In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?
Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a … Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.
As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.
When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.
more
It seems that generally, YA series (particularly trilogies, which, in a surprise twist, this series is not), tend to fall apart as the series progresses. The culprit is usually that authors have a hard time writing the inevitable war that the secret rebellion in book one turns into. This is absolutely not the case for King’s Cage — if anything, this was one of the most intriguing rebellion-turned-war books I’ve read in the genre. I’ve mentioned before when buzzing about this series that it borrows quite liberally from the X-Men world, and that still holds true, but there’s also lots of fun political intrigue for Game of Thrones fans in this one too (does Aveyard borrow too much? Possibly. Do I love it anyway? Absolutely.). I had so much fun experiencing the battle Aveyard built around otherworldly abilities, and even more fun getting to know the villain Aveyard creates.
I swear, you have to read this book(red Queen series). This novel was crazy. Amazingly crazy. There Will be other betrayal, more betrayal. Another king’s cage
This book in the Red Queen series will SHATTER you!
My gosh, this book was even more intense than the last! We see so much more of Maven in this book and my goodness I just want to slap him and electrocute him myself!
With Mare now with Maven under the Silence Stone, Cal will stop at nothing to get her back. We see more of Maven’s dark side and what his intentions are with using Mare and for the kingdom.
Mare is having to play pet to Maven, while waiting to see if Cal will rescue her from Maven. The Reds and Newbloods are still preparing for battle.
This book is great with the action and everything all on its own, but the Epilogue is what will really get you!
I was like: WHAT. THE. FREAK!!!!!
So many plot twists and so much more angst I devoured this book! Never wanted it to end!
Absolutely awesome! Can’t wait for the next one! I wasn’t sure they were going to be able to wrap everything up as I neared the end and I’m excited to see what direction the author takes in the new book. Not to spoil anything by Cal has some big decisions to make, and unlikely allies anybody??!! Definitely grab this one if you’re a fan, and if you haven’t read any of them yet go out and get yourself a copy of Red Queen RIGHT NOW. An incredible blending of epic fantasy, dsytopian worlds, and paranormal romance to keep you turning pages late into the night. WORTH IT!
I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the third book in this series! One thing I truly loved was the multiple POVs and getting to see how Cameron saw things throughout the story. In the audiobook version, there is a different voice actor for that narration and I think they did really well in getting people who sounded the way their characters should sound. I also appreciate each’s ability to alter their voice for different characters within that POV.
I liken this book series to a combination of The Selection and The Hunger Games, only with special abilities or “powers” mixed in. I like the royalty aspect and how there is a huge focus on how equality is not present in this world. It really helped to bring to light some of the situations that are still quite wrong in our own society. I also am glad for the diversity within the book.
While some of this volume was a bit slow, I think the ending more than made up for that. I couldn’t wait to get to book four when I finished reading.
When you have no where to go, who do you turn to?
Author
Kindle
Series:
Rating:3/5
I can’t for the life of me do this review without spoilers. So if you haven’t read this book, consider yourself warned.
°••°
I didn’t hate this book, it’s just that for me, it wasn’t as good as the others.
We spend the vast majority of the book with Mare. She’s trapped and can’t do a thing to escape.
The book is very very slow, mare is always walking somewhere or in her cell either reading our throwing a tantrum or thinking something.
There are some things that happen purely for shock value, like the assassination attempt, nany or that guy that can see the future that appears from maybe like 3 pages to save Mare’s life and disappear again.
Mare is interrogated once and then left alone, she isn’t tortured. Maven sends her clothes, books to read, etc. Yes she can’t go anywhere but it makes for a whole book of her just sitting around doing nothing.
This book has changes in POV and that’s what saved it for me.
Once Mare is rescued the book picks up a bit. There’s war and family time, training and plotting.
Cal and Mare as a pair do nothing for me and I didn’t understand the shock at the end. We’ve been told from book 1 he was born to be a king, we know he isn’t truly a part of the red guard, he hates killing silvers. So what’s the point in trying to make us believe he’s madly in love through smut. I already knew he would choose to be a king. There was no surprise there.
At least Maven has a motivation he’s crazy as hell. But Cal has none.
I loved the battle, that was amazingly choreographed and I’m liking Evangeline very very much. I enjoyed Cameron’s POV too.
But that was it. This book was way to slow. Hope the next one is better.
We continue down the path of Victoria Aveyard’s massively popular YA series, with increasingly better results. King’s Cage furthers our focus into narrower and narrower plotlines, leaving the massive action to the background and climaxes while character development takes center stage. We also stop focusing entirely on Mare; while she remains the main character and her development, the point of view divides into three, giving us more insight into other characters and the Red Queen world as a whole.
Glass Sword left us with Mare returning to the Silver castle against her will in order to save the lives of her friends. A sacrifice and now, a beautiful pawn in the game Maven is playing against the Scarlet Guard and his own people. With her powers trapped and Maven doing his best to turn the people of Norta against the Scarlet Guard, she has to figure out a plan to escape and save not only herself, but the cause she’s given everything to already. Meanwhile, two extra points of view are added, giving us a look into Cameron and Evangeline. Cameron provides us with a view into the Scarlet Guard’s activities, letting us keep track of other characters: Farley, Kilorn, and Cal, seeing how they adapt to the war and Mare’s disappearance. On the other side of things, we finally get some insight into the Silver regime with Evangeline, who is once again engaged and set to be queen. For once we have a viewpoint of all three sides of the equation: Mare’s ongoing involvement with the Scarlet Guard, Cameron’s self-serving attitude without devoting herself to a cause, and Evangeline’s role in the Silver courts while she navigates a politically unstable regency.
Most of Mare’s time in the book is spent in Maven’s clutches. In some ways it’s a deliberate callback to the first book: back in the Silver castles, forced to play a role she doesn’t want, and hiding part of her identity. But before, she was in a treasured position, set to be engaged to the younger prince, passed off as a lost Silver royal and mostly treated with care and caution. This time around, she’s a prisoner in the eyes of not only the Silver royals but the general public, her powers kept inactive, her mind rifled through for Red secrets. It’s only Maven’s ongoing feelings for her that save her from an even worse fate and keep her with some paltry comforts, but whatever tiny comforts she has have no effect on the psychological and even physical torture Maven puts her through. This focus on Mare and her captivity, these ongoing insights into her mental state and devolution into a wilder version of herself, was brilliant. These novels have been slowly expanding in scope, bringing in other countries and cultures instead of simply focusing on the Red/Silver war in the main country of Norta. By keeping the scope tightly on Mare, it provides a great balance between the increasing international tensions and a personal journey.
King’s Cage also fixed something that frustrated me about the earlier novels: the lack of female characters and agency. Mare is our main character, but the only other woman of any import and agency in the book was Farley, a commanding member of the Scarlet Guard. Plenty of the women we were introduced to, such as Evangeline and Elara, fell into caricatures of evil, and others like Coriane fell into stereotypes of perfect, flawless goodness. It felt for a while that Mare was falling into the “not like the other girls” tropes, with only her being allowed inner thoughts, agency, and personal journeys. But here, we get POVs from Cameron, one of the newbloods who seeks only to look out for herself and her family, and Evangeline, a former cold Silver princess who can control metal. Cameron’s storyline felt a little unnecessary in the grand scheme of things (these books keep getting longer when they don’t really need to be), but her POV was appreciated for a different worldview. Evangeline, though, I loved. She served as an antagonist for the first two books, representing everything Mare hated about Silvers: their cold personalities, their unwillingness to change, and their continuous oppression of Reds. I had hoped we would get a little more about her, given her large role, but wasn’t holding out hope. Evangeline remains a pretty terrible person, but seeing the inside of her head is fascinating, and the difference between her narration and Mare’s is striking. Aveyard really nails their characterization.
The romance still isn’t doing it for me. I don’t have a lot to say about that; Cal doesn’t seem to ever grow as a character, and the character he is now is bland and uninspiring. The lengths Mare goes to excuse his actions and is head over heels for someone who has barely shreds of a personality is so puzzling to me. I don’t necessarily see Mare with anyone else romantically, but her relationship with the other two boys are far more interesting. Kilorn remains her best friend with his own troubles, while Maven’s fragmented personality and obsession with Mare is insanely unhealthy but hey, at least he’s more interesting than Cal.
King’s Cage represents the best I’ve seen of Aveyard so far as she grows in her writing and plotting, giving us fully-fledged characters and more complicated worldbuilding. Some parts of this series I think just aren’t for me, the romance being the main thing, but I find myself more and more interested in Mare and her development, which continues down a path of trauma and revolution. I almost can’t imagine the way the series will end, and look forward to being surprised.
review blog
Not as great as 1 and 2 but the ending was pretty cool. At around 60% i had to force myself to finish and keep going lol but I’m glad I did. It got a lot better. I’m curious to see how this all will end.
Continuing the saga of Reds vs Silvers in a fantasy that partly harkens to history while seemingly futuristic as well. Who will win the kingdom? Will Mare and Cal have a future together? To be continued….
King’s Cage is book 3 in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard.
Mare have surrender herself to Maven in order to protect the others. She’s now his prisonner and is powerless, at the mercy of a boy she had loved and who betray her.
Maven continue to remain in control of the country and even after the death of his mother who’s power corrupt him, still keep on lying.
The newbloods and the other reds cannot longer lives in the shadows and prepared to go to war againts Maven. Cal, the exile prince, will stop at nothing to go get Mare back and claim her heart.
I really like this book and looking foward to read the last book in the serie. Even tought I really like Maven in the first book, I’m more on team Cal now.
Not as good as the first book or second.
3.5/5 Stars
This review DOES contain SPOILERS.
SERIES REVIEW (Books 1 through 4.)
I have read books one through three of this series twice now, and I am still just as much on the fence now as I was the first time that I read them. I did enjoy them more the second time around, but I truly think that it is only because I knew what to expect. When this series first came out I tried to stay away from all of the hype. Difficult, I know, when you are a part of the YA book community. Most people either loved it or hated it, but I felt myself smack in the middle, both loving parts of it and hating the other parts. I can honestly say that I have never been so emotionally frustrated by a book series because of this. Part of me wants to love it wholeheartedly, but other parts just can’t. I am hopelessly, ridiculously thwarted from either loving or hating this book series.
The one thing that is lacking in most Young Adult books is the presence of family, but not in this series. While I thought that the main character’s family could have been more involved in the story, I was still happy that they were there throughout the series.
I truly loved the premise of the story. I know that there are many books that have similar premises, but I adored it nonetheless. I loved the subtle dystopian aspect of the story.
The relationships of the characters were well written for the most part. I loved the friction and snappy dialogue between Mare and Evangeline. I loved the friendships that Mare forged along the way. Friendship is sometimes overlooked in Young Adult books and they sometimes only focus on romance, but this series surprised me there.
I loved the character growth of several of the characters. Their internal struggles and how they dealt with them as the story progressed. At the same time, I also felt that there were some characters that could have been more developed.
The plot was well done and the world well developed. There is a lot of political intrigue in these books. It makes me think of a line from the book that comes up many times, “Anyone can betray anyone.” I am always a sucker for a “rich vs poor” trope, and this one was very believable.
One of the things that really brings the series down a notch for me is the romance. It was very bland. It certainly didn’t leave me breathless or on the edge of my seat. While I became invested in the characters while reading, the story just feels incomplete because of the undeveloped romance. And it makes me angry because there was so much potential to have a romance that burns or even for some quite convincing and warranted love triangles.
Another thing that bothered me more than a little was that I didn’t feel connected to the main characters at all. It is hard for me to love a story if I can’t feel what the main character feels. I was disconnected from both Mare and Cal throughout the books. I knew their intentions (mostly) but I did not feel them. Both characters were very one dimensional. They lacked depth. And Mare specifically lacked likability. I don’t even know how many times I wanted to smack her upside her head. She was very self-centered throughout much of the story. Most of all she just felt like words on a page, not someone that I was living through the story with. The disconnect with Mare is one of my most hated things about this series.
I did not care much for the ending of the series. Not one bit. It was vague, but not in a good way. I read the last words and thought, “Oh, okay. That’s the end then.” I didn’t cry or express any sort of emotion whatsoever. And to me, that really speaks volumes.
There were several things that I would have loved to see in this series. I would have loved to see Maven recovered from his mother’s torture and influence. Though I thought that Maven was one of the best characters in the story, I thought that his development could have been much deeper. He was a good character, but he could have been great. I would have liked to see things from Cal’s point of view. I wanted to know what he was feeling and how he was dealing with all the traumas that he experienced in the story. We see things from Mare’s eyes, and it really leaves things lacking. I think that it why I didn’t feel much connection to Cal’s character. Most of all I think that I just wanted Mare to be different. Or at least written in a way that made me feel something for her. I wanted to so many times, but it just didn’t happen.
I suppose that this review wouldn’t really help anyone interested in reading this series. I am quite in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to my feelings on it. But really, I am not in the middle at all and that is what is frustrating. One part of me in on the low spectrum and the other is on the high spectrum which just leaves me somewhere in the middle. -sigh- If I could impose anything on anyone that may be reading this it would be that I definitely think this series is worth reading. For bad or for worse.
Sooo intense!!! Awesome series!!!
Quotes:
“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.”
“Those who know what it’s like in the dark will do anything to stay in the light.”
“Now I’m in a king’s cage. But so is he. My chains are Silent Stone. His is the crown.”
“As you enter, you pray to leave. As you leave, you pray to never return.”
Review:
If you know me, you know I love the Red Queen series. However, I didn’t enjoy this one that much. The first half was immensely boring. I wasn’t enjoying it whatsoever but when I reached the second half I realized why we had that first portion. There would’ve been so many what if scenarios had that situation not happened. So while I wasn’t a huge fan, I got its purpose. There was a meaning behind it.
It’s really hard to mention names or what’s going on without spoiling things. I’ll just say the first half had very little action. I felt we were constantly in this one person’s thoughts and literally nothing was going on. It just drug on for what seemed like half the book. The second half made up for the first part by far.
Overall, I just didn’t vibe with this book. I felt there was too much time spent in someone’s thoughts. There was also too much time describing the surroundings and giving background information to things I felt weren’t necessary. I really wanted to love this book but sadly it fell flat for me. I also struggled with a certain character and their actions. I won’t go into details but it was very frustrating. I will say I loved the quotes in this book. So many great lines were sprinkled throughout the book, especially towards the end. I have higher hopes for the final book, War Storm.
King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard is the third book in the Red Queen Series. Victoria Aveyard does not disappoint. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
So this was book 3 of this series. Goodness. I enjoy this series and I really hope Warstorm is just as good as the others. I love Mare and Cal. Maven can go die. I’m curious to see what the brat has up his sleeve.
Third book in the series kind of dragged for the first 100pages or so but built towards the end
There are points in this book that I read every word and couldn’t put it down, then there were points where I got bored and started skimming thinking blah, blah, blah, get on with it. The next part is a spoiler.
At the end why doesn’t Mare want Cal to be king? I get that she thinks there shouldn’t be a king and everyone should be equal, but doesn’t she see that someone will take the throne. Who better than her and Cal?
I am a huge fan of this series and give the whole set 5 stars!
I am really enjoying this series. Even though I found the book really good, I’m going to start out by virtually high-fiving the author for the end of the acknowledgments section. I truly enjoyed reading that.
Back to the story. It almost feels like she wrote it backward from the traditional story arc set up. The ending I somewhat saw coming, but it still made it a tough pill to swallow (in a good way, reader-wise). There were a lot of lines to love in this book. And it really does mirror society and holds a warning. I thought, at the end of Red Queen, that this might be more sci-fi than fantasy, that it might be a book with a future setting. The map at the start of this book, and a reference or two in the story, confirms that. So it is Speculative Fiction, a fantasy set in our possible future, dotted with horror, a splash of romance, and bits of science-fiction all rolled together. Like tossing the Lord of the Rings books and the X-Men graphic novels, and maybe one Star Trek book and a few pages of the CliffsNotes on Diary of Anne Frank, all in a blender together. That’s what it feels like to me. And I love it!
There are different heads to be in during different chapters. I’m generally not fond of that approach, but it was well-done and reasonable here. Afterall, the first half of the book has the main character separated from the supporting cast. Evangeline’s POV was especially interesting, as her thoughts are so different from the character she portrays herself as.
I love the diversity in the book. I imagine Mare as a teenage Michelle Rodriguez (actor). Universal has been talking about making this series into movies for years. (I wonder what the hold up could be, given that this is perfectly suited to slide in with the Marvel and DC films dominating the box office.)