Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of emotional abuse and death.

In Finale, love is portrayed as one of the most powerful forces in the world. It can reshape identities, restore humanity, and defeat monstrous forces. It is the one weakness of the Fates and all immortals, as to love is to be human—and therefore, to be mortal. Critically, Stephanie Garber doesn’t just portray one type of love. While the novel features sweeping love stories and romantic tension, the sisterly love and devotion that guides Scarlett and Tella is central to the novel and to the trilogy as a whole. The bond between the sisters is consistently portrayed as the strongest in the series, easily transcending the girls’ respective romances with Julian and Legend. This aspect of the story sets Garber’s writing apart from many contemporaries in the young-adult fantasy genre.

Love is also deeply tied into the social and political machinations that drive the plot, for even Scarlett’s plan to defeat Gavriel is based upon her determination to weaponize his memory of loving her mother, Paradise the Lost. By impersonating her mother, she brings Gavriel’s emotions to the surface, but because her guise is false, the intended plan fails.