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ansl's review against another edition
3.0
Best oké, leest snel weg. Alleen vind ik het raar dat de Nederlandse versie op de kaft spreekt over 'de Kindred', terwijl ze in het boek zelf spreken over 'de Verwanten'. Is niet erg logisch :p.
whatsthalireading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
nicolemhewitt's review against another edition
4.0
3.5/5 Stars
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Cage is an extremely unique story. Cora and four other teenagers find themselves in a strange copy of the earth – where four completely different climates and landscapes converge. They can’t figure out what’s happening to them at first, but it doesn’t take long for them to discover that they aren’t even on Earth anymore – they’ve been taken captive by aliens called Kindred who view humans as lower life forms. They’re given a few simple but somewhat mysterious and/or unfortunate rules – keep themselves healthy, complete the random puzzles that are found around their enclosure, and procreate.
Cora isn’t happy to be a lab rat, and she’s intent on finding a way out, but complications ensue when she starts to feel something for Cassian – one of the kindred. And when they realize what’s outside of their cage walls, no one’s particularly sure they want to escape.
What Fed My Addiction:
The mysteries.
There were quite a few mysteries that kept me guessing throughout this book. Who were the Kindred and why had they taken these particular humans captive (it didn’t seem to be random). What was the deal with the weird puzzles they had to complete. Why did the Kindred seem to want to cause friction within the group (especially where Cora was concerned)? What was beyond the Cage and was Cassian really on Cora’s side? It took up until almost the very end to discover some of these answers, and a few of the twists were surprising!
Crazy cage world.
The Cage itself was pretty fascinating, even if the science behind what it was and how it worked sometimes broke my brain to think about.
Relationships.
The relationships between all of these characters were intriguing and complex. And those relationships had a huge impact on how each character responded to being caged. I found all of the interactions between the characters really interesting!
Cassian.
I loved that Shepherd didn’t try to make Cassian too human. He didn’t think like a person, and he often didn’t understand their actions or motivations. His differences from humans were what made him truly interesting!
What Left Me Wanting More:
Characters’ actions weren’t always believable.
The one thing that bugged me about this book was how Cora thought she could plan an escape or do ANYTHING in secret once she knew that the Kindred can read minds (which they learned pretty early on in the book, so it’s not much of a spoiler). She was working on blocking them out, but no one else was, and it wasn’t like she was trying to keep her actions secret from the others. The fact that the Kindred could read minds just made everything else that happened seem nearly impossible – until the end when things made more sense (I won’t tell you how). But I just didn’t understand what Cora thought she was accomplishing or why she thought she was getting away with any of it. There were some other instances where the characters’ actions didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I feel like they’re too specific to mention without spoiling things, so I won’t.
Overall, I enjoyed this one, even if it did have some moments that had me scratching my head a bit. I was happy to be able to jump right into the second installment! I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Cage is an extremely unique story. Cora and four other teenagers find themselves in a strange copy of the earth – where four completely different climates and landscapes converge. They can’t figure out what’s happening to them at first, but it doesn’t take long for them to discover that they aren’t even on Earth anymore – they’ve been taken captive by aliens called Kindred who view humans as lower life forms. They’re given a few simple but somewhat mysterious and/or unfortunate rules – keep themselves healthy, complete the random puzzles that are found around their enclosure, and procreate.
Cora isn’t happy to be a lab rat, and she’s intent on finding a way out, but complications ensue when she starts to feel something for Cassian – one of the kindred. And when they realize what’s outside of their cage walls, no one’s particularly sure they want to escape.
What Fed My Addiction:
The mysteries.
There were quite a few mysteries that kept me guessing throughout this book. Who were the Kindred and why had they taken these particular humans captive (it didn’t seem to be random). What was the deal with the weird puzzles they had to complete. Why did the Kindred seem to want to cause friction within the group (especially where Cora was concerned)? What was beyond the Cage and was Cassian really on Cora’s side? It took up until almost the very end to discover some of these answers, and a few of the twists were surprising!
Crazy cage world.
The Cage itself was pretty fascinating, even if the science behind what it was and how it worked sometimes broke my brain to think about.
Relationships.
The relationships between all of these characters were intriguing and complex. And those relationships had a huge impact on how each character responded to being caged. I found all of the interactions between the characters really interesting!
Cassian.
I loved that Shepherd didn’t try to make Cassian too human. He didn’t think like a person, and he often didn’t understand their actions or motivations. His differences from humans were what made him truly interesting!
What Left Me Wanting More:
Characters’ actions weren’t always believable.
The one thing that bugged me about this book was how Cora thought she could plan an escape or do ANYTHING in secret once she knew that the Kindred can read minds (which they learned pretty early on in the book, so it’s not much of a spoiler). She was working on blocking them out, but no one else was, and it wasn’t like she was trying to keep her actions secret from the others. The fact that the Kindred could read minds just made everything else that happened seem nearly impossible – until the end when things made more sense (I won’t tell you how). But I just didn’t understand what Cora thought she was accomplishing or why she thought she was getting away with any of it. There were some other instances where the characters’ actions didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I feel like they’re too specific to mention without spoiling things, so I won’t.
Overall, I enjoyed this one, even if it did have some moments that had me scratching my head a bit. I was happy to be able to jump right into the second installment! I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
tropic_anaaa's review against another edition
3.0
This book was full of oh-shit moments that I loved. Plenty of twists and turns made this a super interesting read
kraley's review against another edition
2.0
I did finish this book because I was hoping for the big reveal. I was sorely disappointed. This book had promise and the author did do a bit of world building, however, none of the characters were really likable. I didn't ship for either of the love interests (one was creepy in fact) and I found the constant repetitions annoying. There is a rat, I want to escape, blah blah. Unfortunately, I don't care enough to read another book by this author to find out what happens. The rising action was predictable and fell flat.
rowananne's review against another edition
3.0
Wow, this book is so fast paces that I read it in two days. Although the beginning was very weird and vague, the story soon started to get really interesting and mysterious. Also I didn't see that plottwist coming, holy moly! Four stars. :)
aaricia96's review
2.0
“A smile can hide so much. A smile can be a lie.”
This book disappointed me in the beginning. I thought there was so much more in the plot than described in the book. Because, really, a kind of zoo full of humans, with aliens watching your every move? That screams for awesomeness. But still, on 75% of the book, the feeling I was left with was meh. Just meh. I liked the last quarter of the story, so that's the reason I give it 2 stars. I will read the next books, but I just thought there was going to be more to the story, what left me disappointed.
This book disappointed me in the beginning. I thought there was so much more in the plot than described in the book. Because, really, a kind of zoo full of humans, with aliens watching your every move? That screams for awesomeness. But still, on 75% of the book, the feeling I was left with was meh. Just meh. I liked the last quarter of the story, so that's the reason I give it 2 stars. I will read the next books, but I just thought there was going to be more to the story, what left me disappointed.
m_brooks's review
3.0
Cora, Lucky, Leon, Rok and Rolf are not where they are suppose to be. None of them understand where they are or who brought them here, and why so many different environments can be so close to each other.
When they enter the empty town littered with places replicated from different cultures and strange black windows, they soon find out how far away from home they really are and otherworldly captors are keeping them locked up-cage like for examination and observation.
While the other attempt to settle in and follow the three rules to stay alive:
They all must follow three rules
1. Figure out the puzzles in each habitat for tokens
2. Take care of themselves and stay healthy
3. Procreate
Cora doesn't believe that this is the end for them and attempts to make a run for it. The only thing is, she has to make the others believe that its better to go back home than stay in this cage
My Review
I'm a bit torn with this book, while I loved the idea of caged up humans and the world building was thoroughly and interestingly thought-through, I had a tough time really enjoying the book and getting interested in the characters well-being. The pacing was slight slow moving, but major plots points were well spaced and detailed enough to leave enough to the imagination and not continue for pages. The book was told from multiple points of view with Cora's being the main focus and although I sometimes do get confused between characters in these types of books, I actually enjoyed the different voices and being able to see how each of them felt and responded to their environment. The multiple POV also help execute each characters secrets and their change in personalities in their current environment.
I really liked the cover it's very eye catching and follows with the book concept and while it doesn't have that sci-fi feel it still captures that sense of captivity and caught somewhere foreign.
Personally for me the book fell flat with the characters, none of them were really memorable except for maybe Mali, but she also didn't have a huge role or create many pivotal moments like I thought she would. I couldn't see Cora as the protagonist, but I also couldn't see anyone else either. There was no thought into her escape plan, which I could understand in the beginning to being so desperate to leave. But even after failed attempts there wasn't any regrouping to figure out a new plan and with no outside forces playing into or affecting her escape plan it all seemed pointless. Lucky and Leon had great potential as secondary characters, as both her driving force and wall, but I personally felt that they haven't been explored enough yet. Hopefully the characters will grow more in the next book to at least feel that they are invested in escaping their cages, bother personal and physical.
While a interesting concept,full of secrets it left very to little in rooting for the characters survival.
It will be interesting to see what happens next and whether we get more out of the characters and see what's happened to Earth
When they enter the empty town littered with places replicated from different cultures and strange black windows, they soon find out how far away from home they really are and otherworldly captors are keeping them locked up-cage like for examination and observation.
While the other attempt to settle in and follow the three rules to stay alive:
They all must follow three rules
1. Figure out the puzzles in each habitat for tokens
2. Take care of themselves and stay healthy
3. Procreate
Cora doesn't believe that this is the end for them and attempts to make a run for it. The only thing is, she has to make the others believe that its better to go back home than stay in this cage
My Review
I'm a bit torn with this book, while I loved the idea of caged up humans and the world building was thoroughly and interestingly thought-through, I had a tough time really enjoying the book and getting interested in the characters well-being. The pacing was slight slow moving, but major plots points were well spaced and detailed enough to leave enough to the imagination and not continue for pages. The book was told from multiple points of view with Cora's being the main focus and although I sometimes do get confused between characters in these types of books, I actually enjoyed the different voices and being able to see how each of them felt and responded to their environment. The multiple POV also help execute each characters secrets and their change in personalities in their current environment.
I really liked the cover it's very eye catching and follows with the book concept and while it doesn't have that sci-fi feel it still captures that sense of captivity and caught somewhere foreign.
Personally for me the book fell flat with the characters, none of them were really memorable except for maybe Mali, but she also didn't have a huge role or create many pivotal moments like I thought she would. I couldn't see Cora as the protagonist, but I also couldn't see anyone else either. There was no thought into her escape plan, which I could understand in the beginning to being so desperate to leave. But even after failed attempts there wasn't any regrouping to figure out a new plan and with no outside forces playing into or affecting her escape plan it all seemed pointless. Lucky and Leon had great potential as secondary characters, as both her driving force and wall, but I personally felt that they haven't been explored enough yet. Hopefully the characters will grow more in the next book to at least feel that they are invested in escaping their cages, bother personal and physical.
While a interesting concept,full of secrets it left very to little in rooting for the characters survival.
It will be interesting to see what happens next and whether we get more out of the characters and see what's happened to Earth
lorelie's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
bad bad bad. so bad. I listened to this so I slogged through to the end. This book drug on so horribly it was like watching paint dry. Read at your own demise. Waste of my time. THIS is definitely YA and terribly done.
blogginboutbooks's review
4.0
Tense, exciting, stayed up WAAAYYY too late in order to finish it :) Wanted to give it 4 1/2 stars, but didn't know how ...