Silver in the Bone Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes
How to Use This Quiz
This quiz covers the full arc of Silver in the Bone, from the prologue in Lancashire to the aftermath in Boston. Questions are grouped into four sections: plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbol, and synthesis. Multiple-choice questions test recall; short-answer questions ask you to connect evidence to interpretation. The complete answer key with explanations appears after the questions.
Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)
1. What does Tamsin discover hidden beneath a loose stone paver at Tintagel?
A) A map to Avalon
B) A blood-stained silver coin and a note from Nash
C) The Ring of Dispel
D) A Hand of Glory
2. What is the Servant's Prize that Madrigal hires Tamsin and Emrys to find?
A) Excalibur
B) The Ring of Dispel
C) The Immortality of Callwen
D) Arthur's dagger
3. What happens after Tamsin applies basilisk venom to her eyes?
A) She goes permanently blind
B) She gains the One Vision
C) She loses her memory
D) She becomes a sorceress
4. Who is the revenant that attacks Tamsin at the burial mound?
A) Morgan le Fay
B) High Priestess Viviane
C) The White Lady
D) Sorceress Madrigal
5. What do Tamsin and the others find in the watchtower?
A) The Ring of Dispel
B) Nash's skeletal remains
C) A hidden passage to Avalon
D) The true athame
6. What does the Hag of the Mist demand in exchange for passage to Avalon?
A) A lock of Tamsin's hair
B) The Hand of Glory
C) A blood sacrifice
D) Nash's journal
7. How can the Ring of Dispel be claimed?
A) By solving a riddle
B) By killing its previous master
C) By offering a tribute to the Goddess
D) By breaking a curse
8. What happens at the end of the novel?
A) Tamsin becomes High Priestess of Avalon
B) Avalon returns to the mortal world and Lord Death takes Cabell
C) Emrys returns with the ring and reconciles with Tamsin
D) The Ring of Dispel is destroyed and the quest ends
Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)
9. (Short answer) Why does Tamsin pursue the Ring of Dispel?
10. (Short answer) Why does Emrys take the job from Madrigal?
11. Why does Neve want the Ring of Dispel?
A) To break her own curse
B) To gain a tutor from the Council of Sistren
C) To sell it for profit
D) To destroy it
12. Why does Cabell initially refuse to help Tamsin pursue the ring?
A) He believes Nash is dead and doesn't want to chase him
B) He wants to stay in Boston
C) He fears the curse will consume him
D) He doesn't trust Neve
13. (Short answer) Why does Tamsin use basilisk venom despite the risk?
Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17)
14. What does the silver in Tamsin's bone symbolize?
A) Her connection to Avalon
B) Her transformation into one of the Children
C) Her magical inheritance
D) Her bond with Nash
15. What does the white rose that blooms through the stone represent?
A) The return of the Goddess
B) Hope and healing in Avalon
C) The Children's curse
D) Lord Death's power
16. (Short answer) What is the Hand of Glory used for?
17. What does the Mother tree symbolize?
A) The power of the Nine
B) The health and decay of Avalon
C) The connection to the mortal world
D) The legacy of King Arthur
Synthesis (Questions 18–20)
18. (Short answer) How does the Arthurian legend function in the story?
19. (Short answer) Compare Tamsin and Emrys's motivations for seeking the ring.
20. (Short answer) What does the ending suggest about the theme of family?
Answer Key
Plot and Sequence
1. B. Tamsin pries up a loose stone paver at Tintagel's inner ward and finds a leather bundle wrapped in her childhood raincoat, containing a blood-stained silver coin and a note from Nash warning her not to follow.
2. B. The Servant's Prize is the Ring of Dispel, a curse-breaking relic. Tamsin connects the name to the ring while researching in the guild library.
3. B. The venom grants her the One Vision, allowing her to perceive magical threads and enchantments. It also causes intense pain and hallucinations during the process.
4. B. The revenant is identified as High Priestess Viviane, who has cursed herself and now wields both the Ring of Dispel and the athame.
5. B. Cabell examines the remains and finds a shirt collar stitched with the name Lark, confirming Nash's identity.
6. A. The hag accepts a lock of Tamsin's hair as payment and whispers a cryptic secret to her before vanishing.
7. B. The ring can only be claimed by killing its previous master, a detail that becomes increasingly fraught as the quest progresses.
8. B. The ritual brings Avalon back to the mortal world on Glastonbury Tor, and Lord Death leaves with Cabell, who chooses to follow him.
Character Motivation
9. Tamsin wants to break Cabell's curse, which transforms him into a monstrous hound when he experiences intense emotion. She believes the Ring of Dispel can end his suffering.
10. Emrys reveals that his father gave him his scars as punishment for disobedience. He took the job to earn money to escape with his mother.
11. B. Neve plans to claim the ring for the Council of Sistren to gain a tutor, since she was rejected by the Council for lacking documented lineage.
12. A. Cabell insists Nash is dead and accuses Tamsin of chasing Nash to find her birth parents. He refuses to help pursue the ring.
13. Tamsin uses the venom to gain the One Vision, which she believes is necessary to help Cabell and find the ring. She endures the pain and hallucinations as a calculated sacrifice.
Theme and Symbol
14. B. When the revenant slashes Tamsin's arm, she sees silver bone beneath her flesh, marking her as one of the Children. She later insists Emrys must burn her body when she dies.
15. B. The white rose is the first to bloom since the Children appeared, and the Avalonians treat it as a sign of healing and hope.
16. The Hand of Glory reveals hidden things—hidden doors, locking spells, and concealed objects. Tamsin uses it to expose bodies frozen in ice and to open the locked chamber beneath the tower.
17. B. The Mother tree's decay mirrors Avalon's decline. Its failing health, the hamadryad Deri's struggle to tend it, and the roots' malevolent behavior all reflect the isle's corruption.
Synthesis
18. The Arthurian legend provides the quest structure—Arthur's dagger, the Ring of Dispel, Avalon, and the Lady of the Lake—while also being subverted. The legend's promise of a sleeping king who will return is revealed as hollow: Arthur's body is preserved but he never wakes, and his remains are devoured by the Children. The story suggests legends are more complicated and less heroic than the tales suggest.
19. Both are driven by family. Tamsin seeks the ring to break her brother's curse, while Emrys takes the job to earn money to escape his abusive father and rescue his mother. Both are also seeking independence and self-worth—Tamsin from the guild that abandoned her, Emrys from a family legacy he never wanted.
20. The ending complicates the idea of family. Nash returns alive but reveals he was searching for the ring to break Tamsin's curse, not Cabell's, reframing his abandonment. Cabell chooses to follow Lord Death, a shocking betrayal that suggests even the strongest sibling bonds can break. Meanwhile, Tamsin's found family—Neve, Olwen, and Caitriona—becomes her support system, suggesting that chosen family can endure where blood family fails.
For deeper analysis, see the book overview, questions and answers, and the ending explained.