Do Will of the Many and Empire of Silence have the same theme?

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I am 60% in Empire of Silence and I read The Will of the Many last month. It occurs to me they are basically 2 takes on the same theme … How to maintain your individuality against the overwhelming force of an empire.

I can only think of one other SFFBC month where this happened withRed Rising and Elantris, both 2 takes on what makes a good leader.

Not sure where the discussion goes next, but I also was unsure where else to share this thought.