In the second half of the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad<\/i>, Nita travels alone to a strange place. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
OH MY GOD I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M ALREADY SO INTO IT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to find a connection to a work of fiction when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re able to recognize yourself in it, though, so I know that is playing a part in this. But there really is a lot here to like aside from that kind of personal bias; this is the start of an adventure. More so than the past three books, this feels explicit. Nita is taken far, far out of her comfort zone and thrust right into a new batch of weirdness, AND I CANNOT WAIT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT.<\/p>\n
Goodbyes<\/b><\/p>\n
Duane finds a great balance between legitimate teen angst and legitimate\u00c2\u00a0wizard<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0angst, and I\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0believe there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difference between the two. Nita is upset that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being pulled away from her life with Kit, and in that, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a relatable bit of teen angst that Duane taps into. I even recall reading more than a few books growing up that used this same premise where the parents sent their kid on a summer vacation with a distant relative they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that while.<\/p>\n
So while this starts in a familiar place on that level, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also utterly unfamiliar to me. Nita has things at her disposal that change the circumstances. She can thought-speak with Kit, first of all. But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alleviate her concern over abandoning her wizardly plans in order to satisfy her parents.\u00c2\u00a0That<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is not the usual teen angst, you know? Her responsibilities as a wizard are real and valid! She has a right to feel like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been derailed. Yet she resigns herself over the course of the rest of this chapter to accepting that she is leaving and she must deal with it. Her goodbye is sad, but watching her transformation is also a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
I say that because traveling internationally can be really, really scary. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird to admit that, but I was\u00c2\u00a0terrified<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of my first trip outside of North America back in 2014. I was lucky in that I flew into London first. As different as that place is, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier for an American like myself because English is spoken everywhere, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more cross-cultural similarities than one would expect. (Weird fact: every McDonald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the UK and Europe tastes better than\u00c2\u00a0every<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0McDonald\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the United States. Universally so. WHAT THE HELL.) But that first transatlantic flight was SO MUCH TO EXPERIENCE. Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d flown many times before, so it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like Nita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience, where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not flown before. (I think? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall her mentioning it.) It still didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prepare me for the sheer\u00c2\u00a0length<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of it. Or the discomfort. Or the fact that the food was ACTUALLY EDIBLE. Or the challenge of sleeping in a seat that sort-of reclines enough that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like normal domestic flights, but not far enough that it felt like I could sleep in it. OR THE FOOD. Or the boredom. Look, I could only listen to music or watch movies for so long, you know?<\/p>\n
So I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but be overjoyed reading this. Duane packs so much of this personal experience into the chapter in a way that feels intimately relatable. Waking up in the morning while flying over England is still one of the best memories I have. The same goes for my trip to Oslo last year, since\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0view was spectacular as well. Getting a small breakfast of a pastry, tea, and fruit is seared into my mind, not because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a spectacular thing (it happens thousands of times a day), but because it was so\u00c2\u00a0new<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to me.<\/p>\n
Yet there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing I related to more than landing in Dublin, getting through customs, and then hopping into a car to see the city. My friend Gareth picked me up from the airport last year, and he was an incredible tour guide. Dublin was the last full day on my Europe\/UK tour, and I had a flight to Amsterdam the following day, so I sadly did not get to spend as much time as I wanted in the city. BUT DUANE STILL DESCRIBES THINGS I REMEMBER VERY CLEARLY.<\/p>\n
Nita spent most of this period starting to get used to the weirdness of sitting on the driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side and adjusting to the fact that her aunt was driving on the left side of the road. It was one thing to know about it in the abstract, actually\u00c2\u00a0doing<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0it was peculiar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I understand this truly and deeply. The first time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been through this was less than a week prior to arriving in Dublin. My friend the_ladylark drove me north from Manchester and I WAS QUIETLY FREAKING OUT THE ENTIRE TIME. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m cool, I swear.)<\/p>\n
The signs on the motorway, half in Irish and half in English, were a constant fascination. It was a very peculiar-looking language, with a lot of peculiar combinations of letters and small letters in front of capital letters at the beginnings of words, something she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never seen before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is me. ABSOLUTELY ME. And believe me, I\u00c2\u00a0tried<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to pronounce every sign I saw, but I was so bad at it. Actually, the video for this chapter is evidence that I\u00c2\u00a0still am<\/i>. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the rules of pronunciation, so everything sounds\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 very messy? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M A MESS.<\/p>\n
Anyway, enough about me. I was thrilled to read about the countryside outside of Dublin, since I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to see it, and so far, Aunt Annie seems like a delight. I want to learn more about her farm. I want to meet the people who work there. And Nita better ride a horse. SHE BETTER.<\/p>\n
But will it be a\u00c2\u00a0ghost horse<\/i>???<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You mean the ghosts.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Nita stared.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Welcome to Ireland,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said her aunt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
!!!!!!!!!! WHO ENDS THE FIRST CHAPTER LIKE THIS. WHAT THE HELL,\u00c2\u00a0ARE GHOSTS REAL IN THIS UNIVERSE<\/i>. Are they something explained by wizardry? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS BOOK.<\/p>\n
Diane Duane is still offering a massive discount on the first 9 books in the\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0series just to this community, so please take advantage of this deal while you still can:<\/b><\/p>\n
http:\/\/bit.ly\/markreadsYW<\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EA3IJFx8E7E<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b>
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the second half of the first chapter of\u00c2\u00a0A Wizard Abroad, Nita travels alone to a strange place. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Young Wizards.\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":[518,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-3905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-wizard-abroad","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}