In the eleventh chapter of Magic Steps<\/i>, I am continually astounding at how messed up this book is. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Circle Opens<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For mention of blood.<\/b><\/p>\n
Good god. This book is TOO MUCH.<\/p>\n
Justification<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fascinated by what Pierce does here with Sandry because it feels like a meta acknowledgment of the realism of the story. I admit that I have a personal weakness for stories where young characters have to step into roles that are normally reserved for adults. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in large part because I had to more or less do the same thing myself, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind confessing that this is a personal taste issue. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing a book that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s YA. Since that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of my life now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m more aware of one of the stranger parts of writing something for this age group. How exactly does the text validate or justify characters participating in the action? Is it because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced into it? Is it because it is their destiny? Is it believable<\/i>?<\/p>\n
Perhaps this is my own bias at work here, but a bulk of this section felt like the text of Magic Steps<\/i> was working out this very issue. Now, it makes sense anyway<\/i> that Duke Vedris and Erdogun would complain quite loudly about Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement in such a dangerous venture, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like this feels out of character for the story. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite natural to me. Vedris has always been protective of his great-niece. At the same time, it was always inevitable that Sandry would have to be involved in the main confrontation with Alzena and Nurhar because of the nature of the Emelan books. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve functioned, so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not surprised when Sandry is the focus of that journey.<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that this specific aspect of the story can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be addressed, and I found it rewarding to have Erdogun, Vedris, Sandry, and Lark speak so openly about the reasons for Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement in the final trap. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a risky proposition, first of all, and discussing why<\/i> that is the case heightens the tension. Duke Vedris has always been a reasonable, understanding character, and therefore it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaningful when he objects so strongly to the plan to trap the mage and the assassins. I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case for Erdogun, too, whose no-nonsense characterization is still here, too:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t send a fourteen-year-old girl and a twelve-year-old boy naked to do battle with a blighted mage.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Strange,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d remarked Erdogun. He sat just behind the duke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chair. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what it sounds like to me<\/i>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What Lark does, though, is SO IMPORTANT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not enough for her to say that Sandry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s participation is important; she goes out of her way to justify why Sandry specifically<\/i> is needed to combat the unmagic. That scene where Sandry played with a bit of an unmagic smudge is fully explained when she details her plan to spin a web out <\/i>of the stuff and have Pasco do his dance to draw the mage and the killers to them. Who else can do that? Who else has the power to use this unmagic against the people weaving it? It is the uniqueness of her power and of Pasco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that will allow them an advantage of sorts, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s precisely what they need.<\/p>\n That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this less scary, though, LORD.<\/p>\n Motivation<\/b><\/p>\n I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to stick this under the same heading as my analysis of Sandry because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe Pierce was trying to justify<\/i> what Alzena has done in this book. Hell, I can tell she has no interest in it. At the same time, I was reminded of one of my favorite lines from Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/i> while reading this section:<\/p>\n Cool motive. Still murder.<\/p>\n Alzena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s POV scene here provides us with context to understand what it is that Alzena has been trying to do and how that affects the story. Her behavior \u00e2\u20ac\u201c along with that of Nurhar and the unnamed mage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has been monstrous. Does this part make it less so? Not at all, thankfully.<\/p>\n She cared about so little except that one goal, the end of these Rokats. The family had invested so much to send them here, the expense greater than that spent on the teams in any of the other Pebbled Sea countries. Jamar and Qasam had been the brothers of the Rokat who had killed Palaq Dihanur and displayed his head in dishonor; many of those now in the inner keep were the grandchildren of Jamar and Qasam Rokat. Their deaths came first; they had to. Only when the last Emelan Rokat was dead could Alzena tell this duke what she thought of his interference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That information is frightening for a number of reasons. It helps us understand Alzena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s singular determination. She has little interest in anything but wiping an entire family out of this world, and thus, she views Vedris with disdain. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just another roadblock in her plan, which makes him disposable to her. The same goes for every one of the guards she fights with here. She clearly has little regard for humanity in general, maybe not even her own. She has to know that the unmagic is eating her away. Even if she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still actively murdering people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have a tangential importance to her quest. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care<\/i>. My gods, she gets furious at a Vedris for protecting his inner keep:<\/p>\n How dare they add one more obstacle, even one as stupid as a wooden fence?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the same time, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vulnerable here, more so than before, and her sloppy attack during the recon mission shows us that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not doing her best. She trips, the sound of her stumble alerting the guards, and everything becomes a disaster rather quickly. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping the cut on her side will give Pasco and Sandry enough to be able to track her. Somewhat, of course. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve still got a million other issues, and taking the mage down first is the big priority here. I love the idea of the unmagic net, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m nervous about whether or not it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll work. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SCARED.<\/p>\n The original text contains use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stupid.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0sFVjuUCdk8<\/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 eleventh chapter of Magic Steps, I am continually astounding at how messed up this book is. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The 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-3327","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\/3327","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=3327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3327"}],"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.
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