King’s Cage, by Victoria Aveyard, finally became available at the library, shortly after Glass Sword did. In this book, we get to continue on our journey with Mare and Cal and their friends (and enemies). This review may contain spoilers for the first two books in the Red Queen series.
When we first meet up with Mare in this story, she has voluntarily submitted herself to imprisonment in exchange for her friends’ freedom. Although she expects to be put to death, Maven is still obsessed with her, and won’t let that happen. Instead, she is left to rot in a nice room with a few books… and is slowly suffocating due to the effects of the silencing of her powers that occurs continuously.
Maven is engaged to Evangeline, who is looking forward to becoming queen, although neither Maven nor Evangeline are crazy about each other.
On the other side of the story, where Cal and the Scarlet Guard are, we see the story through Cameron’s eyes. She’s not a huge fan of Cal and Mare, but she provides an interesting perspective to what is going on with the Scarlet Guard, which is continuing to gain followers. Cameron still is trying to save her brother, and Cal is trying to get Mare back.
In order to avoid giving away spoilers, I’ll be vague about what happens next. There are some plot twists and political intrigue, and by the end of the story, instead of wondering why Mare is acting like an idiot, I’m left wondering “Why are you so stupid, Cal?”
So far, this is my favorite story of the series. I love how we are able to see more of the characters and of the world. We are already familiar with Maven’s court from previous books, but in King’s Cage, we get to see more from countries outside of Norta. As in previous books, the characters are crafty and have political motives that can’t be trusted. In this book, the whole world seems to be at war, and people are choosing sides. I may have to read this series a second time some day to be able to understand all of the details of this story. It is outstanding.
As far as characters go, I love seeing the world through Cameron’s perspective. Cal and Mare do get together again during this book (I don’t think that should be too much of a spoiler… that’s a fairly logical thing to happen) and I love seeing their relationship develop. Again, with the caveat that I’m saying “Cal, why are you so stupid!?” at the end of the book.
If you enjoyed the Red Queen series so far, then I definitely think that you should continue to read King’s Cage. It is a great book, and although I had to put it down to go to work and sleep and things like that, I was excited to find out what was going to happen next.