pickWOW. This book is a wonderful, magical, feminist, strong piece of writing. I loved every second of it. I loved the main characters and how each of them had distinct personalities and backgrounds despite being in the same situation. The quotes in this book were amazing and made me, think, laugh and cry (something I will forever treasure). So yeah, I loved it.
5⭐️ for sure.
The girl they‘re calling the Wave Witch left a monstrous ship atop the Rim, lying on the cliffs like a beached whale.
A thousand layers of secrets…
Oh, the parallels!
Perhaps courage is a thing you choose, like friendship. It‘s choosing to have faith in the voice within.
She feels it now, the bond between them. A kinship that goes deeper than anything she‘s ever known. Forged not just by magic, but by secrets shared in darkness, by sacrifice and laughter and blood.
“Girls like you make [magic] a poison.”
“These men are the poison.” […] “Don‘t let them tell you who you are.”
“Do you trust me, Alec?”
“That feels like a dangerous question.”
“Do you remember what you said?” she asks, tying the ribbons around his wrist and knitting them. “About how you never thought about kissing me?”
She touches his face, smooths back his hair.
“I think you lied.”
She has never known what it is to have sisters. Girls who hold the deepest parts of you, who share your dreams. It‘s a bond that holds a power she has never truly known.
Æsa feels more at home than she has in a long time, tangled up with these girls. Three ocean flowers.
Sometimes [kinship] is forged as steel is, in the furnace of our trails.
“If you‘re going, I‘m going,” Fen says. “Like shadows stick together.”
“I would rather you kiss me of your own free will. And as yourself.”
“We played together in shadows deeper than these, Matilde. I would know you anywhere.”
“And what have you been up to?” Matilde asks. “Picking pockets?”
Sayer‘s expression doesn‘t change. “Only the loose ones.”
Sayer didn‘t come here for sisters. She came to pick these people‘s pockets for all they‘re worth. After all, she is not a star made for “if only” wishes. She‘s the kind of star that burns.
She thinks of it often, that flower with a secret. Poison in the guise of something sweet.
"Good fashion is never risqué," she says. "Only a little daring" Page 13
"Grand entrances, she finds, are the only kind worth making." Page 11
"No Nightbird's magic is the same,".... "The Goldfinch will help you change your feathers, making you look like someone else. The Ptarmigan gives the gift of camouflage-near invisibility. Thr Nightingale will let you manipulate someone's emotions, smoothing them in whatever direction you desire."
"All magic is illegal in the Eudean Republic"
Page 3
Started Nightbirds by Kate J Armstrong last night
"The Nightbirds will change you fortunes,.... Their magic can be yours with just a kiss."
pickAbsolutely loved this dazzling new fantasy novel. Magic is outlawed, but the rich always can find what they need. For the right price you can buy the kiss of a Nightbird and their powers will be yours for the night. A story about found family, sisterhood, magical abilities, and overcoming a religious sect which seeks to control. A lovely read!
Nightbirds | 
pan