54 pages • 1 hour read
Alex AsterNightbane
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Important Quotes
“Isla Crown tasted death on the back of her tongue.
Moments before, she had unlocked the hidden vault in the Place of Mirrors. Inside, power churned, whispering in a language she didn’t understand, calling to something deep in her marrow. It felt urgent, obvious, like the answer to a question she had somehow forgotten.”
(Chapter 1, Page 1)
The opening of the novel introduces the protagonist, Isla Crown, and picks up the narrative right after Lightlark. Isla is in the middle of the action, namely trying to open the vault, which concluded the previous novel with a cliffhanger. She remains unable to open the vault until the novel’s end, which creates anticipation as the narrative underlines Isla’s confusion with phrases such as “a language she didn’t understand” and “the answer to a question she had somehow forgotten.”
“Bodies. Bloodied. Charred. She couldn’t see what realms they were from; she could see only their skin and bones. Darkness spilled around the corpses like knocked-over pots of ink, but it did not settle, or puddle, or disappear.
No. This darkness devoured.
It finished off the rest of the bodies, then turned its attention to her. The tendrils climbed, cold and damp as lifeless limbs. Before she could move, the shadows parted her lips and forced her to drink them. She gasped for air, but all she tasted was death.”
(Chapter 1, Page 1)
The vision depicted in this passage is central to Isla’s character arc and strongly contributes to the plot development. Indeed, Isla is driven by the belief that this is a vision of the future and assumes that Grim is responsible for that destruction. However, this vision is used as a red herring and heightens narrative tension, eventually leading to the final plot twist about Isla’s past.
“She imagined fate laughing at the irony of their pairing: a liar loved by someone who could sense the truth.”
(Chapter 2, Page 7)
Throughout the novel, Isla’s relationships with Oro and Grim are both characterized by their Duality and Identity. In this instance, Isla underlines the fundamental difference between her and Oro, which suggests that their romance is ultimately more incompatible than complementary.
