A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)

by V.E. Schwab

People survived by being cautious, but they got ahead by being bold.

“Strength and weakness are tangled things,” the Aven Essen had said. “They look so much alike, we often confuse them, the way we confuse magic and power.”

“The world is neither fair nor right, but it has a way of balancing itself.

dying is easy. No, I want to live, but getting close to death is the only way to feel alive.