In the fifth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>, Kit and Nita begin their search for Dairine. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0book has taken me to an incredibly strange place, and I am so perfectly okay with that. Yet as bizarre and absurd as each of these stories has been, what I appreciate most about these books is that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all grounded in this very real group of friends and family. Let everything be strange as hell, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine with that, but show me why I should care about all the people who this is happening to, you know?<\/p>\n
So, Duane swiches back to Nita and Kit, who must deal with ramifications of Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions, which includes the fact that she left a GIANT GATE TO MARS open. Had I considered this? No, and one of the coolest things about how this book progresses is that I get one character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take on events, but then I get to see how it affects other people. I felt excited and thrilled about Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trip to Mars and elsewhere, despite recognizing that it was foolish. But from Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, this is a DISASTER. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exciting; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0terrifying<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confirmed that this is Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal, and that means ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN AT THIS POINT.<\/p>\n
And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note how much anxiety all of this causes Nita. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to lie to her parents ever again, but Dairine hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t made that easy for her at all. Dairine left with no communication at all, and Nita remains behind to pick up the pieces. Of course, things are complicated when DAIRINE answers the phone at home, which is impossible in Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind. How can Dairine be at home\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>somewhere in outer space? Oh, wizardry. YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFULLY COMPLICATED. Yet wizardry can be unnerving and scary, too, and the idea of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fake\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dairine in the Callahan home\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 damn, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really upsetting, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n
But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of the point. Dairine is callous, and she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the discipline to deal with wizardry at this point. Perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what her Ordeal will be about! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that yet, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that the next chapter will be from Diarine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective. For now, though, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all acknowledge how cool it is that as soon as Nita and Kit realize that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in over their heads, they go to Tom and Carl. THEY ASK ADULTS WHO KNOW LOTS OF THINGS. THIS IS SO GREAT. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely something we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in past books, you know? Tom and Carl don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide answers, either, and often times, they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even really have guidance, at least not the kind Nita or Kit expect.<\/p>\n
However, the beauty of this chapter is that these men volunteer to head to the Callahan house in order to explain where Dairine is themselves. BLESS. THEIR. HEARTS. I get it, too! Both Nita and Kit apparently look like shit, first of all. And Kit closed a patent gateway by himself, which must be something a younger wizard is unlikely to do. Then, we learn that Dairine used her own body to create that gateway, and that she used the new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153software version\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the manual. WIZARDRY IS UPDATING TO THE MODERN AGE, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL, THIS IS SO COOL. That makes me wonder how the\u00c2\u00a0hell<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0this book looked when it was originally published. Did it even revolve around a computer in 1990? Probably, but it must have been executed differently than this one. Regardless, the story still fascinates me because this is the first chance we get to see this new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153digital\u00e2\u20ac\u009d manual in use. And given that Dairine seems to be using it purely as a shortcut, I can see a possible exploration of a theme here. Unlike the last two books, Dairine doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suffer consequences for her wizardry as she uses it. How long until she does?<\/p>\n
Well, her family doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to wait long. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but be\u00c2\u00a0slightly<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0amused by Harry Callahan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to his computer being a tool of wizardry. IT ENTERTAINS ME, OKAY. But y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, how great is this exchange???<\/p>\n Nita felt sorry for her father; he looked so pale. Her mother went to him, put an arm around him. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What did she do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She went to Mars and left the door open,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Tom.<\/p>\n Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dad shut his eyes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153She went to\u00c2\u00a0Mars<\/i>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just like that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said her mother.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n BLESS ALL OF THIS. Or how about the reveal that wizardry is passed through on\u00c2\u00a0Harry<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0side of the family? Hey, at least he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t act like Petunia does in\u00c2\u00a0Harry Potter<\/i>. Still, this is a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to reveal to a family. Their daughter is on MARS. THE ACTUAL PLANET. Which means that the Dairine in their house is one of the creepiest things in this series so far, or at least for me she is. She may look like Dairine, but Nita was able to pick up on the subtle things that made her different and UTTERLY CREEPY. Why?\u00c2\u00a0Because it has no soul.<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0None at all!<\/p>\n The whole experience is such an eerie way to demonstrate wizardry to the Callahans and to explain why wizards are important, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0necessary<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I value Tom and Carl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part in this story. Could Nita and Kit have done the teaching? Sure, but in this context, I imagine these two adults appreciated two seasoned wizards explaining everything to them. So how the hell is Kit going to manage this??? He wants to do so, but is he going to do it alone or invite Nita to help him? I WANT TO MEET KIT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S FAMILY.<\/p>\n God, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so much potential by the end of this chapter. Kit doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just have to tell his parents about his wizardry; he and Nita have to trace Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trail into ANOTHER GALAXY. It sounds dangerous and ridiculous and impossible, and I was pleased that Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dad stated as much.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Even saints have to start somewhere,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carl said softly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been the children who save the Universe from the previous generation, and remake the Universe in their own image.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gods, what a powerful message.<\/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=r9l8wfnYVT8<\/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 fifth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry, Kit and Nita begin their search for Dairine. 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":[516,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3867","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\/3867","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=3867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3867"}],"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":"