In the second half of the eleventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>, Dairine realizes her predicament. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe how that snuck up on me. IT WAS RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE TIME. But I adore how atypical this feels. The big conflict between the Lone Power and Diarine is going to be an\u00c2\u00a0argument<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a weird thing to type, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this book has turned into, and yet again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m left blown away by how each\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0book takes me on such an unexpected journey.<\/p>\n
Let me back up a bit, though. This is a philosophically dense section of the book, but I was able to follow it a whole lot closer than the science in the first half. First of all, the very idea of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Data transfer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am asking a question\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the most downright adorable thing in the history of literature, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. IT IS TECHNICALLY 100% ACCURATE SINCE ASKING A QUESTION MEANS YOU ARE REQUESTING THAT SOMEONE TRANSFER THEIR \u00e2\u20ac\u0153DATA\u00e2\u20ac\u009d TO YOU, SO THERE YOU GO. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PERFECT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a fantastic way for Duane to show us how these creatures think differently than humans do. And isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that difference the point? Throughout this part of the chapter, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Dairine struggles with: getting the silicon creatures to understand that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slowlifes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d like humans are completely different than they are.<\/p>\n
At the heart of this is a beautiful message: Dairine is trying to show these creatures how to have empathy, to understand others not like them and accept them as they are. Not only are they still trying to understand themselves, but Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence complicates matters for them. She plays a very specific role, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost motherly or God-like. And she takes it very seriously! She really\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0try to think of giving the silicon creatures variety and diversity of existence. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that at the moment, of course. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that great moment where Gigo utterly rejects the notion that he can exist\u00c2\u00a0without<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Dairine around. It makes sense, you know? Even with all the knowledge Dairine gave them, even with the power of wizardry, these beings still have a lot to learn.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Will there be pain? Like the Dark that Pulls?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WOW, THANKS FOR THAT HEART PUNCH. Christ, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so hard to read that because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m realizing it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a child coming to understand that existence is not all a good thing, you know? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pain and misery and suffering that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the package, too. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 why\u00c2\u00a0are\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>there so few wizards? Why not increase the odds of making the universe a better place? Now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering \u00e2\u20ac\u201c given the ending of this chapter \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if that was always how it was meant to be. What if that is the way this was all designed? I say that because of how the conversation goes. Once Logo begins to talk about slowlife and how inefficient they are, I got uncomfortable. But initially, it seemed like a necessary thing to talk about. These creatures don’t understand how others live, so Dairine has to explain it to them. Fair enough, right?<\/p>\n But the conversation takes a frightening turn once Dairine realizes how serious these creatures are when they state that they’re going to stop entropy. BY STOPPING TIME FROM PASSING IN THE UNIVERSE UNTIL THEY FIGURE OUT HOW TO ELIMINATE ENTROPY. No, I’m not even exaggerating:<\/p>\n They’re talking about shutting the universe down for a thousand years at a time and letting it have a second’s growth every now and then in between!<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I DID NOT DO THIS JUSTICE. So Dairine (bless her heart) refuses to back down, and it’s one of my very favorite things about her. Again, she’s perfectly suited for this because she’s willing to stand behind the fate of the entire universe. She does it without hesitation, despite that she’s young, despite that she might not be fully prepared, and despite that she’s dealing with one of the scariest things she’ll ever face: the Lone Power, who managed to quietly slip into this world and now sits inside Logo.<\/p>\n Their big fight is going to be about the fate of all living things. Dairine has to fight for\u00c2\u00a0entropy<\/i>, y’all, and I cannot wait to see it.<\/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=0f-VJLeoMho<\/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 second half of the eleventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry, Dairine realizes her predicament. 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-3891","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\/3891","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=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3891"}],"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":"