McKillip has created a well-developed, believable secondary world; the hero is on a quest and must decide if he will accept his fate; the book deals with the issues of good versus evil but the book is itself is a riddle: Nothing is ever what it seems to be. There are many shape-shifters who could lead the hero astray. This is a dense book with many different layers of meaning.

1. This has a highly developed legal system, particularly in the area of "land-law." Why is this so important and why do the different countries seems to have different forms of "landlaw"?

2. How does Morgon know that his parents have disappeared if their bodies have never been recovered?

3. Does it seem reasonable that Morgon, who was able to solve the...