{"id":4877,"date":"2019-02-04T05:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4877"},"modified":"2019-02-03T06:37:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T14:37:35","slug":"mark-reads-wintersmith-chapter-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/02\/mark-reads-wintersmith-chapter-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Wintersmith&#8217;: Chapter 9"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the ninth chapter of <i>Wintersmith<\/i>, Tiffany has a disturbing interaction. 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>This is INCREDIBLE. The story, the writing itself, the character growth\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord, this book is really coming together, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m having so much fun reading it. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with one of my favorite images conjured by Practhett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words in this chapter:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Once the forest had been pretty. Now it was hateful. Dark trunks against snowdrifts, a striped world of black and white, bars against the light. She longed for horizons.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You know, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have understood this years and years ago, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now been through a few brutal winters, and this has such an incredible power in it. But it has to; Pratchett is building this up as a means of creating suspense. He has to slowly increase the intensity of winter in this part of the Disc so that Tiffany is pushed out of town. Here, he uses \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hateful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to describe the forest; he plants an image in our mind of an endless stretch of white, one that exists because of how heavy the snowfall is. So much of <i>Wintersmith<\/i> is about contrasts. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powers of Summer are so significant, too. In the midst of such a horrific blast of winter, she is finally able to conjure up a sign of life and of spring. That acorn split, and from it grew an oak. A tree <i>grew<\/i>at an accelerated pace because of Tiffany! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a powerful accomplishment, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping it leads to more so that Tiffany can fight back against the Wintersmith. (Oh god, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still haunted by the first chapter. <i>Is<\/i> that what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen, or will it be something else???)<\/p>\n<p>But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something else to celebrate in the interim. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finally happening, yet he we are, after she was first introduced in <i>A Hat Full of Sky<\/i>, and SHE IS CHANGING. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing it in her own way, but I consider it an achievement on the part of Pratchett that this comes off so well. It helps that this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore Annagramma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s troubled history. Indeed, this book in particular has addressed Mrs. Earwig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flawed teaching in a satisfying way, and Annagramma is very aware of her own shortcomings, even if she still does mess up. But she turns her know-it-all nature into <i>her<\/i> witchcraft, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brilliant change for her. Annagramma learns in her own way, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually happening, you know?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Tiffany went around the villages with Annagramma a few times and knew that she would make it, eventually. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d got built-in Boffo. She was tall and arrogant and acted as if she knew everything even when she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a clue. That would get her a long way. People listened to her.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also now realizing that this is a bit of foreshadowing for what Annagramma eventually does to become the witch she needs to be for her steading. BOFFO. Oh my god???<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get to that later, though, because I did want to talk about the format of time here. This is the only chapter where Pratchett intersperses Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s POV with italic asides about the progress of winter. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a simple thing to do, but it works so well! By rapidly switching scenes\/POV, it allows us to feel like Pratchett is pushing the narrative forward quicker. Thus, we get a sense for the severity of the Wintersmith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obsession with Tiffany with each update. The weather gets worse, and every living thing tries to adapt to it, from wolves to humans to trees.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But then two stories converge, and this book gets REALLY UNNERVING. The Wintersmith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transformation into a human has been creepy enough, but his internal monologue about the meaning of humanity is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a lot, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? So we get that internal view here, and it helps us to see the Wintersmith as an imitator, as someone who <i>thinks<\/i> they know what it means to be human, but is still terribly missing the mark. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not <i>just<\/i> creepy, is it? Because despite all this, the Wintersmith <i>does<\/i> get close to the complicated beauty of humanity:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>To smell the trees! To feel the pull of the ground! To be solid! To feel the darkness behind your eyes and know it was you! To be\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand know yourself to be\u00e2\u20ac\u201da man!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I made this remark on video, but what if this helped the Wintersmith to understand humans better? It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be happening, at least not yet. I mean, he refers to humans as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nothing more really than a bag of dirty water on legs.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still so mad that this is technically correct. I KEEP LAUGHING WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT.) The Wintersmith clearly still thinks that Tiffany will be thrilled that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a man now, and that is also ONE HUNDRED PERCENT NOT TIFFANY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S REACTION. He might be starting to appreciate humanity and the unique experience that comes with it, but will he <i>respect<\/i> humans? Is he going to respect the fact that Tiffany doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually want him?<\/p>\n<p>I am certain we will find out <i>very<\/i> soon, perhaps the next chapter. I say that because the final long sequence of this chapter escalates matters so quickly that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still reeling. (ANNAGRAMMA. I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T.) Tiffany is now being <i>physically<\/i> affected by winter in a way she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t before. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so sleepy that Granny struggled to keep her awake multiple times, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s urged to go home and get as far away from the mountains as possible, but oh my god. I DID NOT EXPECT THIS TO HAPPEN. I mean, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud of Tiffany, and y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, Granny complimented her. I KNEW SHE COULD DO THIS, so that is not what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m referring to. I am, of course, talking about the INCREDIBLE moment when the Wintersmith and Tiffany collide. Pratchett packs so much into this scene, too! We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the people of Annagramma\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s steading around Miss Treason\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grave, desperate for the kind of help that she gave. Tiffany does her best to help them, but in the end, it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t her job. That belongs to Annagramma, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only so much Tiffany can do.<\/p>\n<p>WHICH IS WHY THIS IS SO PERFECT. The Wintersmith arrives, having taken a coach to find Tiffany, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s HORRIFYING. He really believed that he could just continue the Dance with her now that he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153human\u00e2\u20ac\u009d! Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to this instilled fear in me, too. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t usually freeze up in the face of conflict like this, but this truly is frightening. So yeah, it was an absolutely treat when Annagramma burst out of her cottage, wearing ALL OF THE BOFFO GEAR AT ONCE to save Tiffany with a flying ball of fire. One thing I really love about this is how selfless it is; Annagramma does something risky and scary to help someone <i>else<\/i>, and it comes off as a huge step in the right direction for her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also funny as hell because the image of this young woman in all these stereotypically witchy accessories is TOO MUCH. She bought it all, I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T BELIEVE IT. But I can! It makes perfect since that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just try everything at once the first time around!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>She saved Tiffany. She gave Tiffany her broom. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WHOLE BOOK.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/dJnIcbSF_N0<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/19\/the-anger-is-a-gift-paperback-edition-is-out-may-7-2019\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\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 ninth chapter of Wintersmith, Tiffany has a disturbing interaction. 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":[463,248,556],"class_list":["post-4877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-wintersmith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877","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=4877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4877"}],"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! -->