GHOST IN THE THRONE

I was looking over the previous GHOSTS books to help set up my outline for GHOST IN THE GLASS (coming later this year). An author’s assessment of his own work is always suspect, of course, but I think GHOST IN THE THRONE is one of my favorite of the GHOSTS series.

(SPOILERS for the book follow.)

I really liked how Caina and Cassander Nilas basically spent the book chasing each other in the dark. I also liked how Callatas’s mishandling of Cassander almost blew up (in the most literal sense) in his face, and severely hampered his efforts later on, and I liked how Cassander almost usurped control of the GHOST EXILE series to become the main villain. I liked the conversation where Claudia tells Caina to stop complaining and go be the Balarigar.

And I did like the scenes with the circus, but I admit I mostly wrote that part because it amused me. 🙂

One of my favorite quotes:

“Behold, for I am the Balarigar, and I bring justice swift and terrible!” thundered Cronmer. “No evildoer escapes my terrible sword of righteous thunder! Cassander Nilas, I have come for you!”

“I don’t actually have a sword of righteous thunder,” muttered Caina.

“Poetic license,” muttered Cronmer back.

And this:

“Also,” said Caina, “that was a really terrible slap.”

Claudia opened her eyes again. “I didn’t hit you that hard.”

“That’s what I meant,” said Caina. “It was an… incompetent slap.”

“Incompetent?”

“You should have locked your wrist more, not let your hand flop about like a dead fish,” said Caina.

“Alas,” said Claudia, “I was distracted by the knowledge that I am about give birth to my first child!” She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, squeezing Caina’s hand. “If we live through this, I shall be delighted to slap you over and over again until I finally master the proper form.”

And this:

“Why would the circus master hire you?” she said with a frown.

“Because he already did once,” said Caina.

Silence answered her.

“All right,” said Morgant. “Now this I have to hear. How did you get hired as a circus performer?”

-JM