{"id":5189,"date":"2020-05-25T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5189"},"modified":"2020-05-27T11:07:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T18:07:49","slug":"mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/05\/mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Shepherd’s Crown’: Chapter 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth chapter of The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown<\/i>, Tiffany makes a split-second decision that has her questioning her path. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For violence against a child<\/b><\/p>\n

Pratchett does an interesting thing here to demonstrate Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moral character. Earlier in The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown<\/i>, Tiffany helped bring Tiffany Robinson into the world. (Which is also part of the motif of the number three and a parallel with Geoffrey.) Because the young girl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entire family fawned over the boys who were born before her, Tiffany took it upon herself to care for this ignored child. Not only was this the means by which Tiffany discovered that the elves kidnapped young Tiffany, but I think it also contributes to Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instantaneous reaction to the elves who were hurting her:<\/p>\n

The elves were laughing, but as Tiffany swooped down, she sent fire blazing from her fingertips and into them and watched them burn. She was shuddering with her fury, a fury so intense it was threatening to overcome her. If she met any more elves that night, they too would be dead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Tiffany is<\/i> a thoughtful and careful witch, and while she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly not been opposed to using violence in the past\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI mean, the first of her books opened with her smashing Jenny Greenteeth over the head with a frying pan\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not her first instinct. At the same time, Pratchett put Tiffany in a situation where pretty much any<\/i> of us would have responded with violence. Tiffany isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even a mother herself\u00e2\u20ac\u201dshe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the maiden, remember?\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut she behaves in a motherly way when it comes to Tiffany Robinson.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Tiffany still questions herself immediately. Immediately!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
And she had to stop herself there, suddenly appalled at what she had done. Only a witch gone to the dark would kill<\/i>, she screamed at herself inside her head.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This speaks so deeply to who Tiffany is: she is willing to turn an intensely critical gaze within. She is aware of what traps a witch might fall into, and despite this being a clear-cut moral issue to me, I respect that she questions herself. Is she thinking of the attacking elves as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just\u00e2\u20ac\u009d elves, all while trying to convince Nightshade she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more<\/i> than \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an elf? Does that make her a hypocrite or on the path to being a hypocrite?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a complicated question, but I think the answer comes out over the course of this chapter. Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consultation with Nanny is part of that, of course, since she is so no-nonsense about it. And Nanny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s question cuts right to the heart of it:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 enjoy<\/i> it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And clearly, she did not<\/i>. She was horrified in the VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t disagree with Nanny here, either. Tiffany has this power, and while witches thrive on what magic they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> use, there has to come a time when using it is right. Protecting an infant from pain and torture? Yeah, I feel like Tiffany was purely in the right here. I also know that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to have to make more decisions like this in the future; the elves aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stopping their invasion for the time being, and the brief Peaseblossom POV has made that clear. This is only going to escalate, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only going to get worse, and the witches might have to do drastic things to save their world.<\/p>\n
I also just want to take a quick moment to say that I have no idea why Nanny didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice that she knocked over a present. But yeah, that worries me? WHAT IS THIS FORESHADOWING.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I was SO SURPRISED that we actually got to see the King of the Elves again. (It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been since Lords and Ladies<\/i>, right?) I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind seeing Casanunda one last time, too, but holy shit, the whole scene under the Long Man? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO SO SO SO GOOD. I love how this all feels<\/i> so Tiffany-esque. Of all the witches, she is absolutely the one who would visit the King of the Elves to try and get him to stop the elf invasion. This is what she does! While anyone else might be quick to fight or would ignore him entirely, she tries to reason<\/i> with him. Tiffany can do \u00e2\u20ac\u0153persuading,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you know? (And look only to her scenes with Nightshade for examples of that in this book. More on that in a bit.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go how she wants, but I admit to not expecting him to just give permission to Tiffany to kill any elves she wanted to. But it makes sense! This dude is just vibing in his dimensional realm naked and with a bunch of other dudes which is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 so ridiculously homoerotic? Anyway, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that the King of the Elves hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t changed. At all<\/i>. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still smelly, naked, and has large\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 essentials? He still loves his world, he has no interest in reuniting with his Queen, and the world of humans is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just there<\/i>. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hate it; he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to conquer it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one of many worlds that his people can play in.<\/p>\n
And even though Tiffany is a little afraid, and even though the glamour threatens to overwhelm her, she still tries<\/i> to convince the King to keep the elves out of her world. Gods, I love her so much! I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t call her fearless in her attempt with the King. Rather, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that she follows through. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give up, and she does her absolute best to let him know that the world has changed<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer what it was: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the days of iron.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Does it work? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to see. The King has<\/i> historically taken interest in the humans before (thinking of Lords and Ladies<\/i>), so maybe Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words and her bravery will get through to him. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thing: I think it was worth the try. I say that because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a recurring theme in this book. You could say the same thing about Geoffrey. Nancy. Becky. Nightshade. Change can only be made if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re courageous enough to accept that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even possible, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Tiffany comes from. That place of potential<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also what I see in her continued attempts to change Nightshade\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outlook. I LOVED THAT SEQUENCE, TOO! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so satisfying, especially since it does wonders to actually help the reader to understand what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to look at the world through the eyes of an elf. Because yeah, an act of charity is<\/i> nonsensical to an elf. Elves possess no empathy at all, so they literally cannot imagine another being as living a full and complete life separate from their own. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s narcissism taken to a horrible extreme. For an elf, the world literally<\/i> revolves around them at the center, and every day is a struggle to manifest that reality. Including with other elves! We know elves don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even respect and care for other<\/i> elves!!!<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a huge moment when Nightshade asks if Tiffany is her friend. Holy shit, the elves don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have friends at ALL. Why would they? That would require them to do something\u00e2\u20ac\u201dliterally anything!!!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t self-serving. And when Nightshade does<\/i> do something like this\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhelping an old woman by carrying her belongings home\u00e2\u20ac\u201dshe has to admit that she feels unlike an elf. But what if that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t true? What if elves are capable of more than they think they are, but no one has ever just tried<\/i> something different?<\/p>\n
The last line of this chapter is so damn good, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, since that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Tiffany is trying to achieve here in more ways than one:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you learn things,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she finished softly, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you might find yourself building a different kind of kingdom.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Tiffany is already trying to change the world of witches, both in how she works and in training Geoffrey. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done so many things that witches aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153supposed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to do, so who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to say that an elf can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change either?<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZBEUrcXxU6M<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– You can now pre-order my second YA novel, Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a>
\n– Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.
\n<\/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>9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the fifteenth chapter of The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown, Tiffany makes a split-second decision that has her questioning her path. 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-5189","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\/5189","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=5189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}