In the eighth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry<\/i>, Nita deals with the ramifications of her choices. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
WELL, THIS TOOK A TURN.<\/p>\n
Dairine<\/b><\/p>\n
I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 THIS BOOK HAS TAKEN ME PLACES. On the one hand, the confirmation that Dairine has the aptitude for wizardry is IMMENSELY EXCITING TO ME. Another wizard! Someone else to be on their side! THREE IS A PARTY, EVERYONE. But Duane makes this development a personal conflict for Nita, and I appreciate that complexity. It might be exciting for me to know that Dairine will eventually have to have her own Ordeal. But in Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, the one thing she had over her younger sister has now been taken away from her. I have a lot of experience with feeling like I needed to be competitive with my siblings, or with feeling like I paled in comparison to them, or in sensing that I was not valued like they were. That inadequacy is a difficult thing to deal with! I never could talk to my parents about it, since they were frequently the reason I felt the way I did.<\/p>\n
So Nita suffers in silence. She has no one to talk to about the fear that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s destroyed her trust with her parents (and will do so again the next two days). She has no one to talk over her issues with Dairine. And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got no one to talk about how Kit has changed in the past few weeks. Is the wizardry really affecting him that way? Is it part of his development and growth as a teenager? Is there something else at work? I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT KIT.<\/p>\n
The Song<\/b><\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I spoke so openly about the Song and the sacrifice required by it and STILL DID NOT PUT IT ALL TOGETHER. I made the exact same mistake as Nita: I assumed it all was ceremonial. I thought the ritual was poetic just for the power of it all. You know, your belief of it\u00c2\u00a0gives<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the Song power. I think the wording is what tripped me up most:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The whale singing the Silent One then enacts the Sacrifice\u00c2\u00a0in a manner as close to the original enactment as possible<\/b>, depending on the site where the Song is being celebrated\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I assumed that this was the loophole: as long as the Silent One got as close to death as possible, then it was fine. Everyone would be fine! Right? I admit to also being distracted by Nita and Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s escape and thinking about the ramifications of\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0as well. Plus, it was easy for me to settle into Ed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explanation of his nature and ignore everything else. In Ed, Duane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s created a character that I\u00c2\u00a0thought<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was an antagonist, but who ends up turning into\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what? Ed exists in such a fascinating grey area because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evil. As this chapter details for us, the Pale One is just a part of the diverse slice of life in the ocean. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The ocean is full of weaponry as effective as my teeth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he tells Nita. Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfair to assume he is more evil than any other predator in the sea. Life is different in the ocean! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different moral system there.<\/p>\n At the same time, part of what makes Ed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scenes so dynamic and exciting is how Nita interacts with him. Here, he comes off more like a mentor than a terrifying predator, especially since he is so open to explaining how his role in the cycle of life is vital and necessary. And why shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he have a good time being true to his nature? It might scare Nita and Kit, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who he\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>.<\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so chilling once Nita puts all the pieces together. Up to this point, Ed had been direct and honest. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not one for using euphemisms or dodging the truth. Thus, his joke about eating Nita rings oddly to her, AND THEN EVERYTHING UNRAVELS.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, slowly and carefully,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are you trying to say that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re actually planning to\u00c2\u00a0eat<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0me sometime soon?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The day after tomorrow,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the Master-Shark in perfect calm, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if we keep to schedule.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I fell for it because I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t conceive of this being\u00c2\u00a0literal<\/i>. Yet isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all wizardry literal in nature? HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS??? Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it was just\u00c2\u00a0horrifying<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to watch Nita put all of this together, which included her realizing that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d technically known all along. She then lashes out at S\u00e2\u20ac\u2122reee, as if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s her fault, despite that technically, S\u00e2\u20ac\u2122reee is a much younger wizard than she is! It truly felt like an\u00c2\u00a0 impossible situation, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see how Nita can get out of a binding Oath like this. How is she going to find a qualifying wizard who is\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0willing to take her place in a MAGICAL SACRIFICE?<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s especially tragic because for all these characters but the Pale One, their lives have just started. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all young, and that makes the sacrifice feel even bigger. WHAT DID THIS BOOK TURN INTO, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL?<\/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=wko97A3hgEs<\/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>. In the eighth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry, Nita deals with the ramifications of her choices. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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":[515,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-wizardry","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833","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=3833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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":"