{"id":4233,"date":"2017-06-23T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4233"},"modified":"2017-06-18T11:21:31","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T18:21:31","slug":"mark-reads-wizards-at-war-chapter-15-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/06\/mark-reads-wizards-at-war-chapter-15-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Wizards at War’: Chapter 15, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second half of the fifteenth and final chapter of Wizards at War, <\/i>I realize just how bittersweet this ending actually<\/i> is. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief and death of pets<\/b>.<\/p>\n

So, lemme just admit that this chapter works best when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not<\/i> split up, since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a giant piece on endings. Loss. Hope. For every bittersweet thing here, though, the second half of this chapter provides potential and possibility.<\/p>\n

LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DISCUSS.<\/p>\n

Dairine<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a callback later in this chapter during Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s POV where he recalls how recently Nita lost her mother, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meant to highlight the loss he feels now that Ponch has ascended. For many of us, our pets were very much like people in our lives, and losing a pet can be downright devastating. However, upon reading that line, I realized how much more distraught Dairine must have been, given that she lost her mother and then Roshaun in a relatively short span of time. Reading back on her scene which opens this section is hard<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. The grief is all over these pages, a testament to how talented Duane is as a writer. You can see it in the vacancies in the descriptions: thee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no crowd outside the palace; the plain is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153vast,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d made to seem all the more empty because there are no people on it; a single light burns at the end of a motionless hallway; Dairine herself didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even bother to change clothes or shower before traveling to Wellakh.<\/p>\n

In short, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unbearable, and her conversation with Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents is just as heartbreaking. There is a finality to their words, an inherent acceptance that Roshaun is gone and gave his life in order to save the universe. Which was surreal because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if Roshaun was actually<\/i> dead or if something else had happened that would explain his disappearance. And maybe Dairine was in denial of that, fine. I accept that. Still, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly an easy thing to tell Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents! So I understood why she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mention her hunch that he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dead. His parents were already grieving; why give them false hope? Why make matters worse?<\/p>\n

Yet here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first example of the possibility written into this ending. First, Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stone has responded to Dairine, which means she might actually be able to perform the same wizardly specialty as Roshaun, but for humanity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sun. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand what that entails, but training with Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father??? OKAY, I HOPE THAT IS IN THE NEXT BOOK.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bizarre dream journey that we find the most hope. The mobiles help create a version<\/i> of Timeheart\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really Timeheart? But sort of? In this, Dairine goes to the world that Roshaun \u00e2\u20ac\u0153created\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for himself (or was created for him, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure), only to discover a gate that leads\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 RIGHT BACK TO DAIRINE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S HOUSE. And Roshaun is gone, and this whole thing, as confusing as it was, HIGHLY SUGGESTS THAT ROSHAUN IS NOT DEAD AND MAY EXIST IN ANOTHER FORM OR STILL HAS WORK TO DO OH MY GOD, PLEASE. PLEASE<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m saving that for predictions for the next book.<\/p>\n

Nita<\/b><\/p>\n

The world keeps needing to be saved.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sober thought, especially after these characters lost so very much throughout Wizards at War<\/i>, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a succinct summary of what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to be a wizard. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really a time for wizards to truly rest, since the universe is always affected by entropy and death. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to see this as a commentary on our lives, too, that the quest for a just and fair world is never going to be about winning a single battle. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lifelong journey, a commitment to always<\/i> working towards a better life for all people. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more or less a parallel to Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dream, where the Lone One confronts her and tries to dissuade her from action by drilling home the idea that what she does is futile and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Maybe so, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all the more reason to make the life she does<\/i> have full of purpose and meaning. If this is all she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got, why waste it?<\/p>\n

Kit<\/b><\/p>\n

Like I said earlier, grief and loss is everywhere in this finale, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no more present than in Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big scene at the end. He follows routines out of habit, despite that everything reminds him of Ponch. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s agonizing to read both because of how sad it is and<\/i> because I related so very much to Kit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction. Often, your brain doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize how much meaning it has assigned to inanimate objects until a person or pet is gone, and then that meaning is obvious. Painful. Unfair.<\/p>\n

Like the food and water bowls. The leash. The walk. The dogs in the neighborhood behaving normally. All of it has the old meaning, but with a new one tacked on: this is what Kit used<\/i> to do with Ponch. IT HURT A LOT, OKAY? Now, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if Kit will ever get another dog, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame him if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for a while. However, that final scene was almost like Ponch giving him permission to, if only because PONCH IS NOW IN ALL DOGS <\/i>PLEASE HELP ME I AM TEARS. <\/i><\/b>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a fitting end for the character of Ponch, who we might very well see again in the future. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d sure like to. But if not\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, this is how a character should go out.<\/p>\n

Goddamn, what a book.<\/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

http:\/\/youtu.be\/nTx6gfv0BdE?a<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"