In the sixth chapter of Street Magic<\/i>, Briar and Evvy learn more about one another. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Circle Opens<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of poverty, slavery<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Oh, so much new stuff to talk about! LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DO IT.<\/p>\n
Briar<\/b><\/p>\n
Hey. I NOTICED A THING. Granted, it was far more obvious once Pierce just spelled it out, but Briar is having FEELINGS. Mostly GIRL FEELINGS. There was the flirting in the last chapter, and then Evvy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctance to continue to accept Briar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charity. I was pleased that Briar wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offended by Evvy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very justified need to protect herself:<\/p>\n
He was privately ashamed that he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t guessed she might think this. In her world, his old world, nobody gave anything for free.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely fair of her to think.<\/p>\n
Briar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s view of women is<\/i> changing with the dawn of puberty, but I was VERY AMUSED that he tried to be all detached and unemotional about leaving Discipline and getting away from his foster-sisters. Because guess who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now drowning in feelings and affection? SEE, BRIAR, YOU ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM THESE THINGS CALLED \u00e2\u20ac\u0153EMOTIONS.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They are a part of you, despite how hard you try to mask them or hide them. I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I love that he has a lot of affection for Tris, Daja, and Sandry.<\/p>\n
Bonding<\/b><\/p>\n
I know that the last chapter confirmed Evvy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feelings towards Briar and the respect she had for him, but I think what happens here<\/i> is just as important. Just the act of opening up about one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life to someone you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know well is a huge step in a friendship, and Evvy casually reveals a great deal about her life. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to imagine that she never talks about this shit with anyone<\/i>, you know? And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not just talking about the shame and stigma that would come with poverty and slavery; she just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the time to make friends. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a logistical challenge all on it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own.<\/p>\n
Yet she makes the effort to be curious about Briar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life while also talking about her own. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even guess when she got to do this last, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that she enjoys it, at least with Briar that is. I say that because while she behaves towards Rosethorn with respect, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not nearly as open once she meets Briar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teacher. BUT ROSETHORN, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Did you see how wonderfully she treated Evvy?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that I blame you. Palaces are cold and unfriendly, as a whole.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Just two sentences, and Rosethorn validates Evvy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fears. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a smart move, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also nice that Rosethorn genuinely believes that. At the same time, Briar is well aware that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a guarantee that Evvy will listen to Rosethorn. It takes way more for her to begin to trust someone, let alone reach the level that Evvy and Briar already have.<\/p>\n
Crossroads<\/b><\/p>\n
While I initially thought there were structural similarities between Magic Steps <\/i>and Street Magic<\/i>, I am happy to see how different these books feel. Evvy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with her magic and her education is rooted in a desire to avoid being split between worlds. She finds an affinity in some of the nicer parts of her day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like the hammam and the food and the company \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of some dependable reality. Evvy is used to a shifting life. Poverty is not a source of stability, and so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s natural for her to completely distrust the nice things in her life. I still<\/i> do this on a daily basis myself, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever escape it.<\/p>\n
On top of that, Evvy knows that whatever she chooses next will affect a great deal more than she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used to:<\/p>\n
The only problem was that to learn more about stone, she would have to deal with more people on a steady basis than she had in years. Pahan<\/i> Briar seemed all right, for a plant person, but he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to teach her. A stranger, one who lived in the palace, would teach her. Evvy wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure she liked that. What if a real stone mage scorned her for what she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a valid fear, especially when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lived without access to what most people have. I find that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult for others to understand in a lot of contexts, including in academic circles. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to money, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to having access to academic materials, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to never having to worry about a roof over your head, you often don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consider how things chance for those who do<\/i> have to think of these things. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know anything about Stoneslicer, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stretch to theorize that a noble mage isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to be sympathetic towards a poor escaped slave girl. I just hope that Evvy gets the help she needs.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rtSFrzcUo58<\/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>
\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":"In the sixth chapter of Street Magic, Briar and Evvy learn more about one another. 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":[477,494,490],"tags":[482,250],"class_list":["post-3366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emelan","category-street-magic","category-the-circle-opens","tag-mark-reads-emelan","tag-tamora-pierce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366","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=3366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}