Theme of a post-apocalyptic world
The overlaying theme of this novel is this one because it revolves around drastic events that completely changed the world. Most of the children at the age of ten are dying and those who are alive gain supernatural powers that the government deems too dangerous to be left uncared for. Everything has gone into the gutter and those who remain are fighting for their existence and for power. There is a post-apocalyptic description of the outside world; there are abandoned streets, abandoned homes, and destroyed supermarkets. This is another fictional representation, among many others, of what the world would look like if something happened that completely changed the course of life.
Theme of human fear leading to inhuman actions
Fear of the unknown is in the human nature and that fear usually leads them to behave inhumanly. The government is capturing these kids out of fear of the unknown under the facade of running tests to get them back to normal. They make them live in inhuman conditions and treat them less than animals. The ones who are deemed too dangerous are executed. These kids are feared and that fear leads to them being treated inhumanly- whether that is in the case of PSF's who want to control them or Children's League who want to use them for their own gains.
Theme of love
Even though not in the centre of attention a little love story is still pushed into the plot. It is between Liam and Ruby. Liam makes Ruby feel like she is not the monster she made herself be. At the end she even sacrifices herself to protect him, she lets him go, deletes all memory in him of her because she doesn't want him to go to the dark place, to be shaped into a monster by the League.
