In the eighth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0So You Want to Be a Wizard<\/i>, we have a choice. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I love this book. I love this book so much.<\/p>\n
While there are a ton of themes you could pull out of\u00c2\u00a0So You Want to Be a Wizard,<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in the end I’m drawn to the one hinted at in the title. Nita and Kit ultimately\u00c2\u00a0wanted\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>to be wizards, and they chose to be. They chose to go after the Lone One, and they chose to put themselves in harm’s way in order to save Manhattan from the oppressive powers of the Starsnuffer. I was so thrilled that Nita gave the Lone One the same choice, not because I knew it would change him, but because it was only fair that he be given the\u00c2\u00a0chance<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be someone else. The power of free will is perhaps\u00c2\u00a0the<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0major theme in this book, and the final chapter exemplifies that.<\/p>\n
We see Joanne again. REMEMBER WHEN JOANNE WAS THE ONLY ANTAGONIST??? Oh, I had no idea what was to come, y’all. But it’s fitting that she’s here at the end because like the Lone One, she’s been given an out. She doesn’t have to be a hateful, mean person anymore than she wants to be. Thus, Nita shows her the way out:<\/p>\n
She swallowed and did her best to look Joanne in the eye, calmly and not in threat. “Come on over to my place after supper sometime, when it’s dark,” she said, “and you can check out the digital interface I got for my telescope last Christmas. You can see Jupiter’s moons live on the computer. Or Mars.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It might be nothing more than an innocent offer, but it’s an offer Joanne has never heard. Nita presents her with a choice, and even if Joanne swats it down this first time, it’s still there. Unspoken. Quietly within her. It’s only a matter of time, right?<\/p>\n
Speaking of time, I WAS WRONG. THE TIMESLIDE LOOP DID NOT ACTUALLY ERASE THE EVENTS FROM THE PUBLIC MEMORY. EVERYTHING HAPPENED AND THE SUN DISAPPEARED AND CENTRAL PARK EXPLODED AND ALL OF IT IS REAL AND THIS IS SO GODDAMN COOL, I AM SO PLEASED THAT DIANE DUANE KEPT THIS IN THE TEXT. IT IS 100% A GOOD CHOICE, BRAVO, THIS WAS SO EXCITING TO READ. I think my excitement helped to temper the sadness of Nita living through Fred’s death again, though I admit that was not an easy scene to read.<\/p>\n
The final scenes, though, hit me much harder than Nita’s time spent beneath Liused. I didn’t figure out that Kit and Nita had made it to Timeheart until Nita flat-out said it. I’m reminded of a certain plot in\u00c2\u00a0LOST<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in this, and I won’t say any further in order to avoid spoiling others. But the Timeheart is a lovely idea, a way in which the positive memories of Fred and Lotus allow them to live on despite their deaths. Y’all, Lotus talking nearly ruined me. LOTUS CAN FINALLY COMMUNICATE WITH KIT.\u00c2\u00a0STOP IT<\/i>. Plus, I feel like hiding the Book in Timeheart is genius because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, the Lone One can’t get in there, right? And it’s such a huge place, too!<\/p>\n
But really, the confirmation that the Lone One now has the chance to change was huge to me. Not as huge as this, though.<\/p>\n
Fred! Did we do right?<\/i><\/p>\n
Even here she couldn’t keep the pain out of her question, the fear that she could somehow prevented his death. But Fred radiated a serene and wondering joy that took her breath and reassured her and filled her with wonder to match his, all at once.\u00c2\u00a0Go find out,\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God, what a good answer. Go find out if you made the world a better place. He tells his friends to keep moving, keep living, keep striving to do good within the universe. That hope is the brightest light of all.<\/p>\n
Diane Duane is still offering a massive discount on the first 9 books in the\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0series just to this community, so please take advantage of this deal while you still can:<\/b><\/p>\n
http:\/\/bit.ly\/markreadsYW<\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VU7RXqJIThA<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! 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 Death Note<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Neon Genesis Evangelion<\/em>. 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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the eighth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0So You Want to Be a Wizard, we have a choice. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[512,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-so-you-want-to-be-a-wizard","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799","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=3799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}