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Well, firstly, wow. I was up late on a school night reading this book, because I just couldn't stop. A lot of this book was reminiscent of HW, in that, yes, there was a lot of traveling through space, but mostly because it was a turning point, just like HW. In HW, one version of the LP was beaten, but beyond merely that, It was changed, and we learned that that change would begin to spread through all the shadows of the LP throughout the universes. Now, in W@W, a new, "bright" version of the LP emerges--one that never fell. And things change again.
So Tom and Carl's theory in the beginning about the Pullulus being a distraction was correct. But it was a very difficult distraction to deal with, as we saw. I would have liked to see a little more of all the "young Seniors" working together as a group: I was glad to see that in the last Moon scene. Speaking of that scene, I can't believe Roshaun's dead. I don't think that the ending part with Dair and wherever-she-went and her determination to find him would have been included if he were merely gone. There's something there.
Ponch: As I posted somewhere else, once I got over the initial shock of Ponch being the One, everything fit. All the strangeness that had been happening around and to him; the dogs howling, the finding talents, the universe-creating. Now Kit is feeling something not unlike what Nita felt when her mom died, which is good because, through grief, than can identify more. It's going to take Kit awhile to adjust to his Ponch not being there, of course, but I hope he'll be comforted by the fact that Ponch seems to be in every dog, now.
Rashah: Giant bugs...eesh. And it was simply horrifying how the LP had infiltrated that world in every single way, right down to the birth of new life through death: just the sort of twisted thing they have come to expect from It. Some descriptions gave me a weird 1985 vibe, especially through what's referred to in 1985 as thoughtcrime. Although I was slightly confused about the character of Memeki, her declaration of resistance in the inner tunnels of the City ran deep, and the birth of the new, "bright" power, as I said, represents a turning point.
Seniors: Nita coming to Tom & Carl's house and finding them without wizardry was very disturbing. As Nita thinks, they have been constants in her time as a wizard, always there to give you the help you need or shove you along the way towards helping yourself. And to find them with no memory of any of that life except as a "game" freaked me out, especially considering the situation everybody else was in. And then their greeting in the final chapter, ("'...and, boy, do we ever greet you.'") was the perfect ending to that situation.
Ships: As I've posted before, I was madly shipping Dairine/Roshaun by a hundred pages in. They each make a perfect balance for each other, with enough different--or perhaps enough the same--to make things interesting. And I think that wherever he is, she'll find him.
Now Nita/Kit...again, as I've posted, I've always been resistant to this pairing because I felt that they should be "just good friends". But now...I got a definite shippy vibe from this book, and it's shippy in a way I like. Shy, and quiet, and nervous, but with the potential to be very strong once it gets started, and something I definitely want to read about. I feel like they have both grown and changed enough since they first met to be ready for a change in their relationship, and this book has made me want to see it happen.
Carmela: Was just hilarious. Her following them against all their warnings was so in-character for her, and the scene with the chocolate and the "curling iron" was pure Carmela. I am convinced she won't ever be a wizard, especially after Kit's scare, and that she shouldn't be, because she can have trouble taking things seriously sometimes.
I loved seeing the return of characters we've come to know and love from previous books: Ronan, S'reee, Darryl (and his WizPod! Oh yes!), even if they didn't play a major role in the story. Seeing all the characters working as as unit, instead of just one person on their own or a pair of people, was refreshing, and gaining insight into everyone's personality was very interesting. I've come to like Roshaun a lot more than I did even at the end of WH, when I liked him more than I did at the beginning but still not so much. I also, to my surprise, found Ronan growing on me: Ronan, a character who I never much liked at all. But seeing him have come to a truce with his "buddy", and with the slight angst reducting, made me like him more. And the "Callahan women" comments. Knowing more about Sker'ret and Filif, both of whom I loved since I first read WH, was a delight.
Overall: the hopeful, thoughtful, intense mood of the book and its role as a major one in the series could inspire me to talk on forever, but since your eyes probably hurt from reading all this, I think I'll wrap it up.
Dai!
So Tom and Carl's theory in the beginning about the Pullulus being a distraction was correct. But it was a very difficult distraction to deal with, as we saw. I would have liked to see a little more of all the "young Seniors" working together as a group: I was glad to see that in the last Moon scene. Speaking of that scene, I can't believe Roshaun's dead. I don't think that the ending part with Dair and wherever-she-went and her determination to find him would have been included if he were merely gone. There's something there.
Ponch: As I posted somewhere else, once I got over the initial shock of Ponch being the One, everything fit. All the strangeness that had been happening around and to him; the dogs howling, the finding talents, the universe-creating. Now Kit is feeling something not unlike what Nita felt when her mom died, which is good because, through grief, than can identify more. It's going to take Kit awhile to adjust to his Ponch not being there, of course, but I hope he'll be comforted by the fact that Ponch seems to be in every dog, now.
Rashah: Giant bugs...eesh. And it was simply horrifying how the LP had infiltrated that world in every single way, right down to the birth of new life through death: just the sort of twisted thing they have come to expect from It. Some descriptions gave me a weird 1985 vibe, especially through what's referred to in 1985 as thoughtcrime. Although I was slightly confused about the character of Memeki, her declaration of resistance in the inner tunnels of the City ran deep, and the birth of the new, "bright" power, as I said, represents a turning point.
Seniors: Nita coming to Tom & Carl's house and finding them without wizardry was very disturbing. As Nita thinks, they have been constants in her time as a wizard, always there to give you the help you need or shove you along the way towards helping yourself. And to find them with no memory of any of that life except as a "game" freaked me out, especially considering the situation everybody else was in. And then their greeting in the final chapter, ("'...and, boy, do we ever greet you.'") was the perfect ending to that situation.
Ships: As I've posted before, I was madly shipping Dairine/Roshaun by a hundred pages in. They each make a perfect balance for each other, with enough different--or perhaps enough the same--to make things interesting. And I think that wherever he is, she'll find him.
Now Nita/Kit...again, as I've posted, I've always been resistant to this pairing because I felt that they should be "just good friends". But now...I got a definite shippy vibe from this book, and it's shippy in a way I like. Shy, and quiet, and nervous, but with the potential to be very strong once it gets started, and something I definitely want to read about. I feel like they have both grown and changed enough since they first met to be ready for a change in their relationship, and this book has made me want to see it happen.
Carmela: Was just hilarious. Her following them against all their warnings was so in-character for her, and the scene with the chocolate and the "curling iron" was pure Carmela. I am convinced she won't ever be a wizard, especially after Kit's scare, and that she shouldn't be, because she can have trouble taking things seriously sometimes.
I loved seeing the return of characters we've come to know and love from previous books: Ronan, S'reee, Darryl (and his WizPod! Oh yes!), even if they didn't play a major role in the story. Seeing all the characters working as as unit, instead of just one person on their own or a pair of people, was refreshing, and gaining insight into everyone's personality was very interesting. I've come to like Roshaun a lot more than I did even at the end of WH, when I liked him more than I did at the beginning but still not so much. I also, to my surprise, found Ronan growing on me: Ronan, a character who I never much liked at all. But seeing him have come to a truce with his "buddy", and with the slight angst reducting, made me like him more. And the "Callahan women" comments. Knowing more about Sker'ret and Filif, both of whom I loved since I first read WH, was a delight.
Overall: the hopeful, thoughtful, intense mood of the book and its role as a major one in the series could inspire me to talk on forever, but since your eyes probably hurt from reading all this, I think I'll wrap it up.
Dai!
And I adored seeing S'reee.
And the emerald, how it was so important to Roshaun that she keep it, and then her seeing it at the end... *Wistful smile*
Ah, Darryl.
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