ŷ������

�� Fast-paced
�� Addictive
�� Dark and angsty
�� Plot
�� Characters
�� Dark King Midas retelling
✅�� Politics and scheming
✅�� World-building
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: misogynistic society, slavery, human trade, sexual assault, captivity, emotional manipulation, and psychological abuse.

Does it really matter if your cage is solid gold when you aren't allowed to leave it? A cage is a cage, no matter how gilded.

This is definitely a "love it" or "hate it" kind of book with very mixed reviews, which made me wary. I was told that the first book of the series was not that good, but that I had to continue reading because books 2 and 3 are awesome... Well, I adored this book. It's dark and angsty, but quite addictive. I just couldn't stop reading it. Objectively, I know it's not a masterpiece, but it sucked me in from the first chapter.

You can have all the gold in the world and yet lack everything of real worth.

Auren is King Midas�� golden treasure. She’s been living in his castle, in her gilded cage, for the past 10 years. The king turned her entirely to gold, making her his prized and favorite possession, and built her a series of cages in the palace to protect her from the outside world. Happy with this arrangement at first, Auren has spent the last 10 years in her cages, convincing herself that Midas loves her even though he doesn’t always show it and that all he wants is to keep her safe because they belong together.

When I chose to hide away, I was barely more than a girl. Vulnerable. Battered. Scattered. Utterly sick of what the world had to offer.
So I hid in a cage, and I was content to do so. After the things I endured, I wanted it. I accepted the bars, embraced them, even - not to keep me in, but to keep others out.

Auren and Midas have a past together before Midas became king, which is slowly revealed as the story progresses. We can see through flashbacks how Midas rescued Auren from a life of slavery and poverty. It is obvious to us that while Midas might have harbored sweet feelings for Auren once upon a time, he now keeps her more because of her worth, what she represents, and because he’s obsessed with her, but surely not because he is in love with her.

I’m not an obsession. He loves me. She just doesn’t want to admit it.

Auren does not see it that way, and we can see from the very beginning that she suffers from something akin to Stockholm syndrome. I am not a psychiatrist or an expert, but it’s very similar, while also being different I guess because she loved Midas before he imprisoned her in her gilded cage. I’ve read many reviews saying that this book romanticized the idea of the Stockholm syndrome and that it was very toxic. While I agree that Midas and Auren’s relationship is toxic for Auren and that she is not in a good place mentally because she loves Midas and refuses to see that he is using her and does not truly care about her, I don’t think that the manipulation and abuse she’s victim of have been romanticized. I rather think that their dynamic shows how subtle emotional abuse can be, how hard it is to open your eyes to an abusive and toxic relationship, and how even harder it is to try to stop this relationship.

You can pretend a lot of things in life. You can pretend so well that you even start to believe your own deceit. We’re all actors; we’re all on pedestals with a spotlight shining on us, playing whatever part we need to in order to make it through the day—in order to help ourselves sleep at night.

Knowing the past Auren and Midas share makes their relationship even more complex because Auren first knew Midas as a kind and handsome savior who slowly changed into her captor who made her dependent and who abused of his power over her. Still, we can see how her trust in him slowly cracks and how her blinded love and devotion start to erode as she realizes how badly Midas can treat her when it suits him. A part of her is telling herself that it’s not right, and she knows that she’s in a dark place mentally, but the other, more important part of her tells herself to focus on the positive and that she should be grateful for all the luxury she is provided with and all that Midas has done for her. I really think that the big difference between their relationship and a usual “romanticized Stockholm syndrome�� is that their relationship started with caring, love, and trust, instead of just being Auren getting kidnapped and falling in love with her mean captor (but again, I am no psychiatrist).

It’s the arrogance of men, to think so little of women. And it’ll be their downfall too.

Auren is a great main character so far. She starts off as vulnerable and a pushover even, but we can see how she’s slowly starting to get braver and bolder. She is starting to see how Midas cares more about his power than her well-being, but she still has a lot of work to do with all her mixed feelings. Her attachment to Midas is understandable considering their past and the fact that she is in a dependent relationship, but I do think that being out in the real world will help Auren see how she should be treated by someone who cares about her (I just think that it will take a while to get there because she’s not out of trouble yet). Auren desperately wants friends and basic social interactions, and we can see her slowly coming out of her shell, and I can’t wait for her to realize how badly Midas is treating her.

The world-building is not the most developed, but there is potential for extending it in the next books. So far, we know that the realm of Oria is divided into 6 kingdoms, each one ruled by a different king. The rulers of a kingdom must have magic, and that magic comes from faes that mingled with humans long ago before the ruler of the fae decided to cut ties with the humans and destroyed the magical bridge that linked both realms. While the world-building is basic, the pace is fast, and this book is a real page-turner. Even though nothing extraordinary happened for the first half of the book, I just couldn’t stop reading.

Overall, this book is addictive and pulled me into its dark world instantly. It also has potential for great character growth and more world-building as we will (hopefully) get to discover more about the other kingdoms. It’s a fast-paced, quick read that is intriguing and addictive enough to make me want to read the second book right away!


Fanart by Nessiarts


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