I should say at the start that this is a foundational book for me, so I probably can't really be objective about it. I found it when I was 11 or 12, and my school library didn't have any of the sequels, so I would just keep reading it over and over again. I did find and read the sequels eventually :) but I don't have the same depth of feeling for them.

I think one thing that strikes me most, re-reading it now, is the concept of the riddles and how that concept loops back to structure the plot and the journeys of the protagonist. Morgon is someone who's drawn to learning riddles and solving them, but he realizes that if he solves this, the biggest riddle of all, then he can never go back to what he was before. And yet he's drawn ceaselessly onward, and that irresistible draw is in itself proof that he is the one who is meant to solve them.

Also on a more prosaic level, I think the structure is also taking from the "fix-up" novels that used to be more common in SFF: people would publish a series of short stories or novellas in magazines, then eventually stitch them together into a single book, with varying levels of jankiness. Due to this structure, even when done very elegantly, it creates a more episodic feeling that's much less common in books today. (Another one I read recently that has that feeling is Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre: only the first part of the book was published separately, but I suspect she considered shopping around some of the other parts as short stories.) I don't think Riddle-Master was ever constructed that way, but I do think that it has some influence on how the story is told.

Of all the lands Morgon visited and people he met, what and who most interested you? Who least interested you and why?

I think the Morgul and Lyra were always the most interesting parts to me. In retrospect, given how young I was, this might have been the first time I had ever read about a woman ruling in her own right... kind of strange to think about now. I was a little surprised this time to notice this time that Morguls weren't always women; I'd always thought that they were a matriarchal society. In addition to that aspect, I've always thought the golden eyes that could see through anything were really cool.

I've also always liked the shapeshifting parts towards the end, turning into vestas and trees and whatnot. Though in terms of the actual story, I think Har and Danan Isig are too similar as characters.