“The music was every hope Katrina had abandoned, every dream she had released. It was hamburgers on the grill, fruit punch in the cooler, a bag of Costco beef jerky for everyone. It was dancing without knowing the steps and not caring. It was her mom holding her, her dad calling her his little girl.”

Even before Shizuka trains her, Katrina plays music that draws on her experiences as a transgender girl and her longing for acceptance. The themes of Identity and the Struggle for Self-Acceptance and The Transformative Power of Music are immediately and intimately tied into Katrina’s music. Katrina can use music to construct a world for herself where she has a normal childhood and her father accepts her true identity. This quote foreshadows Katrina’s later performance of the Axxiom theme at the musical showcase, in which Katrina uses her music to create universes of safety and comfort for everyone who listens to her.

“Lan’s civilization had long evolved beyond believing in supernatural beings and souls and music. And, in her reality, no one would think to attach such importance, such meaning, to music.”

Lan’s Galactic Empire has been torn apart by the Endplague, a self-destructive despair that settles into advanced civilizations that have stopped growing and changing. Although she doesn’t realize it, her dismissive attitude toward music is a symptom of the Endplague. Music, as a motif throughout the novel, represents change and growth and life, and Lan must learn to appreciate its importance as the story progresses.