For some reason, this is the first book in which I realized that Lawrence employs the "dead mom trope," made famous by Disney," heavily in this series. All of the main children have lost both or one parent, and all have lost their mothers (though Jonathan has been reunited with his). I don't have much to say about this theme other than to say it really stood out to me in this installment. I liked the plot twists in this one, even though I saw a few coming. Again, Lawrence tackles dark material, this time child enslavement, for children adeptly. I like that Lawrence takes trauma seriously and shares with the reader how the various traumas that these children have experience affect their behaviour.