In the second half of the ninth chapter of A Wizard Alone<\/i>, Nita unleashes her plan on the Lone One. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For talk of ableism<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Wow. Wow<\/i>. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know when a book inspired such elation in joy in me like this, BUT HERE WE ARE. Diane Duane wrote a book wherein a black autistic wizard is the smartest, most powerful character WE HAVE LITERALLY EVER SEEN. Not only that, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get there.<\/p>\n
Where do I even start? What do I say<\/i> about all of this? I feel like the video for this chapter is great for my instantaneous reactions, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to focus on what this chapter means as a whole. A Wizard Alone<\/i> is a strange book out of context, and perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the reasons I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed it so much. I now understand the importance of The Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma<\/i> to the conflict here, and this book is more densely serialized than others in the series. So yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m biased in that regard, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more to this novel than just that<\/i>. The primary theme of loneliness and friendship is really what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drawn me in and kept me engaged.<\/p>\n
And oh my god, THEY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE ALL WIZARDS ALONE AT SOME POINT. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m theorized that in various ways throughout reading that, but it never truly<\/i> hit me the way it did here. Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s link to Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind pulled him away from everyone, and he ended up in the mirror trap largely alone. (Yes, Ponch was there, but Kit acted like<\/i> he was alone.) Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grief consumed her so much that she was left to fend for herself in the midst of a nightmare. And Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 my gods, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Darryl is alone by choice<\/i>. He chose to design that trap after studying the Lone One for months, and he chose<\/i> to remain in it with the Lone One FOR THE REST OF HIS NATURAL LIFE.<\/p>\n
Duane imbues Darryl with innocence, with a purity that is infectious and inescapable. Upon thinking back to this thrilling confrontation with the Lone One, I also noticed how much it was a group effort. Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s innocence and power matters the most, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also fantastic that all three<\/i> of these characters realize just how powerful they are TOGETHER. What would this have been without Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intervention and her incredible knowledge of world kernels? Would Nita have even known what she was experiencing in her dreams if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explorations into Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind? And as the three of them tease and taunt the Lone One, it felt right<\/i>. These three people deserved to be there. They deserved this victory. No, maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the wrong word.<\/p>\n
They earned<\/i> it.<\/p>\n
After all of this, I get know why Darryl is an abdal and why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so important. He traps the Lone One in a manner that is insidiously effective; he substantively contributes to lowering the amount of the Lone One in this part of the solar system; and once he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given an out, a way to leave this behind, he refuses<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why his Ordeal was simply completing the Oath, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Darryl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s test was whether or not he could commit<\/i> to the principles of wizardry. After spending weeks just trying to get to the end of the Oath, those words were burned into his heart, enough that when he promised to stay in his own mind to keep vigilance on the Lone One, he was well aware of how serious it was. I admire that consistency from Duane; she commits to the rules of her world, even if it means that uncomfortable, sad things must happen.<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dancing around the Big Thing in this chapter. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been reading this site for a decent amount of time, you know that I tire of the trope of stories where disabled people are magically cured. In this book in particular, I braced myself for what I saw as the inevitable: Darryl would use his own kernel to remove his autism. Not only is it an ableist trope, but I worried that it would just be bad writing. If Darryl suddenly stops being autistic, all the wonderful, unique things that got him to the point where he is would be gone. Darryl being autistic isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a negative in the world.<\/p>\n
And then this happened.<\/p>\n
And then he lifted his chin. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
They looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No<\/i>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Darryl said more strongly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m me<\/i>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The solitaire analogy he makes works so well, too. This is the hand he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been dealt by life, and look where it got him. Look who it has made him. Why would he take that away?<\/p>\n
I know that these books were edited somewhat for timeline stuff, and I have no idea what else was changed. (It would be cool to know all this stuff once I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done with the series!) As the text stands, this is one of the very few times I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen this trope rejected, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m flat-out never seen it used in this specific manner. Granted, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not read many books with autistic characters, and certainly not any with them as the heroes of the story.<\/p>\n
How do others feel about this?<\/p>\n
http:\/\/youtu.be\/8bqrQOG6DiI?a<\/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. Check 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. My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>– Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the second half of the ninth chapter of A Wizard Alone, Nita unleashes her plan on the Lone One. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young 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-4077","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\/4077","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=4077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}