Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Teen & Fantasy Book Club
Ink and Bone Discussion Questions
- What do you think of the 3rd person narration?
- Is the Ephemera at the beginning of each chapter helpful for the story?
- The Prologue is 6 years before the beginning of the actual book and we meet Jess and his father, what do you think of the situation?
- What do you think of the idea of book smuggling?
- Is the chase of Jess and the other kids an exciting start?
- The lions outside a library represent knowledge, is it effective that they are mechanized hunters in this world?
- What do you think of the buyer eating the only copy of Archimedes book?
- Were you surprised that it was 2025?
- What do you think of the Ephemera describing the destruction of the printing press and elimination of Gutenberg?
- Jess loves books but his brother says that they shouldn’t use it because they deal it, does this make sense?
- What do you think about the fact that most books in this world fade or go blank?
- Does a book smuggler working for the Library make sense?
- The Burner preaches about the Library controlling all the knowledge and only allowing people to have the copies on a device, does this part sound plausible?
- What do you think of Thomas from Berlin?
- Do you find it believable that Thomas Paine would resist the Library?
- Do you like Scholar Christopher Wolfe?
- Classes begin in the first daughter library where people were encouraged to come to read including women, is that part of the mission uplifting?
- Was that first class a good way to learn about the Library and its history?
- Who is your favorite student other than Jess?
- Are you offended that the library destroys books if they aren’t originals?
- Were you surprised when you found out that Wolfe had been a rebel?
- Do you like Morgan?
- Does it make sense that she wants to hide that she’s an Obscurist?
- Is there any way that Postulants, children, should be sent into a city under siege in a warzone?
- They call the room a Translation Chamber but doesn’t it sound like a more awful version the Transporters from Star Trek?
- How does the trip to Oxford change the book?
- Do the people under siege trying to get in the library make sense?
- What did you think of Jess getting the baby and being told that he had to put her down?
- Were you happy to read that Frederick saved the girl?
- Was Morgan’s idea of making it look like she jumped a good one?
- Should Jess have gone back to save her?
- Does it seem unfair that after everyone got off the train that the Burners grabbed Jess?
- Should the students have listened to Wolfe when he drank enough to be honest?
- Were you surprised that the supposedly personal, sacred journals were being read?
- Did Jess betray Morgan by asking her to stay?
- Were you afraid for Thomas when you realized what he invented?
- Was it a surprise?
- Is Morgan a slave to the Obscurists?
- Wolfe’s mother tells him to Give In, Give Up and Survive, is she right?
- Do you think Thomas is really dead?
- Should Jess have agreed to spy on Wolfe for the Artifex?
- What do you think of Jess’s assignment as a solider for one year?
- What do you think of the ending?
- Did you like the book?
- Would you read more in the series?
A book is worth more than a life. Discuss.
Created by Michelle Haring