Amber’s Reviews > A Conjuring of Light > Status Update

“You’re a brilliant magician,” she said, “but there’s something you just don’t get.” [...] “The trick to winning a fight isn’t strength, but strategy.” [...] “And strategy is just a fancy word for a special kind of common sense, the ability to see options, to make them where there were none. It's not about knowing the rules." [...] It's about knowing how to break them."

Myths do not happen all at once. They do not spring forth whole into the world. They form slowly, rolled between the hands of time until their edges smooth, until the saying of the story gives enough weight to the words—to the memories—to keep them rolling on their own. But all stories start somewhere, and that night, as Rhy Maresh walked through the streets of London, a new myth was taking shape.

“Remind your father,” said the Aven Essen, “that even kings are made of flesh and bone.”

“Don’t worry,” said Bard. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
It wasn’t a comforting notion. As far as he could see, she only had one kind of behavior, and it usually ended with several dead bodies.

There were a hundred shades between a truth and lie, and she knew them all. She could tell when someone was being dishonest, and when they were only saying one word for every three.

“Is this where you tell me to be safe?”
“Oh,” said the priest, “I think the time for that is gone.”

Tieren shook his head. “Things are not so simple, when it comes to life and death,” he’d said. “With minds and bodies, what is done cannot always be undone.”

Her blood sang with the thrill of the fight and her fingers itched to summon fire, but fire only worked if you cared about getting burned. A body without fear would never slow in the face of flame.