There’s this quiz going around, and I thought I’d apply it to the books….

1. The Elders would like a word with you. – No “elders” in the World of Ruin. Circle of High Druids, yes, but they prefer actions to words. #MaskoftheBloodQueen

2. The Ritual is about to begin. – If you mean ritual combat, then yes.

3. Something that has not happened in a thousand years is happening. – Doom happens in the World of Ruin on the order of every 5 or 10 years, actually.

4. You are going to the City. There is only one City, etc. – There’s only one civilized mage-city left, yes, but everyone calls it Tar Vangr, or the City of Steel, or the Winter City.

5. Certain members of the Council are displeased with your family’s recent actions. – Most of my heroes are orphans. They make their own family.

6. A bard is providing occasional comic relief. No one hired or invited him. – Comic relief? In the World of Ruin? Yes, but no bards.

7. The High Priest is not to be trusted. – No priests to speak of. The Gods died or fled long ago.

8. Someone is eating an apple mockingly. – Have to remember to put this in book 4.
9. There is one body of water. It is called the Sea. The Great Sea, if you are feeling fancy. – The Grey Sea, but yes, this one.

10. You live in a region with no major exports, no centralized government, no banking system, a mysteriously maintained network of roads, and little to no job training for anyone who is not a farmer. – Nope, most of those places in the World of Ruin have been trampled by barbarians.

11. You have red hair which you wear in a braid. Your father was a simple man, etc. – Ovelia and Garin both have red hair, and either occasionally braids it. Their fathers were anything but simple, however. #LoveTriangle #KingsShield

12. You’re going to have to hurry or you’ll miss the fair. You never miss the fair. – Ah, for happier times, when the mage-cities held fairs.

13. There is trouble at the Citadel. – Well, there’s often trouble at the castles, which tend to explode with some frequency.

14. Your full name has at least one apostrophe in it. – Thankfully I ducked that in this series.

15. It is the first page and you are already late for something. – Five years late for your own death, Ovelia. Oh and your mother won’t be dead by page 42—she’s been dead for nearly 40 years. You killed her.

16. There are two religions in your entire universe—one Islam, practiced by villains, the other “being a Viking.” – Civilized folk in the World of Ruin may worship lost gods (each city has a patron deity) but usually don’t. Barbarians worship Ruin herself, who has nothing to do with Islam or any other religion. That faith is mostly “bring death to those too weak to resist.”

17. There are new ways in the land that threaten the Old Way. – The Old Way died out when the World of Wonder magically nuked itself. I *wish* we could practice the old way.

18. The real trouble began the day you arrived in court. – Well, that *is* how Shadow of the Winter King ends . . . #regicide