Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow

“Historically, Basking brought equal splendors and dangers, just like the heat and brightness of the midday sun. It was a time of high risk and high reward; a time when a course for the current Age could—would—be set, for better or worse.”

The opening chapter establishes the setting: the turn of an era, a period of change and opportunity that creates suspense about the narrative that will follow. The description of danger and splendor mixed together introduces background tension and allows for two different interpretations of subsequent events.

“Another, quieter part of her wished she were still one of them [the younger scholars]. A mere child, kept safe in the dark.”

Morrigan’s observation about the comparative innocence of the other Unit 920 scholars establishes the inner conflict that will drive Morrigan’s character arc. As a young adolescent, she welcomes the responsibilities of being a teenager, but she also struggles with some of the knowledge that maturity brings, as well as the new challenges that she will encounter. This kind of loss of innocence is a frequent theme in novels that address coming of age.

“Ezra Squall had shown her that to truly be a Wundersmith was to have a universe inside. That was what Morrigan dreaded explaining to Jupiter and her friends.”

Keeping her agreement to become Ezra Squall’s apprentice is a chief source of internal conflict for Morrigan throughout the book, as she dreads her friends’ reaction to this decision. Morrigan’s growing perception of her powers, and of how being a Wundersmith sets her apart from others, is a theme throughout both the series and this novel, another convention of the coming-of-age story.