Unlike several earlier chronicles, the book's language is devoid of "rhetorical artifices and unpleasant exaggeration". His "Achilles and Polyxena" (1598) displayed ease in the use of rhetorical artifices of style. Harriot's Artifices produce the desired Effect on the unsuspecting Sophia. The Dark Artifices is a trilogy written by Cassandra Clare. The use of "trucs", trap-doors and artifices accentuated the surprise-effects on the spectators. Borges himself states the tale is a metaphor for this in the prologue to "Artifices". "The Dark Artifices" is a trilogy of young adult fantasy novels written by Cassandra Clare. It was included in the 1956 edition of "Ficciones", part two ("Artifices"). Borges added three more stories to the "Artifices" section in the 1956 edition.