{"id":4543,"date":"2018-05-11T05:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4543"},"modified":"2018-05-06T06:52:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T13:52:08","slug":"mark-reads-on-ordeal-mamvish-chapter-3-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-reads-on-ordeal-mamvish-chapter-3-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8220;On Ordeal: Mamvish&#8221;: Chapter 3, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the first half of the third chapter of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Ordeal: Mamvish,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d WIZARDS!!! Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Young Wizards<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I am <i>very<\/i> much blown away by how much time passes in this short story. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the sole reason this feels so surprising, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely a big part of that. After the important development in chapter two, Duane drops u into the next part of Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey, and it brings us ever closer to her Ordeal. Indeed, this is the first time since the beginning of this that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten the first inkling of what that Ordeal might look like. Even then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, how is this going to be resolved in less than twenty pages???<\/p>\n<p>So, let me back up a bit here. Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quest takes her on one of the longest stretches of time before success. Like, A REALLY, REALLY LONG TIME. More than a decade, it seems??? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even fathom dedicating myself to finding just <i>one<\/i> kind of person for that long. But Mamvish does it. She journeys to find the impossible. At least, it <i>seems<\/i> impossible. Wizards on this planet aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like they are in Wellakh; they feel like a myth, as if they are ancient legend that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evolved into nothing but a rumor. Seriously, every story that Mamvish hears makes them seem fake, you know??? In what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a recurring theme, though, Mamvish refuses to give up. And sure enough, she finds Podrist Short-Tail, AN ACTUAL TAUWFF WIZARD. At that point, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been searching for one for like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what? Fifteen years, if my count is correct? So, after trying to find something for FIFTEEN MOTHERFUCKIN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 YEARS, this is her exchange with the Tauwff who knows where a wizard is:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So tell me, if you will: are there wizards hereabouts, and if there are, which way?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 said the old red Tauwff.<\/p>\n<p>So annoyed was Vish that she was choosing the best of the maledictions she had learned in her years of wandering when the old red Tauwff said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Not <i>wizards<\/i>, impatient traveler.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And it stared at her in annoyance. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Okay, I kinda get why this Tauwff reacted as it did, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m somewhat understanding of why Podrist claims that Mamvish was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153impatient\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as well, but may I submit for evidence the fact that Mamvish searched for this person for FIFTEEN YEARS? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna suggest that that is the very <i>definition<\/i> of patience. The fact that Mamvish is eager to find her goal after <i>fifteen years<\/i> doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really make her impatient, does it? It seems like a little callous of a judgment, though in the <i>moment<\/i>, I get it. The first Tauwff that Mamvish speaks to doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know her journey. And when Mamvish <i>does<\/i> meet Podrist, Podrist speaks in a very intentional manner, setting up the brutal fight that allows Mamvish to ultimately win and consume Podrist. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an intense sequence, sure, and then it becomes OVERWHELMING.<\/p>\n<p>Because Podrist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death brings something to Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life that neither she nor I were expecting: <i>knowledge<\/i> of wizardry WITHOUT THE MEANS TO EXECUTE IT. Which makes a whole lot of sense now that I think about it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Tauwff biology works, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no reason why that wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be the case here. So, the Speech floods into Mamvish; so does the awareness that the Universe is alive; that there are other worlds; that there are other peoples; that THIS IS ALL NOT WHAT SHE THOUGHT IT WAS. And yet?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>No wizardry.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And as we go, tell me how you think we might best proceed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>I could have told you that a whole fight and half a hundred breaths ago if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d asked,<\/i> Podrist said. <i>But when I waited for you to ask the next question, you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and so I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t answer. So that fault is on you.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL I AM SCREAMING AT HOW BEAUTIFULLY PETTY THIS IS. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 again, I get why Mavish <i>didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> ask. Fifteen years! Cut them some slack! But at the same time, intention matters so much to wizards, and I feel like this is <i>such<\/i> an important lesson for Mamvish to learn right from the start. She needs to learn to be direct, to speak the truth, and to approach situations without a one-track solution. (In this case: fight and eat Podrist.) So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this fascinating conflict within the story now: the solution to Mamvish\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153quest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is within reach, but she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it because she does not have the ability of enacture. AND SO BEGINS ANOTHER TWENTY GODDAMN YEARS OF JOURNEYING WITHOUT ANY SOLUTION. Twenty!!! All the while, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tormented by this weird disparity between her ability and her knowledge. Which is so unexpected! I assumed that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just get her wizardry and then approach her Ordeal, but NOPE. NOT THE CASE. So <i>how<\/i>? How does this work if she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have wizardry? Is <i>that<\/i> going to be her Ordeal? THIS IS SO NEW, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M EXCITED.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/_6V-9-1IMTc<\/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 first half of the third chapter of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Ordeal: Mamvish,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d WIZARDS!!! Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Young 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":[542,510],"tags":[513,511],"class_list":["post-4543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interim-errantry-2","category-young-wizards","tag-diane-duane","tag-mark-reads-young-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4543","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=4543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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