Potential Pitfalls Misunderstandings about the subject of hypnosis are common. While amnesia may occur in very rare cases, people generally remember everything that transpired while they were hypnotized. However, hypnosis can have a significant effect on memory. Posthypnotic amnesia can lead an individual to forget certain things that occurred before or during hypnosis. However, this effect is generally limited and temporary. While hypnosis can be used to enhance memory, the effects have been dramatically exaggerated in popular media. Research has found that hypnosis does not lead to significant memory enhancement or accuracy, and hypnosis can actually result in false or distorted memories. Despite stories about people being hypnotized without their consent, hypnosis does require voluntary participation on the part of the patient. People do vary in terms of how hypnotizable and suggestible they are while under hypnosis, however. Research suggests that people who are highly suggestible are more likely to experience a reduced sense of agency while under hypnosis.
The plot is very well-paced and interesting. Right off the bat we are exposed to the central premise of the story; Khraen awakens in the wilderness, knowing that he is a man divided, that magic has splintered him into fragments. He must reclaim the shards of his heart in order for himself to be whole again. Every page drives Khraen on his quest to reclaim his identity or to forge a new one for himself. There were very few lulls in the pace of the novel and those I think we're calculated to allow the reader time to catch their breath. As the main character struggles to come to terms with his identity, he has to answer questions about the nature of evil. The more he discovers about himself, and more importantly about the things that he is willing to do to reclaim that self, the more directly he must face the mirror. Although this self-reflection, in most novels, would cause the protagonist to strive for redemption, Khraen is more than an anti-hero. Even he sees the things that he is doing as wrong, and yet he is willing to do them because he has set himself to a task, and to him, ultimately, the ends justify the means.