{"id":4360,"date":"2017-11-02T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4360"},"modified":"2017-10-29T09:56:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-29T16:56:26","slug":"mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-3-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/11\/mark-reads-lifeboats-chapter-3-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Lifeboats’: Chapter 3, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second part of the third chapter of Lifeboats<\/i>, Nita and Kit learn why thousands upon thousands of wizards are converging on one single planet. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young Wizards<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This is a lot of information, and while the information is necessary, this was dense<\/i>, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Because the group was so large and Mamvish had asked the assembled wizards not to interrupt with questions, this bit of exposition felt a tad long to me, especially when Mamvish was going into technical detail about certain aspects of worldgating wizardry that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure the reader needed <\/i>to know. However, it might not be an issue later if some of this plays a bigger part in the story itself. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible!<\/p>\n

At the very least, I know what Nita and Kit will be doing on Tevaral, though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be split up during their time on the planet. Is Duane planning to split the narrative, too? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done it plenty of times before, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M JUMPING AHEAD OF MYSELF, THOUGH. Look, I just need<\/i> to know why we get to that point that we saw in the opening. Does Kit fail<\/i>??? Does he discover that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t convince some of these people to leave their home? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re clearly building to that, and this whole scene explains the science of why<\/i> the Tevaral have to leave and why it must be soon<\/i>. And for what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fantastic chance for Duane to add a severe<\/i> sense of tension to this story. So even if Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instructions are long, they serve another purpose. Duane is setting out the rules of this conflict. We know that Thesba is about to rip apart, and once it does, the people left on Tevaral won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much time left. So Duane establishes a constant with this and with the cold open: Tevaral is going to be messed up<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Yet even the challenge of the worldgating provides another form of suspense. There are so many gates that will be opened and operational on Teveral that the teams of wizards need to be careful to watch out for any sort of failure or problem so that a contagion doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spread from one to the next, setting off a terrible chain reaction that could kill all those near gates or traveling within them. NO PRESSURE, OF COURSE. And yes, I did go watch a bunch of videos about ping pong balls and mouse traps, and they were incredibly entertaining until I thought of them as worldgates imploding and killing people and WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME DUANE.<\/p>\n

However, of everything that I learned here, it was the symbiotic relationship that intrigued me the most. I admit that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand it yet, but I can also tell that this is the point. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not supposed<\/i> to. None of the wizards get it either, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like any of them have ever dealt with a sort of biological imperative to stay connected to one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home. I wonder, then, if there really is some sort of unseen relationship between Tevaral and the 10% of the population that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like they can leave. Is something happening here that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s making this happen? How can you convince someone to do something that their entire body is telling them not<\/i> to do? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that the wizards are so explicit about consent here, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to force the Tevaralti to do anything they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this less frightening, either, and it also puts the first chapter in a new light. What if Kit is watching those who remained behind as their world is about to be destroyed? Did the wizards ultimately fail here???<\/p>\n

I AM SCARED.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/x1eUSrNQB88<\/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":"