In the first half of the nineteenth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i>, the battle begins. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even done with this chapter, but WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT. One of the great delights of reading\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is how indescribable they feel when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the midst of them. I have virtually no framework with which to compare these books to in order to get someone else to understand what they are. Like, is this a fantasy book about conquering cancer, or is it a science fiction book about alternate universes? GUESS WHAT, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BOTH\u00c2\u00a0AND MORE<\/i>.<\/p>\n
ANYWAY. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about this nerve-wracking chapter.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Since we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not with Nita, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be hard to convince the ones who guard the borders to let us in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At the start, I thought\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to be concerned with in terms of Kit and Ponch. What if the guardians refused them entry? What if Nita faced the Lone One and death all by herself? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how the Lone One wanted things: It thrived on isolation. Thus, there was a cruelty in letting Pralaya assist Nita. It was the Lone One\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way of teasing Nita with how alone she truly was. Even worse? IT WAS WORKING. Duane captures Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s despair with a vicious intensity throughout this chapter. Some of it comes from the dark imagery of her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s universe. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy for things to feel dire when this version of Manhattan is shrouded in darkness, full of shadows, and swimming with malignant blobs that represent the cancer. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional edge to it, too, and this is just one of a number of examples of it:<\/p>\n
She was tired, and very scared \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both for herself and for her mother \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and she simply wished that all this was over. The thought came to her:\u00c2\u00a0You are now so tired, you will make some terrible mistake<\/i>.<\/p>\n
And she was too tired even to care about\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
EVERYTHING SUCKS, BASICALLY. Well, not\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>, because then Kit and Ponch find their home in the dark universe. Yes, it seemed exactly as impossible as it sounds. If that space\u00c2\u00a0created<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0universes, how could it create one that\u00c2\u00a0already exists<\/i>? The deceit is haunting, though. Kit could have disappeared into that perfect world, at least to give himself the illusion that his problems were solved. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that motif popping up again: the Lone One wants to isolate everyone because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best way It can break them down.<\/p>\n
Yet as upset and determined as Kit is, this specific conflict feels tailored specifically for Nita. Therefore, I believe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it is easier for him to resist the temptations of the Lone One, whereas it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more challenging for Nita to do so. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a chilling exchange she has in her head about the Oath, where she ponders the fairness of what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s asked. How can she tell when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0right<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for her to be courageous? To put aside \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death for life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? And if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so hard to tell, how is that\u00c2\u00a0fair<\/i>? The thing is: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain Nita has known what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right in this situation the whole time. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s justified the deal with the Lone One in a number of ways in recent chapters, first of all, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s let her desire to keep her mother alive act as the sole defining factor. Which I get!!! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not criticizing her for wanting to have a living mother. But in that moment, I saw her as trying to find some weird loophole to bolster her confidence over the choice she was going to make.<\/p>\n
Which makes Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery all the more frustrating and exciting. If the Lone One thrives on isolation, then I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stretch to suggest that Kit and Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conflict in the early part of this book WAS DESIGNED BY THE LONE ONE. Or, rather, the Lone One gently pushed Nita in that direction by having her resent Kit for his solution. If they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d stuck together, it is possible that they would have figured out what to do with Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother much earlier. Would Nita have ever even considered the Lone One\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offer? Would it have changed her name and who she was?<\/p>\n
YEAH, LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT THAT. OH MY GOD, I AM STILL SO UPSET ABOUT IT. The Lone Power\u00c2\u00a0knew<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spell wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work as soon as It got inside her heart. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m crushed, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I definitely didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it coming, first of all. Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also another way in which Duane ramps up the tension and despair. The book doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t linger in it, though, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed with\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>, too. After Nita nearly gives herself over to the Lone One, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dealt a double surprise in Kit locating Nita and then NITA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S MOTHER APPEARING HERSELF AND DEMANDING THE LONE ONE GET OUT OF HER BODY. HADF ;ALKDJFS ; A;KLF A;DSKF AF;LADJSFH;AF ;ADF\u00c2\u00a0it is absolutely the best shock yet<\/i>.<\/p>\n
And both characters provide this story with so much meaning. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the steadfast friend who refuses to let the Lone One put a wedge between him and his best friend. Then you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother loudly proclaiming that she gets a say in what happens to her body. WHICH I LOVE DEEPLY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powerful and\u00c2\u00a0necessary<\/i>. But what does it mean for this fight? How much power does Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother have, and can they use it for the spell that Kit just realized would work? Is that how this is gonna be solved??? TEAMWORK AND FRIENDSHIP???<\/p>\n
Yes, please. PLEASE.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-D_j2dnDHpE<\/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. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check 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 first half of the nineteenth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma, the battle begins. 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":[520,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-wizards-dilemma","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026","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=4026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}