{"id":2269,"date":"2013-11-08T05:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=2269"},"modified":"2013-11-03T14:56:52","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T22:56:52","slug":"mark-reads-the-broken-kingdoms-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2013\/11\/mark-reads-the-broken-kingdoms-chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Broken Kingdoms’: Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the third chapter of The Broken Kingdoms<\/i>, Oree comes face to face with the gods responsible for Shiny. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Kingdoms<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Chapter Three: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gods and Corpses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (oil on canvas)<\/b><\/p>\n

HOLY SHIT, WHAT AN INCREDIBLE CHAPTER.<\/p>\n

\n
The blast of power was ITEMPAS BURNING A BUNCH OF ORDER-KEEPERS TO DEATH.<\/li>\n
OH MY GOD.<\/li>\n
He used his power<\/i>. Oh god, he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use it all the time, but he chose to then because Role had been killed. HE USED HIS POWER FOR SOMEONE ELSE.<\/li>\n
Again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to ignore the horrendous things that Itempas has done, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also not going to ignore all the character development he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting IN JUST THREE FUCKING CHAPTERS. Oh my god, this book<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already too much!<\/li>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read a series that has so many tiny, subtle moments that are like daggers in my heart. Case in point: Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments about Madding\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s touching being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153too intimate, triggering memories more painful than the light had been.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Please tell me that there are other folks out there who have had contact with an ex who know exactly what this is like. Because holy shit<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too real. THIS IS TOO REAL.<\/li>\n
How much does Madding know? Do all the Enefadeh know of Itempas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s punishment? And does that also mean that mortals, generally speaking, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> know what happened?<\/li>\n
THIS IS SO FASCINATING.<\/li>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also curious to find out what these godlings are the gods of<\/i>. Who is Lil? What is Madding the god of?<\/li>\n
Oh my god, South Root<\/i>. A land cast into darkness because of the Tree, inhabited mostly by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153desperate, angry poor people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and where the Order-Keepers go to beat people. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I cannot fucking deal with this book.<\/li>\n
WHO IS THE HUNGRY GOD WHO WILL FOREVER TERRIFY ME IN MY NIGHTMARES? N.K. Jemisin, could you un-<\/i>create her so that I can sleep again? Nope, I refuse to deal with that image you gave me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so awful.<\/li>\n
SO, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss why this chapter is so terribly exciting and brilliant. The tension of chapter three is derived from what Oree doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> know. The reader is familiar with all of the ambiguous and bizarre things that the gods say to Shiny and Oree, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m suddenly cast into the role of all of you<\/i>, giggling and squirming at all the times that Oree says something that is either painfully spot-on or reveals her as woefully unprepared for the future.<\/li>\n
But I think that in terms of narrative power, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s necessary to keep Oree in the dark in regards to Shiny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true identity. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got enough information to question his existence, as she does in the closing scene of the chapter, but ultimately, the responsibility is left in Itempas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands. He<\/i> is the one who must trust Oree enough to admit his history and explain why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been forced into a mortal body. I imagine that Oree will be inquisitive to a point, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see her as the sort of person who would force Shiny to confess to her. (Plus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like she can do much of anything in order to convince Shiny to speak. Torture\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out of the question because Itempas just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care enough about his body to respond to it.)<\/li>\n
Throughout this, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reminded of Sieh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s utter hatred for Itempas and of Yeine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compassion and understanding. Yeine is the one who stops Sieh from further abusing Itempas. Not only is the act impractical, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ineffective. It does nothing and it changes nothing. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s indicative of something that Oree later picks up on: Sieh hates Itempas because he once loved him<\/i>. His hatred is born of betrayal and disappointment instead of distaste.<\/li>\n
Of course, Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interactions with Yeine are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. Yeine recognizes that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something special in Oree that has nothing to do with her magic and everything to do with her kindness<\/i>. That, to me, is an important moment of characterization. Yeine can see that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible that someone like Oree might fall in love with Itempas, so she warns against such a thing happening. And it speaks to how she cares for another human (and the human capacity for<\/i> love) while also distancing herself. She can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t control Oree, and if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now the Mother, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to let her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153creations\u00e2\u20ac\u009d act as they please. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ultimately up to Oree to decide how much she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let Shiny into her life.<\/li>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting, too, that this is about Itempas earning<\/i> his place. His mortal arrangement is dependent on him meeting the requirements set forth by Nahadoth and Yeine, and he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t making a single stride towards doing so. In hindsight, I could see his horrible smile representing his joy at being able to use his power to kill other humans, which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a step in the right direction at all<\/i>.<\/li>\n
So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m eager to see where this goes, especially given what Oree knows. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, there is so much potential<\/i> here. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the mystery of Role\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a further exploration of how Sky has become Shadow. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Oree\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey in discovering who her houseguest is. There is too much<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Part 1<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nPart 2<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KO5wDnW5AEI\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\nMark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, <a href=\"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2013\/09\/help-keep-mark-does-stuff-running\/\">I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!<\/a> \n– Please check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/markdoesstuff.com\/\">MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there! \n– I will be traveling for many events! Check the <a href=\"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/tour-dates-appearances\/\">Tour Dates\/Appearances page<\/a> for up-to-date tour events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the third chapter of The Broken Kingdoms, Oree comes face to face with the gods responsible for Shiny. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Kingdoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[428,414],"tags":[412,417],"class_list":["post-2269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-broken-kingdoms","category-the-inheritance-trilogy","tag-mark-reads-the-inheritance-trilogy","tag-n-k-jemisin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}