{"id":4780,"date":"2018-11-23T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4780"},"modified":"2018-11-18T05:08:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T13:08:19","slug":"mark-reads-going-postal-chapter-13-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/11\/mark-reads-going-postal-chapter-13-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Going Postal&#8217;: Chapter 13, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the first part of the thirteenth chapter of <i>Going Postal<\/i>, Pratchett keeps me guessing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just gonna start by saying that MY BOYFRIEND\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NAME IS IN THE BOOK. Okay, I genuinely have nothing more of substance to say about this beyond it being cool as hell. THIS NEVER HAPPENS.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But lord, I felt so pleased that I knew where this was going with the Smoking Gnu, and I celebrated too early because NOW I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW WHAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S GOING TO HAPPEN. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with this: Is Ridcully sending the whole <i>book<\/i> to Genua via the clacks? Just the title? I know that seems like a silly question, but are the rules here that the <i>whole<\/i> message must make it to Genua, or will any part of it arriving first mean that the Grand Trunk has won? I also believe there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important clue in the beginning of this chapter. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like Pratchett dropped in the whole baize-space bit just as a joke. (STILL A GREAT ONE.) So yes, I actually <i>do<\/i> have something substantial to say aside from nothing that Baize\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name is RIGHT THERE. Because maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Moist solves the problem of getting to Genua in record time! What if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>Hex<\/i> that is the key? Note how Hex uses magic in order to move a billiard ball through an obstacle by moving it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153into a theoretical parallel dimension where there is unoccupied flat surface, and maintains speed and drag until it can be brought back to this one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>HI, WOULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T THAT BE GREAT FOR MOIST. Maybe???<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the Woodpecker. We know how it works, but I will admit to some confusion. Was Pratchett just describing how it worked? Did Moist wake up after dreaming about how it worked? Or did this <i>actually<\/i> happen overnight? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think so, and this line made me think it was all just a dream description:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work. Somewhere on the line there was going to be one inconvenient engineer who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d risk his job to send a message ahead saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a killer, shift it slowly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that would be that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That mostly clears it up to me; this wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be written that way if it <i>had <\/i>actually happened, but I did want to bring it up to explain some confusion on my part as I was reading this. So, the Woodpecker, if it is pulled off, will render destruction to the whole line and might actually cause injury or death. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a big deal. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an easy decision to make here, and it changes my feelings on the use of it from the previous review. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Moist going to do, then? Risk this in order to delay the clacks? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the source of the majority of the tension in this chapter, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: how the fuck is Moist going to do this???<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But that was a secondary thought, edging past the big dark one now unfolding in the mirror.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Look into the abyss and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see something growing, reaching toward the light. It whispered: Do this. This will work. Trust me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What the hell is <i>this<\/i>? With this moment, the text a slightly dark turn. As has been the case before, Pratchett keeps the idea\/plan from the reader. What we know at first is that this is a <i>real<\/i> messed up idea, one that is fueled by Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desire to absolutely destroy Gilt in every way possible short of taking his life. Previously, he just wanted to bankrupt him, but this turn is <i>much<\/i> more intense and all-encompassing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So what does a broomstick with stars painted on the handle have to do with this all? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know!!! When Moist sought out Miss Dearheart, I was confused even further. What the hell does he need with all the paperwork and evidence against Gilt and his men? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153higher\u00e2\u20ac\u009d court than\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 actual court? Public opinion? I mean, I could buy that, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a secret that the Grand Trunk Company is messed up. Is Moist trying to set up some sort of massive public rejection? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something there or else he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have committed to this.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, with only a vague sense of what is going to happen, I am pushed into the final confrontation. I think based on Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conversation with Alex at the end of this split, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still going to go forward with using The Woodpecker. Moist has prepared <i>another<\/i> aspect to this display that involves a painted broomstick and Miss Dearheart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s notes. But to add an aura of panic and doom to it all, the final scene itself is chilling. Igor has resigned from Reacher Gilt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s service, and in doing so, has left an upsetting final message: get out of Ankh-Morpork while you can. Christ, what do they <i>know<\/i>? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SCARED.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/rKWz7zQrrFQ<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/AngerIsAGift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\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 first part of the thirteenth chapter of Going Postal, Pratchett keeps me guessing. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\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":[451],"tags":[553,463,248],"class_list":["post-4780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-going-postal","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4780","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=4780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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