Hi Mr. Stroud. I'm excited for the new book!

But I do have a question bugging me. Kitty asks in the OP, what do spirits do there, and Bartimaeus replies, it's not a matter of doing. And later, when Faquarl says that his own revenge on the human race gives him purpose, Bartimaeus states that purpose is only a human concept.

Well, even though the OP and a bottle isn't the same for a spirit, surly the two situations are similar? They don't "do" anything in either environments. Yet, in Honorius' case, he went insane after 100 years of encasement and EXTREME BOREDOM.

But in the OP, some spirits stay there for a millennium and they don't go insane. So is that the fact that spirits go insane from so many years of entrapment, or from the boredom? It seems to be the former, but Honorius' case indicates he went mad from the boredom.

My many thanks if you could answer this question.

Thankfully, Nero.

Hi Nero,

I think that in the OP fulfillment for the spirit comes from being reabsorbed into the whole - by attaining once more a proper connectedness to the rest of the infinite essence. In such circumstances doing isn't the appropriate verb any more (after all, 'doing' implies an attempt to attain something that you don't yet have - i.e., it's necessarily about imperfection). The OPoffers a higher state of being, where imperfection, boundaries and limits don't exist. Spirits who are trapped on Earth for prolonged periods endure almost the opposite of this: they're entirely cut off from the OP, and unable to either 'be' or (which would at least take their mind off the pain) 'do' . Honorius goes insane therefore both from boredom and, more particularly, from the desolation of utter isolation. Poor old chap.

J

Sorry for the ignorance , but what does OP stand for ? U see , i am not much cop with shortcuts ;)

OP is Other Place. The place where all the spirits are summoned from.

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And