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"Not a god’s chosen, but a god’s cursed."

Rating- 3.75 stars

Content/ Trigger Warnings-Violence, blood, death, confinement, torture, language

King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard is book 3 in the Red Queen series.

*Spoiler alert for Red Queen and Glass Sword*

No one is more surprised with this rating than me.



To give you a bit of a background, I didn't like Red Queen so much, but I read on as I heard the series gets better. I then read Glass Sword, which I hated and wrote a huge rant on.

And then I read book 3, King's Cage which I expected to hate, but I actually liked.

*le shock*





Now don't get me wrong, the plot and world- building here is just as non-existent as Glass Sword and the writing comprises of constant repetitions of words like sneer, smirk, flinch, wince and some others, BUT I still enjoyed this book.

Why?

As it had the only things two I love about this series;
1. Maven
2. Farley

And so I liked it.




Let's break this down, because despite my high rating this is still a rant.

The plot

This book is told from 3 perspectives; Mare, Cameron and Evangeline.

The plot consists of a few random things: Mare being Mare, Cameron trying to free her brother, and Evangeline being the best thing this book has to offer.

Honestly, there’s not much that happens in this plot. Mare is imprisoned in the castle, Cameron is the one giving us the background of the scarlet guard, and Evangeline is the one who is giving us information on the nobles.




The book does pick up around halfway, and we see some court politics which builds intrigue, but otherwise the plot was just ok ok.




The ending was good though.

The world building


There’s no world building in this series.




We get a bit insight into the different places of this world, but it’s not properly explained and I have no idea of all the places here, how far they are from each other etc. It’s not properly developed.




The writing

I don’t really have much to say on the writing. I felt some scenes were well written, but most of it was just dull. I can’t really explain this, but even the action scenes didn’t keep me at the edge of my seat.

It’s like someone suddenly attacks, then the character ‘sees stars�� and their ‘vision spots�� and they try to compose themselves and move and the same thing happens with another character, only for it to repeat again and again. I found it boring.




The characters

Mare

“Now I'm in a king's cage. But so is he. My chains are Silent Stone. His is the crown.��

Mare Barrow, our protagonist. Her POV for this book comprises of this:

1. Mare is being kept in a luxury hotel like prison; with a private bathroom, a huge library, along with 3 meals a day, BUT she is still moping about how bad her life is there.

"But like a dog starved, I’ll take whatever scraps I’m given. Whatever passes for kindness in this lonely cage."

I mean what do you want Mare? You have a whole library to yourself.




But ok, fine. The silent stone thing might have been difficult to deal with, but EVERY OTHER THING about this prison sounds amazing Mare. You need to think over your life decisions.

How does a personal library not sound good?

“I would prefer death to this cage, to the twisted obsession of a mad boy king.��

Well whatever.




2. As Mare lives in said prison, she talks about the *struggles* of living there all alone for, um... 3/4th of the book.

“The crushing weight of silence hangs heavy as always. For a moment it's too difficult to breathe, and I wonder if this is how I die. Drowned in this bed of silk, burned by a king's obsession, smothered by open air.��

I get it. Silent stone is hard to deal with. Understood. Move on, please?




3. Mare having some conversations with Maven, which was the only good part of her POV.

"Through it all, I stare at the boy on the throne. He maintains his mask. Jaw clenched, lips pressed into a thin, unforgiving line. Still fingers, straight back. But his gaze wavers. Something in his eyes has gone far away. And at his collar, the slightest gray flush rises, painting his neck and the tips of his ears.

He's terrified.

For a second, it makes me happy. Then I remember―monsters are most dangerous when they're afraid."

Now that was about Mare. Let's talk about Cameron.

Cameron’s POV comprises of the following:

1. Cameron hates Mare and Cal

“The fallen prince is exhausting. I don't know how Mare could stand him or his inability to choose a damned side-especially when there's only one side he can possibly pick.��

2. Cameron keeps talking about hating said Mare and Cal

“Cameron, my heart is quite literally in this," he hisses through gritted teeth.
Swooning words. A romantic declaration. I can barely stop my eyes from rolling.
"Save it for when we get her back," I grumble.

These were the only moments I liked Cameron, as we both bonded over our mutual hatred for Mare and Cal.




Apart from that, she also does this;


3. The whole book she talks about getting her brother out, and while her feelings are understandable it made the book painfully boring.

“As much as I want Mare back, I want someone else more.��

Farley and the rest keep telling her why it's a bad idea, and why this is an unrealistic demand.

“Cameron, your brother is embedded in a legion. It’s not like pulling out a tooth.��

But of course she doesn’t listen.

“I’m not asking for your help or the Guard’s. I just need a map and maybe a gun. I’ll do the bleeding rest myself.��

Can you stop it too, please?



The audiobook narration didn’t help, as I personally hated the narration for Cameron.

And now we have Evangeline

“If there was ever a person begging for an elbow to the face, it is Evangeline Samos.��

She was probably the only good part of this book. I liked her. Unfortunately for me, I hated her audiobook narration so her part got ruined.

“We are silver houses of noble and ancient blood, allied with rebels, criminals, servants and thieves. Abilities or not, our ways of life stand in direct opposition. Our goals are not the same. The council chamber is a powder keg. If I'm lucky it will explode. Blow apart any threat of marriage. Destroy the cage they want to put me back in.��

Cal

Cal is the most boring part of this book.

Period.

I just don’t like him, and I don’t get what everyone sees in him?

He is a boring piece of cardboard.


ME TO CAL AND CARDBOARD:



I don’t want to talk about Cal.

Farley

She is amazing. We Stan her.

She somehow manages to hold an entire army, WHILE she’s pregnant and no one gives her enough credit.



She’s better than all the characters in this book. I wanted her POV. Not Cameron.

Cameron can go die in a hole.

And now let’s talk about Maven , who is my favourite character of this series.

“Maven Calore is not his own self. He told me as much. He is a construct, a creation of his mother's additions and subtractions. A mechanical, a machine, soulless and lost. What a horror, to know that someone like this holds our fates in the palm of his quivering hand.��

Maven is a well developed morally grey character.

“And his eyes are worst of all. Her eyes, Elara's eyes. Once I thought them cold, made of living ice. Now I know better. The hottest fires burn blue, and his eyes are no exception.��

In this book, we get to hear his backstory and it was beautiful.

“I love your brother, Maven. You were right. You are only a shadow, and who looks at shadows when they have flame? Who would ever choose a monster over a god?��

“You're like Thomas was. You are the only person I care about, the only person who reminds me I am alive. Not empty. And not alone.��

My heart hurt for him and his story and he was one of the only 2 reasons I liked this book so much.

I would say this is where he finally got his time to shine.

“I have no illusions where Maven is concerned. I know his twisted heart, and that it feels something for me. Something he wants to get rid of, but can never part with.��

The romance

I don’t care about Mare or Cal, they can be together.

Maven deserves better than Mare.



Audiobook Comments

I didn’t like the audiobook narration at all. The only one that was good was Mare’s.

Cameron’s narration felt too old for her age, and Evangeline was fine but I imagined her voice to be different and hence I didn’t like it.

All of the side-characters voices change according to the person narrating and that felt very inconsistent.

I personally wouldn’t recommend the audiobook.


Why did I rate it 3.75 stars?

This book wasn’t great. It has a lot of issues. But I liked it because of Maven and Farley. If it wasn’t for them, then this would have got a much lower rating.

Final thoughts

If you loved Red Queen and Glass Sword, then you will love this book. But if you didn't like those, then you will mostly be disappointed.

“To stand in front of a person who is your whole world and be told you are not enough. You are not the choice. You are a shadow to the person who is your sun.��

Review written in 2021.

My reviews and ratings for other books in this series-
Red Queen- 3 stars
Glass Sword- 2 stars

DISCLAIMER- All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.

How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite

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Writing this review now. Will be up in a while.

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3.75 stars (maybe)

Ok, I’ll be honest I actually, very surprisingly enjoyed this book. Now, nothing really happens in this book. Really. The plot is just as non-existent, the world building is very less and the little that’s there is info-dumped and I didn’t like the audiobook narration.

BUT I still liked this book! I liked it enough to finish it in 2 days time (which isn’t rare for me, but I still do it only when I’m very invested)

Also, I pity every person who had to wait for book 4 after that ending. Lucky for me, I’m on it now. :)

Detailed review to come soon.