There are countless differences between the lives of people with money and people without. One is this: without the means to pay experts, it’s necessary to evolve a complex ecosystem of useful amateurs.
-- Narrator (1: Hungry Shadows)

Importance: This quote establishes how class divide and wealth inequality fuels the novel’s shadow magic system. As someone who lives in the poorer area of town, Charlie had to become what society would consider a useful ameteur in order to survive. Even though others, like Doreen, avoid Charlie for her decisions, they still come to her when desperate. It also acts as a reminder for the reader that very rich, powerful, and experienced people are involved in the same shadow magic world that Charlie is forced back into, raising the stakes of the novel’s conflict.

More important, Charlie had remembered what worked on her mother. Charlie didn’t need to convince them of anything. She...
-- Charlie (3: The Past)