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nerdylibrarian's review
5.0
I enjoyed this a great deal, even though Roa was a bit frustrating to me. A good story though with a good ending. It was great seeing Asha and Torwin again.
dreams_of_attolia's review
This is a book for people who like feeling things, and who aren't overly bothered about how the feeling-inducing situations are engineered. If that describes you, ignore the rest of my review! There will be plenty of feelings to enjoy, and also beautiful imagery and a cool internal mythology!
On the other hand, if you enjoy characters who make rational decisions based on information, you will find this book incredibly frustrating.
This entire book is one extended version of one of my least favorite tropes, "lovers are kept apart by misunderstandings because they refuse to just fucking talk to each other" and also one of my least favorite plot devices, "main character does stupid stuff to move the plot forward". Except it's worse than just lovers being kept apart, because Roa endangers an entire kingdom as she makes poor choices instead of seeking out some solid intel. And the lack of communication MAKES NO SENSE. Roa and Dax planned a whole fucking coup together, but now their feelings are hurt so they have lost the ability to have a conversation. The reader is told repeatedly that both Roa and Dax have put the well-being of their people above their own individual happiness, but apparently that does not extend to the great sacrifice of talking to each other. Roa could not possibly just ask Dax what his plan is, because then there'd be no way to set up a plot full of emotionally-wrenching choices.
Around page 260 I was like "finally, these two idiots are going to talk to each other!". Nope. They are not. That is the point that Roa finally starts to get a clue, but she does not at this point decide to figure out what else she may be wrong about. It takes to page 312 for Roa and Dax to finally clear the air about some key pieces of information, and by that point Roa has made so many poor decisions due to her ignorance that she has made everything very, very bad. like allowing Essie to get kidnapped by someone she can tell is shady fucker. Rebekah's character is so obviously evil-coded that she might as well twirl her mustache and go "mwahaha!". Rebekah's vileness is even apparent to oblivious-Roa, so why would Roa bring Essie just because Rebekah asked her to?
**Spoilers for Last Namsara in this paragraph**
I get the sense that this is the author's MO, to present a situation one way and slowly reveal information to the main character that changes the main character's perspective (I specifically say "reveal to the main character" and not "reveal to the reader" because in both Caged Queen and Last Namsara, the "big reveals" are telegraphed to the reader from the very beginning). I think the thing that makes this work in Namsara is that Asha is misinformed because she has faulty memories of a childhood trauma and she has been fed misinformation by a loved one her entire life. These are both totally plausible reasons for Asha not to immediately see what's going on (even if the reader can tell from very early on that the king is a shady mo-fo clearly up to no good). In Caged Queen, the reason that Roa doesn't see what's going on is that her husband is flirting with other women and therefore all of her logic and strategy (that we hear so much about throughout the book) has completely deserted her.
Also a key moment in the romantic plot was both: 1) gross and 2) out of line with the characters' previously described priorities. Dax has supposedly made all the decisions he's made in the last two books for the sake of his people. And he knows that the people trying to take over the kingdom are going to subjugate everyone outside of their own ethnic group. But he has now decided that none of that matters, because he loves Roa and he should let her murder him because of an accident that happened when he was a child and leave all of the kingdom in the hands of the evil councilors.
Also, letting someone kill you is not romantic! That is fucked up!
By this point I was hoping that both Roa and Dax would get eaten by a dragon. (less)
On the other hand, if you enjoy characters who make rational decisions based on information, you will find this book incredibly frustrating.
This entire book is one extended version of one of my least favorite tropes, "lovers are kept apart by misunderstandings because they refuse to just fucking talk to each other" and also one of my least favorite plot devices, "main character does stupid stuff to move the plot forward". Except it's worse than just lovers being kept apart, because Roa endangers an entire kingdom as she makes poor choices instead of seeking out some solid intel. And the lack of communication MAKES NO SENSE. Roa and Dax planned a whole fucking coup together, but now their feelings are hurt so they have lost the ability to have a conversation. The reader is told repeatedly that both Roa and Dax have put the well-being of their people above their own individual happiness, but apparently that does not extend to the great sacrifice of talking to each other. Roa could not possibly just ask Dax what his plan is, because then there'd be no way to set up a plot full of emotionally-wrenching choices.
Around page 260 I was like "finally, these two idiots are going to talk to each other!". Nope. They are not. That is the point that Roa finally starts to get a clue, but she does not at this point decide to figure out what else she may be wrong about. It takes to page 312 for Roa and Dax to finally clear the air about some key pieces of information, and by that point Roa has made so many poor decisions due to her ignorance that she has made everything very, very bad. like
**Spoilers for Last Namsara in this paragraph**
I get the sense that this is the author's MO, to present a situation one way and slowly reveal information to the main character that changes the main character's perspective (I specifically say "reveal to the main character" and not "reveal to the reader" because in both Caged Queen and Last Namsara, the "big reveals" are telegraphed to the reader from the very beginning). I think the thing that makes this work in Namsara is that Asha is misinformed because she has faulty memories of a childhood trauma and she has been fed misinformation by a loved one her entire life. These are both totally plausible reasons for Asha not to immediately see what's going on (even if the reader can tell from very early on that the king is a shady mo-fo clearly up to no good). In Caged Queen, the reason that Roa doesn't see what's going on is that her husband is flirting with other women and therefore all of her logic and strategy (that we hear so much about throughout the book) has completely deserted her.
Also a key moment in the romantic plot was both: 1) gross and 2) out of line with the characters' previously described priorities. Dax has supposedly made all the decisions he's made in the last two books for the sake of his people. And he knows that the people trying to take over the kingdom are going to subjugate everyone outside of their own ethnic group.
Also, letting someone kill you is not romantic! That is fucked up!
By this point I was hoping that both Roa and Dax would get eaten by a dragon. (less)
jst1morechapter's review
4.0
It was easy to fall back into Ciccarelli's world even though I read The Last Namsara so long ago!
***Warning!***Spoiler ahead!***
I originally thought I'd give this a 5 star rating, but! Ugh, on reflection, they annoyed me so much, keeping secrets and just not communicating with each other... and my biggest peeve was that Roa blamed Dax for Essie dying... like hello! He was a child! And she saved him, it wasn't his fault! *insert eye roll here*
oh, and there were hardly any dragons at all in this one! *lesigh*
Aaaanyhoo... they got over it, it was clever (although a little obvious) and I was pleased with the end result, can't wait to read Sky Weaver
***Warning!***Spoiler ahead!***
I originally thought I'd give this a 5 star rating, but! Ugh, on reflection, they annoyed me so much, keeping secrets and just not communicating with each other... and my biggest peeve was that Roa blamed Dax for Essie dying... like hello! He was a child! And she saved him, it wasn't his fault! *insert eye roll here*
oh, and there were hardly any dragons at all in this one! *lesigh*
Aaaanyhoo... they got over it, it was clever (although a little obvious) and I was pleased with the end result, can't wait to read Sky Weaver
katealfrey's review against another edition
4.0
Listen, I love this world and these stories, and I will be Iskari trash till the day I die. HOWEVER, Roa is almost unforgivably dense, and it's so much worse to listen to them to read.
libreva's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
3.0
katetheardent's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately this book feel drastically short of the first - which I loved everything about.
mybookwitchreviews's review
3.0
I adore this universe so much that even when the Main Character isn't my favourite I still want to know what comes next.
Ciccarelli's universe keeps expanding and her beautiful prose continues to take away my breath.
I highly recommend giving this Series a chance - it will genuinely surprise you.
For full thoughts and a non spoiler review go to:
https://bookwitchreviews.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/cauldronreviews-the-caged-queen-by-kristen-ciccarelli/
Ciccarelli's universe keeps expanding and her beautiful prose continues to take away my breath.
I highly recommend giving this Series a chance - it will genuinely surprise you.
For full thoughts and a non spoiler review go to:
https://bookwitchreviews.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/cauldronreviews-the-caged-queen-by-kristen-ciccarelli/
jenno's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed book one, which I guess you don't have to read to read this since the main character is a new one and the story doesn't really go on from book one.
But what I liked in book one - the action and the dragons, where not part of this and this could have been so much shorter and still be the same book. I think I'm done with this series now. It was kind of fun but there's so many other books on my tbr that I think I'll skip finishing this series.
But what I liked in book one - the action and the dragons, where not part of this and this could have been so much shorter and still be the same book. I think I'm done with this series now. It was kind of fun but there's so many other books on my tbr that I think I'll skip finishing this series.