Jonathan Stroud

“Then I realized he was still holding my hand.”

— Jonathan Stroud

“What could it be? Not a date, surely—the boy’s got eyes.”

— Jonathan Stroud

Oh, the boots were on the other eight feet now.

— Jonathan Stroud

“This is an interview, not a boxing match.”

— Jonathan Stroud

Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it.

— Jonathan Stroud

Freedom is an illusion. It always comes at a price.

— Jonathan Stroud

I rather think he knew anyway.

— Jonathan Stroud

“Here we go," the Skull sighed. "Cue crisis!”

— Jonathan Stroud

One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.

— Jonathan Stroud

Burned and squashed to death in a silver vat of soup. There must be worst ways to go. But not many.

— Jonathan Stroud

The mercenary finished his coffee in a single gulp, It must have been piping hot, too. Boy, he was tough.

— Jonathan Stroud

I got fairly good grades, but I was bad at woodwork. They said I tried hard, but the result was hopeless.

— Jonathan Stroud

He was transfixed at the sight of the lords and ladies of his realm running about like demented chickens.

— Jonathan Stroud

“Ghost Lore among the Tribes of New Guinea and West Sumatra,”

— Jonathan Stroud

Pardon me, Highness, a women waits whithout." "Whithout what?

— Jonathan Stroud

“Freedom is an illusion. It always comes at a price. Thinking”

— Jonathan Stroud

When I write something that would have made me laugh as a 10-year-old, or would have scared me or would have excited…

— Jonathan Stroud

When I was young, I kept a diary for about 10 years and I had to write in it every day. Even…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Who says I’m dying? Did you see the amount of sheer effort it took me to escape the land of the dead?…

— Jonathan Stroud

If anyone else asked that question, O He Who Is Terrible and Great, I would have said they were an ignorant fool;…

— Jonathan Stroud

Then again, Solomon was human. And that meant he was flawed (Go on, take a look at yourself in the mirror. A…

— Jonathan Stroud

“So she was well proportioned. So her hair was all glossy. So she looked as if her lips had never been the…

— Jonathan Stroud

When I think about my ideal free day, it usually involves going into London and sitting in a nice coffeehouse with cake…

— Jonathan Stroud

Me, I was still in the pygmy hippo in a skirt, singing lusty songs about Solomon's private life and a giant stone…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Looks?” the skull said. “Who cares about that? It’s superficial. Outward appearance doesn’t interest me at all. Why do you think I…

— Jonathan Stroud

As a child I was really into fantasy books with elves and goblins and swords, and I went through a phase for…

— Jonathan Stroud

“This is what the Problem means,” he went on. “This is the effect it has. Lives lost, loved ones taken before their…

— Jonathan Stroud

“They passed a succession of granite monuments to the conquering magicians of the late Victorian age and the fallen heroes of the…

— Jonathan Stroud

The bristling eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. Mesmerized. the boy watched them disappear under the hanging white thatch of hair. There,…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Dark Specter** - A frightening variety of Type Two ghost that manifests as a moving patch of darkness. Sometimes the apparition at…

— Jonathan Stroud

We communicated with pithy, rather monosyllabic thoughts: viz. Run, Jump, Where? Left, Up, Duck, ect. (This latter was an observation I made…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Water, running - It was observed in ancient times that ghosts dislike crossing running water. In modern Britain this knowledge is sometimes…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Bartimaeus: "A small piece of advice," I said "it isn't wise to be rude to someone bigger than you, especially when they've…

— Jonathan Stroud

“There - the chandelier, choked with dust and webs. A single rivulet of red had trickled from the ceiling, down the central…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Lockwood sat up awkwardly, adjusting his Bubble-Wrapped loops of chain. 'We're in good shape,' he said. 'We've lost the heavy duty chains…

— Jonathan Stroud

“When you go out hunting wicked spirits, it's the simple things that matter most. The silvered point of your rapier flashing in…

— Jonathan Stroud

“I found my flashlight where I'd dropped it on the bricks, but the bulb had broken. Lockwood's was gone, and George's seemed…

— Jonathan Stroud

And sure enough,the youth in question was not his usual dapper self. His face was puffy, his eyes red and wild; his…

— Jonathan Stroud

“He looked like a kid caught making an angel in the snow, except his glasses had been blown off and one of…

— Jonathan Stroud

“Lockwood didn’t speak until everything was quiet again. “I know you’re worrying about me, Luce,” he said. “But you really mustn’t. These…

— Jonathan Stroud