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comes again to light
I finished A Wizard of Mars! I think I absolutely loved it; but then, at least half the time when I read a new Young Wizards book it is instantly my favourite for a while. (Deep in my soul, A Wizard Alone is still probably my favourite, even though Wizards at War is the perfect storm of everything-I-love-except-lots-of-Tom-and-Carl.) This one is way up there, though.
I think one of the things I love about it is that it is a strangely grown-up book; it might be full of Ronan and Darryl snickering in the background, and Helena's mutant theories (I am so glad we finally met Helena!), and every possible nerdy joke about Mars, but it's also ... it's kind of the balancing opposite to Wizards at War, I think. WaW was about universe-in-jeopardy high stakes, and racing against the clock, and in-your-face dystopias, and the Lone One being a giant disgusting bug, for goodness sakes. The Mars book is about your own back yard, and quiet ethical choices, and facing down the Lone Power inside yourself. Frankly I was shocked when Rorsik didn't turn out to be overshadowed, or an avatar -- and my inner adventure-loving child is disappointed, but the whole thing was very satisfying on a different level. I want to hug Tom's speech at the end.
I also just loved it on a nerdy-jokes-about-Mars level! I think the superegg wizardry would have had a hilarious time with me, because I don't have old B movies or HG Wells or Barsoom or, oh Nita, Marvin the Martian, as my Default Mars; nope, my mind goes straight to Out of the Silent Planet. I think the Shamaska would've been pretty pissed off if they had to communicate with me as hrossa.
I loved the plot on a time travel level, holy shit. I can count the number of times I've seen time travel done right, by which I mean with logic and complexity both intact, on one hand, and this book just made the short list. It's possibly the most complicated use I've seen hold together, too. KIND OF WEAK IN THE KNEES HERE.
Let's see. I was sad at the lack of Filif and Sker'ret, but I didn't really expect them to stay around forever; and of course Sker'ret gave Carmela that free gating deal, which means I spent half the book picturing him, um, Rirhait-version-of-sitting in his Stationmaster's chair-thingy, laughing his cute centipede head off. Meanwhile the lack of our alien buddies was more than made up for by extra Ronan and Darryl and S'reee, A++, and by Mamvish. MAMVISH, GUYS. I want to start hoarding tomatoes so she'll BE MY FRIEND. I am also deeply intrigued by Irene, and more specifically by her strangely unfazed baby. My money's sort of on the baby being a manifestation of Earth's kernel, actually, but who knows, maybe it's okay to be Earth's Planetary and just raise a calm, basically normal baby at the same time.
I desperately want the next book to be Dairine's Epic Quest for Roshaun. I am delighted that she and Nelaid seem to be getting on so well. (I want to be a fly on the wall when he and Harry Callahan sit down for that talk Nelaid keeps mentioning.) I suspect we're going to get a lot more of that concept of taraenshlev', that 'took a wrong turn'. I like the idea of Dairine being deep-down Wellakhit. I also like it on a few other levels, one of them being that "took a wrong turn" is a beautifully concise way to describe how I feel about my own sense of physical place a lot of the time. (Not that I shouldn't be where I am, I mean, just that I haven't found the place I'm really from yet.) And, because I cross the worlds over sort of automatically, I immediately applied the word to the Doctor: of course he's a Gallifreyan who's taraenshlev' to Earth. Mm.
Lastly, a bit about Kit and Nita. Okay. I loved that they were clearly Just Friends for the first few books. I didn't really start getting any passing desire to ship them until ... I think A Wizard Alone was when it occurred to me as "This is something that I might buy happening and would like to see happen eventually" rather than "Well, they're the main characters and I find them both interesting, so maybe I should ship them." In Wizards at War I was surprised by how often the idea crossed my mind, but I was much too busy dithering over the Epic Adventures of Dairine and Roshaun. And suddenly, maybe from Kit's doodling-of-alien-princesses, I was shipping them really hard. I don't quite know how Duane did it, because they don't spend much of the book interacting at all, but it was ... I don't know, it was exactly the right mix of build-up, friendship and longing and second-guessing. I love their separate-but-together realization of how much they mean to each other; I love Nita understanding that love isn't enough, but it's hugely important, and that their willingness to die for one another means something.
Also, from this thought of Kit's I was utterly sold.
I want to write so much fic now! I want to write shippy fic, and crossover fic, and just roll around in this universe some more. Of course this urge comes in the middle of essay season, and I also have other fic projects that need to take precedence, and Doctor Who is back this weekend, ahhhh; but hopefully I will get to it eventually.
In the meantime, a Spirit-eye-view panoramic shot inside Gusav crater. Gorgeous.
I think one of the things I love about it is that it is a strangely grown-up book; it might be full of Ronan and Darryl snickering in the background, and Helena's mutant theories (I am so glad we finally met Helena!), and every possible nerdy joke about Mars, but it's also ... it's kind of the balancing opposite to Wizards at War, I think. WaW was about universe-in-jeopardy high stakes, and racing against the clock, and in-your-face dystopias, and the Lone One being a giant disgusting bug, for goodness sakes. The Mars book is about your own back yard, and quiet ethical choices, and facing down the Lone Power inside yourself. Frankly I was shocked when Rorsik didn't turn out to be overshadowed, or an avatar -- and my inner adventure-loving child is disappointed, but the whole thing was very satisfying on a different level. I want to hug Tom's speech at the end.
I also just loved it on a nerdy-jokes-about-Mars level! I think the superegg wizardry would have had a hilarious time with me, because I don't have old B movies or HG Wells or Barsoom or, oh Nita, Marvin the Martian, as my Default Mars; nope, my mind goes straight to Out of the Silent Planet. I think the Shamaska would've been pretty pissed off if they had to communicate with me as hrossa.
I loved the plot on a time travel level, holy shit. I can count the number of times I've seen time travel done right, by which I mean with logic and complexity both intact, on one hand, and this book just made the short list. It's possibly the most complicated use I've seen hold together, too. KIND OF WEAK IN THE KNEES HERE.
Let's see. I was sad at the lack of Filif and Sker'ret, but I didn't really expect them to stay around forever; and of course Sker'ret gave Carmela that free gating deal, which means I spent half the book picturing him, um, Rirhait-version-of-sitting in his Stationmaster's chair-thingy, laughing his cute centipede head off. Meanwhile the lack of our alien buddies was more than made up for by extra Ronan and Darryl and S'reee, A++, and by Mamvish. MAMVISH, GUYS. I want to start hoarding tomatoes so she'll BE MY FRIEND. I am also deeply intrigued by Irene, and more specifically by her strangely unfazed baby. My money's sort of on the baby being a manifestation of Earth's kernel, actually, but who knows, maybe it's okay to be Earth's Planetary and just raise a calm, basically normal baby at the same time.
I desperately want the next book to be Dairine's Epic Quest for Roshaun. I am delighted that she and Nelaid seem to be getting on so well. (I want to be a fly on the wall when he and Harry Callahan sit down for that talk Nelaid keeps mentioning.) I suspect we're going to get a lot more of that concept of taraenshlev', that 'took a wrong turn'. I like the idea of Dairine being deep-down Wellakhit. I also like it on a few other levels, one of them being that "took a wrong turn" is a beautifully concise way to describe how I feel about my own sense of physical place a lot of the time. (Not that I shouldn't be where I am, I mean, just that I haven't found the place I'm really from yet.) And, because I cross the worlds over sort of automatically, I immediately applied the word to the Doctor: of course he's a Gallifreyan who's taraenshlev' to Earth. Mm.
Lastly, a bit about Kit and Nita. Okay. I loved that they were clearly Just Friends for the first few books. I didn't really start getting any passing desire to ship them until ... I think A Wizard Alone was when it occurred to me as "This is something that I might buy happening and would like to see happen eventually" rather than "Well, they're the main characters and I find them both interesting, so maybe I should ship them." In Wizards at War I was surprised by how often the idea crossed my mind, but I was much too busy dithering over the Epic Adventures of Dairine and Roshaun. And suddenly, maybe from Kit's doodling-of-alien-princesses, I was shipping them really hard. I don't quite know how Duane did it, because they don't spend much of the book interacting at all, but it was ... I don't know, it was exactly the right mix of build-up, friendship and longing and second-guessing. I love their separate-but-together realization of how much they mean to each other; I love Nita understanding that love isn't enough, but it's hugely important, and that their willingness to die for one another means something.
Also, from this thought of Kit's I was utterly sold.
But the sight of [Nita] there, looking deadly -- and extremely competent and wizardly and pissed off and, well, frankly, kind of magnificent --Sold. Utterly sold, and delighted that at the end they admit it, but haven't changed anything yet.
I want to write so much fic now! I want to write shippy fic, and crossover fic, and just roll around in this universe some more. Of course this urge comes in the middle of essay season, and I also have other fic projects that need to take precedence, and Doctor Who is back this weekend, ahhhh; but hopefully I will get to it eventually.
In the meantime, a Spirit-eye-view panoramic shot inside Gusav crater. Gorgeous.