Skyshade

Isla, Grim, and Oro form a love triangle—a popular convention in romance and romantasy fiction because it highlights the tension between love and duty. In these novels, love is a powerful, unruly emotion—one that breaks down boundaries and challenges social expectations. Isla loves both Grim and Oro, placing her desires at odds with the duty of loyalty that she believes she owes to each lover. Because Isla, Grim, and Oro are all rulers, the concept of duty extends beyond their duties to each other and encompasses duty toward their people as well.

From a young age, Isla and her lovers are taught to put their realms’ greater good above their own desires: “Rulers were born simply to serve their people. Her life was not her own” (271). The sacrifices Isla makes out of a sense of duty, such as using skyres, prove how deeply this lesson is ingrained: “It came at a cost. She heard the warnings in her mind, but they didn’t matter … not when so many other lives were on the line” (226). Although duty strongly influences the characters, the story offers examples of individuals who choose love over loyalty to their realms. For example, Isla’s father was a general who left Nightshade and abandoned his ruler to marry a Wildling: “Isla knew what it was like to choose her heart over duty.