The first thing every mage should learn is that magic makes fools of us. Now you may call yourself a mage. You have learned the most important lesson.
You are the Protector of the Small. You see real people in the humans and animals overlooked by your peers. There will always be work for you.
We’re on a hunt, Cooper. When you’re on a hunt, you do whatever it takes.
Oakbridge did his work with dramatics and prophecies that all would go horribly awry. Having dealt with him over midwinter, Kel wondered why the man hadn’t died of a heart attack. Instead he seemed to thrive on disaster and finding people seated in the wrong places.
Your life might be easier if you were. A fool for love is happier than a Dog with a heart that’s all leather.
No more is your master a god, Nobility, but he wants offerings from all. When Black God claims us, who will be punished for giving worship and power to a false god? The prince? Or Banjiku?
I was stark raving mad, and my family was too polite to mention it. That’s what living with the Yamanis does to people. They get so well-mannered they won’t mention you’re crazy.
She rides as a man, goes unveiled as a man, fights as a man. Let her prove herself worthy as a man, worthy of her weapons and of our friendship.
We live in a dark time. Books are as dark as what is available to teenagers through the media every day.
One of the things I strive for is realism. I need to be as real as possible in the dilemmas my characters face.
If we just allowed women and men more leeway in our culture and more acceptance, I think they would be able to make better compromises.
I was nuts for stuff in the Middle Ages when I was just in the third and fourth grades.
Anyone who tells you they don’t need to rewrite, they’re usually the ones who need it worst.
I come from a dysfunctional family, so my views of parents and parenting used to be highly mixed.
Cats aren’t special advisers. They advise us all the time, whether we want them to or no.
Most humans think the appearance of quiet is quiet. They do not see that sometimes the enemy is as quiet as the serpent. Only when it has stolen all of their eggs will they know bad walks in the quiet as well as the noisy.
Daja doesn’t exactly need to be tested on whether she’s honorable or not.
With each book, in each place, I have to keep an ongoing map as I write because otherwise I don’t know where I am.
You have an audience that is fairly well grounded in the real world. You serve them and yourself best by making everything as real as possible.
What people tell me they take away from my books is that they can shape their lives, they can achieve their own dreams. And certainly that’s what I want them to take away.