{"id":5184,"date":"2020-05-18T05:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5184"},"modified":"2020-05-19T18:58:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T01:58:51","slug":"mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/05\/mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;The Shepherd&#8217;s Crown&#8217;: Chapter 12"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the twelfth chapter of <i>The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown<\/i>, Tiffany is summoned to deal with a surprising guest. 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>Oh, Tiffany.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to adore about this last stretch of <i>Discworld <\/i>books\u00e2\u20ac\u201dperhaps the last 10-15 or so\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis that Pratchett spent so much time building this world, and then he started asking questions of it. What counts as equality in this world? Who is forgotten? Trodden on? Ignored? What counts as a witch? <i>Who<\/i> counts as a witch? What does justice mean when people are forced into difficult choices? So much of this book in particular centers around the notion that tradition can be important and meaningful, but it is not a reason in and of itself to continue doing something. Another witch might have turned Geoffrey away, but not Tiffany Aching. Another witch might have accepted pressure from Mrs. Earwig, but not Tiffany Aching. And another witch might have immediately ordered the Feegles to kill Nightshade, the very Queen of the Elves who once tried to destroy her\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.<\/p>\n<p>But not Tiffany Aching.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This chapter throws this story in a completely new and unexpected direction, and I truly cannot anticipate what is going to happen from here. My thought was that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen the last of the Queen in any significant way. Peaseblossom had disposed of her, and that was what elves <i>do<\/i>. When they are done with a living thing, they discard it. There was no reason to assume that it would be different with the Queen either. And yet, the Queen is basically dumped directly on top of the Feegles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 home, and it is cause for a great emergency. Because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Pratchett has been telling us for multiple books, and not just the Tiffany ones: the elves move in great numbers. An invasion <i>never<\/i> involves a single elf. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just that; Pratchett also told us of the time when the Feegles lived in Fairyland. Their rallying cry throughout this chapter is one steeped in history: they will <i>never<\/i> bow to someone like the Queen again. So, the text combines this rich history with an expected twist: The Queen is definitely alone. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been horribly maimed and abused. There appear to be no other elves coming, and, most shocking of all: It seems she wants <i>help<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, the Feegles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reaction never seems irrational. No, it makes a whole lot of sense! Elves = danger. THE END. They always have! There has <i>never<\/i> been an exception to this. So even though Tiffany is summoned to deal with the Queen, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious the Feegles are expecting a certain outcome. Tiffany might interrogate the Queen, but violence is the answer! The best elf is a dead one, eh?<\/p>\n<p>But this is a special moment, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why Jeannie couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use her abilities to see beyond the day. This is going to have an enormous influence on the fate of these characters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an obvious path before Tiffany, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just due to what the Feegles want. Nightshade was HORRIBLE to Tiffany, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anyone would bat an eye if Tiffany had retaliated. But she comes to sense that this is a huge pivot point, too, and I LOVE what she does with it:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A witch is always on the edge, between the light and the dark, good and bad, making choices every day, judging all the time. It was what made her human. But what was it that made an elf? she wondered.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Tiffany is faced with a problem, and she <i>asks a question.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>So what IS an elf if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have their wings? Their power? Their glamour? Their entire realm? Tiffany sees this mess of an elf, and she still sees a person. Not human, but a <i>person<\/i>. She offers Nightshade what the elves refuse to offer their victims. Is it the practical choice? Probably not. But standing on that precipice, Tiffany makes her choice. She is going to treat this elf with kindness.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And goblins were treated as nobodies until somebody gave a thought to them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Oh, Tiffany. THIS IS HUGE. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if Nightshade is going to behave. I definitely don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that this is a trick; she really <i>is<\/i> at the lowest point of her life. Does she deserve to be treated this way, after all she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done to others? At the very least, Tiffany makes it clear that she deserves to be treated this way just by virtue of existing. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not foolish; she definitely threatens to hand Nightshade over to the elves if she does anything to harm anyone. And I genuinely don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Nightshade will do? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a desperate place, but once she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mended, will she just become the same person she was before? Is this a foolish act? I suspect it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, but like Jeannie, I cannot see beyond this. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an absolutely thrilling choice for Pratchett to make, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to do with it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/EB6X-GH8JMI<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9781250169211\">You can now pre-order my second YA novel, <i>Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/EachOfUsADesertPreorder\">If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>&#8211; 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 twelfth chapter of The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown, Tiffany is summoned to deal with a surprising guest. 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":[463,248,567],"class_list":["post-5184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-shepherds-crown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184","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=5184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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