Scarlet

“Scarlet’s world was crashing down around her and nobody noticed. Her grandmother was missing and nobody cared.”

Meyer uses this quote to establish the deep sense of emotional distress Scarlet is experiencing at the beginning of the novel. Scarlet loves her grandmother more than anyone else in the world, and as the people of Rieux go about their daily lives without a care, Scarlet worries that she may have lost the person who loved her when no one else did. She is fueled by love, anger, and fear of the unknown.

“His pulse thumped, thoughts of worship and devotion swimming through his head. Thoughts of surrender. Thoughts of compliance.”

The first time Thorne and Cinder meet, she accidentally uses her glamour on him. Cinder’s powers are so new that she can’t control them, and in times of high stress, she bends people to her will unintentionally. This excerpt demonstrates the power Cinder can have over a person, even when she doesn’t want to. Cinder is far more powerful than she thinks, and Thorne’s thoughts in this quote hint that Cinder has the power to do exactly what Levana does to her Lunar subjects.

“The innocent child Levana had tried to murder thirteen years ago, but who had been rescued and smuggled down to Earth. Who remained the most-wanted person in the world. Who just happened to be Cinder herself.”

Meyer constructs an intricate backstory for her heroine, and in this clever play on words, Meyer hints that Cinder is “wanted” as both a fugitive and the Lunar princess. In the first novel, Kai searches for any clues that Princess Selene might be alive because he knows that she will be instrumental in stopping Levana from taking over the Earth.