A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Shwab had two themes that caught my attention: death and freedom. Usually, the two come into play together. For example, the antagonist, Holland, gives up part of his freedom to an ancient being to stay alive. Throughout the book, characters make decisions that either take advantage of one's freedom or give part of it up to protect against death.

For example, Lila, the female protagonist, uses her freedom to behave exactly as she wants, usually recklessly. She takes away someone else’s freedom by kidnapping them and putting them on a prison ship so she can take their place in a tournament. In the tournament, she flaunts her freedom not only to other characters but also in the way she uses magic. It isn’t until the very end that she pays for her recklessness with magic. As an aside, recklessness is another way Shwab will either reward characters or punish them.

On the flipside, we have Kell who is now permanently bound to the life of the prince after he saved the prince’s life. When one feels pain, they both do. When one dies, the other does. Beyond this loss of freedom, Kell also loses freedom around what the king will allow him to do. The king is duty bound to protect his heir. It follows that the easiest way to do this is to limit Kell’s freedom such that he may never come to harm.

With these two themes, death and freedom, it is hard to not see how they intertwine both in the book and in real life. In the book, my main takeaway has been that the prevention of death comes at the cost of freedom.

. . .

For my next book, I am reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.