{"id":4549,"date":"2018-05-17T05:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2018-04-30T13:07:51","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T20:07:51","slug":"mark-reads-on-ordeal-ronan-chapter-1-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-reads-on-ordeal-ronan-chapter-1-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads “On Ordeal: Ronan” – Chapter 1, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief, death, and convalescence.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I have barely started this story, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly so, so different than the other two Ordeal stories, which makes me VERY EXCITED. Even more so than Roshaun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, I feel like Duane just dropped us into Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, but not before an important framing scene. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: THE ONE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S CHAMPION. This is going to tell us the details of how the One\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Champion came to exist inside Ronan, right? We know some<\/i> of it, but as far as I can tell from this excerpt, Ronan does not know wizardry exists, and he certainly isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t aware of the Champion. But that prelude\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 whew, the Lone One and<\/i> the Champion have both singled out Ronan as an important wizard. LET THE GAMES BEGIN.<\/p>\n

But those games don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean anything to Ronan, and if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hint of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to come, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only in the brilliantly-placed Harry Potter<\/i> joke. WHICH IS SO GOOD, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. HIS PARENTS HAVE NO IDEA THAT A VERSION OF IT IS BASICALLY GOING TO HAPPEN. So, rather than talk about wizardry, we get a portrait of Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life from his routine. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a normality to it at times. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anxious about upcoming tests. You can tell there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some tension over his family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to pay the bills. But in every sense, the Nolan family only differs in specifics. As a whole, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just like anyone else. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just trying to eke out a living in the world, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that they love one another. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the same friction, for example, as we did between Roshaun and his family, where societal pressures and internal conflicts keep a distance between parent and child.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that this is all intentional, as I can see how Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming problems are going to pull him out of his comfort zone. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to soon be living a life that is anything but<\/i> normal, at least for non-wizards. However, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to ignore that there is<\/i> a part of Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life that might feel familiar to some people, but which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily common. I got the sense that Ronan doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk about his Nana all that much except with his Mam and Da. His routine with her<\/i> is both touching and sad, and I say that as someone whose father went into convalescent care at our home before he died. The first detail that was most striking to me was:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6there was now that plasticky medication-bottle smell and the sharp wintergreen scent of the salve the carer used on her joints; the smell of personal hygiene that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly as great as it once had been because the shower was out of the question for Nan more than a few times a week now. And under it all, the smell of age<\/i>, and helplessness.<\/p>\n

This is truly one of those things that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to understand unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced it, and Duane does a fine job being so very honest<\/i> about it. Ronan feels embarrassment of this: over his Nan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health and over his own reaction to that. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compounded by his genuine love for her. Duane depicts a loving, witty relationship between these characters, and part of Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emotional state is probably due to dread<\/i>. When someone is slipping into old age, or when their health has gone on the decline, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy for us to assume the worst. At least, that was the case for me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been hard for me to not<\/i> think of mortality and the fragility of life in situations like these. But Ronan does his best, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the overarching vibe I got from the start of this story: he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really trying! This is a difficult thing to deal with at any<\/i> age, but at thirteen, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intense to have to cope with someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health so frequently.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna be real interesting to see how Ronan reacts when his life becomes INCREDIBLY not normal, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

vid<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"