READERS GUIDE
Reader’s GuideSoulgazer by Maggie Rapier
Discussion Questions
1. Saoirse’s main conflict in this book centers around her relationship to her magic—or in essence, her power. She fears it and wants to strip it away until, ultimately, she accepts it as her own. Would you have made the same choice in her place? Why?
2. Faolan clearly loves his crew, yet he never discloses his secrets about Saoirse or his scar to any of them. If you could have told any of the Wolves the truth, who would it be and why? Do you think it would have made a difference to the story?
3. Think about Saoirse’s trek through her father’s island and the realities she encountered throughout the Crescent, as well as through her relationship to Brona. What parallels could you draw between the conflicts in Soulgazer’s world and our own?
4. In Soulgazer, the magic comes from the land after an uprising against the gods. Knowing how the story went, do you agree with the peoples’ decision to slaughter the gods and claim the magic for themselves? Do you think it played out how they wanted?
5. If you could have a magical item from the world of Soulgazer, or explore one of the islands in particular, which would it be and why?
6. Faolan tends to charm his way through life, laughing at conflict and shrugging off the consequences. Do you think he’s as careless as he
seems, or do you think it’s all a facade?
7. There is an adage in this world: “we are a people who cannot mourn, for the dead cannot pass on.” What do you think it means, to live constantly alongside your ghosts in a dying world? Does it excuse the antagonists’ actions, or shift your view of them?
8. Saoirse and Faolan are in a marriage of convenience, but clearly that changes along the way. When would you argue that she fell in love with Faolan? When did he fall for her?
