How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I exist only because of war. [...] We are enemies because the chimaera are monsters. My life is blood because my world is beasts." (30.83)
War is a huge part of the novel's backstory. None of Karou and Akiva's drama would exist, were it not for the war between the seraphim and the chimaera.
Quote #2
"They were nothing but barbarians in mud villages. We gave them light, engineering, the written word--" (32.34)
The beginning of the war between the seraphim and the chimaera started, according to Akiva, when the chimaera didn't appreciate the seraphim's generosity. But we think this statement reeks of imperialism.
Quote #3
"You're going on the rule that what's yours is what you can defend, in which case anyone is within their rights at any time to try to take anything from anyone else. That's hardly civilization." (32.39)
We agree. That would be total anarchy. Or Manifest Destiny. Not much difference, really.
Quote #4
"The invaders are always the bad guys. Always." (34.9)
Well, unless they're the ones writing the history books, Karou. Then the invaders are the good guys... at least until some courageous voice blows that oppressive story apart.
Quote #5
"War is all. If they're not fighting it, they're providing for it, and living in far, always. There is no one without loss." (34.22)
This must be what it's like to live in a part of the world that is constantly experiencing conflict and violence. Wow. We're speechless. (And you know how hard it is to shut us up.)
Quote #6
To [Hazael and Liraz], Karou was just another tattoo waiting to happen. (35.12)
The tattoos on the seraphim's hands are just tally marks—they turn the deaths of the enemy into statistics. Kind of like how many boys are just another Taylor Swift song waiting to happen.
Quote #7
They lived as they did, angels and monsters killing in a volley of killing and dying, dying and killing, seemed an arbitrary choice. (37.16)
The word choice is important here. Akiva fancies his side the heroes of war and frames the enemy as "monsters." Sure, they're actually kind of monstrous in appearance, but instead of calling them chimaera, he calls them monsters. This is some war-time propaganda for sure.
Quote #8
All Akiva could think of was the enemy girl, and how she might end up a black mark on some seraph's knuckle. (38.6)
It's hard to kill people you know. We're pretty sure that's why the higher-ups would prefer we wage war with robots these days, not actually people. So, when Akiva meets Madrigal, his whole view on the seraphim-chimaera conflict changes.
Quote #9
In a lifetime of hating seraphim, Madrigal had never thought of them as living the same life as she, but what the angel said was true. They were all locked in the same war. They had locked the entire world in it. (53.12)
Here, Madrigal realizes that her kind are not the only ones affected by this stupid baseless war. War affects everyone.