured some of the imagery that we see here, but even then, Duane is still vague enough that all the pieces haven’t come together. We generally had an idea that something terrible was on the horizon, but what about the version of Kit who isn’t Kit? Or the threat to Carmela? Why were we shown those specific images from her dreams? THEY HAVE TO MEAN SOMETHING, right? Like the cave on Mars. That can’t be a coincidence because there are no coincidences in wizardry.
And I get the sense that Irina’s quick thinking, while enough to save people, isn’t going to solve the final conflict. Gah, I still don’t know what that is! Why did Penn have to do that wizardry???
https://youtu.be/E-wtUw48nWo
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