The Demon's Lexicon Morality and Ethics Quotes

So what is the big deal here? They need information, and torture doesn't bother Nick, so Nick handles Gerald on Alan's behalf. The problem as Alan sees it though, is that perhaps torture should bother Nick. But is Nick justified here? After all, Gerald and his merry band of magicians seem to be hunting the Ryves family, so shouldn't they take whatever steps are necessary to protect themselves? This is tough stuff with a lot of relevance to the way various countries and militaries extract information from prisoners. (And you thought The Demon's Lexicon was just another YA page-turner.)

Nick's morality seems to be in question for much of the book, but this is one situation in which we see that he frequently does try to do what he perceives to be the right thing. Alan met Mae first, Alan has a crush on her, and Nick does his best (more or less) to honor that. (Except when he doesn't.)

The "her" in this case is Mum, and sometimes it's hard for us to see why Alan is so bent on protecting her. She doesn't seem to be a particularly good person for much of the book, and we almost start to think, "Wow, that Alan is a saint. He'll take a bullet for anybody." Of course, as we learn later, there's more to Mum than meets the eye in those early chapters, but still we wonder: who should a person be willing to sacrifice his life for?