Not too sure, but I take it that the book satisfies his need for imagination temporarily, but also awakens a tier of satisfaction to be met, be it for more imagination or not.
A simile is first defined as a type of speech that uses one thing or
phrase with comparisons to things of an unrelated kind, often in order
to make a more vivacious description. So of the phrases above, only the
last one (I swear she cast a shadow white as stone) would be considered a
simile, as a shadow white as stone takes two unrelated things and uses
them in an interesting way.
I think it is But our revived spirits were not to be damped by difficulties on the last stage of the journey, and we camped cheerfully for breakfast.
