The Ragwitch - Mood Swings

I think one of the problems in this book is that the author is throwing around a lot of tones and moods without smooth transitions between them. He opens the next chapter, and Paul is freaking out about how cool it is to be guided by a thousand squawking birds in the hot air balloomn, and on the next page BAM suddenly the birds are gone and it's ultra-quiet and it's just wierd. And that joyful bird moment came out of nowhere. And it's just not convincing. Paul's supposed to be trying to save his mortally endangered sister, not to mention the entirety of this rotten hole in this universe.

I think there's also some suffering here from Adventure Anxiety, where the author is scared that they're not making their story sound enough like an adventure, so they throw in moments where the characters are having an exccessively awesome time, particularly if it has to do with nature (cue birds). Also, Paul says something on 137 about how much he's learnt about birds in the last hour, and it's like, come on Nix, stop it--the fantasy realm as a place where the MC grows and learns a lot and has fun beign on an adventure? It's been done; it doesn't surprise us. You need to rely on execution for this one, becuase it's not an original device. My advice--get subtle. Fast.

The Ragwitch - Wha's This? A Twist?!

A twist! I am so proud. And for the first time, really excited! So here's what Julia did for the Ragwitch--anyone who attacks the ragwitch also hurts Julia.

DAMNIT.

Good show, Nix. Keep it up. That's what I like.

Oh, and then in the middle of the scene these other people crop up out of nowhere and we swtich to their POV. They're I guess townspeople trying to stop the evil or something. Some sort of resistence. And apparently they're "waiting" for Paul to show up. Ooh, big deal. The Master of Air better be here or I will be UPset.

The Ragwitch - Stall di StallityStall

Stall. We're doing it. Q and Paul bro out on their balloon and they get to a frozen waterfall and Paul asks if the Master of Air will come there and Q's like "Maybe" and Paul's like "Wow, I'm starting to believe this here companion I've acquired doesn't know squat" and then Q's like "I don't expect him to be here, but I expect our GUIDE to be here," like whoop de doo why did you waste our time like that. Stop with the cute, get with the plot. Why must we saunter like this? Paul should have enough motivation that he's not distracted by Q's story about TREASURE around the waterfall. Hello? Paul. Babe. No.

Anyway, that happens. I'm really getting mad at this author's use of the word "obviously." As in

"It flew slowly, and circled back several times--obviously waiting to guide them" (129).

If it's OBVIOUS you don't need to SAY ANYTHING. If you don't think we'll get it, you can just at a nice parenthetical "--waiting to guide them." Having both is quadruple overkill. CLEARLY THIS BIRD MEANS TO DO SOME GUIDING.

Also, the Ragwitch tells Julia she's been serving her well. Julia and I are nervous about this ominous statement.

The Ragwitch - Bro Time

Julia and Lyssa the old lady bro out around the fire where Julia is able to stay for short periods of time and the Ragwitch can't sense her there. Suddenly, something is trasnpiring out in the Ragwitch's world, so Lyssa sends Julai to touch the ever-present glwong orb, which will send Julia back to the Ragwitwch's consciousness.

Back at the ranch, Quigin and Zeppo are also broing out. Hey! Hey! Actually creative idea! The balloon is moved by soem sort of creature. That's wicked fucking cool! They'll get to their destination by midnight. And then some sort of sudden draft blsuters them around a bit.

The Ragwitch - Prison Buds

Another page with Paul and we've concluded once again that yes, Quigin know the fricking way to the Master of air, "Or at least, he said he did" (114); which I'm not sure whether to call a stab at humor or a bad bad stab at foreshadowing. That is some bulky, awkward foreshadowing you got going on there.

Anyway. Julia.

Julia has a friend! The old lady the Ragwitch defeated is now inside with Julia, too! In the refuge they havein the recesses of the Ragwitch's mind, they sit around a campfire. Teh old lady sasy somethigns about she's more and less than what she seems, and if the ragwitch knew what she was the lady would be easily slain. Not very explanatory, but I'm hoping they'll get to it.

The Ragwitch - FINALLY. PLOT.

MAYBE. HERE'S HOPING.

Quigin is great...ish. He's kind of a tropey sack of predictability, but then he earns a thousand points in my book because he does better than anyone else yet in the one thing I'm crrently interested in--MOVIGN TOWARD PLOT. We have all this talk about how Q's master told him to take anyone he met named Paul anywhere he liked.

And instead of JUMPING ON THAT and saying "Take me to the fucking Master of Wind," Paul is all like, "Well, can I meet your boss? He sounds of cool" and Q's all like "Well, he's disappeared for a while, he does that occasionally, sorry" and then finally Paul explains every little detail of what's happened adn about the Ragwitch and all Q's interested in are liek how many points are on Ornware's antlers, etc, and finally he's like, "Let's go," and Paul's like "Where?" and Q's like, "To the Master of Wind, of course. Isn't that where you wanted?"

And Paul's DUMBFOUNDED.

Paul! Stop beign dumbfounded and go do your heroic duty! Now! On the double!

Yeesh. At least Q seems to have some sense.

The Ragwitch - Stalling? Never!

I'm beginning to suspect that every single Paul scene is just there to stall before the end of the book. Becuase clearly the Ragwitchis the source of conflict, and it's clear that eventually Paul is gonna get there and have to deal with her to save Julia, so clearly all these beefy pages are mostly there to prolong the time until Paul gets to Julia.

Case in point--Paul is finally on the road, headed towards the plot when out of the blue this guy in a hot air balloon starts yelling at him about a hare. Eventually lands, and turns out he's another secondary character here to steal the show so Paul doesn't fail worse. And despite the grumpy, disorganized head-in-the-clouds-endearing aeronaut trope beign heavy-handedly waved about, I still like Quigin a great deal more than Paul. Welcome to the team, Q.

But it's clear that those two seconds of actual plot are gone until next time. Sigh.

Anyway, Q is interesting, he's a "friend of beasts" and he's looking for his hare who lef the balloon to have lunch and this other guy has ltos of animals, etc. etc. and I'm excited to learn more. My onyl big beef with Q is that he's dangerously close to beinga total Lee Scoresby rip-off, and no one messes wit Lee Scoresby, because Lee Scoresby is perfect. So watch out, Q.