He loved reading – loved taking a neglected book off the shelf and opening it, smelling its book smell, feeling the smooth pages under his fingers.

That is for me decide, not you. It is said that only fools stand in the way of a new idea; I trust, magisters, that there are no fools among you.

Tallennar. I knew what it meant. It meant thief. Well, that was all right. Because a thief really was a lot like a wizard.

Because a thief really was a lot like a wizard.

He loved reading—loved taking a neglected book off the shelf and opening it, smelling its book smell, feeling the smooth pages under his fingers.

A book half read was a bother. Like a toothache. It niggled.