"…Within the range of YA books that feature LGBT main characters, there are many more books about gay boys than girls, and transgender characters are the least represented. I would encourage librarians who acquire books for their libraries to remember that LGBT includes four letters that represent four very different experiences. Because there are fewer books about queer girls and trans characters, you have to look harder to find them, to ensure that lesbian, bisexual, or trans students can also have the benefit of diving into a fictional world starring people like them."

"…it’s very important to remember that simply because a book has queer characters does not mean that only queer people can read them. I’m an Asian American lesbian, and I’m capable of enjoying books about straight white people. It works the other way around, too."

"…I would have been a much better-adjusted adult earlier on if I’d read a single book about real queer people when I was growing up."

"I wanted to be a writer because I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It’s the one thing that has been a constant my entire life, so there is no why; it simply is."

"“That was a brave thing.” “Didn’t feel at all brave. Just desperate.” “Bravery results from desperation more often than we’d like to think.”"

"“This means war. And who suffers most if powerful families go to war?” “Everyone else but them.”"

"“In those peaceful days, some came to believe that the Unseeable Gods had returned at last and merely awaited our notice. The hopeful built temples like this one all over the Costa Drago, tall spare structures that shaped the light. They filled them with artworks that rejected the forms of common life in favor of the ethereal and sublime.” I pointed up to the astonishing dome, its soaring windows bereft of glass. Peeling frescoes revealed only bits of once-brilliant color. “They added fountains and channels to carry Father Atladu’s waters, and orchards and gardens to honor Mother Gione and her bounteous earth. They designed labyrinths to prevent demons from infesting the space. But just as the temples were completed, the plague struck. Wave after wave of disease scoured the world over a span of seventy years. By the time the last body was burnt, the Costa Drago had lost half of our people, and no one believed in benevolent gods anymore, seeable or unseeable.” Indeed, in the recovering world, merchants and bankers like Sandro’s family had found more profitable concerns than myths and superstitions and gods who could not bother to make themselves known. The temples of the Unseeable Gods fell to ruin."

"Few people in the Costa Drago prayed. Those who did so were hopeless optimists who believed the Unseeable Gods were yet capable of influencing human affairs if you just spoke to them often enough with rituals of fire or water, pain or lovemaking—anything that might breach the boundaries of the Night Eternal. But no matter how they tried, we yet suffered plagues and wars and the earth yet shook and the mountains yet fumed."

"The grand duc is lost in a cloud of delusion that masquerades as mysticism."

"I have never believed in fate or destiny or any other concept that invests the courses of our lives with portentous meaning. Most people in our godless world believe we are born into random circumstance, and it is solely our own deeds and choices that determine whether we find ourselves in a palace or prison when we die. I’d not disagree."

"My determination to make my own way in the world must not make me stupid."

"Everything I have accomplished in this city, everything I have yet to accomplish, takes its root in the rule of law. If I am complicit in lawbreaking—if I interfere and exonerate a confessed felon because of my personal preferences—then I am no better than my uncle you once named monster."

"I remarked that it must be difficult to anticipate betrayal from lifetime friends. “It is as it has always been,” he said. “From boyhood, I’ve had to assume that every person at my table, friend or stranger, carries a knife ready to let my blood or wears a pocket ring primed to drop poison into my wine. It is a not-so-nice consequence of Lady Fortune’s abundant blessings. Certain, the habit has saved my life more than once.”"

"Reason crushed that idiocy instantly."

"(Chapter Eighty-Five )"

"“I see the truth now. We pretend that magic is the root of our pain when everything rotten in this kingdom begins and ends with us. There’s no helping it.” I clench my fist. “Amari proved that in Ibadan. This throne corrupts even the purest of hearts. As long as it exists, people will continue to tear this kingdom apart.”"

"(Chapter Seventy-Six)*Even from afar, I see the blackened corpses that lie in the streets. Corpses that lie there because of me."

"I feel the most sacred gift of Oya beneath my hands, the holy magic of life and death. When the last body breathes again, I stare at the glowing tattoos on my hands."

"(Chapter Eighty-One)"

"Strike, Amari."

"This war didn’t start when magic came back, Inan. You are only seeing the end of a battle countless have given their lives for. By winter’s dawn, we will have wiped the scourge of maji from this land. Even your wretched father couldn’t achieve that.”"

"(Chapter Sixty-Four)"

"No one ever asks, but you’re here. You’re here when so many people aren’t!” Roën grabs his head as if he could pull out his hair. “You survived the Raid. The guards. You survived the wrath of a king. You’re not a victim, Zélie. You’re a survivor! Stop running away!”"

"(Chapter Fifty-Nine)"

"I do not think you’ve gone far enough,” she says. “You speak of this war as if it is the start, but the maji and the monarchy have been fighting for decades. Centuries. Both sides have inflicted great pain on each other. Both sides are filled with mistrust.” [...] “You cannot blame Zélie for her actions any more than you can blame Inan for his past mistakes. You have to look beyond the surface if you truly want to achieve the peace you seek.”"

"(Chapter Forty-Five)"

"All these years I thought Father was a monster, but what if ruling this kingdom forced him to act that way?"

"(Chapter Sixty-Nine)"

"(Chapter Thirty-Eight )"

"No!” I jerk up, wincing at the pain that shoots up my side. “This temple may be the oldest Orïsha has. It holds the stories of our past!”"

"(Chapter Forty-Two )"

"If you’re going to be an elder, you need to understand that true magic isn’t about power,” I explain. “It’s something that’s a part of us, something that’s literally in our blood. Our people have suffered for this. Died for this. It’s not something you can just learn. You may have helped us get it back, but right now we’re still being hunted and killed for the very magic tîtáns like you use against us.”"

"My chest falls as Mother marches forward with her tîtáns that still stand. As she walks past the carnage in her path, I know she’s right. Our enemies are gaining ground. We need to eliminate every asset they have. But how long can both sides keep going like this before we destroy Orïsha?"

"After the Raid, practicing these incantations was the only part of him I had left.”"

"(Chapter Thirty )"

"I look back, not recognizing the monster that wears Ojore’s face. We did this to him. We poisoned him with all our hate."

"As long as we don’t have magic, they will never treat us with respect, Baba’s spirit booms. They need to know we can hit them back. If they burn our homes—I burn theirs, too."

"(Chapter Eighty)"

"(Chapter Twenty-Seven )"

"(Chapter Seventy-Nine )"

"As I approach Inan, Baba’s shaking grows frantic. I can’t let him break my resolve. I don’t want them to win, Baba. But I can’t let you die."

"Even before Mother interrupted my rally, the support of the Orïshans didn’t touch the boundless joy of these maji. I wonder what it would be like to be embraced like that. To actually have a place where you belong."

"Everyone, fill the bags with as many scrolls as you can. Kenyon, burn the rest.”"

"Even from afar, I see the blackened corpses that lie in the streets. Corpses that lie there because of me."

"(Chapter Twenty-Eight )"

"The ache that cuts through me is sharper than the blade that cut through my back. It’s like losing Mama all over again."

"(Chapter Seventy-One)"

"I stare at the blade; the inscription gleams in the moonlight. Its words simplify my mission, creating space for my pain. A soldier. A great king. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. Duty over self. Orïsha over Zélie."