In the second half of the second chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, Nita makes a new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153friend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who is cuter than the world should allow. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, this book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conflict came upon us quickly, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t define it in detail, but\u00c2\u00a0something<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is happening here, AND I AM VERY EAGER TO FIND OUT WHAT THAT IS. The second half of the chapter introduces this alongside someone I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing is a major character. Tualha Slaith, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a princess of the People\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a bard and a scholar,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is perhaps the most deliberately cute character in this whole series. Duane gives us a magical being stuck in a kitten because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. Do princesses always get stuck into animals? Are the People a reference to other wizards or some other fantastical group? Why did Tualha have to choose between smarts and speed? WHAT IS HAPPENING?<\/p>\n
The text relies on this confusion, though. Once Tualha starts talking to Nita, she says a lot of things I just flat-out did not understand. I get the sense that Tualha doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care; she certainly doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this conversation easy for Nita to follow. She appears quite suddenly, then begins talking for a VERY long time. She can alternate between being coy, condescending, and vaguely interested in who Nita is. That ultimately means that she still exists separate from Nita. She might be an ally or some sort of magical guide, but she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make that journey obvious or easy for Nita.<\/p>\n
Instead, she first talks about the history of invasions in Ireland. I got the sense that this was important for something that comes later in\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, but it also dragged more than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to. Tualha doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t define half of the terms or proper names that she mentions, so in that sense, the reader is in pretty much the same head space as Nita. I had a lot of questions, and so did she! BUT HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT TUALHA. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not complaining about it entirely, though. I found Tualha engaging and hilarious even if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really understand what I was reading. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if these were all cultural myths from Ireland or something Duane invented wholesale, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure that matters in the long run.<\/p>\n
The brief break with Biddy \u00c3\u201c D\u00c3\u00a1laigh was great, mostly because I wanted to meet more characters who work with Aunt Annie. PLUS, I LOVE HORSES. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a way to help give us a sense for what life is like on the farm, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important. Why? Because Duane is trying to build something natural and effortless here. The wizardry we\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0finally experience at the end of this chapter comes off as a natural part of life in Ireland, just as the farm does. The problem here is that Nita slips into the past (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153sideways,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Tualha calls it) without doing a wizardry herself. The\u00c2\u00a0wind<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0does it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a common motif in the second chapter, and now I want to know who the People of the Air are. Is that related?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for another time. I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what is happening here? What is influencing the world so that the wind can activate\u00c2\u00a0time travel<\/i>? Granted, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening here, of course, but Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sideways jump to another world and another existence is far too casual. Plus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confirmed in the text that she was sent to Ireland to be on errantry. How is this all related?<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so ready, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DM6eC5g5Keg<\/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 second chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad, Nita makes a new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153friend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who is cuter than the world should allow. 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":[518,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-wizard-abroad","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911","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=3911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3911"}],"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":"