In the first half of the eighth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone<\/i>, Kit transforms, and Nita seeks help. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of depression, dissociation.<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting\u00c2\u00a0worse<\/i>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping that the distinction Duane made earlier \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that Kit simply doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to cope with how Darryl sees the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is maintained throughout this. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that seeing the world as someone who is autistic is a bad thing; Kit has none of the tools or strategies to do it, so it overwhelms him. We watch as he shuts out the world, believing that it does not matter, because\u00c2\u00a0Darryl<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world is all that matters.<\/p>\n
His conversation with Carl, which opens this chapter, is disturbing. Frankly, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen behave this way. His behavior is rude, dismissive, and disinterested, and even\u00c2\u00a0I<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0felt awkward as Carl scolded him for not appearing to take any of this seriously. Of course, since this type of exploration is so new, it made sense to me that Carl wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize what was happening. Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a teenager, and, as this line suggests, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing Carl saw this as nothing more than teenage angst and risk:<\/p>\n Now it was Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turn to frown. Possibly Carl read the expression as rebelliousness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I have to wonder if Tom and Carl work with other local wizards who are far less agreeable than Kit and Nita. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible, right? Anyway, I did not feel great when Kit left Tom and Carl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s house; even when he got home, that glimmer of hope faded fairly quickly. I wondered if Kit talking to his mother might pull him out of the link to Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, but Duane does a fine job portraying this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153link\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as some sort of relentless pull on Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind. Even\u00c2\u00a0Ponch<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yank him out of his thoughts. Kit has a lack of awareness here that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stunning, mostly because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s normally such an observant person. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that numbness, that sense that the world has been filtered through something and is just\u00c2\u00a0wrong<\/i>, that permeates his perception of reality. And it reminded me\u00c2\u00a0strongly<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of what happens when I hit a particularly rough patch in my depression. It honestly makes me see the world completely differently, and if I start dissociating, then my detached perspective exacerbates this perception. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just feeling like I am not in my body or feeling detached from it; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s honestly like seeing the world through a whole new filter.<\/p>\n That may not be Duane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the joy of reading: you can find all sorts of things in it.<\/p>\n LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT NITA AND DAIRINE. Oh my god, DAIRINE IS \u00e2\u20ac\u0153PAYING\u00e2\u20ac\u009d FOR HER SHOWY ENTRANCE INTO WIZARDY, THIS EXPLAINS HER CHARACTERIZATION IN THIS NOVEL. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not\u00c2\u00a0just<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that her mother died, but she feels inadequate in the wake of her power receding. Like, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out why she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just fix her creaky bed. WHAT IF SHE CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T. What if she\u00c2\u00a0won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s afraid she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to do it? AHHHHH, I LOVE REVEALS LIKE THIS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO FULL OF DEPTH.<\/p>\n Can we also acknowledge the beautiful nature of this exchange?<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It kills you, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dairine said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Asking me for help.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Nita gave me her sister a very slight smile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Better it should kill me than Kit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n STOP IT.\u00c2\u00a0STOP IT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>(Just kidding, keep going.)<\/p>\n I feel like something\u00c2\u00a0huge<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is gonna happen in the second half of this chapter. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Well, nervous, too. The way Kit behaves as he just steps into Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s newest world\u00c2\u00a0while in his bedroom<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is kind of terrifying. That link is so powerful and all-consuming now. And I hope that Nita, Dairine, and Ponch can break it sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_5Jsg1vYa7k<\/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 first half of the eighth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Alone, Kit transforms, and Nita seeks help. 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-4072","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\/4072","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=4072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4072"}],"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":"