"Kaz leaned back. 'What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?'
'Knife to the throat?' asked Inej.
'Gun to the back?' said Jesper.
'Poison in his cup?' suggested Nina.
'You're all horrible,' said Matthias.
Kaz rolled his eyes. 'The easiest way to steal a man's wallet is to tell him you're going to steal his watch. You take his attention and direct it where you want it to go.'", from Six of Crows.
"'Stay', she panted. Tears leaked from her eyes. 'Stay till the end.'
'And after,' he said. 'And always.'
'I want to feel safe again. I want to go home to Ravka.'
'Then I'll take you there. We'll set fire to raisins or whatever you heathens do for fun.'
'Zealot,' she said weakly.
'Witch.'
'Barbarian.'
'Nina,' he whispered, 'little red bird. Don't go.'", from Six of Crows.
She raised her arms. "I'm sorry", she said, "if you succeed, there will be no end to the suffering you unleash."
The boys gaze was steady, his chin jutting up stubbornly, as if he'd known this moment would come. The right thing to do was obvious. Kill this boy quickly, painlessly. Destroy the lab and everything in it. Eradicate the secret of jurda Parem. If you wanted to kill a vine, you didn't just keep cutting it back. You tore it from the ground by the roots. And yet her hands were shaking. Wasn't this the way drüskelle thought? Destroy the threat, wipe it out, no matter that the person in front of you was innocent.
"Nina", Matthias said softly, "he's just a kid. He's one of us."
One of us. A boy not much younger than she was, caught up in a war he hadn't chosen for himself. A survivor.
I haven't posted about it because I was too late to the discourse to say anything interesting, but Six of Crows is the absolute gold standard for fantasy romance (romantasy)
Best Characters - literally cannot choose
Best Romances - No triangles (almost), no favorites, troubles all organic and not contrived
Unique Fantasy world - a 1920s Amsterdam is so unique
Unique Fantasy obstacles - Crazy magic drugs on the market
Diversity in real way - People from different backgrounds that are fleshed out
"The flower he's wearing tucked behind his ear clearly didn't come from his stylist ... Nina must've pulled it from her crown and given it to him, visually tying them together." - from chapter 17 of We Talk About Enemies More Than We Used To by the amazing incredible @endoftheworldhere
Kaz: Squirt the juice in life’s eyes. Steal life’s wallet and assume its identity. Now you are life and hold dominion over all. Your enemies cower at your feet.
Matthias: You’re all horrible
Inej: …make lemonade, guys. The answer is you make lemonade.