How we cite our quotes: (Story.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
But she wasn't alive. She had gone into the unknowable last summer. Besides the swan's wing, they'd buried her with other things she'd need: her pockets full of almonds to eat, a compass for finding her path, and coins for bribes along the way—silver coins, minted in one of the sheds and inscribed with runes. And of course, the dainty stiletto blade she'd always carried in her pocket—that went into her coffin too. (1.1.42)
Death isn't the end of the road for Kizzy's family. When her grandmother dies, she doesn't even leave Kizzy the cool knife that she always wanted. After all, she'll need it on her journey… just like she'll need all that other stuff they buried her with.
Quote #2
"A girl from the next village had died already. Wasted away. I saw her near the end. Her eyes were huge in her face and all the juice looked wrung out of her. […] Mairenni started to look like that poor girl and I knew she'd die too. She was my sister even if she was a fool. I had to do something." (1.1.52)
Goblins are a terrifying bunch, but Kizzy's grandmother didn't let her fear get in the way of saving Mairenni's life. If she hadn't intervened, Mairenni wouldn't have survived under the goblins' spell.
Quote #3
"I was a freshman. I think she was a junior, but I barely saw her because she got taken out of school. She was sick. She…" Kizzy's voice trailed off. She had almost said, She starved herself to death. But seeing this dead brown grave, other words came to her mind. She wasted away. (1.3.51)
There is something peculiar about the death of Kizzy's classmate that makes her feel uncomfortable. It sounds remarkably like what happens to girls in the stories her family tells about what happens to girls who fall for goblins. Huh.
Quote #4
"Free?" Estella repeated. No soul was ever free. Every child she saved she purchased in trade. It was her own dark work to select those who would die in their place, and she had an ever-changing list of the wicked from whom to choose. (2.1.21)
Estella knows better than to trust Vasudev when it comes to the care and handling of human lives. He's not going to go out of his way to save a bunch of kids from death unless he gets something out of it.
Quote #5
She looked as if she might coo, and Estella felt suddenly that her own death was perched upon her shoulder like a bird. How easy to die, she thought, and how fitting, if she were to be the first victim of this curse… the first victim of this child, who at the behest of a demon she had just turned into a murderer. (2.2.18)
It's hard not to feel a bit nervous when you're hanging around a baby who can literally kill everyone in the room with one healthy cry. Even Estella—who doesn't even want to be alive anymore—feels the danger of it when she looks down at baby Anamique.
Quote #6
All of James's childhood friends had died in the War. Every single one. James often wondered at the chain of flukes it must have taken to bring him through with his own life and limbs intact. (2.4.12)
As a young soldier, James has cheated death again and again. It's a bit ironic that when he finally goes looking for the safety of love and a calm domestic life, he ends up falling in love with a girl who can kill him with a single whisper.
Quote #7
She was read; she had been ready for a long time. Her soul craved the Fire. Only one thing had kept her in this limbo of lingering death—a far worse death than she herself had ever inflicted on the wicked—and that was Vasudev. (2.11.11)
It's been a long time since everyone that Estella loved (like her dearly departed husband) went into the Fire, and she's ready to follow. But if she's not around to keep Vasudev in check, what will happen? Will he just let people die willy-nilly?
Quote #8
Druj live forever and have forever lived. There are no new Druj, no young Druj, no ripe bellies, no babes. If their race began as infants, that history was lost in ancient books, swallowed by fire or mold. As for their memories, they have proven unfit for immortality. (3.6.1)
Being immortal comes with its perks—like getting to live forever—but there are definitely some drawbacks. They have to hang out with the same people forever, for one, since no one ever dies or makes new babies. The population is always exactly the same.
Quote #9
Blood meant death, and somehow it had gotten into bed with her. She touched between her legs and her fingers came away red. It was her own blood! (3.7.1)
Living with the Druj, Mab has come to realize that they're immortal but she still has to worry about death. So when she starts her period (which is something that the Druj don't get), she freaks out—she's obviously dying.
Quote #10
If he had the choice to make again, his soul for immortality, he knew what he would choose. But he wouldn't have that choice to make again. There was only one way that his benighted race might blend itself back into humanity—this secret way that he had discovered. (3.12.31)
Apparently Mihai has decided that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. He's over it, but there's nothing he can do but try to convince the other Druj that they need to seek out their souls again. They need to get in touch with their human mortal roots.