Angst? What Angst?: Terisa's segue from her world to Mordant is ridiculously smooth. She doesn't complain about lighting fires or dressing extravagantly or not having electronics. Justified in that she paid very little attention to what went on in her world anyway, and that she's treated as a noble in Mordant - e.g., not having access to a shower is probably not so much of an issue when you have servants who can draw you a bath whenever you want.
She does become frightened about the lack of any mirrors, and Eremis almost convinces her she was a creation, not a real person.
Crazy Is Cool: Adept Havelock. He's quite mad, but it becomes obvious early on that there's a method to his madness and that he can still perform some extremely impressive feats of Imagery when necessary.
Fridge Logic: Given that most of the "mirrors" the Imagers deal with don't actually reflect,, and no one has ever looked in a real mirror and survived to talk about it, why do they call them "mirrors" and not "windows"?
They do reflect. This is why natural mirrors are avoided, because they'll drive you crazy. When mirrors are constructed, they're made so they can't reflect the viewer.
Window panes also do not exist in Mordant.
Ho Yay: The scene where Geraden and Terisa are rescued from the rock fall, and Artagel gets a little too caring over his brother's possible death. And then a little too cuddly afterward when it's revealed Geraden is still alive. Also, with Geraden "fainting away" in Artagel's arms? Yeah.
Les Yay: Terisa has explicitly stated trouble not staring at Saddith's proudly displayed assetsnote (it's probably just because she's at once horrified and intrigued by the idea of being that flamboyantly sexual, but still...) and Saddith makes a number of cheerful comments about Terisa's body while giving her a bath.
Spiritual Antithesis: To a more well-known series by the same author. In the most obvious sense, it's about a woman from Earth who is brought to another world and who doubts her own reality, instead of about a man from Earth who is brought to another world and who doubts the reality of everything around him. It's also a fairly gritty Low Fantasy story where Magic A Is Magic A instead of a romantic High Fantasy story where the rules are dreamlike and often work on emotional logic, and told in quite sensual terms with much emphasis on what the characters are physically experiencing instead of being described in very cerebral, idealised terms concerned more with what everything represents.
When Geraden doesn't know if Artagel will live or die.
Anything to do with Geraden being kicked around by another character. His Woobification is just so extreme.
Reading the story again, knowing Joyse is deliberately being senile and pushing people away, and knowing that he tries to protect everyone but is forced by Havelock to let bad things happen, it's just heartbreaking, especially when the Tor comes in with his dead son.
Geraden. He is so adorable, so nice, and so caring that you just can't help but root for him throughout the entire book and cry at the end. He's been treated as the underdog all his life, but he accepts it, so gallantly he is just the epitome of Woobism.
Geraden: I'm very tired of being laughed at.
Terisa. She's lived her entire life in an abusive household before being taken to Mordant where people care about her.
Lebbick also deserves a mention. A man driven past his breaking point by the fact he can't stop trying to do his duty and his attempts to find out just who is plotting against his King. The one most pissed off at Joyse for his treatment of him is Terisa. Keep in mind, Lebbick wanted to sexually abuse and torture her, such as rubbing a splintered plank of wood between her legs. All Joyse has to say for himself is to sadly admit he thought Lebbick would be stronger.
Nyle! Even though he's betraying two of his brothers, you just can't help but feel sorry for him.
Master Quillon. Especially when he's killed by Gilbur. Joyse mourns that despite being physically frail, he still took on the most dangerous tasks for him out of Undying Loyalty, and it got him unceremoniously murdered.
