In the second half of the eleventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry<\/i>, Nita arrives for rehearsal for the Song. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
How could I ever explain this book to someone unfamiliar with\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unlike anything I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever read, and I barely have anything to compare it to. I guess it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of like the\u00c2\u00a0Immortals<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0quartet by Tamora Pierce??? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really comparable just because it has magic and animals in it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of fantasy out there concerning the act of\u00c2\u00a0becoming<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0an animal, but the detail here makes this feel like science fiction at times. Right???<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all for genre-bending. BLEND ALL THE GENRES. DO IT.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m at a point writing about\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0where I feel as if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve run out ways to say essentially the same shit: the characterization is amazing. The prose is inspiring. This story is extremely complex without it being off-putting. I HAVE NO FEELINGS LEFT. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been given the gift of this world, and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know that I needed it. How are these books not bigger? I HAVEN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN FINISHED THE SECOND ONE AND I AM ALREADY OBSESSED.<\/p>\n
So let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the Foregathering, because WHALES. DOLPHINS. ALL OF THEM THANKING NITA:<\/p>\n
One note, held in every range from the dolphins\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 dog-whistle trilling to the water-shaking thunder of the blues. One thought, one concept in the Speech, trumpeting through the water with such force that Nita began to shake at the sound of it.\u00c2\u00a0Praise<\/i>. They knew she was the Silent One. They knew what she was going to do for them.\u00c2\u00a0They were thanking her<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Stunned, Nita forgot to swim \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just drifted there in painful joy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a repeated emotion present in the second half of this chapter: Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sense of growing joy. It seems like such a strange thing at first. Why would Nita feel that way if she was constantly reminded that she was about to die within the next 24 hours? I understood her feeling gratitude for how the creatures all thanked her with their song, but that moment passes. Soon, S\u00e2\u20ac\u2122reee is introducing her to the other Celebrants, and throughout the remainder of the chapter, the same sensation pops up. Why?<\/p>\n
At first, I wondered if it was because there was such an atmosphere of wonder in the pages. This whole experience is unreal, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. There are so many different species here! So many creatures, most of whom are polite and kind and grateful for what Nita is going to do for them. (Personally, Roots is my favorite. Eating prior to the possible end of the world: MY KIND OF HERO.) Iniihwit and Fang and T!h!ki are well-defined characters, which I feel is an accomplishment because THEY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE WHALES.\u00c2\u00a0WHALES<\/i>. So maybe this was all so cool that Nita was subconsciously enjoying the experience?<\/p>\n
But I think the key to this is in the Invocation and the Song itself. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll postulate that Nita is beginning to appreciate the depth and scope of what she is doing, and, as I said before, she\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>is capable of the kind of willing sacrifice that Carl spoke of, and this whole process is bringing her closer to that. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to say that her sadness and fear and anger isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t real. People are complex beings, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not impossible by any means for someone to feel multiple things all at the same time.<\/p>\n
Look at her conversation with Ed. Duane gives Nita a chance to be honest with the Master-Shark, and I LOVED IT. The perspective she offers to Ed not only helps him understand her feelings, but it allows the reader to better empathize with her, too. To Ed, the promise of Timeheart is enough. The promise that the Sea will be safe for decades is enough. Why on Earth would this child not want to be a part of that? The tragedy for Nita, though, is the lost potential. She never got to fall in love, graduate high school or college, get married, have children, or do none of those things and take a different life path. These options will all be gone, and Nita wants to\u00c2\u00a0live<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0life, not imagine one after she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dead.<\/p>\n
Potential matters to Ed, too. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the potential existence that Nita will get that intrigues him as well:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am no wizard, Nita,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ed said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Sea doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t speak to me as it does to you. I will never experience those high wild joys the Blue sings of \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Sea That Burns, the Voices. The only voices I hear cry out from water that burns with blood. But might I not sometimes wonder what other joys there are? \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and wish I might feel them too?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thus, both characters are illuminated to us through this scene. When Ed tells Nita he is sorry for what has happened, we believe it and we understand it. I felt it was fitting, then, that Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (necessary) scene with Nita followed shortly after this. Plus, Duane has both kids drop their shapechange magic; that was such a beautiful image to me. There is no mask worn in this sequence; Kit just speaks openly and brutally to his best friend about what seems like an impossible situation to him. His stubbornness matters because he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t budge when it comes to\u00c2\u00a0saving<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, even though he knows there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really nothing that he can do to stop what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. He can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take her place, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one who can swoop in and save her either.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beautiful friendship, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this all feels so tragic. HOW IS THIS GOING TO END, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m frightened.<\/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=kXhfwXeFN3A<\/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 second half of the eleventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry, Nita arrives for rehearsal for the Song. 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-3841","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\/3841","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=3841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}