How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I was just fed up, you know; fed up with being a cog in a vast machine, with doing my pointless, demeaning job. It's not like I was the only one who could do it—anybody could do it. Tormenting the damned—it practically does itself, no lie. And it's depressing; I can't tell you how depressing it is. (1.2)
There you have it: Kiriel is sick and tired of his life as a Fallen angel; he wants to do more and live a little. So, he jumps the first ride to earth he can. What starts out as him being annoyed at his life actually teaches him a few things while on earth.
Quote #2
I thought I'd known everything about him, but living life through his body made what I knew seem dull and one-dimensional. I liked seeing the eyes of his friend and his brother, and I wanted to see more. Humans were much more intriguing from this point of view. (3.25)
As a human, Kiriel goes through a big switch in the way he thinks. At first, he pictures being dissatisfied in a limited body, but sooner or later, he realizes nothing could be further from the truth. There's actually a lot to like about being a human.
Quote #3
But now that I had gotten somewhat used to the feel of cloth against Shaun's skin, I was dissatisfied with the way his clothes looked. Raggedy. Limp. Faded. Full of holes. I knew Shaun fought every time his mom tried to take him shopping, but I'd never thought about what that meant. (4.16)
Shaun might hate his mom's taste in clothes, but Kiriel loves it—he thinks the baggy clothes Shaun wears are unflattering and uncomfortable. It's interesting that Shaun feels the same way about the clothes Kiriel loves. Turns out Kiriel can't just pretend to be a teenager after all… not in the way they dress, at least.
Quote #4
That was undertaken—for my part—with hope and expectation and a sense of justice. I wanted to do more than appreciate, exalt, and honor; I wanted to take an active hand in the creation of the cosmos, to have an influence that was all my own. (5.27)
We get to hear about the rebellion through bits and pieces, and when we do, we realize that Kiriel and his fellow Fallen angels were discontent with their lives in heaven. They didn't want to serve the Creator anymore, and wanted more stuff for themselves.
Quote #5
"Tend to your own life," I told him. "And—word of advice—you'll do better in the long run if you start trying to appreciate what's all around you rather than picking it apart." (11.56)
To Reed, a bully, Kiriel points out that he is unsatisfied with his own life, otherwise he wouldn't be picking on others. It's probably true, but that doesn't mean that Reed wants to hear it.
Quote #6
In this case, all I could think to do was to plant a seed and hope it'd start growing on its own. A disappointingly small K, but surely better than nothing. (16.25)
When he wants to leave his mark on the world, Kiriel gets upset with how hard it is. He wishes he could change people for the better in a simpler way, but instead, no matter what he does, he can't force people to act one way or another. It's maddening.
Quote #7
A strange emotion boiled within me, born of conflicting urges. Was it frustration? I couldn't quite figure it out. I could do anything I wanted. I certainly had a choice whether to take Jason along. No one was forcing me. (17.30)
Kiriel tells us that he's frustrated but doesn't really know how to pin it down; he's never felt like this before, and it bugs him. We get the sense that he's annoyed in life no matter where he goes—in hell or on earth—he's just not a happy camper.
Quote #8
But none of the words I knew seemed like they would satisfy. Most American curse words seem to be related to perfectly natural bodily functions, and I've never seen why they strike people as being wicked. They didn't strike me as being particularly fulfilling anyway. The only word commonly used that indeed felt like a curse was one that started with a d and ended with mn, and I had no desire to use that. No human would let it cross his lips if he knew what it meant in truly practical terms. (17.33)
Curse words aren't sufficient enough for Kiriel. He's certain they aren't taken literally, otherwise people wouldn't go around saying them—for him, damnation is no joke. He's seen the negative effects of it each and every day.
Quote #9
I had already known that for some people, happiness depended on Shaun's being here on this earth. But now it struck me that Shaun had things to offer that I couldn't. (19.138)
It finally hits Kiriel: He might not care about body snatching, but other people would. People like Shaun's parents and friends would miss him if they knew he was gone, and Kiriel doesn't want to be part of making other people unhappy.
Quote #10
A discontent rose in me. I thought, This must be Envy. It didn't feel particularly good or particularly bad. The only thing about it that seemed even slightly sinful was the way it clung and gnawed, as if it could easily take on a life of its own. (20.59)
We love Kiriel's explanations of human emotions. It's not very often we really stop and think about what it feels like to experience envy. Sure, we've all felt it, but when we describe it, we just explain the word instead of the emotion. Here, Kiriel tells us the way it cuts and gnaws at him on the inside.