{"id":4350,"date":"2017-10-23T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4350"},"modified":"2017-10-22T18:32:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T01:32:07","slug":"mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/10\/mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Lifeboats’: Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first chapter of Lifeboats<\/i>, Kit faces the impossible. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh, cousins, what have you gotten me into this time?<\/p>\n

There is a terrible sense of grandeur to the opening of this book, one that filled me with dread. (And unless I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m told otherwise, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m considering this a novel. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way too long to be a novella. I AM ALSO NOT COMPLAINING.) That is an incredible thing to pull off in less than five pages, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not surprised. Duane has been mixing the impossible and the fantastical for this entire series. All of the previous books had something in them that was larger-than-life, something that was frightening and awe-inspiring. There was that alternate view of Manhattan, and there was the Deep. There was the planet of mobiles and the Pullulus.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m simultaneously gaining a further appreciation for Duane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m making this very sudden transition to being an actual author myself. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve probably noticed me talking more about my own writing over the last couple years, and it mostly came from a desire to be open about what this whole process feels like. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wanted y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all to be a part of that process because I hope to help inspire anyone who feels like they want to write, but might not the encouragement. I say all this because I am now discovering just how hard it is to combine genres. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the marketing aspect, which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to have to deal with for a while, but it is on my mind. How exactly does a publisher promote books that straddle the line between two genres of writing? (I am<\/i> actually curious if y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all recall seeing ads or promotions for these books. What were they like? Did they seem to lean on the fantasy elements or the science fiction ones?)<\/p>\n

But from a craft perspective, it is both freeing and frustrating to try to blur the lines. Duane seems to do this without effort, and I love how seamless this all feels. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a book about magic and wizards, and it is absolutely science fiction, too. Even in this opening chapter, you can see the threads that Duane is working with. We go from talk of wizardry to a hellish thing<\/i> that appears to be descending into an unnamed planet, prepared to annihilate it. Is that Earth? Another world? What are those electric campfires? A metaphor or something real?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly a creepy, unnerving image, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made even worse by the apparent apathy of Kit. Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he do anything? Where is everyone else? It is a brutally effective opening sequence, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unlike any we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten in previous Young Wizards<\/i> books. Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got that unmistakable combo of genres, and I AM JUST SO IMPRESSED OKAY. It is so hard to do! I say this because the first draft of Book #2 just might be two genres as well, but this shit is COMPLICATED.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m excited to find out what the hell<\/i> this is.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/vAs8G6WQXhQ<\/p>\n

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

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"