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A review by tigerbeam
The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The plot is exciting enough but jfc did Kiva’s character regress like 20 years in maturity and general common sense. She should NOT be this naive for someone who spent 10 years in a maximum security penitentiary with absolutely 0 character judgement abilities. I literally felt like she was 14 years old in this book. Like, I don’t even remember how old she is supposed to be, because she behaved like a sheltered 14 year old princess the whole time.
It was shocking to see Kiva not process any of what she was learning, like zero introspection. She only “realized” the meaning of things as events unfolded before her very eyes. She refused to sit down and just put two and f’ing two together. Throughout her “spying” Kiva did not even consider the implications of her entire relationship with her Vallentis family being founded on lies and deceit. Like, she literally thought she’d just go tell her viper sister that she wasn’t gonna help out, and then she’d go back to freeloading at the palace, eating cakes and eye-f’king Jaren? Like no bruh, family ties will sink you like I thought y’learned this in prison?
ANYWAY, all that’s to say, I think this was just haphazard and mediocre writing on Noni’s part to get to the third book. We didn’t have a growth arc for anyone just because third book, so this book gets two stars from me for being a well plotted book but completely throwing characters under the bus in order to get the plot to move.
It was shocking to see Kiva not process any of what she was learning, like zero introspection. She only “realized” the meaning of things as events unfolded before her very eyes. She refused to sit down and just put two and f’ing two together. Throughout her “spying” Kiva did not even consider the implications of her entire relationship with her Vallentis family being founded on lies and deceit. Like, she literally thought she’d just go tell her viper sister that she wasn’t gonna help out, and then she’d go back to freeloading at the palace, eating cakes and eye-f’king Jaren? Like no bruh, family ties will sink you like I thought y’learned this in prison?
ANYWAY, all that’s to say, I think this was just haphazard and mediocre writing on Noni’s part to get to the third book. We didn’t have a growth arc for anyone just because third book, so this book gets two stars from me for being a well plotted book but completely throwing characters under the bus in order to get the plot to move.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Domestic abuse