In the second half of the fourth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone<\/i>, LOTS OF THINGS HAPPEN. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For talk of grief and death.<\/b><\/p>\n
Whew, this chapter is so dense with feelings. FEELINGS EVERYONE.<\/p>\n
Talking<\/b><\/p>\n
I made note of this in the video, but this chapter reminded just how long it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been since Kit and Nita were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a distance between them since the opening of\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i>, and events have kept them apart (mostly) since then. That means that their conversation at the opening of this part felt so\u00c2\u00a0relieving<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to me. Truthfully, I miss them being a part of each other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives more significantly, but I understand why that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the case.<\/p>\n
And for what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, so does Kit. After he catches up with Nita in this chapter, he deliberately doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t push her too hard to return to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They talk about Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strange robot dreams, their alleged connection to Dairine, and the Darryl issue. For a moment, Duane gives us a glimpse of the past here. Nita and Kit are back together, working alongside each other, and it just felt\u00c2\u00a0right<\/i>. This moment is temporarily interrupted, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a slimmer of hope here, too. Maybe this is the start. Maybe Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work on this new errantry will help her begin to move on.<\/p>\n
Maybe<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Dairine<\/b><\/p>\n
By having honesty an integral part of wizardry, Duane has found a way to make practically every conversation between wizards exciting. How?\u00c2\u00a0They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deceive one another<\/i>. Thus, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an urgency\u00c2\u00a0every<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0time\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>they talk. The truth just pours out, and none of these conversations feel static.<\/p>\n
Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long conversation about grief with Dairine is an incredible example of that. From a plot standpoint, we learn a lot from them, but in terms of character building and development, I find this honesty refreshing. Dairine is immediate in revealing how her meeting at school went, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just as honest about how horribly numb she feels towards the world. In this, Duane sheds light on a phenomenon that, at the time I experienced, I had never heard about. The numbness that Dairine describes is best summarized by this line:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And you have to sit there, in the middle of all this meaningless junk, and put up with it, and act like it matters. Like\u00c2\u00a0anything<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0matters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I read this as a subtle existential crisis. On a daily basis, we all ignore the pointlessness of certain actions, either because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of routines or because we know they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get us to somewhere we want to be. I have sharp memories of how often I tried to drown my grief in being busy. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve talked about how I just threw myself into work, hoping it would keep the sadness at bay. And yet, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have these moments where I realized how\u00c2\u00a0silly<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0certain things were. Why was I answering this email? Why did I take this specific bus to work? Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the world go on if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t show up to work or ever talk to another person again? These thoughts invaded my mind, and it was so frustrating to be hurting so much, and yet so consumed with activities or assignments that ultimately didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter.<\/p>\n
So I get Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impulse to want to run away, to leave it all behind. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t strike me as out-of-character. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a burden that comes from grieving, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0exhausting<\/i>. You get to a point where you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just tired of being sad and you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to do it anymore.<\/p>\n
A Wizard Alone<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, after I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been struck by yet ANOTHER round of feelings from Diane Duane, she leaves me with one last surprise: the title of this book refers to\u00c2\u00a0another<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0wizard who is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153alone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Do I understand the whole knight sequence? NOT AT ALL. I have some guesses, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best that I can do. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Nita couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the wizard before; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an inorganic lifeform. And\u00c2\u00a0where<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was the wizard?<\/p>\n
The only hypothesis I have is that this knight is giving Darryl a break of sorts, holding the Lone One in that weird room to fight over and over again. Maybe as a distraction??? Either way, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another solitary wizard in this story, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed the Duane has given her book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title so many different meanings.<\/p>\n
WHO IS THE KNIGHT???<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UHw-3tYx-Og<\/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> In the second half of the fourth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone, LOTS OF THINGS HAPPEN. 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":[523,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4056","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\/4056","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=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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":"