Cordimancy (42 page)

Extras

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Discussion Questions

1. Who wields the type of magic called “cordimancy”—and what is its nature? Who is a “heart”?
   

1. How do Malena and Toril progress through stages of grief as the story unfolds? Do either of them show symptoms of PTSD?
   

1. Is Shivi too idealistic?
   

1. Why is kavro shilmar called the Ordeal of Names? Did Toril receive any power in the ordeal that he didn’t already have? What is the beginning and ending of the ordeal? Is there any analog to it in the “real world”?
   

1. Trust and communication in marriage are an important theme. How do the experiences Toril and Malena bring to their marriage influence their expectations? What do they do well, and what mistakes hamper their happiness? Would their experiences have been any different if the marriage had not been arranged?
   

1. Why did Gitám say that Toril had been in the ordeal for longer than he realized?
   

1. How do rituals and customs in the book compare to those in cultures you may know?
   

1. What do you think about Shivi’s definition of forgiveness? How is it different from other definitions you might have heard?
   

1. Besides Toril, who else undergoes an ordeal of names?
   

1. The interplay between age and life experience is another important theme. Toril’s brother dies of premature old age; Paka worries about his impending death; Gorumim has found a way to live far beyond his natural lifespan. Oji claims that experience, not time, is the true measure of life, whereas Shivi offers a more nuanced view. Which views of life and aging resonate for you?
   

1. What loose ends are unresolved? Why? What will Toril and Malena have to understand and do to be fully reconciled?
   

1. How do revelations about Toril’s condition and the sterility of sata influence Malena’s feelings? What does Toril mean when he says he will “unmake the orphans”?
   

1. How does the oak connect to kavro shilmar, to Shivi’s heartstone, and to the heartstone that Toril lost? How is the oak like or unlike its familiar counterparts in world mythologies?
   

1. What do you think of the parable of bread and ovens?
   

1. Does heart magic trump blood magic?
   

About the Author

Daniel Hardman grew up along the shores of Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin, wearing Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls before they were fashionable. He consumed a steady diet of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Rafael Sabatini, Orson Scott Card, and Lloyd Alexander as he moved around the midwest.

Daniel served as a missionary in New Mexico and Texas, where he came to love the Spanish language and Latin and Native American cultures. He studied computational linguistics in grad school and also holds an MBA from Brigham Young University. He works as a security researcher, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to catch bad guys on the internet.

Daniel and his wife Linda live in Utah. They are the parents of seven children, six of whom are adopted.