{"id":4528,"date":"2018-04-27T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4528"},"modified":"2018-04-22T08:47:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:47:19","slug":"mark-reads-on-ordeal-roshaun-chapter-3-part-iv-epilogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/04\/mark-reads-on-ordeal-roshaun-chapter-3-part-iv-epilogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8220;On Ordeal: Roshaun&#8221; &#8211; Chapter 3, Part IV \/ Epilogue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the fourth and final part of chapter three of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Ordeal: Roshaun,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Roshaun goes home. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Young Wizards<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I really, <i>really<\/i> loved this, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfectly paced; each of the insights given to the reader about Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time before he was granted the art of wizardry tie into other plots, and the ending is just so beautiful and haunting. As I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said before, most readers probably went into this short story knowing how it ended. (I would be genuinely surprised if someone read this and had <i>not<\/i> ever read any other part of the <i>Young Wizards<\/i> series. That would be\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a strange experience, I guess?) Yet even with a giant spoiler in the audience\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwe all knew that Roshaun <i>had<\/i> to make the right choice!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDuane still manages to excite and enthrall me. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO MAGICAL.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And in the final moments of this story, she gives us a glimpse of this family that adds context to what I had <i>already<\/i> read. Seriously, I imagine re-reading all of Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scenes throughout <i>Young Wizards<\/i> would be immensely entertaining now that I know how his Ordeal went down. But before I get to the loving family dynamics on display, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about this gut-wrenchingly happy moment:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Finally,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said in the Speech, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<i>finally<\/i>, good morning cousin!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand the whole upper atmosphere shivered in anticipation of how, in six minutes or so, it would be crackling with auroral discharge, the token of the star\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sudden delight.<\/p>\n<p><i>Finally<\/i>, Thahit said, or seemed to say: <i>cousin, good day!<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Roshaun has spent <i>years<\/i> being unable to say a single thing to Thahit. He used other devices, he had things translated or ferried to him, and after all this time, THE FIRST THING HE DOES ONCE HE GETS HOME IS SAY HELLO TO THE SUN. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s!!! So!!! Pure!!! As is the response Thahit gives him! Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I just feel so <i>good<\/i>, you know??? Duane built up the importance of this because of that earlier scene on Rirhait (right before Avseh introduced herself), and then the other shoe drops here, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s MAGNIFICENT.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Of course, I could not even <i>attempt<\/i> a proper review of this chapter if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk about Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s princely dramatics. Now I can see why he was so endlessly dramatic with Dairine; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s his second nature. Instead of just telling his father where he had been for <i>days<\/i>, he just pulls out his goddamn Aethyr, one of the best power moves I have <i>ever<\/i> seen in this whole series. IT IS INCREDIBLE, and it is so very Roshaun. Like, of <i>course<\/i> he had to be completely showy in his reveal that Nelaid and Miril\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son was a wizard.<\/p>\n<p>But I also adore how much <i>love<\/i> there is in practically every word of these scenes. Once Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents know the truth, notice just how supportive they become of their son. They speak to him with both reverence\u00e2\u20ac\u201dclearly they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re very excited and proud!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand respect. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore the fact that this is going to complicate matters further. BUT:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had too long a day. Son, we will manage this for the best. What our political allies and enemies will make of it, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve long had our suspicions. Plans that have long lain prepared will simply need a little adjustment to suit present conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In short? <i>Everything will be fine<\/i>, and Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents will do everything they can to make sure that happens. Nelaid is just so excited, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all!!! He MIGHT PLAN A PARADE FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT, which is just so deeply, deeply adorable. Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother, though, has a much more subtle reaction. Still supportive, yes, but note that she is the one to pick up on the fact that Rho left out a particularly upsetting detail of his Challenge. Perhaps Nelaid noticed it, too, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one who waits until she is alone with her son before she asks about it. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mince her words, either, but rather, she speaks the truth: the Aethyrs will take those three sunrounds, and Roshaun cannot try to get out of that. Now, regarding her point that the Aethyr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t specify that they would take three sunrounds <i>off<\/i> Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, but that they would ask for that time to do their work\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sticking with my theory. It makes a lot of sense that Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time holding that elemental\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s place in the sun was the Powers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 claiming Rho\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promise. RIGHT??!?!?! I mean, there are already other moments in this novella that tie in to the series at large, you know?<\/p>\n<p>YES, I AM REFERRING TO ROSHAUN ACTUALLY SEEING KIT AND NITA DURING THAT MASSIVE DISTURBANCE AT THE CROSSINGS. Oh my god??? Help???<\/p>\n<p>As cool as that was, the one moment in the final section that hit me the hardest was also one of the saddest. In the epilogue, as Duane quietly gives us a sense of how Roshaun adapted to being a wizard (which includes the aloofness we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll later see in the series), there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this passage:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And if there was a day when the Prince met his royal mother and father for breakfast and said, softly and in pain, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is just one of me again,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they never spoke of it in any other being\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hearing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ouch, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It means this happened <i>before<\/i> he met Dairine for the first time, but I still got the sense that Clone Roshaun continued on his tragic journey for quite some time. This wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a few weeks; it had to be long enough for that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153strange legend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the exiled Wellakhit noble to make its way back home. Clone Roshaun did his best, right up until he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it anymore. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>haunting<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, especially since we know that the clone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s memories\/experiences returned to Roshaun after his death. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some heavy shit to live with! But this whole experience provides us with much-needed context, and Roshaun has never felt like a more complete character than now. Which makes me very excited to see what Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ordeal will reveal to me!!!<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/G79_R0WuIKw<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2017\/9\/22\/i-am-proud-to-announce-my-ya-contemporary-debut-anger-is-a-gift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the fourth and final part of chapter three of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Ordeal: Roshaun,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Roshaun goes home. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young 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":[542,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interim-errantry-2","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528","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=4528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The path to wp-cache-phase1.php in wp-content/advanced-cache.php must be fixed! -->