Publishers have realized that, unlike the previous time period, American teenagers are both smarter and require more topical material than they had been giving them before that. For one thing, they'll read thicker books. Besides, has anybody looked at the news or read the newspapers recently?

He has artistry," he repeated. "Because that's what it takes to blow things up. And cook his arm.

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.

Does anyone in this land act like they're supposed to?

Alanna didn't approve of lying, but in a pinch a lie was sometimes better than the truth.

Men died as she watched, and they didn't care about what they had fought for.

Sandry: "There has to be something we can do." Lark: "We're mages. We do what we can, but some problems are too big to fix." Sandry: "Then I wish I weren't a mage. What good is magic, if you can't use it to help people.