{"id":5190,"date":"2020-05-27T05:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5190"},"modified":"2020-05-27T11:09:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T18:09:32","slug":"mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/05\/mark-reads-the-shepherds-crown-chapter-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;The Shepherd&#8217;s Crown&#8217;: Chapter 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the sixteenth chapter of <i>The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown<\/i>, Geoffrey makes a friend, Magrat gets help, and Tiffany ALSO makes a friend. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b>Geoffrey<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Geoffrey is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 different. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so unlike other characters in this series, first of all, but in this book, Pratchett continually shows us how Geoffrey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uniqueness is a positive thing. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make him weak, and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make him bad. Instead, he is becoming a part of this new world through <i>kindness<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d world in two ways: For Geoffrey, this is his first time outside the home he grew up in, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting to see the world as Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apprentice. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a new world for those he comes into contact with. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re meeting a witch who is a teenage boy, first of all, but they also <i>change<\/i> while they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re around him.<\/p>\n<p>Take Mr. Sideways, for example. Witches have generally relied on a certain reputation. Across the Disc where they exist, they know people fear them to some extent. Some of that is because of baseless tales and myths or due to <i>actual<\/i> bad witches from the past. But we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also seen how witches play into this (using stuff from Boffo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, for example) in order to navigate the world. So, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a distance between a witch and a non-witch, and that separation is due to a healthy mix of respect and fear. You let a witch do their business, you respect them, and you go on with your day.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yet the people who Geoffrey meets ostensibly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see him as a witch. (And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not shown if he actually <i>tells<\/i> anyone that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to become one.) Even if they did, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t present like <i>any<\/i> of the witches we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met in the <i>Discworld<\/i> series. This doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Tiffany is a bad witch or that Granny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technique was terrible; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that Geoffrey can reach people and help them in new, exciting ways. Mr. Sideways opens up to Geoffrey because he feels safe with him in a different way than he does with Tiffany. It could be because Geoffrey is a boy, but it could also be partially due to Geoffrey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demeanor. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone who people feel inclined to be friendly to, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Mr. Sideways does. He confides in Geoffrey. He shows him his workshed. He <i>trusts<\/i> him. And if he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trusted him in that <i>exact<\/i> way, he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have walked to his barn, and Geoffrey wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have figured out there was a hobnail in the old man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boot, and the events of this chapter never would have happened.<\/p>\n<p>And given the final lines, I <i>think<\/i> Pratchett is setting Geoffrey up on a parallel path with the witches. If Magrat and Tiffany are busy recruiting people for this war, then maybe Geoffrey is about to as well. Mr. Sideways\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hobby is COLLECTING WEAPONS. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been doing it for DECADES, and HE GETS SWARF, which we know is immensely effective against elves.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I think all the older, retired and semi-retired men are going to be organized by Geoffrey. I think this is going to be a war on <i>many<\/i> fronts, and this is a particular specialty of Geoffrey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. These men will <i>actually<\/i> listen to him.<\/p>\n<p><b>Magrat<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s starting to hit me how close I am to the end of my <i>Discworld<\/i> journey, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thankful that after a long absence, Magrat has returned. I missed her a <i>lot<\/i>, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been such a treat to see what kind of queen, mother, and witch she has become. She <i>adapted<\/i>. She is a character who started out in one life, pursued something she wanted, and then found a way to balance that new life with who she once was. Magrat never stopped being a witch! She just chose the right times to be one. And this is <i>absolutely<\/i>the time to be a witch, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Elves are invading the world, and so Magrat knows from experience that no single witch can conquer <i>all <\/i>the elves. I love that this is the reason she reaches out to Letitia!<\/p>\n<p>What I love more is what she <i>tells<\/i> Letitia, who is understandably hesitant to be a witch, despite that she knows she has the potential. Look, she would be partnering with some of the most infamous witches of her time, so I feel it makes sense that she would see herself as inferior. How could she possibly measure up to witches who have been witches <i>full-time<\/i> for most of their life?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Oh, Magrat, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so glad you said this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think you are a witch, but every part of my soul says you are. I wish I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had your opportunities when I was a girl.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She takes it a step further when Letitia tries to shut her down by saying she is a Baroness, not a witch. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Magrat <i>also<\/i> royalty? And does that make her any less of a witch? Now is the time to <i>do<\/i> something, and Magrat offers Letitia a validation she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably been craving for a long time. I cannot wait to see them work together.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This is actually happening, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. Tiffany appears to have made a significant breakthrough in Nightshade, and it came as Tiffany helped someone in what is likely to be their final days. Nightshade is still struggling with the notion of kindness and altruism, especially since they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t comprehend doing literally <i>anything<\/i> for another being if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t receive something in return. So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me that Tiffany basically teaches her about friendship and kindness and community in terms that Nightshade might be able to understand. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that people being nice get nothing out of the deal; there <i>is<\/i> a return, though more often than not, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the feeling of having done something good.<\/p>\n<p>To someone like Nightshade, though, that feeling is a revelation. She experienced it for the first time (ever!!!) when she helped the old woman with her belongings, but here, that sensation is even more intense. It also happens as Nightshade remains confused about human-goblin relations, but take a look how Pratchett wrote Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response to all of this. Nightshade still thinks goblins are beneath her, and the idea of helping a <i>second<\/i> human? Preposterous! And yet:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why not?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Tiffany sharply. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Of Piston the Steam just did. Are elves less than goblins?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whether Tiffany intended this or not, it directly appeals to Nightshade\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ego. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a passive aggressive challenge, but <i>it fucking works<\/i>. Nightshade helps out the dying woman by getting her a cup of water, and the old woman is KIND to her. The glimmer becomes a smolder. Nightshade is changing. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, she even offered to help remove Peaseblossom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glamour on the river. Is this the start of something much, much bigger? Is Tiffany actually going to turn Nightshade to the side of the Disc???<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/_3au2t4HDvM<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9781250169211\">You can now pre-order my second YA novel, <i>Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/EachOfUsADesertPreorder\">If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>&#8211; 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 sixteenth chapter of The Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crown, Geoffrey makes a friend, Magrat gets help, and Tiffany ALSO makes a friend. 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-5190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-shepherds-crown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190","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=5190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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