One of the appealing aspects of Hardfought is its colorful language. For instance, Bear writes, "The Medusa was a huge womb of stars - and disputed territory." The nebula is a womb because it is a place where gas coalesces to form stars. To suggest Prufrax's state of mind, Bear writes, "She [Prufrax] is the great avenging comet, bringer of omen and doom." As good as such lines are, the novella's style sometimes breaks down, usually when Bear presents an epithet intended to summarize what characters are supposed to have learned from a series of events. Clevo, inventor of the mandates, asserts that "What you know, you cannot hate." The epithet is snappy and sounds good, but it suggests that either Clevo is not well read or that he is fundamentally stupid.