Theme pt.1 Trials of Death

DO NOT READ IF YOU EVER THINK YOU MAY READ THIS BOOK!
(I explain many things that will spoil the whole reading experience if you do.)
Theme is a terrible topic to try and write about when you have a book as short as Trials of Death. I has a great plot yes, but it is a plot stretched out over many books. That and just in general trying to analyze the theme of a horror story is hard in general. I will though try as best I can.
A possible theme to Trials of Death would be something like though there may seem to be no hope left for you, do not give in. Darren throughout the whole book is faced with some challenges that would have left me a crying, emotionally crippled mess. Darren though somehow finds light at the end of an obviously endless tunnel. He is faced with death many times, just in this book, and yet, as he’s been taught he does not stop to cry. He doesn’t stop to think, or complain about how unfair his situation is.
Also there could be something like watch who you trust. Darren’s friends are his greatest assets in certain parts of this book. Kurda for instance convinces some the princes to make Darren’s trials a bit easier. Although as the book goes on you find out a terrible secret about Kurda that ruins that whole trust. Darren is very trusting I believe, and it kind of got him into a very awkward situation. You see Kurda seemed like the absolute best friend you could think of. Higher up in the social ladder, and very opinionated. Kurda essentially saved Darren’s life more than once in this book, but ended up to be the worst of them all. His betrayal was not something I would have ever seen coming, and I can’t, even now, stand to remember how nicely he treated Darren and Larten. And Gavner… I loved him.
Enough spoiling this for you guys. It’s terrible.
And seeing as though I can’t exactly tell a theme for a plot that hasn’t ended yet I’m afraid this must end here.