payment page
We meet fear. We greet the unexpected visitor and listen to what he has to tell us. When fear arrives, something is about to happen.
This quote comes from Chapter 4, as a captive Inej remembers how her father guided her through fear. Rather than ignoring fear, running from it, or attempting to conquer it, Inej treats fear as a wise teacher. This strategy helps her keep her head in terrifying situations, overcome physical and emotional pain, and survive her clever and brutal foes. It is telling that this advice comes from her beloved father, who lives within Inej even though she hasn’t seen him in many years. Despite years of enslavement, trauma, and violence, Inej remains strong and indominable, uncorrupted by the forces that sought to drag her down, in part because she has trained herself to listen to what fear teaches her.
Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself.
This quote is found in Chapter 6 as the gang explains Jesper’s debts to Colm, who wonders why they can’t appeal to the authorities or use other traditional routes to solve their problems. In response, Kaz describes the moral universe of Ketterdam, which is dictated by profit and greed instead of justice and compassion. In an unjust world, unjust methods might be the only way to gain justice, an inversion that is at the core of the novel’s message. The characters, too, with the exception of Jesper, grew up without parents and forged their own way, surviving corruption, trauma, and violence. Taking justice into their own hands is a rational response to a society in which there are no credible mentors or leaders—or where even one’s own parent, in Wylan’s case, is a villain. Throughout the novel, the gang pursues justice for itself, seeking retribution for those who have wronged it, in the process gaining financial security and saving each other’s lives.
I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together—knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.
This quote is spoken by Kaz in Chapter 12, after Inej finally asks him if he would have still come for her had she been unable to serve the gang with her talents. In the wake of her capture, she struggles to understand her worth to Kaz. This quote marks a moment of uncharacteristic passion from Kaz and provides the clarity (and a glimpse at the intimacy) that Inej has been seeking. Kaz’s vulnerable emotions are often submerged and left unspoken. Just as Kaz wears thick leather gloves to avoid touching the world, he also fiercely protects himself from emotional vulnerability. However, with Inej, Kaz’s walls sometimes crumble, and throughout the novel he shows his devotion to her through speech and action. Even here, the language he uses to express his love is one of combat. When they fight side by side and for one another, they perform their affections. They have both spent much of their lives fighting out of necessity, so his promise to fight with her represents a commitment to survive with her—and to love her.
