Exodus

Kate Stewart’s Exodus is built on an ideology of vigilantism, and in this context, The Ravenhood syndicate is cast as a modern response to systemic corporate corruption. This narrative taps into a long history of public fascination with antiheroes who operate outside the law to achieve a form of justice that the legal system cannot. Such stories gain particular traction in the wake of real-world corporate malfeasance, where perpetrators often evade significant consequences. For example, the Enron scandal of 2001, in which executives used accounting loopholes to hide billions of dollars in debt, resulted in the company’s collapse and wiped out the retirement savings of thousands of employees. Despite widespread outrage, the subsequent legal proceedings were complex and lengthy, with many feeling that the punishment did not fit the crime.

The author channels the societal frustration of such debacles by creating The Ravenhood to be a form of vigilante justice against corporate criminals who cause similar levels of damage. As the group’s leader, Tobias King (the enigmatic “Frenchman”) embodies the dark romance antihero who rationalizes his brutal methods by fighting for an ostensibly moral cause. He operates a clandestine organization that engages in theft, blackmail, and violence in order to dismantle the empire of Cecelia’s father, Roman Horner: the man Tobias holds responsible for his parents’ violent deaths in a factory fire.