{"id":4622,"date":"2018-07-23T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4622"},"modified":"2018-07-22T14:41:08","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T21:41:08","slug":"mark-reads-a-hat-full-of-sky-chapter-1-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/07\/mark-reads-a-hat-full-of-sky-chapter-1-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘A Hat Full of Sky’: Chapter 1, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first part of the first chapter of A Hat Full of Sky<\/i>, a familiar character deals with leaving home. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome to book #32 in the Discworld<\/i> series, friends, and I am so incredibly happy that I get to return to the world of Tiffany Aching. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little strange to read all of this without<\/i> the illustrations, but I admit that they have helped me greatly in visualizing this world. I felt like I was returning to a familiar place! It also helps that even in these fifteen pages or so, A Hat Full of Sky<\/i> really seemed like a direct sequel to The Wee Free Men<\/i>, picking up fairly soon after where that one ended.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so exciting to me because I wanted to know where Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey would take her, given how witchcraft in this series works and how different it is from traditional fantasy novels. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a memorization of spells; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a granted skill that must be harnessed. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much thought<\/i> put into it, and witches more or less need the right guide. So, who would Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guide be<\/i>?<\/p>\n

But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mystery that opens A Hat Full of Sky<\/i>, an ancient thing<\/i> that has zeroed in on Tiffany and her unique mind. As is usually the case with Discworld<\/i> stories framed like this, I basically get no real information about what this is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a hint of what is to come, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me how this is timed to occur right as Tiffany leaves home\u00e2\u20ac\u201dreally<\/i> leaves home, that is, not like the adventure she went in during The Wee Free Men<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor the first time. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s me overthinking this again, but that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just a plot coincidence or foreshadowing; it works as a commentary on children testing out adulthood. What other point in time is a person more<\/i> interesting inside their head than when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re entering a new world for the first time? Tiffany is absolutely about to do that, even if she stays on the Disc for the entirety of the book. Leaving home is frightening, exhilarating, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge<\/i> change for a person to go through. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no coincidence that so many young adult and middle grade novels feature disruptions like this, you know?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also sobering and relatable that while A Hat Full of Sky<\/i> recounts the events of the previous Tiffany Aching book, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reminded of what Tiffany went through and then shown that she is still nervous. <\/i>Courage and bravery are not granted as life-long qualities that eliminate all fear forever<\/i>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfectly beautiful that Tiffany survived an unreal ordeal and still<\/i> experiences fear over what is to come next for her. I love that she cries as she leaves Granny Aching and the farm behind because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so often shown heroes who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> emotional like this. YES, MORE CRYING ALL THE TIME. More characters being afraid or emotional or nervous about having to do big, scary things!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I do hope that we see lots of the Nac Mac Feegle during this, though I wonder if the scene that ends this section is a warning: they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re always going to be around, but they might not be there<\/i>. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the sense that Pratchett would keep them around just to provide a means of protecting Tiffany, for example. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not plot resolutions, you know? If anything, I wonder if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just annoy<\/i> Tiffany more than anything else. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to guess, though, because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much to go on to predict where Miss Tick is going to take her. Somewhere far? Will she be teaching her or someone else? WILL I KNOW THE TEACHER? Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited!!! BRING IT ON.<\/p>\n

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

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

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\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":"