Introduction

Sariah's reward for revealing the stone truth: a death sentence. Banished and on the run, Sariah must find a way to carry out the stone's mystifying legacy. As the war escalates and the rot destroys the land, she must act before the executioners ruin her kin, her enemies slaughter her lover, and the mysterious bracelet she has been forced to wear kills her. In the second novel of her widely acclaimed Stonewiser Series, Machado continues the extraordinary saga of Sariah, the reluctant heroine forced into a desperate search for the only truth that can change her rotting world's fate.

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Excerpt

One

SARIAH WAS WITH her pupils when the executioners came. They arrived on her deck without warning or fanfare, slipping through the door one after the other, until twelve of them crammed her stonewiser's deck. Twelve. They had been warned about her. They took care to block the door and windows before they stripped the dark mantles they wore to conceal their garb. The sight of their red robes was worse than a rotfish fang to her gut. Dread squelched all of the day's promises and numbed Sariah to death's bold announcement. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. When the story begins, Sariah is taken prisoner by the executioners, a tribe of people who make a living by executing criminals sentenced to death in the Rotten Domain. Do you think that a tribe of executioners is a useful or detrimental element for the Domain? Do you think that every society has a role/place for people such as these?

2. What do you think are the main differences between the people who live in the Goodlands and the people who dwell in the Rotten Domain? What are the similarities? Do you think that the ecological differences between the Goodlands and the Rotten Domain account for the differences?

3. One of Sariah's most unique skills is her ability to wise not just stone, but also people's emotions. What can she learn from wising people's emotions that she can't learn from the stones? Is this a skill you would like to have? How do you think our world today might be different if we were able to read each other's emotions?

4. A reader's favorite, Delis's relationship with Sariah evolves throughout the story and generates a lot of questions. What do you think the donnis relationship entails? Is it mastery or service? Is it submission or friendship? Do you think that being a donnis to Delis is beneficial or harmful to Sariah? Would you like to have a donnis? Would you like to serve as someone's donnis?

5. As Sariah progresses in her quest, she goes to the Bastions, where she meets the Hounds, a fierce, mysterious people who protect a sacred secret and speak only through their ancient sages' Wisdom. What are the advantages and disadvantages of communicating through an old established set of sayings? What aspects of the Hounds' culture surprised you? What aspects repelled you?

6. What do you think of Sariah's goddess, Meliahs? Is she indeed a fickle goddess? Do you believe that the goddess's prohibition to create life is wise, silly or selfish? Do you think that "labor and sweat," the goddess's favorite offering, is a fair expectation or a punishing demand?

7. In the story, Sariah is trapped at the Mating Hall and submitted to the prism's terrors. What do you think Grimly and her allies were trying to accomplish? Do you think the notion of making better stonewisers warranted her methods? Is the idea of a better/stronger/faster human being attractive to our society as well?

8. What is the call of the stone and how is it relevant to us today?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Dora Machado's web site

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