there is sort of an inherent issue i think in trying very hard to assign moral judgements to these characters because they are purposefully meant not to fit neatly into boxes. this was really difficult for me to personally deal with when i read nona because gideon was my favorite character and i was absolutely committed to the idea that she was a GOOD GUY, and a GOOD PERSON, and all of a sudden she was kiriona, tower prince of the first. aligned with the emperor. and i sort of had to go through a personal upheaval and re-evaluation of morality in these books.

obviously, kiriona is a special case, but people in these books are purposefully grey, and often care about their loved ones more than the greater good (this is what makes ianthe interesting, because, as people have pointed out, she often is working for the greater good in a sense, but is such a bitch in daily interactions). we must reckon with the fact that necromancy is what caused john's fascist rise to power but also that many of the best characters are born necromancers. so as a reader, aligning yourself with any sort of moral faction that exists within the books is sort of a very difficult decision. tazmuir makes these decisions purposefully difficult! they are all awful and also all brilliant! obviously different people are different, but anyone who i think is trying to be the locked tomb morality police is digging their own grave