King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Gender
You must try to be kind to your brother even when he is older but not wiser. p5
Even if that farm boy told everyone in Ivets what he'd seen, the townspeople would chalk it up to Adezku, the rascal wind that drove women into their neighbors' beds and made mad thoughts skitter in men's heads like whorls of dead leaves. p15
Nina snorted. If men were ashamed when they should be, they'd have no time for anything else. p32
He'd come to recognize the bizarre phenomenon of Zoya's beauty, the way men loved to create stories around it. They said she was cruel because she'd been harmed in the past. They claimed she was cold because she just hadn't met the right fellow to warm her. Anything to soften her edges and sweeten her disposition-- and what was the fun in that? Zoya's company was like strong drink. Bracing-- and best to abstain if you couldn't handle the kick. p57
"He thinks a woman wanting to fight or hunt or fend for herself is unnatural, that it denies men the chance to be protectors." p172
"It's fear that makes your father act as he does, that makes men write foolish rules that say you can't travel alone or ride as you wish to." p172-173
"Hopeless. Hungry. Desperation makes people do ugly things, and it is always the girls who suffer first." p186
"A man who spends all day handling the country's business does not want to converse about such things with his wife. He wishes to be soothed, entertained, reminded of the gentler things in this world, the things we fight so hard to protect." p418
Love it
The king's reputation could withstand a bit of scandal; it would not survive the truth. p26
science and tech p62
It was one thing to have happiness and lose it, quite another to have someone else's happiness thrust at you like an unwanted second slice of cake. p69
There had been a time when words had been the only place he could find solace. No book ever lost patience with him or told him to sit still. p154
"It's not exciting if nothing can go wrong." p159
Wasn't speaking the truth supposed to be freeing? Some kind of tonic for the soul? In Nikolai's experience, honesty was much like herbal tea-- something well-meaning people recommended when they were out of better options. p201
Description
If Leoni was sunshine walking, Adrik was a doleful storm cloud too put-upon to actually rain. p49
She knew the way they sighed over their poor king. He's never been the same since the war, they whispered, swooning and dabbing their eyes when he was near. She couldn't blame them. Nikolai was rich, handsome, and beset by a tragic past. Perfect daydream fodder. But with her luck the king would ignore the suitable prospective brides she'd found, fall for a common housemaid, and insist on marrying for love. It was just the kind of contrary, romantic nonsense he was prone to. p109
...-- the dawn quiet, the rumpled sheets, the tousled hair that made Nikolai look less a king than a boy in need of kissing. p109
Whatever spark had burned in her was no match for this grief. p137
War hadn't done it. Captivity. Torture. But loss was something different, because she saw no end to it, only the far horizon, stretching on and on. p139
As it turned out, the prince was not a bad child; he just had no gift for remaining idle. p211
He did it because he liked learning the puzzles of each person. He did it because it felt good to feel his influence and understanding grow. p214
After all this time, she still had not found an end to her grief. It was a dark well, an echoing place into which she'd once cast a stone, sure that it would strike bottom and she could stop hurting. Instead, it just kept falling. She forgot about the stone, forgot about the well, sometimes for days or even weeks as a time. p240
"...Hate is one kind of fuel. but hate that began as devotion? That makes for another kind of flame." p340
Humor/ Snark
"Unfortunately, that would have caused riots among the common people, and I'm not keen on riots. Unless they involve dancing, but I believe those are usually referred to as parties. What kind of party is this, Tamar?" p11
"I don't eat meat."
"Of course you don't," Zoya said. "It's animals you object to killing, not people." p118
"Pray go on," said Zoya. "I'd like to see if an excess of irony can actually kill a man." p119
"That sounds suspiciously like exile."
"You say exile, I say extended holiday." p180
"...Unless this is the afterlife, in which case I am sorely underdressed. Or overdressed. I suppose it depends on your idea of heaven." p278
Too true
Nikolai had spent his life waiting to govern and learning how to do it, but while Nikolai craved change, Ravka fought it. His reforms to the tithing and land ownership laws had led to grumbling among the nobility. Of course the serfs should have rights, they protested, eventually. The king went too far and moved too fast. p181
His entire home was full of peasant woodcrafts and handwoven textiles, the props of a simpler time in which a serf might be counted upon to create pretty objects for his master and politely starve in silence. p182
"He has a noble's disdain for commerce but likes the idea of himself as a great benefactor. So I simply pointed out that, with all the time and money his workers will save, they'll have more hours to devote to the ornament he loves so much." p182
She liked seeing the ordinary business of Fjerdan lives, remembering that they were people not monsters, that most of them longed for prosperity and peace, a good meal, a warm bed to sleep in at night. But she also knew the prejudices so many of them carried, that they still believed Grisha deserved to be burned on a pyre. p285
Power
Strange that a king could command an army but he couldn't hold the hand of a girl he liked. p436
You must try to be kind to your brother even when he is older but not wiser. p5
Even if that farm boy told everyone in Ivets what he'd seen, the townspeople would chalk it up to Adezku, the rascal wind that drove women into their neighbors' beds and made mad thoughts skitter in men's heads like whorls of dead leaves. p15
Nina snorted. If men were ashamed when they should be, they'd have no time for anything else. p32
He'd come to recognize the bizarre phenomenon of Zoya's beauty, the way men loved to create stories around it. They said she was cruel because she'd been harmed in the past. They claimed she was cold because she just hadn't met the right fellow to warm her. Anything to soften her edges and sweeten her disposition-- and what was the fun in that? Zoya's company was like strong drink. Bracing-- and best to abstain if you couldn't handle the kick. p57
"He thinks a woman wanting to fight or hunt or fend for herself is unnatural, that it denies men the chance to be protectors." p172
"It's fear that makes your father act as he does, that makes men write foolish rules that say you can't travel alone or ride as you wish to." p172-173
"Hopeless. Hungry. Desperation makes people do ugly things, and it is always the girls who suffer first." p186
"A man who spends all day handling the country's business does not want to converse about such things with his wife. He wishes to be soothed, entertained, reminded of the gentler things in this world, the things we fight so hard to protect." p418
Love it
The king's reputation could withstand a bit of scandal; it would not survive the truth. p26
science and tech p62
It was one thing to have happiness and lose it, quite another to have someone else's happiness thrust at you like an unwanted second slice of cake. p69
There had been a time when words had been the only place he could find solace. No book ever lost patience with him or told him to sit still. p154
"It's not exciting if nothing can go wrong." p159
Wasn't speaking the truth supposed to be freeing? Some kind of tonic for the soul? In Nikolai's experience, honesty was much like herbal tea-- something well-meaning people recommended when they were out of better options. p201
Description
If Leoni was sunshine walking, Adrik was a doleful storm cloud too put-upon to actually rain. p49
She knew the way they sighed over their poor king. He's never been the same since the war, they whispered, swooning and dabbing their eyes when he was near. She couldn't blame them. Nikolai was rich, handsome, and beset by a tragic past. Perfect daydream fodder. But with her luck the king would ignore the suitable prospective brides she'd found, fall for a common housemaid, and insist on marrying for love. It was just the kind of contrary, romantic nonsense he was prone to. p109
...-- the dawn quiet, the rumpled sheets, the tousled hair that made Nikolai look less a king than a boy in need of kissing. p109
Whatever spark had burned in her was no match for this grief. p137
War hadn't done it. Captivity. Torture. But loss was something different, because she saw no end to it, only the far horizon, stretching on and on. p139
As it turned out, the prince was not a bad child; he just had no gift for remaining idle. p211
He did it because he liked learning the puzzles of each person. He did it because it felt good to feel his influence and understanding grow. p214
After all this time, she still had not found an end to her grief. It was a dark well, an echoing place into which she'd once cast a stone, sure that it would strike bottom and she could stop hurting. Instead, it just kept falling. She forgot about the stone, forgot about the well, sometimes for days or even weeks as a time. p240
"...Hate is one kind of fuel. but hate that began as devotion? That makes for another kind of flame." p340
Humor/ Snark
"Unfortunately, that would have caused riots among the common people, and I'm not keen on riots. Unless they involve dancing, but I believe those are usually referred to as parties. What kind of party is this, Tamar?" p11
"I don't eat meat."
"Of course you don't," Zoya said. "It's animals you object to killing, not people." p118
"Pray go on," said Zoya. "I'd like to see if an excess of irony can actually kill a man." p119
"That sounds suspiciously like exile."
"You say exile, I say extended holiday." p180
"...Unless this is the afterlife, in which case I am sorely underdressed. Or overdressed. I suppose it depends on your idea of heaven." p278
Too true
Nikolai had spent his life waiting to govern and learning how to do it, but while Nikolai craved change, Ravka fought it. His reforms to the tithing and land ownership laws had led to grumbling among the nobility. Of course the serfs should have rights, they protested, eventually. The king went too far and moved too fast. p181
His entire home was full of peasant woodcrafts and handwoven textiles, the props of a simpler time in which a serf might be counted upon to create pretty objects for his master and politely starve in silence. p182
"He has a noble's disdain for commerce but likes the idea of himself as a great benefactor. So I simply pointed out that, with all the time and money his workers will save, they'll have more hours to devote to the ornament he loves so much." p182
She liked seeing the ordinary business of Fjerdan lives, remembering that they were people not monsters, that most of them longed for prosperity and peace, a good meal, a warm bed to sleep in at night. But she also knew the prejudices so many of them carried, that they still believed Grisha deserved to be burned on a pyre. p285
Power
Strange that a king could command an army but he couldn't hold the hand of a girl he liked. p436
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