1. In this novel, appearances are often misleading, as Vesper and Brinnie soon discover. Discuss the conflict between appearance and reality as it is experienced by the protagonists during their adventures.

2. Read another of Alexander's books about the adventures of Vesper Holly and compare it with this one.

3. Some of Vesper's adventures involve violence, and a few are even lifethreatening. Does this give the reader a bad impression of the dangers involved in undertaking a challenge, or is it simply a realistic consideration?

4. Although there was an ancient country of Illyria, it no longer exists and its language is extinct. How does the author go about authenticating his imagined nineteenth-century Illyria?

Cite details of clothing customs, speech, etc.

5. Throughout the novel, there are scenes in which the hero Vartan is present or referred to but not identified. Discuss these scenes with...