kayla’s Reviews > Girls of Storm and Shadow > Status Update

“My beautiful, brilliant Wren. What awful things she has done to keep us alive. To keep us from losing.”

“Awe is a common feeling for me when it comes to Wren. Any time I touch her, her beauty renders me speechless. The way her body curves and rolls beneath my fingertips astonishes me anew every time…

Wren has always impressed me, but this time, the wonder thrumming down my spine is different…

My awe is laced with fear. Fear of her—and for her.”

“I've experienced firsthand how desire can twist and corrupt a person. What happens when it lives untamed. Like fire, it destroys everything in its path. Like fire, it burns, until there is nothing left.”

“That if the cost of winning something is too high, it wasn't meant to be yours in the first place. Especially if what you're paying with is your blood. Because blood—like qi, and magic, and almost everything in life—is not infinite. But there is one thing that is infinite: greed. The ability of humans and demons to want. To desire. To hunger after things that don't belong to them.”

“…being vulnerable isn't a flaw. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world. If you were invincible, being brave would be easy. It’s the fact that it isn't easy, that we have to constantly work and work at it, make ourselves believe in our own strength even when it feels like we’re worth nothing, have nothing can do nothing... that's power. That's resilience."

“Fear is good. It means you care. And caring is its own kind of magic. One just as powerful as any dao I can weave."

“This is a language I understand. A language of pain and horror that I, too, have learned. That too many girls have had to learn.”