1. What do you think of Ines Murillo when we
first meet her, primarily during the first third of the book? Ines views
Catherine House with a certain disdain. Why? And why is she there?
2. (Follow-up to Question 1) What is the past Ines is running
from? How has that past shaped her? Does Ines change by the novel's end?
3. Institutions are not always what they seem. What were your first
impressions of Catherine House—meant to be an exclusive school that has
graduated some of the best and the brightest minds in the arts,
sciences, and politics? When does your perspective begin to shift: at
what point did you begin to suspect that the school is something other
than what it claims to be?
4. How does Ines view the school—along with its demand that students are
to give it their all. What does she observe about Catherine House that
makes her skeptical?
5 Describe the strange rituals and traditions at Catherine House? Are
they cult-like, benign, or something else? Why does the school choose
the particular students it does? What do they want out of their
students?
6. In the latter half of the book, we learn that the school is engaged
in research into a substance called "plasma." What is plasma? The novel
is rather vague about plasma, but discuss its nature and its effects as
best you can? How would you describe Ines's first encounter with plasma?
* Some questions from
LitLovers.