In the sixth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Magic Steps<\/i>, Sandry learns the real reason behind the attack on Rokat House. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0The Circle Opens<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For violence, blood, and gore.<\/b><\/p>\n
This keeps getting more and more messed up. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear to me now that the scene in the Duke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s palace was meant to foreshadow the unbelievable act of brutality that would come at the end of this chapter. Qasam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fear is so much more unnerving now that I know just how\u00c2\u00a0real<\/i> it was.<\/p>\n
LORD.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried. Like the end of the last chapter, chapter six lays out a lot of exposition that I\u00c2\u00a0expected<\/i> later in the book. The mystery of Alzena, Nurhar, and their mage could have lasted much longer than it did, but Pierce reveals their motivations\u00c2\u00a0extremely<\/i> early. WHICH MEANS THAT THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR SOMETHING ELSE TO HAPPEN.<\/p>\n
But before we start talking about the possibilities here, I did want to address everything revealed in this chapter. Just as Duke Vedris warned, the situation surrounding Jamar Rokat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s murder is certainly complex, and I was thankful that I got a chance to understand more about Emelan as a whole and the layered political circumstances at work here. Namely, I got a sense for why the Rokat house was still allowed in this country and how Duke Vedris had negotiated that agreement. Myrrh is a vital import, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Vedris\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i> to rely on the Rokats for it. So when they appear to be reaping what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sowed elsewhere in the world, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable the Vedris and others aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly eager to help them out. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t this what they do to others outside of Emelan?<\/p>\n
But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more complicated than that, and Qasam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s breakdown in that room was the moment everyone (including myself) knew that this was a lot more serious and frightening than anticipated. (How awesome is that scene where Sandry gives Qasam her handkerchief because his is impractical? Gods, I adore her.) And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much going on here, too! You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got all the interplay between Baron Erdogun and Vedris, as well as the reveal that the head of the provost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guard is largely unconnected to the merchant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world. These things shed light on the kind of ruler Vedris is, but they also help inform the atmosphere of this book.<\/p>\n
So what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got playing out in\u00c2\u00a0Magic Steps<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is a business rivalry that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s morphed into a war, one where the Dihanur family are determined to wipe their competitors off the map. The scary part? It looks like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already done it, at least as far as I know:<\/p>\n He drained his glass and set it down, shaking so hard that he nearly dropped it. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Today I received word they have gained the upper hand. In Bihan, in Janaal. My \u00e2\u20ac\u201c my father is dead, my mother, their parents, my sisters, and their husbands\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He covered his face with his hands.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Who else is left? Who else lived in Rokat house? How many more people do the Dihanurs need to kill? However, I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a more worrying end to this: If the Dihanurs succeed, does that mean they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll try to fill the vacuum left in Emelan??? I suppose I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be so concerned about this if Pierce hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ended this chapter with\u00c2\u00a0such a terrifying scene. Literally minutes after Qasam leaves the palace, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacked by Alzena and Nurhar, who are using a type of magic that is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well,\u00c2\u00a0nothing<\/i>.<\/p>\n She was clad in the essence of nothingness, like her husband Nurhar, and the mage, who was tucked in a niche in a nearby wall. The nothingness was the mage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s special power, the unmagic that got them past the cleverest guards and the most powerful spells. It cloaked her and Nurhar and even himself in sheer emptiness. Guards and magical protections felt nothing because nothing was there. She could not even see Nurhar or the mage as she peered through the tiny slit in the spells that enabled her to look at the real world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n GREAT.\u00c2\u00a0JUST GREAT<\/i>. So you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even sense the magic because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a\u00c2\u00a0void<\/i> of magic. How are they going to combat\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also curious how the hell Pasco is going to play a part in all of this. I still feel like all these plots are playing out separately, you know? Damn, this is\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i> good. I am eager to keep reading!<\/p>\n The original text contains use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d9h2khh8Rh8<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a> In the sixth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Magic Steps, Sandry learns the real reason behind the attack on Rokat House. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0The Circle Opens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,491,490],"tags":[482,250],"class_list":["post-3307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emelan","category-magic-steps","category-the-circle-opens","tag-mark-reads-emelan","tag-tamora-pierce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3307","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=3307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"