Robin > Books: 4-5-stars‎ (1001)

He and Morgan were alike, in a way.  Both had powerful, all-consuming agendas.  But that was where the similarity ended -- because, while Rón was motivated to fix a broken world, Morgan was motivated to take credit for fixing a broken world.  A subtle difference, with miles between. 

The beauty of disinformation was that the more outlandish it was, them more people would believe it, because it was fed by the public's own paranoia.

“None of us are fully comfortable with ourselves—there are always going to be things you don’t like. Ghosts and insecurities, dark places. The trick is finding someone who is as comfortable with your dark side as you are with theirs. The trick is not to change someone to fit you, but to find someone with whom you don’t have to change.”

"So, I’ve learned to embrace the chaos.”
“But I don’t want to embrace the chaos,” Kate said, shaking her head. “I want to . . . to organize the chaos.”
Jake chuckled. “It’s chaos, Kate. By its very definition, it can’t be organized.”
“Only because no one’s tried hard enough yet,” Kate said with grim determination.

“I’ve waited years for this,” he said, his breath warming the inner shell of her ear. “And I’m going to take my time. Every last minute of it, Kate. Until neither of us can stand up again.”

Perversely, he was so frozen in place with fear that to an observer it looked as though he were standing his ground with great stoicism. 

"You are a fool if you think word has not spread already.  There are demons in hell who envy your reputation."

“Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it.”

“I know you might feel broken, but we’re jijakalu. We’re water, and water can shift to fit any mold. No matter how we’re broken and reshaped, we can always freeze ourselves strong again. It’s not going to happen all at once,” she added. “You have to wait for the turn of the season to see what shape the ice will take, but it will form up, clear and strong. It always does.”

“The Whispering Blade met Misaki’s obsidian sheath and sheared through it. Her eyes went wide, and she smiled—Gods in the Deep, she smiled —a raw, open smile, and it was the most beautiful thing in all the Duna.”

“After all I’ve done, you still want me terribly. I bet you hate that, don’t you?”
“I hate it,” I breathed. “I hate wanting you. I want to ruin you. I want to break your heart and carry around the shattered remains inside my breast pocket forevermore. I don’t want to long for your body another moment. It’s a baneful way to exist, wanting you. I wish I hated you.”

“I should have known you were the devil,” she muttered. “Lucifer is always beautiful. I should have known it the second I laid eyes on you."

“The barriers we think are a foot thick are sometimes paper-thin to the people who know us.”

"One can live without books.  Birds live, Cats live.  Even the best of dogs live.  But only humans can soar on the words from a book.  Stories fling us high into the clouds with imagination.  Poems make hearts weep with emotion. Science stuns the mind with wonder."  She let her hands fall to her lap.  "Without the stimulation of literature, you can live, yes.  But your soul will be earthbound.  A clod without imagination."

It’s amazing how people just keep going. Supervolcanoes, climate collapse, global pandemics, dissolution of society . . . and there are still farms in Indiana raising wholesome young women who grow up to work as double agents and look hot in red gowns.

I threw everything I loved into it: heists and chaos and pretty dresses and saying the inside thoughts out loud and a little bit of social commentary and a little more chaos for fun.

“Miss Hawkins,” I said, “I am used to being the biggest troublemaker in town. I’m not certain I like the suggestion that you’re about to outdo me.”

“Everything matters, Wil,” Evie told me. “But I don’t think penance is about fixing things. I think… it’s about…” There was a strange conviction in his dark eyes now, though he struggled to find the words to convey what he was thinking. “It’s about becoming the sort of person who would never make that mistake again. It’s about caring so much that you have to fix all of the little cruelties that you can. Until it’s the most natural thing in the world to you.”

“But I’m happy to hear you say we’re friends. I was worried you only stuck with me out of pity.”
Nemini looked as close to insulted as Bex had ever seen. “How could you doubt? We value each other’s well being despite knowing that life is meaningless and everything will well end. There is no name for that folly other than friendship.”

"Your question was guile or force.  That was the wrong question.  To defeat Lik-Rifa we will need both.  She must be tricked, made to think she is safe to attack us, made to think we are weak when we are strong."

Profanity
Harassment
Hate speech
Sexual content
Illegal activity
Private information

Profanity
Harassment
Hate speech
Sexual content
Illegal activity
Private information

"I wanted to call it 'A Very Safe Cantina For Human Females Only.'"
"Get it all on the sign," Jerzec agrees.
"Make sure they know this is a place for them." Aithar nods.
"You might as well roll up with a white van and offer candy," Ruthie says between giggles.
"You think we should offer candy?" Aithar asks. Ruthie only laughs harder.
"Sounds...like...a trap," Ruthie manages between wheezing laughs.

"A sword needs a scabbard, as fury needs restraint."

"Have you already forgotten what I said about that book?  Think of who it was that wrote it.  The wretch Lysandros, as befits an agent of the Empire, conquers through lies."
Arienne scoffed. "This book doesn't read like lies.  I'd say the author's tone is very sincere."
"Nobody conquers the world with insincere lies."

"Destiny may offer men and women who would be kings, but only the people may exalt them."