These are the passages that I marked in my Kindle book. The passages
were marked either because I felt they contained significant information
or because I simply found them interesting or amusing. These passages contain MAJOR SERIES SPOILERS, so readers who haven't made it this far should avoid this post.
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Page 16 "I believe you've heard about the proposal for building a Human Sanctuary that circulated a few decades back, haven't you, Miss Foster?" "Alden mentioned it a while ago," Sophie agreed. And the thought of moving all the humans to what would basically be an enormous prison still made her queasy. "Was that the Neverseen's idea?"
Page 16 "A global conflict involving every living being." He let that sink in before he added, "That's why the Black Swan was formed—and why Alden and Quinlin have carried out so many of their own secret investigations throughout the last few decades."
Page 40 The only clues Mr. Forkle had given her over the years were that her genetic parents had no connection to each other, and hadn't been told who the other was—which meant she'd have to look for them individually, instead of searching for a couple. He'd also sworn that he wasn't her genetic father.
Page 40 Of course, that was assuming he'd actually told her the truth about any of that, which was a fifty-fifty bet.
Page 78 A really nerdy-looking guy. Between the tweed blazer and the bow tie and the ruddy cheeks and the wild hair, he looked like some sort of professor stereotype. All he was missing was a pair of thick spectacles and… "He's human," Sophie realized, focusing on the man's deep brown eyes. She'd gotten so used to being surrounded by blue-eyed elves that it was almost jarring to see someone with the same eye color as her—and someone with deep smile lines and strands of gray peppered through his messy red hair.
Page 80 And the man that Keefe had drawn was a pretty generic-looking British guy—from his bright ginger hair down to the elbow patches on his blazer.
Page 95 "If you're still on the 'lock me up' plan, that's never gonna happen," Keefe warned. Ro sauntered closer and pinched both of his cheeks. "You're so cute when you think you're being all tough and rebellious. But let's get real for a second, shall we? You get away with the things I let you get away with, because I don't care enough to fight you on them."
Page 128 "The Neverseen have had that knowledge for long enough to do something with it, and yet nothing's changed. So the Councillors feel that the more important lesson is for the Black Swan to be much more open with them in the future, to ensure that our enemies never have more knowledge than our leaders."
Page 193 Oralie shook her head. "Of course not! You just look so…" "So…?" Sophie prompted. "It's hard to explain. You've changed since the first day I met you. You're… not a little girl anymore. Which is how it's supposed to be. I just wish…" Oralie bit her lip and looked away.
Page 261 "But… the longer I'm around him, the more it doesn't feel like he's the one—especially when you consider the whole 'secret twin' thing. The Forkle brothers were the only people who could do most of the stuff they did for me, which makes those good deeds seem way less significant and more like… they were just doing their job, you know?" Sophie shrugged. "I also wondered if it was Councillor Kenric, since he was always so nice to me and he was a Telepath and he gave me his cache. But Forkle said he's not—and with Kenric being dead… I don't really see why he'd bother lying."
Page 266 "But they were also experimenting with your life in ways that were bound to cause problems for you—and that didn't stop them from doing it. So, I'm just saying… anyone who helped with the project probably has some issues—especially the people who didn't even want anyone knowing they were involved."
Page 310 "What about you?" Amy asked, studying Sophie like she was checking her for injuries. And somehow, even though Sophie's right hand showed no new scars, Amy's focus lingered there.
Page 314 Sophie snapped back, twisting her arm a different way and wondering if her sister had figured out how to channel strength when she lived with the elves because seriously—how was she so strong?
Page 333 "Yes, you did. I still have nightmares about it sometimes." He stared at his hands, wringing his fingers back and forth. "It was me with you that day, in case you were wondering. Not my twin brother. It's why I was chosen to be the one to reset your abilities the second time—everyone felt I had 'experience' with the situation—though truthfully, both times I've never felt so out of my depth or terrified in all of my life."
Page 339 "Not in this case." Mr. Forkle turned to the room's largest window, parting the curtains and scanning the yard. "All I have is a handful of dormant Inflictor genes, which I wasn't ever supposed to be able to use. They were simply part of a test." "A test," Sophie repeated, not sure why the word made her stomach feel so squirmy until she realized, "You're talking about Project Moonlark."
Page 339 "My brother and I split it up—he tested your Polyglot genes and I tested your inflicting."
Page 420 "I am not your genetic father, Miss Foster. By any means. And if you need to verify that I'm telling the truth, ask Councillor Oralie." Oralie stumbled away from both of them, shaking her head hard enough to tangle some of her ringlets. "I don't want to be involved in this." "Neither do I," Bronte noted. "And yet, here I am." Oralie's rosy cheeks turned very, very pale. "If anyone found out…"
Page 423 "Good," Bronte told her, frowning when he glanced at Oralie, who still stood several steps away, her gaze fixed on the horizon. "Then go inside and get ready. To play the part, you first need to look the part—isn't that right, Oralie?" Oralie didn't respond.
Page 480 He turned to Sophie, and she was a little surprised by the level of pride radiating from his expression—like a dad whose kid had just hit a game-winning home run.
Page 513 "Given what happened with the Council and the meeting with King Enki, I'm realizing it's time for all of us to aim for a higher level of transparency." "Said the guy who still won't tell me who my biological parents are," Sophie felt the need to point out. "Ohhhhhh, she has you there!" Livvy added. "She does indeed," Mr. Forkle said through a very long sigh.
Page 542 …someone was clearing their throat behind them and they turned to find Mr. Forkle standing on the path, watching them. And he seemed… Nervous. It almost looked like he wanted to raise a crystal and leap away before any of them could ask why he was there.
Page 545 "Ethan Benedict Wright II, and”—her stomach turned—“ his ten-year-old daughter, Eleanor Olivia Wright, were struck by a bus outside of the British Library and killed instantly."
Page 554 "Well… that's… convenient," Fitz said slowly. "So the accident just happened to take place in one of the rare gaps in the Black Swan's surveillance? Nobody else thinks that's odd?" "Oh, I think it's very odd," Mr. Forkle told him.
Page 611 Empaths have a physical reaction when we lie. You have to be reading our pulse to feel it, but it's always there. Our hearts skip three beats. One from guilt. One from fear. And one like a held breath, waiting to see if someone will catch us.
Page 655 "My enhancing's extra strong with Empaths," she warned, "so I don't know if that'll be too distracting." Oralie frowned. "Only with Empaths?" "Also with Telepaths," Sophie corrected. "Any idea why?" "Not necessarily…" Which wasn't really an answer, but Sophie decided not to point that out either.
Page 662 "Well… it at least explains why your enhancing is so much stronger on Empaths." "True," Sophie agreed. "Though my enhancing's also stronger on Telepaths—but that might be because of what Lord Cassius said. He said the way I use my telepathy reminds him of an Empath," she explained when she saw Oralie's confusion. "I pick up on emotions with my thoughts, I guess, without having to be in the emotional center."
Next, I give my thoughts about what some of this might mean. This part of the post also contains spoilers.
On page 8, Sophie hopes to see "clues to who Mr. Forkle truly was" in his office. This tells me that even Sophie realizes that Leto is not Forkle's true identity; or rather, we are being told that Leto is not Forkle's true identity.
On page 343, Forkle mentions how he gave Sophie the location of the unmapped stars. The Councillors are the only elves who know this information, which means that Forkle most likely was a Councillor, almost certainly Kenric.
On page 40, we are reminded that Mr. Forkle said that Sophie's parents didn't know each other and weren't a couple. But then Sophie reflects that Mr. Forkle might not have been truthful about that. On page 232, Keefe says that Forkle is a good liar. Exactly. Readers who don't see what's really going on have let themselves be misled by Forkle's statements, which of course is what the author intended to have happen.
This human character described on page 78, Ethan Benedict Wright II, fascinates me. Just that we know his full name is a red flag, because of the possibility of an anagram. The way Ethan is described is even more important. Ethan has "wild hair" that is "red" and he has "deep smile lines." In book 1 in the series, Kenric is described as having "wild red hair" and he loves to grin. It sounds like Ethan could be Kenric working as a double agent of sorts.
Yes, we are told that Ethan is dead, but then Kenric is dead as well, which I don't buy for a moment. I tried to find an anagram in Ethan's name. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I did come up with a mighty interesting group of words that uses every letter in Ethan's name, including the Roman numerals at the end.
Ethan Benedict Wright II can be rearranged to form these words exactly with no letters left over: "grin teach tweed inhibit." Remember that Kenric Elgar Fathdon's name can be rearranged to form these words exactly with no letters left over: "Forkle grin and teach."
If the anagram that I found for Ethan Benedict Wright II was intentional, then "grin" and "teach" point to Kenric. "Tweed" points to Ethan, since he was described as wearing a "tweed blazer." "Inhibit" could mean that he is trying to inhibit Lady Gisela and the Neverseen.
On a later date after I had this post set to publish, I worked on Eleanor Olivia Wright's name some more. I had previously checked it and had no luck. With the help of an anagram solver, I began to find some interesting words and names. I found Tiergan (or granite) and Oralie. I found wraith, grin, heart, love, tower, olive, and rival. I was most interested in my discovery that Oralie's name could be pulled out of Eleanor Olivia Wright's name, since Eleanor is female like Oralie.
It took me one hour to finally come up with a complete phrase from Eleanor Olivia Wright with all letters used exactly once and none left over. The phrase is "love Oralie with a grin." I think this is a real anagram and not just a coincidence, so probably the anagram I found for Ethan is real as well.
On page 542, Mr. Forkle arrives to tell Sophie Ethan's name. He is very nervous, which isn't like him. He gives an excuse, but it seems off to me. Is he nervous because he/Kenric is Ethan?
On page 108, I realized that Sophie's human family, Foster, means her human parents are her "foster parents."
On page 193, the author begins dropping fairly obvious hints that Oralie is Sophie's biological mother, with the reveal occurring on page 667. I am certain that book 9 drops obvious hints about Sophie's biological father, and that reveal will likely occur in book 10.
On page 261, Sophie once again wonders if Kenric could be her father. She then says, "But Forkle said he's not—and with Kenric being dead… I don't really see why he'd bother lying." But what if Kenric isn't dead? What if he's Forkle? He'd lie about it.
On page 306, Mr. Forkle is amazed about Amy, how strong she is emotionally, and how close she is to Sophie. I wonder if Amy has some slight elf powers from gestating in a human who had previously carried an elf. Amy also looks at Sophie's right hand when asking how she is, like Amy knows that something else has happened. On page 314, Sophie is shocked at Amy's physical strength.
On page 423, Bronte frowns at Oralie as she stares into the distance, apparently freaked out over Sophie thinking that Bronte is her father. I wonder if Bronte begins to suspect the truth about Oralie's involvement in Project Moonlark at that moment.
On page 655, Sophie points out that her enhancing is particularly strong with Empaths and Telepaths. The obvious conclusion is that one parent is an Empath and the other a Telepath. The book is just pages away from revealing that Oralie, an Empath, is Sophie's mother. This means that her father is almost certainly a Telepath, which points to Kenric.
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