In the fourth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>, HOW DO YOU EVEN EXPLAIN THIS TO AN OUTSIDER? Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I am just so impressed by the direction Duane has taken this story. At the end of the last chapter, I assumed that she would immediately follow it with Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to get her sister back. Instead, COMPUTER WIZARDRY.<\/p>\n
COMPUTER<\/p>\n
WIZARDRY.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now realizing how Diane Duane hinted that this would be the direction of this book because of the nature of wizardry. Nita and Kit have a specialty within wizardry based on what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re innately good at. If that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s specialty would most\u00c2\u00a0definitely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be with computers. Still, it took a while for me to be able to wrap my mind around this concept. How could a machine like that be adapted for wizardry?<\/p>\n
The odd format of this narrative helped me to understand that. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so used to the straight-forward manner of the previous books that I was delighted by how Duane jumped band and forth between the opening scene and the present tense and everywhere in between. In this specific case, we learn that the computer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrival precipitated Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first bit of wizardry, which\u00c2\u00a0wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0traveling to Mars. No, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more she does before then. And shit, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now realizing why she was so rude and snappy to her sister. SHE WANTED PRIVACY SO THAT SHE COULD GET ON HER NEW LAPTOP.<\/p>\n
And about that. I love that Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery of wizardry is so\u00c2\u00a0different<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0from Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. She knew about it before she ever saw a manual, and yet, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening on her new computer until the laptop appears beside it. And even then, she tackles this whole experience like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just another complicated problem to be solved. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in character for Dairine, since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so desperate to never feel like she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know something. Thus, her foray into wizardry is contains more frustration and comes across with an intensity that we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really see in Nita.<\/p>\n
The whole thing happens within feet of her parents and not all that far from her sister, and yet, Dairine is quick and clever enough to keep it all hidden from everyone. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, though; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just there to be a plot point; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character trait. Dairine is more inclined towards secrets, which makes me think if this had been reversed, Diarine would have found a way to hide wizardry from her family. Here, she tucks the laptop into a pocket of magic (!!!!!) and is utterly unbothered by traveling to Manhattan by wizardry because WHY WOULD SHE BE AFTER WHAT SHE JUST EXPERIENCED. Thus, the museum becomes largely uninteresting to her because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something else looming in the near distance: Dairine now has a device that can do magic.<\/p>\n
She approaches this laptop with wonder and childish excitement, and that means she does things that are wondrous and foolish in equal measure. (Which makes me wonder what her Ordeal will be. Is this it?) She smartly decides to see if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an instruction manual, THEN SHE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T CLICK ON IT, then she goes straight for travel, and\u00c2\u00a0she sends herself to Mars.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>So close to the safer option, yet so far away. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fault Dairine all that much because while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m often a stickler for following instructions when it comes to thinks like recipes or LEGO builds, I am also a rebellious little shit. If I found out I could safely travel to Mars, I probably would.<\/p>\n
So I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that I admire Dairine for what she does here. The sheer scope of what she does here is unreal, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. She travels to Mars. She sees the sky from mars. She feels the wind. She looks at Olympus Mons while standing on the surface. SHE THEN TRAVELS TO THE TOP OF OLYMPUS MONS, THE TALLEST MOUNTAIN IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. She looks at\u00c2\u00a0JUPITER<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0from the mountain. JUPITER!!!<\/p>\n
I am assuming, then, that\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is going to track Diarine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to follow the aliens (!!!!) who left the plate inside the crater of Olympus Mons. SPACE TRAVEL. THIS BOOK MIGHT NOT EVEN UNFOLD ON EARTH AT ALL. How is it real? How have we been allowed to experience this? DIANE DUANE IS TOO GOOD TO US.<\/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=kG7L5r7GviM<\/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> In the fourth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry, HOW DO YOU EVEN EXPLAIN THIS TO AN OUTSIDER? Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[516,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-wizardry","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865","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=3865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3865"}],"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 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":"