History Literature / BelDameApocrypha

** Mhorians are a fully gender-segregated culture who keep Kosher, but have blonde dreadlocks. If a Mhorian does't want to be homosexual that individual can choose exile and a body full of tattoos.

* CombatPragmatist: Nyx. In addition to not fighting fair, she is pretty much always armed to the teeth: a sword, knives, more knives, a pistol, [[MoreDakka bullets sewn into her clothing]], [[WhipItGood a whip]], garroting wire (which she uses as sandal laces and clothing drawstrings), razor blades tucked into the soles of her sandals, and ''[[CrazyPrepared poison needles in her hair]].'' And we see her use ''[[ChekhovsArmoury all of them]]'' throughout the series.

* RunningGag: Nyx is a lousy shot. She may be a decent boxer, and an excellent fighter when it comes to swords, knives, and her whip ([[WhipItGood her favorite]])--but she can't shoot worth a damn.

* NoPronunciationGuide

* AdultFear: In the second book, [[spoiler:Rhys loses his children. Khos thinks he has lost his.]]

* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler: Rhys's children]] in the second book.

* TheAlcoholic: Nyx. Her substances of choice seem to be whiskey, sen and sometimes morphine, but at the beginning of the second book she's "sworn off whiskey" and we see her down ''[[CompletelyMissingThePoint a fifth of vodka]].'' For ''breakfast.''

* AntiHero: Nyx is a solid Type IV.

* TheAtoner:
** Rhys, to a significant extent.
** Nyx is this, too, as we find out more about what really happened at the front.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Nyx to Rhys.
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' do anything to hurt Rhys. Nyx will trounce you.

* BlackAndGreyMorality

* TheAtoner: Rhys, to a significant extent.

* CallingTheOldManOut: Nyx gets a nice one in at Yah Tayyib at the end of the first book.

* EveryoneIsBi: Nasheenian society is run by women because all their men get shipped off to the front at age 16. As a result, plenty of women sleep with other women.
--> '''Eshe:''' ''(about a girl to whom he was talking)'' "She has a girlfriend."
--> '''Nyx:''' "This is Nasheen. Everybody has a girlfriend."
** Chenjans, who are quite puritanical, view Nasheenians as [[DepravedBisexual godless and depraved]].

* FantasticRacism: There is serious societal discrimination against [[{{Shapeshifting}} shifters]] in Ras Tieg.

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Mecca, and even Earth itself seem to, at best, be vague memories so of course no one prays in it's direction. In addition the Chenjans have added a sixth prayer period. But the really strange part is Nasheen which is an Islamic ''matriarchy''.

* NotSoDifferent: The Queen tries to pull this on Nyx at the end of the first book. Nyx doesn't buy it.
-->'''Queen Zaynab''': "We must decide, in the end, whose life matters most and how many can be sacrificed to preserve those few."
-->'''Nyx''': "Who decides who the best few are?"
-->'''Queen Zaynab''': "We do, Nyxnissa. We are not so different, you and I."
-->'''Nyx''': "From where I'm standing, you and me don't have much in common."

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: You need to do the latter to make sure a bel dame ''stays'' dead.
** plus: if you don't decapitate or burn a regular corpse, it will come back as a bug puppet.

* ShutUpHannibal: Nyx gives Nikodem an epic one in the first book:
-->'''Nikodem''': "You're just an uneducated bloodletter. What do you know about God's plan, about the salvation of your soul?"
-->'''Nyx''': "No more than a butcher. But a butcher knows how to serve it halal."

* UnusualEuphemism[=/=]FutureSlang: "Catshit" is used in place of "bullshit" (sandcats are large creatures used to pull carts).

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted with Rhys's children]] in the second book.

* {{Bloodsport}}: Boxing is a popular form of entertainment on Umayma, and far more brutal and seedy than the modern-day version. Weight classes are apparently not a thing, gloves are considerably less padded than our own, and bouts have no set number of rounds, so fights continue until one boxer is knocked out or submits. Certain passages even indicate that boxers losing eyes or bits of their ears is not an uncommon occurrence. Merely leaving the ring with a bashed-up face is practically a given.

* SexIsViolence: Implied early in the first book when Nyx sleeps with a boxer named Jaks after watching her get beaten up and knocked out in a match.

* InternalDeconstruction: According to Hurley, she started writing the trilogy because of her dissatisfaction with the way that {{Action Girl}}s in SF and UrbanFantasy were often written: as having been made that way [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne against]] their [[PhlebotinumRebel wills]], lamenting their [[IJustWantToBeNormal inability]] to achieve AcceptableFeminineGoals, and benefiting from BeautyIsNeverTarnished to keep them sexy for male audience members. She decided to create a female character who actually was a gender-swapped version of a truly badass male action hero. Then she decided that action heroes of that kind were basically assholes regardless of gender, explaining why the books become gradually less approving of Nix as a person as they go on.