There’s glory and honour in being chosen. But not much room for free will

Oh Julie, wouldn’t I know if you were dead? Wouldn’t I feel it happening, like a jolt of electricity to my heart?

God knows what I thought! Your brain does amazing acrobatics when it doesn't want to believe something.

I think as readers we put ourselves in the protagonist's place because we want to be like that person. That's why sometimes we don't like protagonists who aren't all that nice; we want to relate to the protagonist.

You can't just sit in a corner weeping or you'll die.

Hope is the most treacherous thing in the world. It lifts you and lets you plummet. But as long as you're being lifted you don't worry about plummeting.

But people need lift, too. People don't get moving, they don't soar, they don't achieve great heights, without someone buoying them up.