What giving birth is like for Birthmothers, especially first time ones. They are told next to NOTHING about the process beforehand- with what they are told being carefully phrased to make it sound a lot simpler than it actually is (for instance, nothing is said about pain. Instead they are told that they will merely experience some "discomfort"). Then, when it comes time for delivery, they are blindfolded (so that they can't see their "Product" aka baby) and their hands are strapped to the bed to prevent them from moving. As if all that weren't bad enough already, they are apparently expected to go through the entire process without pain relief (or support from the medical team, who are focused solely on the "Product") of any sort. Oh, and did we mention that Birthmothers begin "Producing" when they are all of fourteen or so? Yikes!
Claire has complications during her first birth and disappears. What are the other girls told? They probably aren't and suddenly Claire is just gone.
Claire's climb out of the seaside village is given an excruciating amount of detail, showing just how dangerous it is. Even with years of training, she's lucky to pull it off, and she has a very close call or two.
Trademaster is given much more page-time in this book than he was in Messenger, showing just how creepy he really is. While in the previous book, his vagueness could be seen as scary, the expansion here makes him even worse. He chops off half of Einar's foot simply for being too proud to trade and then throws him off the cliff, and it only gets worse from there. He openly taunts Claire's desire to find Gabe, and then gloats to Gabe later about how much suffering and misery he's caused.
