In the fifteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0Maskerade<\/i>, Nanny discovers the Ghost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while Granny learns what the other Ghost is really doing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
YES YES YES YES. Look, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shy about how much I disliked\u00c2\u00a0Interesting Times<\/i>, but I also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to like\u00c2\u00a0Maskerade<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0just because it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that book. Yes, by comparison, this one is leagues better. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also pleased that just on its own,\u00c2\u00a0Maskerade<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0has a fantastic story about creativity, the power of art, and desperation. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to that last one because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to realize how similar any of these characters are, but let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first talk about Nanny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery.<\/p>\n
Despite that I just said I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to compare this book to\u00c2\u00a0Interesting Times<\/i>, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it here. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an empathy in this novel that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lacking in the last one, namely in that Pratchett has composed a story meant to give us a character like Walter Plinge. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel sorry for him, necessarily; I felt like I understood him. I felt a little sad, sure, but only because I identified so fiercely with a young boy who just wanted to create stories for the world, who had been called lonely and weird, who had few (if any) friends in his life. The Ghost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hiding place is full of forgotten things, and you better believe I drew the connection between these objects and Walter himself. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forgotten. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ignored. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left alone. And in these discarded things, Walter has\u00c2\u00a0created new ones<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It is one of the sweetest things Pratchett has ever created, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all:<\/p>\n
So this was where Wal\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 where the Ghost sat, thought Nanny, down under the stage, among the discarded wreckage of old performances; down under the huge windowless room where, night after night, music and songs and rampant emotion echoed back and forth and never escaped or entirely died away. The Ghost worked down here, with a mind as open as a well, and it filled up with opera. Opera went in at the ears, and something else came out of the mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I am certain I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not the only one who finds meaning of this, but in case that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not true, I can explain. I think of all the nights I stayed up late to listen to my tiny battery-powered radio that I hid under my pillow. Or the times I used a flashlight to read under the blankets. Or the afternoons I stayed late at school to read every book I could get my hands on at the library. Music and fiction went into me, and now, I hope that I can continue letting something else out.<\/p>\n
Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that when we see the\u00c2\u00a0other<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Ghost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hiding space, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full of nothing but bulging sacks of money. The contrast is glaring, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brilliant use of imagery to build these two characters. Granted, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know who this second character is, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Granny and Agnes come in. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re further evidence of the rich cast of characters in\u00c2\u00a0Maskerade<\/i>, and what we see of them in this chapter builds them further, too! LET US ALL BASK IN THE BEAUTY THAT IS AGNES GOING TOE-TO-TOE WITH GRANNY. Practically no one does that! So why does Agnes?<\/p>\n
Granny would say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because Agnes is a witch, but I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a simplification. Agnes might be doing something that she feels shameful of, but at the same time, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to control her own life. This is her attempt to be independent, so as soon as she recognizes that Granny might be trying to manipulate her or trick her, she calls Granny on it. And I love it! I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a smart writing choice, first of all, since it hints at a future for Agnes beyond the Opera House. I want her to confront Salzella and Mr. Bucket like this, and I hope she feels empowered to.<\/p>\n
But before that happens, they need to identify the Second Ghost, and NOW I KNOW PART OF THEIR MOTIVATION: money. MONEY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually so painfully obvious that I have to laugh at myself for completely missing every goddamn clue. MR. BUCKET KEPT LOSING MONEY, OH MY GOD. Now I know why! And what if the Second Ghost killed anyone who got in their way or discovered their identity? Or killed people for monetary gain? THINGS ARE COMING TOGETHER.<\/p>\n
So it was natural of me to assume that Andr\u00c3\u00a9 was the Ghost once Agnes confronted him in the office, but Granny claims he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been wrong about this. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 damn it. If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not him, who is left? What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t met yet???<\/p>\n
I AM SO CLOSE.<\/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=ttr4dzswdSQ<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b>
\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 have been announced here.<\/a>
\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 fifteenth part of\u00c2\u00a0Maskerade, Nanny discovers the Ghost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while Granny learns what the other Ghost is really doing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,514,248],"class_list":["post-3850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-maskerade","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850","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=3850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}