Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.

"Whatever fear he'd instilled in people on the streets was of no consequence inside the market, packed with ramshackle stalls and vendors and food stands, smoke drifting throughout, the tang of blood and spark of magic acrid in his nostrils. And above it all, against the far wall of the enormous space, was a towering mosaic, the tiles taken from an ancient temple in Pangera, restored and re-created here in loving detail, despite its gruesome depiction: cloaked and hooded death, the skeleton's face grinning out from the cowl, a scythe in one hand and an hourglass in the other. Above its head, words had been crafted in the Republic's most ancient language:

Prayer inserts me into the middle of any battlefield regardless of how gruesome or bloodied. And in the carnage of whatever that battle might be, it allows me to deliver a force greater than any raging on that field.

I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and in that respect I liked Bible stories because to me they were very gothic.

It can be kind of gruesome at times making things alone.