In the second half of the seventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone<\/i>, A LITERAL SAINT. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
STILL WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY. This book is creeping towards something huge, and I love how Duane is raising the stakes and the tension so consistently. (In contrast to what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m reading over in the\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0series, so perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this feels so huge and exciting. External factors are probably affecting me.) Just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 DARRYL. DARRYL IS A\u00c2\u00a0SAINT<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Carl<\/b><\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spent so much time with Tom that having a scene where Carl is the focus felt refreshing, but also\u00c2\u00a0completely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0daunting. Like Nita, I was nervous about what was going to come of the meeting. Nita had discovered something significant about Darryl, and Carl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to that over the phone was, to say the least,\u00c2\u00a0very<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0interesting. So, when she showed up to his house and he got straight to the point, I figured that this was a big deal. Right??? It had to be!<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a whole lot of information given here through Carl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expository dialogue, but the gist of it is that Darryl is Earth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0sole<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0abdal, and his is so important to the fight against the Lone One that he is\u00c2\u00a0literally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0more important that practically all the wizards we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve meet thus far. As Nita notes later in the chapter, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real sobering and intense thought, you know? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the reason Tom said earlier in the book that the Powers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily distinguish between passive and active wizardry. However\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you count Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wizardry as THE MOST ACTIVE OF ALL TIME FOREVER? Literally nothing Kit, Dairine, or Nita have worked has\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0been as painful or intense as what Darryl goes through, and he does it over and over again. Is it considered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153passive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because it happens in his mind? That\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem right, does it?<\/p>\n
Of course, I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the abdal\/Pillar thing with 100% clarity, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a criticism. Duane does this thing where she defines her own worldbuilding extremely well, but still leaves it open to other things. This line in particular thrilled me a ton:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You make it sound like there are saints all over the place.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Of course there are. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just wizards that keep the universe running, do you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so casually dropped, and the possibilities of this reveal are\u00c2\u00a0endless<\/i>. For now, though, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a fantastic angle for Darryl. He is a black autistic saint\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0an abdal, one of the ways in which power for wizards flows to ALL WIZARDS ON EARTH.<\/p>\n
I AM OBSESSED WITH DARRYL.<\/p>\n
Kit<\/b><\/p>\n
Which makes me incredibly worried about Kit. The logistics of Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worlds and how they are accessed confuse me, but I figure there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still stuff I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about them. Something about the way that Kit wandered in Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jungle universe through his dream was\u00c2\u00a0wrong<\/i>, though, that much is sure. So, now I wonder: is\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0what Darryl meant by getting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153linked\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? See, this whole time, I assumed that somehow, the Lone One had infiltrated Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart and mind, sort of like how Nita felt similar emotions towards the end of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Wizardry<\/i>, or the fears she expressed in\u00c2\u00a0The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i>. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know when the One is working through you all the time, and I categorized his disinterest in the world as the work of the Lone One. It made a lot of sense, right???<\/p>\n
It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until I saw this behavior in action and then got to that final scene with Ponch and Nita that I came to understand it differently. Nita theorized that he was getting sick, that he was exhausted from all the work he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been putting in. However, illness wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly explain Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strange reaction to literally\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This would, though:<\/p>\n
His dream took him there without him wanting to be there, at first. Then he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get out. They were getting alike\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/b><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It confused me at first, which you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see on video. What could that possibly\u00c2\u00a0mean<\/i>?<\/p>\n
I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY.<\/p>\n
I bet their minds are starting to get locked together because of all the time Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spending in there<\/i>, Nita thought.\u00c2\u00a0This is not good<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/i><\/p>\n
And reality doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel the same way to Darryl as it does to Kit,\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>Ponch said.\u00c2\u00a0The boss is starting to feel it the way Darryl does, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to do it right.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00c2\u00a0completely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0missed picking up on that sequence where Kit started to feel like the world was overstimulating him, that it was too loud, too present, too detailed. I liked the distinction here: Darryl has a way of coping with reality that Kit is absolutely not used to, and thus, this would affect Kit differently. In his case: disinterest. Lack of emotion. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as responsive as he used to be, either. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to see how Duane is going to write from his perspective if we switch to his POV in the next chapter.<\/p>\n
I NEED TO KNOW. Also:\u00c2\u00a0What is Ponch becoming<\/i>?<\/p>\n
vid<\/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 seventh chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone, A LITERAL SAINT. 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-4069","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\/4069","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=4069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}