Birds
Birds are one of the go-to animals of choice when it comes to crafting metaphorical imagery. Almost certainly it has something to do with the sheer volume of the creatures. Species abound and within species are an abundance. Birds are everywhere so why wouldn’t they be omnipresent as metaphor?
“At that moment, one of the legion of Healers that had been plaguing Stefen appeared like a green bird of ill-omen in the doorway.”
A Special Kind of Guy
Vanyel is not merely the protagonist nor just the hero. He is that special kind of heroic protagonist. The type of which there is a “something” about them that is just inherently different and unique:
“Vanyel eased through the rooms with a sense, as always, that he was disturbing something. Dust motes hung in the sunbeams that shone through places where the curtains had parted. Despite that hint of perfume, there was no sense of “presence” - it was rather as though what he was disturbing were the rooms themselves rather than something inhabiting them. There were several places in the Palace like that; places where it seemed as if the walls themselves were alive”
Action
The comparison afforded by the simile is especially useful for action scenes. A writer can use the comparative quality to vividly bring to visceral life the physicality of an attack. Such as that exemplified here:
“And then a shock that twisted the world out of all recognition in a heartbeat, picked him up by the scruff of the neck, shook him like a dog shakes a rag, and flung him into the darkness.”
A Dying Monarch
The kind of the realm in which the story takes places is on the south end of the levee relative to mortality. Death is marching onward and coming fast. The metaphorical usage in this circumstance is not the kind one wants to hear applied to them:
“All of Randale that could be seen, under the swathings of blankets, were his head and hands. Both were emaciated and colorless; even Randale's hair was an indeterminate shade of brown. Herald Joshe, who was something of an artist, had remarked sadly that the King was like an under-painting, all bones and shadows.”
Magic
A trilogy in which the word “magic” appears in each title of the three books can only be expected to introduce metaphor into the workings of the magic. Surprisingly, however, this particularly entry does not lean heavily upon such imagery to convey the wow factor of magic. Perhaps because this is the last book in the trilogy, the use of magic has become almost mundane:
“If I were hunting up magical creatures, I'd rather have a Herald with powerful FarSight than a weak Herald-Mage who'd light up like a tasty beacon to those creatures every time he uses his magic.”
