In the second half of the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone<\/i>, I AM SO EXCITED. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think this section contains the record for the quickest amount of time that passes from the beginning to the first instance of emotional devastation:<\/p>\n
For his own family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done his best to act as if he was, but his heart hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been in the celebrations, or the presents. He hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been able to stop thinking about the one present Nita most desperately wanted, one that not even the Powers That Be could give her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00c2\u00a0Just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>.<\/p>\n
See, I thought it was fairly obvious that this book would be about Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with grief and loss; everything about this chapter pushed me in that direction. However, Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting with Tom has provided me with a new theory: what if the wizard who is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153alone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Darryl? Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been wanting to meet more fellow wizards on Earth since\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, and it looks like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m about to get my chance. Darryl McAllister is missing, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job to figure out what happened to him.<\/p>\n
And yet that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even touch on how\u00c2\u00a0weird<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0this is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that no one knows where he is; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not missing in a traditional sense. (Well, as far as I know; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s missing in that context, too!) See, Darryl is on his Ordeal, which has lasted NINETY DAYS. Ninety! I have experienced only three Ordeals in this series, and yet even\u00c2\u00a0I<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0knew that this seemed utterly wrong. How could someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal last over three months? That just seems\u00c2\u00a0cruel<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Truthfully, though, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so many things that could have gone wrong, and Duane has Tom outline what those are. What if Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal got corrupted? What if he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even really sure that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on one? What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten sidetracked? What if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some external factor preventing him from moving forward? WHAT IF IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S THE LONE ONE? Oh my god, the possibilities here are endless, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0frightening. But I do love that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thrown right into the conflict of this novel in the first chapter. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve barely started it, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already excited.<\/p>\n
Plus, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just happy that Kit is at the focus of this. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to get him as the protagonist this time around, at least when it comes to this conflict. I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if Duane is going to alternate between Kit and Nita. But the responsibility he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been given here is a big deal. Investigating another wizard on their Ordeal? Yo, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0important<\/i>. He can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t interfere in a way that would alter Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also got to get enough information to actually help put Darryl back on track.<\/p>\n
Ah, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. This first chapter is a real treat. We get a conflict, and we get to see how awesome Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family is. I\u00c2\u00a0loved<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the conversation he had with his father about safety. Plus, intergalactic cable channels!!! HUMAN COOKING SHOWS OH MY GOD. Please stay weird,\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>. STAY WEIRD FOREVER.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JO6K-QUV6js<\/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 second half of the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone, I AM SO EXCITED. 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":[523,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-wizard-alone","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044","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=4044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}