In the first half of the ninth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holiday<\/i>, Dairine is frustrated even more by Roshaun, and Nita overhears something disturbing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oh my god, Roshaun got\u00c2\u00a0worse<\/i>.<\/p>\n
So now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m left with one major question: why the\u00c2\u00a0hell<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0did Roshaun go on an excursus if he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to try to be a part of it at all? Granted, I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m operating with limited information at this point. All I have is what Duane has given to me through this chapter. Up to here, Roshaun has been rude. Cruel. Dismissive. Disrespectful. Uninterested in\u00c2\u00a0anything<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that Earth has to offer. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s elitist and a snob! In practically every sense, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a walking trope: the rich fantasy prince. I had hoped that Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little trip into his pup-tent (and to his home planet) would shed some light on his behavior. Maybe there was another explanation! Maybe his life at home wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what he made it out to be!<\/p>\n
Obviously, the nature of what I do here means that I have to formulate ideas and theories in ignorance, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still possible that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0get<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Roshaun, that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something to him beyond the obvious. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have that yet. What I have is a pup-tent full of an absurd level of opulence.<\/p>\n And the place was decorated as if it was a palace. There was elaborate artwork hanging against the walls or, in some cases, unsupported in the air; there was a great couch in the middle of everything, with rich coverings and ornate cushions scattered over it. There was enough furniture \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sofas and wardrobes and chests \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to supply a good-sized furniture store, except that no furniture store Dairine knew would be likely to carry\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0kind of stuff, everything glittering with gold or inlaid with green or blue metals that Dairine didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t immediately recognize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS ON AN EXCURSUS. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m biased in this regard because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m the kind of traveler who brings as little as humanly possible, but this\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0ridiculous, right? RIGHT? Except it only gets worse because OF COURSE IT DOES. Roshaun constructed a portal of sorts on the back of his pup-tent, circumventing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153guidelines\u00e2\u20ac\u009d set forth by the Powers because WHY NOT. WHY NOT PISS OFF THE POWERS THAT BE. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that sort of flouting of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153guidelines\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that enrages Dairine off so much. In the end,\u00c2\u00a0he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care<\/i>. When she meets him inside his absurdly luxurious palace, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that he knows he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Has he ever been held responsible for his behavior? Does anyone hold him accountable?\u00c2\u00a0Does anyone just tell him NO?<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, and everything this book is telling me points to a spoiled brat. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a man who has gotten EVERYTHING EVER and he sure as hell isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to change who he is for Dairine.<\/p>\n The guy is going to miss out on GOING TO MOUNT EVEREST. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of the point, of course; to him, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a job that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beneath his station, not a chance to learn about a new culture, to see something spectacular. But if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be such a perpetual jackass, then stay home. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going!<\/p>\n I was surprised by the jump to Kit and Nita in this chapter, especially since I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gotten so used to getting one POV per chapter. At this point, however, Duane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s juggling two very complicated stories, and I was appreciative that after the creepy end to the last chapter, we got another update. Clearly, even Kit knows something is wrong with the arrangement on Alaalid. In particular:<\/p>\n But they were difficult to maintain, and to defend. Death might be thrown out of a scenario, but It had ways of sneaking back in if you weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t very, very careful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the Alaalids being careful enough?<\/p>\n Then, Duane takes this story in another disturbing direction. Yes, Nita has a lot of similar thoughts to Kit about how Alaalu seems too good to be true, and I figured that this is what Duane would focus on. Yet when Nita takes a short trip home to get sunscreen, she overhears a conversation between her dad and Tom regarding \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cardinal events.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As best as I understood the term, these are key moments in a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history (or a group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, or a society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, or a whole civilization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, and so on) that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hinge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on a decision. That decision to intervene (as a wizard) could send things tumbling one way or another, but as Tom puts it:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All a wizard can do, in the face of one of these avalanches of chance and change, is pick a spot to intervene in the consequences and try to clean up afterward.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And apparently, Tom and some of his fellow wizards have recognized that a cardinal event is coming. For humans??? I think??? See, I could read this as being a warning about Earth\u00c2\u00a0or<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Alaalu, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T TELL. Which is it? What if this is a clue that Alaalu is about to face a huge, unforgettable change AND NITA AND KIT WILL BE THERE TO WATCH IT? And clean up the aftermath of it, maybe??? Oh god, way to make me\u00c2\u00a0even more nervous<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about this than I was before, Duane. THANKS.<\/p>\n I am thrilled to confirm that I will be a Guest at CrossingsCon 2017! Badges are now available, so COME HANG OUT WITH ME THIS SUMMER<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G2MxerNo_Cc<\/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 ninth chapter of\u00c2\u00a0Wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Holiday, Dairine is frustrated even more by Roshaun, and Nita overhears something disturbing. 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":[525,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wizards-holiday","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125","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=4125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4125"}],"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":"