Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni

13 reviews

prashiie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Our scars define us. They tell a story of courage and survival. They tell of who we are at our deepest being, of the challenges we've faced and overcome. Not all scars are as visible as this. I daresay you have many more on the inside. But never forget that every scar is beautiful. And you should never, ever, be ashamed of them.”

I didn’t expect to finish this book so fast. It was amazing and I will tell you why! Kiva goes to Vallenia with Jaren and Tipp, where she meets the Vallentis family, her sworn enemy. It seems they are not as bad as she’s been told. Despite their own problems, the royal family is inherently a loving family, akin to a normal family. Their acceptance and trust in Kiva are astounding and somewhat unexpected. This complicates her task further and, as expected, Kiva is torn between the two sides. She learns more about both sides and discovers some very interesting things about her own family. Prepare yourself for another set of twists. After reading the first book I was expecting there to be twists and I must say, they lived up to expectations. It seems that even outside of Zalindov’s walls the only person you can trust is yourself. 

This book introduces us to more characters and one of my favourite, aside from Jaren (duh), is definitely Nanna Delora. This lady just wants to be left in peace to enjoy her book club with some scones. That woman is a vibe. I’m sure my fellow readers can also relate! 
Another favourite character of mine is Caldon. This guy has great intuition and there's so much more to him than we think! Queen Ariana also deserves a special mention. She’s a loving mother who cares so much about her children. She gives them a shoulder to cry on and devotes her time to hearing them out. However, she still struggles with her addiction to Angeldust though. It's very mature of Jaren and Mirryn to remember that it's the drug and not the user. It’s one thing to hear Jaren mentioning it, but another to experience it through Kiva’s eyes. That was super scary and heartbreaking.

Overall it was a well-written book, definitely a page turner. I love the way this story is told and how everything is connected. I couldn't stop reading. It was a tense book with some wholesome & hopeful moments but also some really frustrating moments.

In the first book Kiva talks to the Warden about Tipp’s release. He tells her that Tipp could be released to his guardian if they came for him, but at that moment I did not make a connection to Kiva. She too was very young when she came to Zalindov. This angers Jaren as well and he demands to know why Torr left her to rot in Zalindov when they had the opportunity to free her. I don't get why Tilda would rather break her out of the notoriously impenetrable Zalindov when they could also just go get her before she turned 12. That was honestly such a horrible thing to do and I don’t get why Tilda would wish that upon her daughter. And how ironic, or I should rather say diabolical, that Kiva ends up in Zalindov!

I am so excited to read the next, and final, book! Kiva might not have turned on Jaren, but as far as he knows she did lie to him and betray his trust. I wonder if there’s still hope for them…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Drug use, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Murder and War

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

the_jesus_fandom's review

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 All in all, a pretty fun book, except for the fact that it took AGES of character and relationship building for the exciting stuff to happen. 

 Kiva was honestly a bit dumber in this book than the first. There was one scene where

she was trying to find a hiding place to listen in on a meeting. This was a time-sensitive thing, cause the people meeting were coming super soon. So what does she do? She spends a lot of valuable time sightseeing the room and only hides at the last possible moment, when she could just as easily have done that snooping after the meeting. It was super annoying.

 

 There seemed to be some discontinuity where Jaren knew less than it was implied he did in book one. 

 Some random stuff: 

 I’m sorry, I found the meta book club to be cringe. 

 Caldon is my bestie and I love him. 

 Kiva says she never harmed anyone, even those she hated, which is untrue, since in the last book there was a guard who was too touchy and instead of fixing his itchy groin problem she gave him medicine that would make it worse. 

 Ahum, and now for the biggest thing that I already mentioned in my review for book one: did I get my predictions right? 

 

Well, yes and no. Someone did die, but it was her grandmother, but she did leave her with a new-found realisation. Also, this all could still just be fixed by her marrying Jaren, and both siblings (only one of whom is really into revenge) are fine with that! So really all angst would be unnecessary if Kiva was honest and just communicated. We don’t even need to frame it as two families coming together, because apparantly none of the rebel supporters really… support the rebels. They just want to be healed.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and Addiction

Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, and Death

alielaine's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Vomit

kottengoesbork's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, and Blood

christina_chen's review

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual violence, and Slavery

styxx's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

lotte5322's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, War, Bullying, Confinement, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Murder, and Torture

zozo_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Nothing could have prepared me for that cliffhanger omg it was so good. The signs were all there at the end and a lot of Kiva’s decisions annoyed me but I guess her character is a bit stubborn. Now I’m so excited for the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, Addiction, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship

Minor: War

stories's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Superb. I was worried it wouldn’t hold up to the first book but it absolutely does. Gripping, emotional and well woven with satisfying twists and turns, this book resists the temptation to flatten a rebellion conflict into a 2D “but what about the boy” angst fest and instead creates authentic and complex dilemmas. Great characters and characterisation, well embedded foreshadowing and far too many moments I had to pause and wriggle with glee. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Vomit, Addiction, Confinement, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Beware the cliffhanger ending