In the tenth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>, Kit and Nita get closer to Dairine while learning of an important chance she may have. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It is so nice to come back from a three week break in reviewing to a chapter like this. Ah, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much worldbuilding here, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character development, and EMOTIONS EVERYWHERE. I love it. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DO THIS.<\/p>\n
The Stationmaster<\/b><\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much delicious detail packed in to a very tiny space within this novel, and I find it rewarding to pick up on new things. The very idea of a Stationmaster is cool, but a Rirhait? OKAY, YES, AWESOME. Duane doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that thing that some science fiction entities (cough Star Trek cough cough) do where they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re limited to humanoid depictions of alien species, so the Rirhait is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sort of like a centipede? Even that feels limiting, of course, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the understanding that Nita and Kit have of the creature, so that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the basis I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go off of. The Stationmaster is unnamed here, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still an important character. I noticed that within the fabric of this world, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an inherent respect for wizards and wizardry, and I love that this is unquestioned. Yes, Nita does what she can to adjust to the idea that just invoking wizardry can get her things, but mostly? She and Kit just have to move on.<\/p>\n
We learn of the history of the Crossings, how it mostly found by accident, and how it has come to be a technical marvel where \u00e2\u20ac\u0153worldgates were generated\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 at the drop of a whim.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to imagine that the Stationmaster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life is busy as hell. So Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little flight from the BEMs? Well, to call it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disruptive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would be an understatement. Yet when Nita and Kit watch the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153surveillance\u00e2\u20ac\u009d footage of the chase, the fight isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an abstract thing or an anecdote. The Crossings was host to something really scary, and not knowing definitively if Dairine survived it makes it all the more horrible.<\/p>\n
The Lone Power<\/b><\/p>\n
Yet the reason Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal is so important comes to the fore through this. The Satrachi\/BEMs are just dupes, placeholders who did the Lone Power\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bidding through manipulation. However, this helps Kit and Nita come to a realization:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know. Kit, do you think \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Tom said something was about to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctip over.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Some major change. Do you think what he meant was that the Lone One was about to lose\u00c2\u00a0completely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0somewhere?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an intriguing concept, especially since it hinges on a\u00c2\u00a0choice<\/i>. Yes, Kit and Nita have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153defeated\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the Lone One in smaller and bigger battles, but not in a significant way to make It disappear. But what if Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal is about compelling the Lone One to\u00c2\u00a0choose to rejoin the Powers<\/i>? What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about some big defeat or battle, but a conversation, a spark of hope that the Lone One can be part of the universe in a more positive way? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible that Picchu is right: Dairine has the right raw materials at the right time to affect something like the Lone Power. But\u00c2\u00a0how<\/i>?<\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, the Lone Power is\u00c2\u00a0tired<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Anything<\/b><\/p>\n
And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here that the story shifts to something deeply personal for the two main characters. After the events in the first couple books, Nita and Kit have come to understand evil in a way they could not have anticipated. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something to be said for how young they are, too! I often bond with other people about how I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to have a rosy childhood\/upbringing like most people. In a sense, neither have these two either.<\/p>\n
Through this experience, though, Nita and Kit have become best friends, which is complicated by their mutual attraction. Whether that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more physical or emotional is sort of beside the point at this stage of the story; both acknowledge fairly openly in chapter ten that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real and that it exists. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fear they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore either: what if this ruins everything?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and her voice stuck again, and she had to clear her throat to unstick it. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like you, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all. A lot. And if you start liking somebody that much, well, I still want to keep the team going. If you do. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
AHHHHHH THIS IS A MORE MATURE CONVERSATION THAT MOST ADULTS HAVE, AND I LOVE THAT DUANE WRITES THESE TWO LIKE THIS. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t difficult for either of them, and we definitely can sense the awkwardness from Nita. But they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to\u00c2\u00a0try<\/i>, and that matters a lot!<\/p>\n
Nova<\/b><\/p>\n
CAN WE JUST ACKNOWLEDGE HOW SPITEFUL THE LONE POWER IS TO CAUSE A STAR TO GO NOVA JUST SO IT CAN KILL NITA AND KIT? THE LONE POWER SACRIFICES THE SATRACHI IN AN INSTANT TO MAKE THIS ATTEMPT, AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO, SO AWFUL.<\/p>\n
WHAT THE HELL, EVERYONE.<\/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=u1nVebj6I6A<\/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 tenth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry, Kit and Nita get closer to Dairine while learning of an important chance she may have. 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-3887","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\/3887","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=3887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}