Crooked Kingdom discussion

****SPOILER ALERT****

I just had to point out and see if anyone else noticed the use of flower symbolism in this series? I noticed a little of it in the first book (the White Roses pleasure house: white usually indicates purity so it was little dash of irony), but it really hit me in this one.

The Geraniums: they're a flower that Inej's mother likes and they are mentioned a bit. They symbolize happiness, good health/wishes, & friendship but also symbolized foolishness/stupidity in the Victorian Era. The scene where Kaz sweeps a cape over Inej and geraniums fly everywhere could symbolize their bond/friendship, the happiness they both feel when around each other (even though they won't admit it) and their longing to be with each other. It could also demonstrate the foolishness of the two in the way they avoid communicating their true feelings but insist on trying to ignore them.

The Wisteria: the flowers that were in Saint Hilde where Wylan's mother was supposedly buried. Wisteria represent long life/immortality, fertility beauty, creativity & love. Right off the bat it is mentioned that there is wisteria growing on the property; this is the first indication that Wylan's mother may not really be dead since the flower represents life/imoortality and fertility beauty (ie a mother). Once they reach the facility wisteria is mentioned to be inside as well and we learn that she is indeed very much alive and committed to an asylum. She loves to paint (creativity), she is alive (although believed to be dead) and there is a scene that may suggest she knows who Wylan is despite his tailored appearance. The wisteria represents Mayra.

I just had to get these thought out of my head and see if anyone else noticed this lol.

I remember when I was annotating the part about the geraniums, and I thought it was so sweet. Back in Six of Crows when geraniums are mentioned, Inej’s dad tells her something along the lines of only the boy who takes the time to learn your favorite flower should you give your heart to. I don’t believe Inej ever outright says geraniums are her favorite flower, but I believe they are out of love for her mother she hasn’t seen in years. So yeah, I thought the symbolism was beautiful. :)

Lizzie wrote: "I remember when I was annotating the part about the geraniums, and I thought it was so sweet. Back in Six of Crows when geraniums are mentioned, Inej’s dad tells her something along the lines of on..."
I forgot about this part!

What about the red Tulips? I wasn't going to say anything, the pain was just too great during those last chapters of CK but I'd be curious to know why you thought Leigh chose the red Tulips for...for...you know...

I found the red tulips to be such a heartache. If I recall Inej referred to him as a yellow tulip (meaning his feelings were so obvious). The red at the end was beautiful because red tulips can mean undying love (the irony) and there’s also a legend of unrequited love where the boy falls for a princess and she dies. Heartbroken the boy killed himself and red tulips bloomed in places where drops of his blood fell.

this isnt strictly flowers but i just think its cool that most characters have some kind of calming thing they do and we know them so well that we know how theyre feeling based off of what they choose to pay attention to or what mantra they say to themself. Some obvious ones: 'When fear arrives, something is about to happen.' 'Better terrible truths.' 'Get it together, Brekker.' 'What am I doing here?'
But also like how much Inej pays attention to Kaz's eyes to determine how sincere he's being, or how Wylan takes notice of how a house is arranged. It's all so cool. I also vaguely remember Wylan always taking a lot of notice of how things are scientifically/observably to make up for his dyslexia