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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what celestial entity is Rubra's power compared?

2. What are the Urschel and the Raimo ships part of?

3. Where does Oenone arrive when Syrinx informs Ione that Meredith Saldana is here to visit her?

4. Baranovich contacts Mzu through an _________ to offer her freedom from possession in return for the Alchemist.

5. On what does Quinn torture and crucify a Christian priest?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when a possessed goes to zero tau?

2. How does Quinn's operations room evoke images of genocide?

3. When is a person able to escape the Anstid?

4. What creates heavy conflict on Nyvan without any reason as the factions close in on Mzu trying to escape with the Alchemist?

5. What happens when a possessed is killed?

6. Why do Dariat and Rubra want to fuse their powers?

7. How do Samuel, Mzu, and Monica try to escape the possessed via the basin?

8. What does the revelation that Mzu's husband Peter was left on Beezling reveal about her motivations?

9. What are some advantages that the possessed have over the living?

10. What is the cliffhanger pertaining to Tranquility at the end of the book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Zero-tau is a form of stasis that will freeze a person or thing in the space-time-continuum. How does time move and change as a result? Which characters express this and in what ways? How is sensory feeling suspended?

Essay Topic 2

Hamilton uses more than one iteration on the motif of intelligence. Identify at least two motifs about cunning and intelligence in the book. Then cite an example to support each answer.

Essay Topic 3

Psychic phenomena is another important theme of Hamilton's book. Where and how are these phenomena revealed and in what ways? Do they change over time? Do they evoke certain emotions in characters and do they promote change or transformation?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 574 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample