She was beautiful and terrifying, savage and pure..

That’s what a map is, you know. Just a memory..

Death is not a checkmate…it is more like a carnival trick. You cannot win, no matter how you move your Queen..

She was not filled up with the sight of him, the way she had seen her sisters fill up, like silk balloons, like wineskins. Instead, he seemed to land….

When the world changes, it stashes us away where we can't make it run the other way again..

September did not want to feel for the Marquess. That’s how villains get you, she knew. You feel badly for them, and next thing you know, you’re tied….

She liked anything orange: leaves; some moons; marigolds; chrysanthemums; cheese; pumpkin, both in pie and out; orange juice; marmalade. Orange is br….

Family is a transitive property..

Oh, but Masha, can’t you see? You are. An Ivan has come. That is like saying, Midnight has struck. It is time for bed, little one. You cannot have bo….

But the thought arrived inside her like a train: Marya Morevna, all in black, here and now, was a point at which all the women she had been met—the Y….

It’s been me all along,” said September slowly. “Me who gave up my shadow, me who went down into Fairyland-Below and Fairyland-Lower-Than-That to wak….

Readers will always insist on adventures, and though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief..

Why should he be spared?' 'Someone ought to be.' And it will not be me. I have survived, but I have not been spared..

I know you loved both he and I, the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for loving more than they ought, only for loving not ….

I believe we have an utterly unique specimen on our hands: a child who listens..

She is so stubborn, her heart has an argument with her head every time it wants to beat..

Here! 'Not thread nor glue, not nails nor screws, will ever self and shadow wed.' Helpful, those poet-types. Perhaps this one: 'Seek the grimy queen ….

Do you think I am a fool, Masha? All this time, and you speak to me as though I were a flighty pinprick of a girl. I am a magician! Did you never thi….

You are going to break your promise. I understand. And I hold my hands over the ears of my heart, so that I will not hate you..

She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people..

I don’t want to be a Princess,” she said finally. “You can’t make me be one.” She knew very well what became of Princesses, as Princesses often get b….