King's Cage By Victoria Aveyard
Reviewed by our expert YA (Young Adult) book reviewer Natalie Kelly-Haigh. Read on and you will know why she is fast becoming an expert! Thanks Natalie!
"The Red Queen book series is the one that makes you question why you read any others. The recently published third book surrounding Mare Barrow’s life is called King’s Cage. After having finished the second book, Glass Sword, I got the impression that it was the end. And what a disappointing end that would have been. But it’s not. Mare Barrow is alive. However the lightning girl is not.
In King’s Cage, Mare is not thriving. She’s captured by her one, true enemy. The boy who has an obsession with her. The shadow of her loved one. The twisted monster Queen Elara forged from a young, innocent boy. The King of Norta. Maven Calore. Mare is no longer the lightning girl. She is a prisoner, a newblood unable to use her power with silence weighed on her nonstop. She grieves for her brother Shade, prays for her family, and dreams of the red flag belonging to Scarlet Guard. Mostly though, she longs for the flame of Cal, and the fierce eyes that once looked into hers. Cal can’t live without her. After having made his new alliances, he fights with the Scarlet Guard, as a weapon to them, and as a traitor to his people. The only thing valuable thing he owns is Mare’s heart. And nothing’s going to stop him from trying to get her back.
Without Queen Elara around, Mare feels she has gained one mercy. She can’t play mind games with Mare, or slither into her deepest thoughts. Now, Mare can play a few mind games of her own, tiptoeing into the hidden truths. Throughout her imprisonment, she finds depth to characters such as Evangeline, and sickening facts about Maven. She finds a world once again full of convincing masks and twisted lies. But hope is not gone. There is still a resistance. A dawn bigger than anyone could’ve ever imagined.
Life is no better than Mare’s first experience in a castle though. She has gone from being fake silver royalty, to Maven’s forged resemblance of a terrorist, and now to his pet, disguised as a prisoner. How is the public meant to take all of these transitions? Do all their alliances lie with Maven? Or is there a new rebellion, siding with the Scarlet Guard? And if so, is it for the same reasons? To rise as red as the dawn? Or something much, much deeper…
Mare is determined to find an escape. A crack she can squeeze out of. A mistake in a plan that she can hide behind. A way to wake up from this poisoned nightmare. Our story does not end with her escape though. There are more battle cries to shout, more dawns to rise. More love to share between her and Cal. More people to meet, including Shade’s child he shall never see. More secrets to uncover, more stories to reveal. This story shall rise. Rise as Red as the Dawn."