{"id":4536,"date":"2018-05-02T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4536"},"modified":"2018-04-29T16:26:51","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T23:26:51","slug":"mark-reads-the-wee-free-men-chapter-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-reads-the-wee-free-men-chapter-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;The Wee Free Men&#8217;: Chapter 9"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the ninth chapter of <i>The Wee Free Men<\/i>, Tiffany figures out more of the logic of the Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s realm. Intrigued? Then its time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I keep trying to prepare myself, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Poetry<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Apparently, the mysterious shiny fairies hate bad poetry just as much as I do! I mean, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t run away screaming from it, but I loved that this is both world building and a joke wrapped up together. Seriously, this is important:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In Fairyland words <i>really<\/i> have power, Tiffany thought. And I am more real. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll remember that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even if those words are tremendously bad poetry. They <i>still<\/i> have a power!<\/p>\n<p>It is with that in mind that Tiffany faces one horror after another, and this is ALL IN A SINGLE CHAPTER. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit of a relentless pace here, and it suggests that once Tiffany <i>does<\/i> get near the queen, this is gonna get CHAOTIC. Maybe the Queen hates bad poetry, too?<\/p>\n<p><b>Roland<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So, chapter eight laid out an important rule to the Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s realm concerning the passage of time. Not only was that vital to establish in general, it allows the reader to appreciate the horror of Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery in chapter nine: that the Baron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die in the forest. Now, we have no sense of how long ago this supposedly happened, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe to assume that it <i>was<\/i> a decent length. I am also guessing that Roland is more or less the same age as he was when he was pulled into Fairyland. So, still a kid and still believing this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You mustn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk about that!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why not?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bad things happen!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already happening,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Tiffany.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a joke, yes, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a way for Pratchett to show us that Roland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective has shifted. The world around him is, by default, terrible for us. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so consistently bad that Roland has adjusted his expectations. There is <i>worse<\/i> than the baseline nightmare, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 is very, very unsettling. And who can blame him? He must be tormented by the dreams of the dromes all the time. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know what his experience has been with the Queen, either. Thus, it makes sense that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so cynical toward Tiffany, who insists that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all be able to leave. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that Roland has unsuccessfully tried to escape before, you know? Hell, even <i>I<\/i> don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how any leaves this place. Thus, this kid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whole life since he was kidnapped has been an unceasing terror. Of<i> course<\/i> he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to do what he can to minimize that terror on a day-to-day basis. (Wow, realizing I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even use that term, technically. There aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153days\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in this realm.)<\/p>\n<p><b>The Dance<\/b><\/p>\n<p>HI, I HATE THE DROMES, WHY DO THEY BOTHER ME SO MUCH. I just??? Cannot deal with them! And even though Tiffany is now aware of them and how they work, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still challenged by what she experiences. Logistical concern: she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna get <i>real<\/i> hungry the longer she spends in this realm. That worries me. YOU NEVER EAT FOOD IN FAIRYLAND. IT IS ALWAYS A TRICK. (Is that how Roland got trapped? Can you remove someone from Fairyland after they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve consumed food from it?) And it seems obvious that the drome that tried to capture Tiffany knew she was hungry and thrust her into a dream (with parrot-headed dancers??? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT) with <i>tons<\/i> of food. Then tons of cheese. And still, she resisted! I was so proud of her! Actually, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just that she figures out she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being manipulated; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>anger<\/i> that keeps her sharp and aware. It should not be surprising that I love this recurring motif, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not just referring to my own book. I just appreciate characters who are <i>allowed<\/i> to be angry and aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t punished for it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that anger that helps Tiffany figure out <i>how<\/i> she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been deceived, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how she ultimately escapes from it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Herding<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Seriously, it comes back up again at the end of the chapter, after the Feegle have been trapped in a dream and Tiffany is left to fend for herself and for Roland. This passage in particular was definitely my favorite:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It was the same feeling she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had when Jenny had leaped out of the river. Out of <i>her<\/i> river. And the Queen had taken <i>her<\/i> brother. Maybe it was selfish to think like that, but anger was better than fear. Fear was a damp cold mess, but anger had an edge. She could use it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pratchett <i>also<\/i> puts this into the context of Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience with herding sheep, so she feels resentful that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being treated like one. IT IS SUCH GOOD STORYTELLING. We have an emotional history that informs the present, and it all fits together so well. YES. I LOVE THIS.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>No more dromes, though. I <i>can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/WOJBW5U-B1A<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2017\/9\/22\/i-am-proud-to-announce-my-ya-contemporary-debut-anger-is-a-gift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\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 The Wee Free Men, Tiffany figures out more of the logic of the Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s realm. Intrigued? Then its 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":[463,248,543],"class_list":["post-4536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-wee-free-men"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536","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=4536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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