CHARACTER INTERVIEW: Jezreel Bartinson from Shadowguard

Tell me a little about yourself (where you live, who you are, what you look like, what you hope to achieve, etc.)

I am Jezreel Bartinson, but everyone calls me Jez. I am thirteen and was born in the coastal city of Randak in the Barony of Korand, but I’m being sent to the Carceri Academy for my education in politics and magic. I grew up as a fisherman’s son, but recently, I was taken on as the ward of Baron Dusan.

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What do you like to do in your spare time?

Between my studies in magic and more mundane areas, I don’t have a lot of free time. Baron Dusan, who chose my areas of study, says that illusion is a proper field for the nobility to study, but I have no talent at it. I’d much rather study how to fight demons, but Dusan says it’s too dangerous. Maybe I can find some other way to manage that…

What is your favorite color and why?

Blue. I’m not really sure why. I know it’s the color associated with protection magic, things like binding demons, and earth and water magic, but I’ve never studied that. I’ve also had dreams about a sword of blue crystal. Sometimes, it frightens me, but it also fascinates me.

What is your favorite food? Why is it your favorite?

Fish stew the way my father makes. I haven’t had it much since I went to live with the baron. He has cooks from all over the world, but not one of them can make it quite the way my father does.

What would you say is your biggest quirk?

I think I remember the beginning of the universe. I don’t know how, but I think I was there.

What is it about your antagonist that irks you the most, and why? Share a line in the book where this irk is manifested.

All he cares about is power. I tried to draw me in, and if I’m honest with myself, I was more than a little tempted. He said I could have the power to change the world for the better, but the price was too high. Still, I don’t know if I can resist if he offers again. The first time I confronted him about all the evil he’s done, about how he was selling his soul to the demon lord Marrowit, it went like this.

“But you’ve killed so many people.”

“With Marrowit’s blessing, there’s no limit to what I can do. What are a few lives next to that?”

“I thought you wanted justice.”

“You want justice. I want power. Marrowit is the way to both.”

What or who means the most to you in your life? What, if anything, would you do to keep him/her/it in your life?

My father. He’s the only family I have left. I would do anything for him. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.

What one thing would you like readers to know about you that may not be spelled out in the book in which you inhabit?

When Baron Dusan took me as a ward, he changed my life. He exposed me to a world I had never even imagined, but he also took me from my father. Still, even after all that’s happened, a part of me feels like I should be grateful to him, and I feel ashamed of that.

If you could tell your writer (creator) anything about yourself that might turn the direction of the plot, what would it be?

It will be a very long time before I can fully accept what I have become.

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A question for Kathryn:

If you could live in the world you created, would you?

Yes! I have created some worlds already, and I have plenty of choices. Still, I might be a little wary if I stepped inside Susan's world, or even her daughter, Brianne's. When a mystery is going and someone is found dead, I'd rather not be the first one to find them.