58 pages • 1 hour read
Olivie BlakeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“If Gideon had a philosophy, it was this: No sense despairing. There was no telling what was real and what was not for Gideon Drake. His perception of dreamt wasteland might be a completely different scene to the dreamer. The burnings were a find reminder of something Gideon had learned long ago: there is doom to be found everywhere if doom is what you seek.”
Although Gideon isn’t one of the main characters, or an initiate, he plays an important role in the novel’s action. Blake emphasizes this by opening the novel from Gideon’s point of view. Here, the narrative provides insight into Gideon’s motivations and the perspective that he, as an outsider even in dreams, maintains.
“They were all slightly different without Libby Rhodes. Without them realizing it, she had established herself as the “but” in their collective conscience, their measure of morality. But what if this happens, but what if something goes wrong, but what if someone is hurt. The effects of her displacement from their anatomy as a group seemed imperceptibly compounding, like an infection that went undiagnosed.”
Reina recognizes that although the six initiates were only together for a year and in that time hadn’t developed strong connections, they’d formed some kind of group. Within that group, Libby played an important role: Her nervous approach to everything forced them to stop and consider consequences, putting her in the position of being the group’s conscience. The irony of this is that Libby’s transformation throughout the novel places her, in the end, in direct opposition to that role, suspending her own conscience in order to fully assume her power.
“Parisa knew something had existed between Tristan and Libby long before she interfered with them. They had shared something that couldn’t be undone—something that had followed them around, joining them even in their absences from each other. History did that to people. Proximity. Love in some cases, hatred in others. The specific kind of intimacy that meant that every enemy was once a friend.”
Although this is a novel about magic, it also concerns itself deeply with the characters’ relationships. In part, this is because several of the characters, most notably Parisa and Callum, influence and manipulate others. Parisa’s interest in psychology stems from her telepathic ability, and she continually shows insight into these relationships.
By Olivie Blake
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Asian American & Pacific Islander...
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Fantasy
View Collection
Fate
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Good & Evil
View Collection
LGBTQ Literature
View Collection
Loyalty & Betrayal
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Mystery & Crime
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Science Fiction & Dystopian Fiction
View Collection
Science & Nature
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
The Future
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
Trust & Doubt
View Collection
TV Shows Based on Books
View Collection
YA Mystery & Crime
View Collection