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A review by jadeyrae
The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli
5.0
The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli is the sequel/companion to The Last Namsara, which happened to be one of my favourite reads of 2017, so I was eagerly awaiting this one… so eagerly. I couldn’t wait to dive in, and this did not disappoint me one bit.
The synopsis of this book starts with “ What would you sacrifice for love? Death-defying, world-altering love?” But please, do not let this fool you into believing this is a cheesy love story, for the love they talk of is the love between sisters, a bond unbreakable, even in death.
Spoiler warning, if you haven’t read The Last Namsara, do not read on, it will spoil that book enormously (unless you don’t care, then be my guest!). I will, however, try not to spoil this one for you, as this is a review.
In this novel we follow Roa, who has recently become Dragon Queen, and King Dax’s wife in an attempt to support her homelands by sitting on the throne. She holds no love for her husband, and in fact wishes him dead for the accident he caused 8 years previous, killing her sister, Essie. But there might be a way to bring Essie back - killing the one who should have died in her place with the skyweavers knife. Roa must sacrifice the king, to bring back her true love, the one she could never let go, her beloved sister. In doing so, dooming herself.
I loved how this focussed so strongly on the sisterly bond between Essie and Roa, and so beautifully on the topic of grief. Our main character has lost so much and holds on so tight to that one thing keeping her afloat. I think the plot flowed beautifully, and kept me so thoroughly engrossed in this novel. At all times I was eager to read on and learn more, I wanted to gobble this story down. Not only did we have the emotional plot of Roa’s love and loss, but there was, of course, a lot of action, a few dragons, and a plot to overthrow the throne - all things I kinda dig in a fantasy novel! I loved each aspect of this story so thoroughly, and was completely hooked.
I know that a few people were worried about going into this with the switch of the main character, people would miss Asha. But as much as I thought I would miss Asha, I was excited to learn more about Roa, I loved what we saw of her in book 1, and was very excited to learn more about this incredibly strong and courageous woman. The more I learned about Roa, the more I enjoyed her. I mean sure, she makes some stupid choices, but we all do, and in those heart-tearing situations, can you blame a girl? She was enjoyable to read about, and a character I came to care for a lot. I would actually go as far as to say I preferred Roa to Asha, I feel she’s slightly less problematic, and a lot more likable.
Accompanying Roa in the limelight, we have Dax, Dragon King, cunning and courageous… if not a bit clumsy and foolish. He was a delight to read about too, I adored his character development, and the more we read about him the more I cared for him too (even though Roa’s planning to kill him, oops). Dax’s character has a lot of layers, and it took some digging to get to the core of him, but it was worth it. He was a quality character.
I found something about each of these characters compelling to be honest with you, I didn’t feel that any of the side characters were flat or underdeveloped, each one had their own narrative that we got a peek into, and I really liked that. The relationships were all nicely fleshed out and it all made sense to me, I loved it.
It is probably no secret that atmosphere is so wonderfully important to me in any novel, the atmosphere of a book really can make or break it for me. I was immersed in the atmosphere of this book, it sucked me in and wouldn’t let me out. There’s such a rich culture about this world that so beautifully made, along with the dangerous politics and fantasy air, I couldn’t ask for more (expect maybe more dragons?)
I absolutely adore Kristen’s writing style. I love the way she includes the ‘old stories’ in between chapters, this time mixed in with stories of Essie and Roa’s past. Although it separates the story, I don’t feel this breaks the pace at all, or removes me from the narrative. It adds another dimension for me, and I really like it. It adds to the ‘ancient’ and fantastical air of the novel, gives it a history, building on the culture of the world. Kristen’s word building was beautiful to me, along with the development of her characters, everything she’s constructed in these books just feels so deep to me, and I feel so connected. Is there a potential for me to be looking at her writing through rose tinted specs as I love the story so much? Maybe… but I care not. I feel the connection to these books.
I can’t sing my praises loud enough for this, ‘The Last Namsara’ was so strong, and in a way I did worry that ‘The Caged Queen’ wouldn’t live up to it, or my expectations... but it so completely did. I had an enormously fun time reading this, the wait, although painful, was worth it. Now I must endure that again for the third novel!
To conclude, I feel like all I’ve done just there is gush about how much I loved this, but it can’t be helped. I loved it, and I am not sorry about it. I love this world, and can’t wait for more (although it’s a very long wait!)
The synopsis of this book starts with “ What would you sacrifice for love? Death-defying, world-altering love?” But please, do not let this fool you into believing this is a cheesy love story, for the love they talk of is the love between sisters, a bond unbreakable, even in death.
Spoiler warning, if you haven’t read The Last Namsara, do not read on, it will spoil that book enormously (unless you don’t care, then be my guest!). I will, however, try not to spoil this one for you, as this is a review.
In this novel we follow Roa, who has recently become Dragon Queen, and King Dax’s wife in an attempt to support her homelands by sitting on the throne. She holds no love for her husband, and in fact wishes him dead for the accident he caused 8 years previous, killing her sister, Essie. But there might be a way to bring Essie back - killing the one who should have died in her place with the skyweavers knife. Roa must sacrifice the king, to bring back her true love, the one she could never let go, her beloved sister. In doing so, dooming herself.
I loved how this focussed so strongly on the sisterly bond between Essie and Roa, and so beautifully on the topic of grief. Our main character has lost so much and holds on so tight to that one thing keeping her afloat. I think the plot flowed beautifully, and kept me so thoroughly engrossed in this novel. At all times I was eager to read on and learn more, I wanted to gobble this story down. Not only did we have the emotional plot of Roa’s love and loss, but there was, of course, a lot of action, a few dragons, and a plot to overthrow the throne - all things I kinda dig in a fantasy novel! I loved each aspect of this story so thoroughly, and was completely hooked.
I know that a few people were worried about going into this with the switch of the main character, people would miss Asha. But as much as I thought I would miss Asha, I was excited to learn more about Roa, I loved what we saw of her in book 1, and was very excited to learn more about this incredibly strong and courageous woman. The more I learned about Roa, the more I enjoyed her. I mean sure, she makes some stupid choices, but we all do, and in those heart-tearing situations, can you blame a girl? She was enjoyable to read about, and a character I came to care for a lot. I would actually go as far as to say I preferred Roa to Asha, I feel she’s slightly less problematic, and a lot more likable.
Accompanying Roa in the limelight, we have Dax, Dragon King, cunning and courageous… if not a bit clumsy and foolish. He was a delight to read about too, I adored his character development, and the more we read about him the more I cared for him too (even though Roa’s planning to kill him, oops). Dax’s character has a lot of layers, and it took some digging to get to the core of him, but it was worth it. He was a quality character.
I found something about each of these characters compelling to be honest with you, I didn’t feel that any of the side characters were flat or underdeveloped, each one had their own narrative that we got a peek into, and I really liked that. The relationships were all nicely fleshed out and it all made sense to me, I loved it.
It is probably no secret that atmosphere is so wonderfully important to me in any novel, the atmosphere of a book really can make or break it for me. I was immersed in the atmosphere of this book, it sucked me in and wouldn’t let me out. There’s such a rich culture about this world that so beautifully made, along with the dangerous politics and fantasy air, I couldn’t ask for more (expect maybe more dragons?)
I absolutely adore Kristen’s writing style. I love the way she includes the ‘old stories’ in between chapters, this time mixed in with stories of Essie and Roa’s past. Although it separates the story, I don’t feel this breaks the pace at all, or removes me from the narrative. It adds another dimension for me, and I really like it. It adds to the ‘ancient’ and fantastical air of the novel, gives it a history, building on the culture of the world. Kristen’s word building was beautiful to me, along with the development of her characters, everything she’s constructed in these books just feels so deep to me, and I feel so connected. Is there a potential for me to be looking at her writing through rose tinted specs as I love the story so much? Maybe… but I care not. I feel the connection to these books.
I can’t sing my praises loud enough for this, ‘The Last Namsara’ was so strong, and in a way I did worry that ‘The Caged Queen’ wouldn’t live up to it, or my expectations... but it so completely did. I had an enormously fun time reading this, the wait, although painful, was worth it. Now I must endure that again for the third novel!
To conclude, I feel like all I’ve done just there is gush about how much I loved this, but it can’t be helped. I loved it, and I am not sorry about it. I love this world, and can’t wait for more (although it’s a very long wait!)