In the twelfth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, the wizards go after Balor to try and save the world. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of warfare and consent<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Lots to talk about I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY FOR THIS ENDING.<\/p>\n
Energy<\/b><\/p>\n
For a series about the slow energy death of the universe, I found this battle to be emblematic of the larger themes of\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>. Balor, the form the Lone One takes, represents entropy, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0literally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0so here, since It zaps energy out of the wizards as they advance on It. Which is a brilliant tactic, but it was so\u00c2\u00a0distressing<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to read, you know?<\/p>\n
Relentless<\/b><\/p>\n
To Duane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s credit, this is also one of the most relentless chapters in any of the four books I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read. I actually felt a lot more emotionally exhausted once I reached the end than I expected to, especially since one disastrous moment follows another in this chapter. The drows and pookas attack\u00c2\u00a0again<\/i>, and Nita is nearly strangled; then Doris uses the Cup; then a ton of drows are destroyed or drowned; and then the patch of darkness surrounding Balor grows even\u00c2\u00a0bigger<\/i>; AND THIS IS ONLY IN A FEW PAGES. By the time the Stone is activated \u00e2\u20ac\u201c WHERE THE GROUND LITERALLY OPENS UP TO EAT LIVING THINGS, ONE OF THE MOST TREASURED TROPES OF ALL TIME \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I was tired and uncertain how these wizards were even going to survive the onslaught long enough to\u00c2\u00a0get<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to the Lone Power. And hey, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always cool when you feel the same way as the characters do, so bravo on that, Duane. BRAVO ON YOUR MAGICAL WRITING POWERS.<\/p>\n
Balor<\/b><\/p>\n
My god WHO THINKS OF THIS KIND OF NIGHTMARE.<\/p>\n
(Diane Duane does.\u00c2\u00a0Diane Duane does<\/i>.)<\/p>\n
Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even sure I had an idea what Balor would look like. If anything, I figured the Lone Power would be another variation on what Nita and Kit had seen before. At the very least, I expected a humanoid form. I did not expect the horrific monstrosity of a hill with a face like a forgotten nightmare. As Nita puts it, I did not anticipate It being like whatever you call this\u00c2\u00a0thing:\u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n It had been nothing like this crouching, lethargic horror, this lump of inertia, of blindness and old examined hates. Before, when confronted by the rogue Power that wizards fight, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d always wanted to fight It too, or else run away in sheer terror. This made her simply want to sneak away somewhere and throw up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WELL. I WAS CLEARLY NOT READY FOR THIS. Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing compared to the plot twist that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dropped into my lap once the wizards try to fight Balor. I did not expect the Sword, the Stone, or the Cup to work. Given how much they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been used, I assumed they had run out of energy, a common theme of this battle. (I LOVE VARIATIONS ON A THEME.) Ronan was going to have to be the one to stop Balor.<\/p>\n Ronan looked unnerved, but he lifted the Spear. The fires twisted and writhed in the metal of its head; he leaned back, balanced it, and threw.<\/p>\n The Spear went like an arrow, struck Balor\u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u201cand bounced, and fell like a dead thing.<\/p>\n NOTHING. IT DID NOTHING AT ALL. BUT. BUT THAT WAS THEIR LAST RESORT. THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NO BACK UP PLAN. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE HEROIC JOURNEY. WHAT THE HELL.<\/p>\n The Bard<\/b>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tale<\/b><\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something beautifully silly about the idea that a talking cat is able to bait Balor into moving just out of\u00c2\u00a0sheer annoyance<\/i>. Tualha recognizes what must happen: Balor has to open Its eye so that Ronan can pierce it with the Spear. How does Tualha do that? With a viciously clever poem. Or song. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m quite sure what it is, but who cares when it contains burning lines like this?<\/p>\n No army here, just some shattered stonework, I love Tualha a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i>.<\/p>\n Ronan<\/b><\/p>\n So here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit confused. Everything in this \u00c2\u00a0battle makes sense, and I understood what needed to be done. Ronan in particular had his own story arc within\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>that centered on acceptance. He had to accept the Champion inside of him. As Nita states:<\/p>\n Make him do it<\/i>, Kit cried, frantic, to him and the Other who listened.\u00c2\u00a0He<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to get the whole world killed!<\/i><\/p>\n No! It doesn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work that way!<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Nita was equally frantic.\u00c2\u00a0He has to do it himself! Ronan,<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0and she gulped,\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201cgo\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>on!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Like all wizardries, choice and free will are an integral part of the process. You have to mean what you say. You have to be specific. You have to commit to the choice. All of this is compelling and makes a great deal of sense for his character. Yet I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m perplexed: Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Champion ever ask Ronan for permission? Why is this the one area where consent is skipped over? I imagine this battle would have happened a little differently if the Champion had spent time trying to convince Ronan to allow him inside of him rather than to hide there.<\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is something that will be addressed later or if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just an oversight, but it stood out to me as a strange part of this conflict.<\/p>\n Bittersweet<\/b><\/p>\n There is no wizardry done without a cost. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an immediate one here \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an excruciating (but relieving) pain that\u00c2\u00a0every<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0living thing feels as Balor perishes. Biddy is dead, too, though we get to see the Power within her one last time before it moves on. (OH MY GOD, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S MORRIGAN. YOU\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE KIDDING ME.) Balor turns back into a hill, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decidedly\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0alive or breathing. (Why does the image of a breathing monster hill creep me out so much?) Light and realness returns to this world, which is good news for the Sidhe; the prophecy was most likely fulfilled, ending their exile from Timeheart.<\/p>\n Yet the dead \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all those wizards \u00e2\u20ac\u201c must be left behind. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a really sad thought, especially if you consider how many people will never know\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0they died or what for. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never get the closure they desire because their loved ones died in another realm. With that, this adventure ends. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably the only other thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d criticize about this: the ending is\u00c2\u00a0very<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0abrupt. I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit more that could have been explored, like Nita returning home and her parents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reaction to it. Or maybe something with Dairine? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think any of the other books end so suddenly, so perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I felt different about this one.<\/p>\n Regardless, I had a fantastic time reading\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting my fifth\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>book so soon. HOW.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PaNXCH9NS18<\/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 twelfth and final chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad, the wizards go after Balor to try and save the world. 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":[518,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3946","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\/3946","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=3946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nsome poor bruised goblins, all running away?
\nNo ships at all, but just the old darkness,
\nthe kind that they use to scare children at bedtime?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\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":"