fave six of crows quotes

[hyojungss]

if you're planning to read the books at all i would recommend not clicking this because it'll definitely diminish the impact of the words when you read them in context. that being said if you aren't planning to read them i hope the beauty of the words convinces you!

i haven’t read crooked kingdom yet don’t spoil me or i will kill you

i highlighted fave lines in my 2nd (skim) reading, so i omitted some good lines that just didn't strike me as much the second time. ultimately this means all that was left was kanej lines but i'm valid. shout out to jesper flirting with wylan but i'm pretty sure none of the nina/matthias lines made it thru this one lol


3 KAZ

• Kaz shrugged, unwilling to give her an answer. Inej was always trying to wring little bits of decency from him. "When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing."

think this one is fascinating... i have a historical record of liking ships where it's the leader and second in command and while you can't call inej 2nd in command of the dregs, she's still kaz's most trusted tool and someone who has the status/power to influence his morals... especially delicious considering the differences between them in philosophy (inej's trust in the saints and kaz's disbelief). you see it in the scene with oomen too - kaz says “my” wraith would counsel mercy but she wasn’t there to do so, so he treated oomen without any.

• Kaz knew it, and for some reason he loved to rile her.

when I first read this I forgot it was a YA and started tinhetting without realizing it was literally intentional. eventually u get beaten over the head with it but at the least it starts really subtle, which i really appreciate - it’s what i like out of reading fic and what made finding good YA hard for me was replicating that reading experience. anyway this is from a scene where kaz and inej banter over gods/saints which goes to the point above. i think it is really nice that despite their differing viewpoints they don’t actually conflict over it it really only goes to the point of banter and otherwise they respect each other.


4 INEJ

• Inej could have sworn he looked directly at the vent when he said it.

hehe just love this because as a later line says it’s great how he can detect her so often even though her reputation is for silent, undetectable movement. 

• He grinned at her, his smile sudden and jarring as a thunderclap, his eyes the near-black of bitter coffee. “We’ll be kings and queens, Inej. Kings and queens.”
• “Hmm,” she said noncommittally, pretending to examine one of her knives, determined to ignore that grin. Kaz was not a giddy boy smiling and making future plans with her.

first off i really like the bitter coffee descriptor which does come up again later. esp in light of chapter one’s joost struggling to describe the color brown. anyway heart eyes at when someone is suddenly shocked by the smile of someone else... esp since it’s kaz brekker who is too serious. omg love inej who avoids getting sucked in too deep as much as she can <3333____<3333 

• “...put in an order for a new hat.” [...]
• “Please.” [...]
• He looked over his shoulder and said, “Please, my darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won’t you do me the honour of acquiring me a new hat?”

im fine............. i like how inej makes sure to keep kaz in his place in the areas where she can (seeing as most of the time kaz is the one controlling the plans, giving orders and keeping secrets as he finds appropriate) and makes sure that he respects her even though the things he tells her to do are orders she doesn’t have the option of opting out of per her contract (besides the ice court heist). not interested in copy pasting entire pages but the response she gives him is “have a long trip down” - he’s gotta take the stairs with a bad leg while she slides down the banisters. i just mean like, he’s not so in control that she is visibly affected by such language LOL oh i didn’t highlight any lines from it but this is the same scene where kaz undresses in front of her lmao..... what would i give to know what was going thru HIS mind doing that because we all know he likes her


8 JESPER

• Jesper tried to ignore the pang of jealousy he felt at that.

re: inej’s knowledge of a secret jesper did not know. jesper -> kaz is so well done (this is to say that even though each chapter is from one character’s “point of view” it is never “all revealing” so you only get subtle thoughts u know?) it comes in in the little moments like this (and later’s kaz stripped in front of him and all he could think about was not getting piked) probably especially because it’s often a jealousy of the trust he has in inej? not even like the “attention” he has for her. notably as well considering the reveal at the end of the story where in kaz’s point of view he says it would be hard to trust jesper fully.


10 INEJ

• “Matthias isn’t the only irreplacable member of this crew, Kaz. You need me.”

ohhh noooo not this exchange... not the way that kaz had no idea what he was doing when he said he only needs her skills. this came out because inej was critical of his confidence in the plan and he didn’t like that - and she felt like he was undermining her and it hurt her own personal pride. this is unbelievably good because she demands, in her heart, an apology. and you see that come to fruition later in one of my favorite scenes.

• The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.

sigh... was gonna make this the title but i don’t want to spoil it for anyone, it’s so good. (You have to know where you want to go before you get there. / You take the romance out of everything.) not much more to say right now except that i love how this comes to fruition too, near the end of the book. in inej’s own goal and not one that is defined by a single person.


11 JESPER

• “Close your eyes!”
• “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan.”
• “Just do it!”

kaia voice) nothing to say... i cant believe jesper has the nerve to act like this in life/death situations


12 INEJ

• Before Inej had ever set foot on the high wire or even a practice rope, her father had taught her to fall - to protect her head and minimise the impact by not fighting her own momentum.

will be relevant later but i think it’s so cool that this from her parents inspires the title to part 4 (The Trick to Falling). sometimes u forget they’re so young and some have families to go back to..

• Then a hand gripped her wrist painfully, forcing her to drop the blade.
• “Not just yet, Inej.”
• The rasp of stone on stone. Her eyes flew open. Kaz.

NOTHING TO SAY...

• “Did we win?”
• “I’m here, aren’t I?”

NOTHING TO SAYYYYYYYYYYYYY

• “I don’t want to die.”
• “I’ll do my best to make other arrangements for you.”
• She closed her eyes.
• “Keep talking, Wraith. Don’t slip away from me.”
• “But it’s what I do best.”
• He clutched her tighter. “Just make it to the schooner. Open your damn eyes, Inej.”

i love how it’s still banter even though she’s inches from death.. i also love how in this book, a lot of the exposition is prompted by a situation in the present day that has parallels to something from a character’s backstory. eg. in this section inej goes on to remember the first time she met kaz and the reputation of his she had gathered from “coworkers”... here’s fanart for this scene :’( from this i really fell in love with the scene... also gonna add i love that inej has the wraith moniker, it’s simultaneously impersonal and more personal (like a nickname) and it also has a lot stronger association to kaz than the name inej has (because wraith is a role in relation to him and like heleen says later if the wraith is there surely kaz brekker is as well)

• “I can help you,” she said now.
• “Help me with what?”
• She couldn’t remember. There was something she was supposed to tell him. It didn’t matter any more.
• “Talk to me, Wraith.”
• “You came back for me.”
• “I protect my investments.”
• Investments. “I’m glad I’m bleeding all over your shirt.”
• “I’ll put it on your tab.”
• Now she remembered. He owed her an apology. “Say you’re sorry.”
• “For what?”
• “Just say it.”

the fact that kaz always refers to her as an investment lmao.... love the callback in this scene to their first interaction and love how hung up she is on that apology , and basically how their relationship did start out solely transactional - the reason she joined the dregs was to get her out of the menagerie contract and how her job was literally to take on all the jobs he had for her to pay it off and how, at a point like this it’s not solely like that (and i guess it never truly was - it was a favor from him at the start) because they are emotionally attached too. but inej insteads sees the way they treat each other as something that’s gotta be equalized


13 KAZ

• He thought of Inej lying still on the table, her slight weight in his arms.

hmm just... i love to see someone cold and serious drop the pretenses and literally take it into their own hands to make sure someone is safe.... utilizing his authority specifically to protect inej (which you see plenty in this book, to unfortunate outcomes) and everyone else in the crew notices this too..


14 NINA

• Or maybe she was just a romantic.
• She had to laugh at herself. She wouldn’t wish love on anyone. It was the guest you welcomed and then couldn’t be rid of.

i dont remember where inej says this but when kaz said he wouldnt be the one to mark her again T_T re: the dregs tattoo... 

• But when the storm hit, that tin cup had saved her life.

okay i loved this... i mean i just liked it a lot symbolically the one kind gesture was the only reason she was able to survive, literally.


15 MATTHIAS

• “She will,” said Kaz, and something savage flashed in his eyes. Matthias suspected that Brekker would drag the girl back from hell himself if he had to.

tbh i find such third-party-pov lines about the other relationships a bit too cheesy now but they were rly good when i first read through skjdkllkdkd i think kanej in ur face had the potential to be really annoying LOL but i think the backstory is so compelling as well as the actual dynamic T_T but i like how kaz doesn’t even accept death as an option... he relies so strongly on inej for his plans (despite saying she’s replaceable) and trusts her to pull through for tasks that are genuinely very difficult (such as previously with getting to the 2nd bribed guard in time during black tips skirmish)


17 JESPER

• It cost Jesper something to admit that. Would Kaz have gone off on that kind of mad-dog tear if it had been Jesper with a knife stuck in his side?

T____T i feel for jesp... also this scene is another that brings up how unusually queasy kaz gets around sick people and no one knows, u know, about his situation at this point. also fking inej lkjdslkfkfk “ofc he was worried about me he needs me to scale an incinerator shaft”


20 NINA

• Those three weeks were a lie that she and Matthias had built to survive. The truth was the pyre.

i feel like nina/matthias is too YA for me in the sense that it’s so cliche, reliant on “rival” cultures or i guess more accurately tensions because of persecution between their ethnic groups so it’s not really as compelling as i feel it could be but ideas like this resonate with me more, the idea of isolation from the rest of the world allowing a relationship to be unhindered by cultural barriers and then the reality hit.


22 KAZ

• Inej would never betray him. He knew it. Kaz felt ill. Though he’d trusted her with his life countless times, it felt much more frightening to trust her with this shame.

sigh... vulnerability <3 and just, the way inej is so observant she picked up on everything n does her best to be respectful of his difficulties (gives him space). also.. he says “keep talking” to her earlier. i think the first time he says it it’s because he wants her to stay conscious (knife wound) but here, and maybe even then he uses her voice as a distraction from what is going on around him/the stressors (which would be the injuries)

• “You okay?” Inej asked, and Kaz felt himself being drawn towards her voice like water rolling downhill.

omggg it took me a bit to see it but there are so many references to the effect (magnetism/strengthening) inej’s voice has on kaz and i think that’s so cool because of his touch aversion....

• Inej had once offered to teach him how to fall. “The trick is not getting knocked down,” he’d told her with a laugh. “No, Kaz,” she’d said, “the trick is in getting back up.” More Suli platitudes, but somehow even the memory of her voice helped.

I TELL YOU...


25 INEJ

• Kaz turned his cold eyes on Tante Heleen. “Are we done?” It was the first time Inej had heard him speak, and she was startled by the rough burn of his voice.

I just love how no-nonsense kaz is...

• “Is Inej Ghafa your real name?”
• [...] “Yes,” she managed.
• “Is that what you prefer to be called?”

I JUST LOVE THE RESPECT IN THIS HOUSE..... monsters, they have hearts

• “If it were a trick, I’d promise you safety. I’d offer you happiness. I don’t know if that exists in the Barrel, but you’ll find none of it with me.”
• For some reason, those words had comforted her.

THE HONESTY IN THIS HOUSE>... NO FALSE PROMISES....

• The truth was she’d tried to sneak up on Kaz plenty of times since then. She’d never managed it. It was as if once Kaz had seen her, he’d understood how to keep seeing her.

**kaz looking up at the ceiling grate** T___T

• In the end, Kaz Brekker was just a boy, and she’d let him lead her to this fate.
• She couldn’t even blame him. She’d let herself be lead because she hadn’t known where she’d wanted to go.

like i said i love how soc always introduces backstory events in relation to something in the present time and this time, inej climbing the burning hot incinerator shaft prompted her to become angry at kaz for taking on this job and her for agreeing to it even though it’s impossible - even though she should have known she’d have to do the impossible and go through this kind of pain - and asking herself why she did it. the reason being kaz. regarding the leading.... i love love how this is a story of inej’s own personal journey so you see her figure out “where it is she wants to go” ... which she figures out by the end


27 JESPER

• “The West Stave delegations have started to arrive. We can get in.”
• “Inej--” said Kaz.

haha i’m like TT just like TT inej your strength.........


28 INEJ

• Inej’s mother and father might still shed tears for the daughter they’d lost, but if Inej died tonight, there would be no one to grieve for the girl she was now.

i think.. only if it was just her, who died, you know? if they all did.... i suppose it would be so. maybe i’m reading too much found family into this but clearly by the end of the book you can see

• “If any of you survive, make sure I have an open casket. [...] The world deserves a few more moments with this face.”

love you jesper <3

• “Six storeys in the dark.”
• She nodded. She wasn’t going to wait for thanks. Not for the climb, or the gloves, or for anything ever again.

omg... think that’s one of my fave lines in the whole book. love inej’s strength of character and constant development... no need to rely on other people like that (though she truly deserves the credit)

• “When we get back to Ketterdam, I’m taking my share, and I’m leaving the Dregs.”
• He looked away. “You should. You were always too good for the Barrel.”

love it when its hard for people to look at each other.. omg also the juxtaposition here where kaz is really a country boy who came to the barrel but he acts like he grew up there no one knows his past... so the implication is that he deserves to be there but if you see his backstory he was the one that was corrupted by the place ... inej, she still has hope, it’s what he sees

• Kaz snagged her wrist. “Inej.” His gloved thumb moved over her pulse, traced the top of the feather tattoo. “If we don’t make it out, I want you to know...”
• She waited. She felt hope rustling its wings inside her, ready to take flight at the right words from Kaz. She willed that hope into stillness. Those words would never come. The heart is an arrow.

kaz takes inej by the wrist a lot i think... it’s really really interesting the way he doesn’t mind to reach out and touch someone with gloved hands // the way inej is hopeful but realistic

• She reached up and touched his cheek. [...] this was the first time she had touched him skin to skin, without the barrier of gloves or coat or shirtsleeve. She let her hand cup his cheek. His skin was cool and damp from the rain. He stayed still, but she saw a tremor pass through him, as if he were waging a war with himself.

omg i just think its incredible how compelling i find their dynamic like ... i don’t feel like the barriers are just for the convenience of plot i think its a [risa fave phrase alert] natural progression... it actually makes sense to me

• She could see it took every last bit of his terrible will for him to remain still beneath her touch. And yet, he did not pull away. She knew it was the best he could offer. It was not enough.

 

the......... nothing to say

 

• She had her aim now, her heart had direction, and though it hurt to know that path led away from him, she could endure it.

inej i am your fan (crying emoji)

32 JESPER

• There was a long silence, and then, eyes trained on the notch they’d created in the link, Wylan said, “Just girls?”
• Jesper restrained a grin. “No. Not just girls.” It really was a shame they were all probably going to die tonight.

ENOUGH!!!..... like i said >>people who can’t look at each other<<

38 KAZ

• “You shouldn’t make friends with crows,” he’d told her.
• “Why not?” she asked.
• He’d looked up from his desk to answer, but whatever he’d been about to say had vanished on his tongue.

(CRYING EMOJI) love the beauty of this scene. the windowsill, natural golden light, the crows, inej’s kind heart and the breathtaking view kaz must have seen

• “Why not? she’d repeated, eyes still closed.
• He said the first thing that popped into his head. “They don’t have any manners.”
• “Neither do you, Kaz.” She’d laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

by the way i forgot this again but the present scene that prompted this one was kaz’s life literally flashing before his eyes when he was in the rushing river :] the amount of significant memories with inej in them in his memory... very good parallel to the incinerator shaft scene where purely all that was needed was mental(/physical) endurance and something meaningful to give them each strength.. i love them and i really do love how loving inej scares kaz and how inej is always asking for more than he can give because, she deserves it

• But all he could think of was Inej. She had to live. She had to have made it out of the Ice Court. And if she hadn’t, then he had to live to rescue her.

previous line: he tried to think of getting revenge against pekka rollins for jordie’s sake to motivate him to continue living but all he could think of was inej (crying emoji) love, i think, being stronger than revenge is a good message. and i like that this isn’t some sort of, inej got in trouble because she was targeted so kaz has to rescue her story but it’s kaz’s fault that she’s here (though she agreed to it) so he has the responsibility to make sure she leaves safely. i mean, same with the rest of his crew but with his personal feelings for inej/their history/the fact that he personally was responsible for inej joining the dregs

• The ache in his lungs was unbearable. He needed to tell her ... what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved.

no words

• The water pressed at his chest, demanding that he part his lips. I won’t, he swore. But in the end, Kaz opened his mouth, and the water rushed in.

just love this as an example of lack of control... kaz who is in control of everything


42 INEJ

• “I wish you could see what I do. I can hear every body on this ship, the blood rushing through their veins. I can hear the change in Kaz’s breathing when he looks at you.”
• [...]
• “It catches every time, like he’s never seen you before.”

NO WORDS. truly a romantic at heart

• She didn’t want to care what Kaz thought, but she did.

the way she wants him to respect her final choice of goal T_T_____T

• A pleased flush warmed her cheeks. But hadn’t Kaz always believed she was dangerous?

i love it when they are proud of each other....

• Only two days ago, she would have left it at that, respecting their unspoken agreement to treat lightly in each other’s pasts.
• [...]
• What had carved all the hope from his heart? She might never know.

haha here he says barrel boys don’t have parents... need you be so secretive even now. this is what i mean. but i love that inej is the one that keeps pushing the boundaries :) <3

• Kaz seized her hand, keeping it on the railing. He didn’t look at her. “Stay,” he said, his voice rough stone. “Stay in Ketterdam. Stay with me.”

1. wrist grab 2. people who can’t look at each other 3. HE FINALLY SPEAKS.... the raw honesty

 

• Everything in her wanted to say yes, but she would not settle for so little, not after all she’d been through. “What would be the point?”
• He took a breath. “I want you to stay. I want you to ... I want you.”
• “You want me.” She turned the words over. Gently, she squeezed his hand. “And how will you have me, Kaz?”

ohhh lots to unpack here.... kaz has said, in narration, that he has wanted inej, before. i didn’t highlight it but that makes this the first time he has actually said such a thing to her face despite already knowing it. i rly commend inej on her strength at this point she has her priorities fully lined up and she continues to push kaz to give her full respect even though emotionally she feels like it would not be difficult to turn on what she had already decided... and she doesn’t betray any of it on her face either.

• “How will you have me?” she repeated. “Fully clothed, gloves on, your head turned away so our lips can never touch?”

>kaz had turned to look at her before she repeated these words and after, he let go of her hand and turned away again.< the brutal truths here... because it’s not as simple as their goals coexisting, it’s that inej’s dream of hunting slavers is in direct opposition to kaz’s desire to continue working with her in ketterdam. it’s mutually exclusive so in order to justify going with his wishes and not hers he has to actually make it worth it. i think that’s a rly important distinction as many are made in the book, between demands within a relationship for selfish reasons (ie she wants him to overcome trauma simply for her own gains) and demands for respect and equality (to get something for giving something). and she is not just asking physically but for emotional vulnerability I think which even in this same scene you can see he has not achieved yet

• Maybe it was because his back was to her that she could finally speak the words. “I will have you without armour, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.”

CRYYYYYYYYYYY

• Speak, she begged silently. Give me a reason to stay. [...]
• The sails creaked. The clouds parted for the moon then gathered back around her.
• Inej left Kaz with the wind howling and dawn still a long way away.

just think it’s a great chapter ending T___T


45 KAZ

• Kaz knew the instant he made his mistake. They’d all known it might come to this. He should have trusted his crew. His eyes should have stayed trained on Van Eck. Instead, in that moment of threat, when he should have thought only of the fight, he looked at Inej.
• [...]
• Inej fell, plunging towards the sand. Kaz ran towards her without logic or plan.

the achilles heel... the irrationality in the actions of a tactical master.... omg reminds me of how oomen in his time of death was begging for his life, and kaz said he wasn’t feeling very rational....

• “Why does it matter?”
• “I don’t know!” Jesper said angrily. “Maybe I liked your stupid face.”’

jesper T___T___T the betrayal of being kept out of secrets.... also the bits about kuwei sitting next to him on the boat and then him finding out it was wylan every time is




thats all i have........... it was not supposed to take as long as it did this was a quote compilation at conception and not an analysis but i’m pleased with the results. will read ck sometime.... sometime