In the thirteenth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>, Dairine helps reconfigure the entire universe. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal changed EVERYTHING.\u00c2\u00a0LITERALLY<\/i>. I mean, I had a sense that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153defeat\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the Lone Power would be a big deal, but this is so much bigger than I could have ever conceived of. Ultimately, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about a choice: What does the Lone Power want to do? Where does It want to go? What does the world look like when we accept that darkness\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be Light?<\/p>\n
Let me start with the obvious, though. This chapter opens with the light FROM THE GODDAMN BIG BANG slowly growing to consume the Lone Power, at least in part. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a complete process, since it was never intended for Dairine to\u00c2\u00a0destroy<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the Lone One. She wanted to show It another option. And in this case, the Lone One\u00c2\u00a0still<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tries to fight the inevitable:<\/p>\n More than anything, she wanted to get\u00c2\u00a0out<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of this light. She knew in her bones that it was happening everywhere in existence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no actual confirmation that humanity actually saw this light in the book, so I wonder if that was one last deception from the Lone Power, a last-ditch effort to get Nita and Kit to leave so that It could escape. Regardless, they both resist this urge, which is a pretty neat way for Duane to fold Nita and Kit into this conflict without taking away from the fact that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly about Dairine. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hard balance to achieve, honestly. I went into this expecting a third book from Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective and was pleasantly surprised that Dairine was the actual focus of the adventure. This is pulled off without ignoring that Nita and Kit get their own story, and I LOVE MULTI-POV STORIES A WHOLE LOT, OKAY.<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narration that Duane reveals her real endgame for\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry<\/i>: the transformation of the Lone Power back into one of the Powers That Be. Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s defeat of the Lone One hinged entirely on the fact that for the first time in history, a new species rejected the Lone Power. That rejection holds\u00c2\u00a0literal<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0power in this situation. Why is it so significant? Because the Lone Power\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predicament was self-made. The pain It experiences is because:<\/p>\n But it only hurts because you\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>do\u00c2\u00a0want it back.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you?<\/p>\n The humiliation of being gloated over by this mere chit of a moral, a thing with a life brief as a mayfly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/p>\n Look<\/i>, the voice said, full of pity and anger and a strange grieving love,\u00c2\u00a0how could anyone\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>not\u00c2\u00a0want that, you idiot? Just admit it and\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>get it over with!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Through this, Duane expands the internal mythology of this book to act as a real-world explanation for many religions, beliefs, and cultural myths, AND THIS IS ALSO ONE OF MY FAVORITE TROPES. But what I find most admirable about this is that she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that thing where she creates an explanation for things like Heaven, the war between God and the Morningstar, Prometheus by invalidating human belief. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no condescension here; instead, these stories are given a validation that holds a greater meaning, since they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all part of the fabric of the struggle between the Powers and the Lone One.<\/p>\n ALSO PICCHU WAS ONE OF THE POWERS AND WAS ALSO THOR AND ATHENE AND PROMETHEUS AND MICHAEL AND H E L P.<\/p>\n Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about that Prometheus metaphor, because it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until the end of this book that I realized Dairine had\u00c2\u00a0been<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Promtheus for the mobiles. She had descended on that planet like a god, and she gave them life. Wizardry. Power. Agency. The Lone One arrived to punish her, but her creations helped her to fight back. And that matters! You know what else matters?\u00c2\u00a0Every struggle that came before this<\/i>. Duane also avoids the whole Chosen One narrative by saying that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been countless struggles with the Lone One spread across all existence, and they each built towards this very moment. Dairine was important, but her work stands on the shoulder of others, too!<\/p>\n I suppose that above all else, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surreal to think that the Lone Power isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone anymore. It may be different, but It is a beautiful kind of difference:<\/p>\n And Kit and Nita and Dairine all gazed, and speech left them. Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes filled with tears as she wondered how darkness could be so bright. Lightbringer He was, and star of the morning; and like the morning star, He needed the darkness, and shone brighter for it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I love\u00c2\u00a0so much<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that the Lone Power does not forsake or give up their darkness here. Instead, darkness is a necessity and a guide, a part of the Light that you\u00c2\u00a0must<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a better ending than something would have sanitized the darkness away.<\/p>\n So where does that leave our three main characters? Well, Dairine is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 very Dairine in these final moments. Her relationship to the mobiles is gorgeous, though I admit to feeling sad that she had to leave them all behind, uncertain when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be able to return. But once the trio gets home to New York, you can tell that their lives are never going to be the same. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do some predictions about that in the next post, but for now? Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal was an absolute joy to experience, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled that all three of these characters got to grow in the process. ALSO: THE COMPUTER CAN WALK. WHAT THE HELL.<\/p>\n Bring it on,\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad.<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait.<\/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=MmGliS8DgXA<\/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 thirteenth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0High Wizardry, Dairine helps reconfigure the entire universe. 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-3898","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\/3898","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=3898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3898"}],"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":"