History Literature / ApprenticeAdept

** [[spoiler:The Oracle]] used Red's Adept paranoia against her in order to make sure [[spoiler:Stile entered Phaze]] at the right time.
** Stile also used such a gambit against her during the climax of ''Blue Adept'': [[spoiler: Hypnotizing himself into seeing Red as Lady Blue. His shift in attitude to love and passion freaked out man-hating Red enough to cause her to attack Stile, throwing their dance competition and causing her to wash out of the Tournament.]]
** He had another earlier in the book, when he faced an obnoxious Citizen who relied on uncanny luck in a game of backgammon. Said Citizen seemed to have knowledge of Phaze, and was fixated on the idea of sex with non-humans (implying he was fixated on them [[BestialityIsDepraved in their animal forms]]). Stile kept him too distracted with hints that he had indulged in such relations [[note]]He had, in fact, slept with Neysa at that point. But it was in human form.[[/note]], that he didn't notice Stile going to the doubling cube [[DeathOrGloryAttack over and over]], allowing him overcome the Citizen's massive point advantage to win the game in one fell swoop.
** He does it again in ''Juxtaposition'': Newly minted Citizen Stile loses a bet to a more seasoned Citizen, who admits he stacked the odds to get the win[[note]]They made a bet over whether or not more men or women would emerge from a corridor in a certain time frame. The Citizen owned property nearby and sent word to his people to send serfs through to tip the scale[[/note]]. Stile then revealed that the secret side bet he'd made with another Citizen [[note]]Stile was forced to make the bet in exchange for access to the Citizen's property, which he needed for an important data trace[[/note]], was that someone would cheat to win the next bet. That win more than made up for the previous loss and bolstered Stile's growing rep as a mover and a shaker.
** The master plan in ''Phaze Doubt'' depends finding the agent the Hectare would send down to try and disrupt said master plan. Lysander (a Hectare brain in an android body) knows they're onto him fairly early, but plays along, since they're trying to win him over to their side. The resistance knows (thanks to prophecies) that Lysander will play an important role in the master plan, but not how. So they just want to keep him on their side until the moment comes, keeping him tantalizingly close enough to the full plan that he doesn't just turn in his handlers and look elsewhere.

* TheBigGuy: Hulk

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Established Adepts (read: Any adept who isn't Stile or one of his allies) tend to protect their positions by wiping out anyone who shows any real power within their specialty.

* TruthSerum: when someone swears something's true in Phaze, and they ''really mean'' it, a wave of rainbow light radiates from them.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Brown, in her first appearance, where she hides behind [[ElCidPloy a golem made to look like her predecessor]], an older man who has recently passed away. Being only a young girl bereft of her mentor, and with most of the other Adepts being ruthless and power-hungry [[EvilSorcerer Evil Sorcerers]], she is naturally wary of visitors.

* DragonRider: One chapter in one of the books features the [=POV=] character ending up in a game of dragon combat as part of the Great Game. Narration makes it clear that the dragon (a machine with some animal's [[BrainInAJar brain installed]], since this was on Proton rather than Phaze, where there are real dragons) is not amused to be carrying a passenger.

* DragonRider: One chapter in one of the books features the [=POV=] character ending up in a game of dragon combat. Narration makes it clear that the dragon (a machine with some animal's [[BrainInAJar brain installed]]) is not amused to be carrying a passenger.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The dialect of Phaze. In the MergedReality, this one way to tell which self is in control at the time, since Proton people speak modern English.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The dialect of Phaze.

* DepravedBisexual: Tania, in the second trilogy (at first) & a good chunk of Proton's Citizens

* DishingOutDirt: Purple, the Geomancer Adept.

* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Tania]]. Although she doesn't end up with Bane, her love for him makes her change her character completely, [[ShowDontTell over several years, condensed into a couple of paragraphs]]. For example, she used to enjoy [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals torturing frogs]], and now she doesn't.

* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: The version of Tania in Proton doesn't have her Phase counterpart's HypnoticEyes, so when she desperately needs to convince a man to do something at a plot-critical moment, she tries the closest thing she can think of: flashing her breasts. It works.

* LoveRedeems: Tania's HeelFaceTurn begins when she falls in love with Bane, finding herself acting in a good person way like he would want instead of a bad person way, even though she knows he'd never reciprocate her feelings.

* SmugSnake: The Purple Adept is the singularly most obnoxious and appalling Adverse Adept, but not as competent as he thinks he is. The same goes for his Proton counterpart, Citizen Purple, and Tan, who often works with Purple.

* SmugSnake: The Purple Adept is the singularly most obnoxious and appalling Adverse Adept, but not as competent as he thinks he is. The same goes for his Proton counterpart, Citizen Purple.

* InevitableTournament: nearly every major conflict is settled, once and for all, via the Great Game (or a variant, in Phaze).

* SeriousBusiness: In a world where losing a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors can mean getting booted off the planet, ''everything'' possibly included in the Great Game is treated as Serious Business. Also, oaths on Phaze (which are magically enforced).

** [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Mach and his mother Sheen]] (from "machine").

** [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Mach and his mother Sheen]].

* LesCollaborateurs: In Phaze Doubt, many Phaze/Proton citizens support the new regime to save their skins or profit, most notably Tan and Purple.