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Two of Westerfeld's first published novels, it's easy to see where inspiration and concepts in his later works came from. It is in need of [[Wiki Magic]].

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Names like Laurent and Anastasia juxtaposed with those like Katherie and Nara. Like in [[Uglies]], Westerfeld plays with these - people with more traditional and 'gray' backgrounds have more normal names, while people who are more radical politically or socially have more exotic ones.

* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Poor Katherie.

* [[Emperor Scientist]]: The Risen Emperor invented immortality, followed by a religion based around him and his invention.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: The XO is seen to be contemplating one. {{spoiler|She was infiltrating the circle of mutineers to bring them down}}.

* [[Healing Factor]]: The symbiant can heal a dead person's body to a certain extent, but after a certain point, reanimating a damaged body would just be a living hell because their body would be unable to heal.

* [[Love Across Battlelines]]:

* [[Seppuku]]: Expected of Imperial officers if they fail important missions.

* [[Smart House]]: Nara Oxham owns one that Laurent visits.

* [[Telepathy]]: Nara Oxham can feel people's emotions as a side effect of surgery, an ability called empathy. She was thought to be mad for several years because large populations of humans overwhelmed her mind with emotion. There is a 'cure' of sorts, an 'apathy' bracelet that injects a drug to suppress the empathy, but Oxham often lowers the dosage or stops using the drug during meetings so she can read crowds.

* [[Unusual User Interface]]: Most military officers and political workers have forms of surgical synesthesia and in some cases eyescreens like those later seen in ''[[Uglies]]''. The surgery to give people this synesthesia can cause strange side effects, like Oxham's empathy.

* [[We Will Have Perfect Health in The Future]]: All the major factions have absolutely no disease at all. However, they maintain a joint neutral zone called the Plague Axis in which diseases are allowed to flourish among the inhabitants just in case a new plague ever arises and they might be able to find a cure among the diseased. Inhabitant of the Plague Axis are required to wear environmental isolation suits when on envoys to the other factions.

** Notably, they want this because they think it's better for ''society'', not because they think immortality would suck for ''individuals''.

** There are a few examples who think immortality does suck for individuals; Nara's chief aide had a lover who became immortal, and when he went to visit her, he described her as dead, but still moving. "The dead are dead, Nara. The symbiant is a lie."