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432 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2021
"Existing was pain, but it was also joy."
“Sometimes it's too easy to forget the things you should remember—and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”
"Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road."
"You are not a coward, nor are you selfish, for realizing you have options, warrior-sister. You cannot be defined by your questions. Only by what you do with them."
"So being friends doesn't mean I won't someday have to leave you behind again."
"What does it mean to be friends then?"
"It means, that if something like that does have to happen, I'll do whatever I can to return to you once the crisis is over. And you'd do the same for me."
"What's the purpose of emotions if so often we have to deliberately act counter to what they're telling us?"
"I was everything they feared."
“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance we gain strength, for potential can be refused."
“Sometimes it's too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”
“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance we gain strength, for potential can be refused. Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road.”
“I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as human, then allow myself to become something more.”
“Get better. Learn to accept that sometimes what you feel isn’t invalid, but that it doesn’t mean you have to act according to those feelings either.”
“You cannot be defined by your questions. Only by what you do with them.”
“Because every path we walk changes us, Spensa.”
“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in that acceptance, we gain strength, for potential can be refused."
“stories say something. About us, and about where we came from. They’re a reminder that we have a past, a history. And a future.”
“Sometimes it's too easy to forget the things you should remember — and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”
"Noted, wart-eyeball," M-Bot said.
We sat in silence for a moment.
"Okay," Chet whispered. "I...I have to ask. 'Wart-eyeball'?"
"I was going to call you wart-face, as humans often append 'face' to insults, but warts are frequently on faces. I instead picked a body part that doesn't usually grow warts- a way of implying your stupidity is irrational to the point of implausibility."
“I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as human, then allow myself to become something more.”["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
“My star came alight. I wasn’t nothing here. I was Spensa, and my soul was fire.”
“The entire system vibrates with an unsteady tone. It cracks itself with such sounds. We are… too polite sometimes to accept this.”
“Gran-Gran hadn’t ever told me a story about people taking a vacation. Part of me thought it was ridiculous. But another part understood. It whispered, ‘this is what people can focus their attention on if they aren’t constantly at war. You learned something living among them; your life is not normal.’ […] Scud. I couldn’t understand it, but I needed to. So I read their romance novel and tried to comprehend.”
“Stronger but not harder. You are not a tool to strike. Not a rock to bludgeon. You are a star.”
“All people must accept that we have the potential to do terrible things. It is part of seeing our place in the universe, our heritage, and our natures. But in acceptance, we gain strength, for potential can be refused. Any hero who could have been a monster is more heroic for the choices he or she made to walk another road.”
“They were static, and that was their weakness. My strength was the opposite; my strength was that I could change. I could be afraid, then become courageous. I could be small-minded, then come to understand. I could be selfish. Then move beyond it. I could start as a human, then allow myself to become something more […] but I embraced change. It was the essence and nature of my strength.”
“Sometimes it’s too easy to forget the things you should remember – and far too easy to remember the things you really should forget.”