You are nearly there," said James. "Very close. We are...so proud of you.

I'm a real sucker for guitars. I've had a crush on many, many a guitarist.

Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale.

You don’t understand — there are things worth dying for!

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.

But I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing immortality.

Some readers and commentators really want to scrape your insides out to make sense of your work. Others say, there's the work, it speaks for itself. Personally, I fall somewhere in the middle.