{"id":479,"date":"2011-08-12T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=479"},"modified":"2011-08-07T23:04:35","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T06:04:35","slug":"mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass-chapter-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/08\/mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass-chapter-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Amber Spyglass’: Chapter 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twentieth chapter of The Amber Spyglass<\/em>, Mary attempts to discover the reason why the trees that produce the seedpods that the mulefa<\/em> need to survive are becoming sick. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Amber Spyglass<\/em>.<\/p>\n

CHAPTER TWENTY: CLIMBING<\/strong><\/p>\n

I surprised at how short chapter twenty was, especially since practically every chapter this week was significantly lengthy. But even in this brief journey through the mulefa<\/em> world, we get a better idea of how the threat of the Authority in all words manifests itself.<\/p>\n

I suppose I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being a bit presumptuous with that, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to take the risk and guess that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m right. The Specters feed on Dust (or, at least, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153adults\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who begin to properly experience it) in Citt\u00c3\u00a1gazze. The Magisterium was trying to eliminate Dust through their experiments in Bolvangar. And I bet if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d spent more time in Will and Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see how people were aiming to suppress just what Mary was doing. (Which makes me wonder…what the hell happened to the people who were pursuing Will? You know, the pale-haired man. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing he is an agent of the Authority in that world, since he seemed so desperate to do whatever he could to get John Parry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letters.)<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not entirely positive, but since we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already learned that every<\/em> world was tested by the Authority, I think it stands to reason that every world is also threatened by some force aiming to destroy Dust in some way.<\/p>\n

Mary doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that this<\/em> is what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bound to find at the top of these epic trees, but she knows that she needs to get up in the canopy if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to discover why the trees are not producing seedpods as they used to before. Her initial challenge, though, is the sheer logistics of this. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that Pullman makes Mary so unsure about this, that despite having a little experience with rock climbing, she is not an expert, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely aware of this at all moments. Yes, she does ultimately make it up into the tree, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a process that is easy and fearless. Hell, it takes her a full day to even begin<\/em> to make an attempt to ascend the great trunk of one of these trees. Even then, she loses two hand-made arrows during the process, and even though she designs a method to possibly<\/em> save herself if she fell, we know that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a slim chance, at that. The mulefa<\/em> themselves are outright horrified at the entire display, being creatures of solid ground, as they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t conceive of ever leaving the ground. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all that they know.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Mary does manage to reach the canopy as she desired, and she discovers that the thick bark on the tree is actually rather conducive to climbing. She continues to climb higher and higher into the tree, using what little knowledge of rock climbing she has to do so. I like that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a mental journey as well; it seems that the higher she gets, the more comfortable she is with herself and for her safety. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sense of clam and respect up in that tree, and she touches the leaves with grace and affection, examining the tiny flowers that produce the massive seedpods that keep the mulefa<\/em> alive. She even gets the sensation that some \u00e2\u20ac\u0153huge, dim benevolence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is holding her up in that tree, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like a pair of giant hands.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As she lay in the fork of the great branches, she felt a kind of bliss she had only felt once before; and that was not when she made her vows as a nun.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh shit<\/em>. I forgot Mary was once a nun! Sorry, Pullman, I get what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying here, but I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but laugh at this line. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tad distracting? In the sense that you just said she felt this feeling before, but why tell us of the one moment she did not<\/em> feel it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just strange.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I have to poke fun at myself for a bit, however. Ok, so Mary made an instrument. It uses glass<\/em>. And it uses an amber<\/em>-colored sap. And if you read my review of chapter seventeen, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll notice that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a single mention of the fact that MARY JUST CREATED THE AMBER SPYGLASS<\/strong>. Oh my god, my brain is precious<\/em>. That is probably the best example of me just not getting<\/em> the obvious, so when I came to the part where Mary describes the amber spyglass that the mulefa<\/em> made for her using bamboo, I just gently placed my head in my hands and groaned. Again, right in front of my face<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Using this wonderful instrument, Mary is able to observe the movement of the sraf<\/em>, which drift slowly and randomly through the air, until she notices a very subtle movement of the sraf<\/em> away from the land, and out towards the sea. For particles with a consciousness, she knows this movement has<\/em> to be significant.<\/p>\n
Returning to the solid ground of the mulefa<\/em>, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pleased to discover the affection relief of her friends, most especially Atal. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve said it before, but I really adore this relationship, and I honestly can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of another one even close to this one. The two head down to Sattamax, with Mary on her friend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back, so that she can report on her findings. Unfortunately, those findings are far from the joy she experiences with her friend.<\/p>\n
Again, to repeat what I said in the introduction, I willing to bet that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153current\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that Mary observed that seems to carry only the sraf<\/em> is something caused by the Authority. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that the tualapi<\/em> are also native to the sea, and are deadly enemies to the mulefa<\/em>. But something did<\/em> change three hundred years prior, and that something affected the way that the flowers on the seedpod trees collected pollen. Since the flowers are all upright, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re missing pollination by sraf<\/em> since it is no longer falling down.<\/p>\n
It is<\/em> a dire situation, but everyone–Mary and the mulefa<\/em>–agree to work together to determine what it is that is causing this mysterious current that carries the sraf<\/em>. One even helps Mary with designing a new way for her to climb the tree:<\/p>\n
They knew the techniques of using pulleys and tackle, and presently one suggested a way of lifting Mary easily into the canopy so as to save her the dangerous labor of climbing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Dear random mulefa<\/em>: WHERE WERE YOU THE DAY BEFORE WHEN MARY WAS CLIMBING THE TREE ON HER OWN?<\/strong> Seriously, you would have been a massive<\/em> help had you spoken up yesterday<\/em>. GOSH.<\/p>\n
Hey, are you feeling hope? Do you feel as if Mary has the right intentions, and are you excited to see the mulefa<\/em> discover what is happening with their version of Dust? Then allow Pullman to ruin all of that<\/em> with some Father Gomez!<\/p>\n
But it would have taken him much longer if it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been for a difference in the weather. In the world he was in, it was hot and dry, and he was increasingly thirsty; and seeing a wet patch of rock at the top of a scree, he climbed up to see if there was a spring there. There wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, but in the world of the wheel-pod trees, there had just been a shower of rain; and so it was that he discovered the window and found where Mary had gone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
OH, HELL NO. Oh, Father Gomez, if you ruin everything, I will command the world to open up and eat you<\/em>. God DAMN IT.<\/p>\n
———-<\/p>\n
Remember to enter the\u00c2\u00a0BridgeToTheStars\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>contest<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to win a copy of\u00c2\u00a0The Amber Spyglass<\/em>, and to visit\u00c2\u00a0this week’s spoiler thread!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the twentieth chapter of The Amber Spyglass, Mary attempts to discover the reason why the trees that produce the seedpods that the mulefa need to survive are becoming sick. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Amber … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,79],"tags":[23,81,62,80],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-his-dark-materials","category-the-amber-spyglass","tag-mark-reads","tag-mark-reads-the-amber-spyglass","tag-philip-pullman","tag-the-amber-spyglass-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","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=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}