The mistake I might have made was read this right after The Priory of the Orange Tree because it’s not that it was bad or anything but the The Priory was such a well written, tightly constructed fantasy that I couldn’t help but compare them. I like this series. I think it’s fun and do love the expanding on the world building but there were times I felt it dragged. I’ve also started to be more drawn to Queen Erida more than Corayne. Corayne is still the brave kinda naive girl she was in the first. In a lot of ways she is a lot like Erida. They are both women who are living in a man’s world and have to prove themselves. While Corayne has choosen the path that will save the world and others, Erida has choosen the path of glory for herself. Her methods may be questionable but I can’t really fault her reasonings. If she was a King instead of a Queen. No one would question her ambitions or her claim to the throne. It would just be accepted. As wrong as she may be, I can’t help be drawn to her and a little sad that her story takes place so far away from the other main characters that her time is limited. A solid middle novel. It will be interesting to see where it goes next.
A satisfying ending to a very good series. It starts just minutes after the end of King’s Cage, where Mare is reeling from being betrayed by Cal choosing the crown over her. I wasn’t really all that surprised by this because as much as he loves Mare and has been open to the red plight but he is a Silver Prince that was born to rule. He’s going to give that up? Anyway, Victoria does a great job of balancing her Game of Thronesque story lines. With so many families, groups and countries vying for the future of Norta the story could have been easily bogged down but it isn’t. Alliances are clear and who is going to betray who is clear. We all know who is on what team and when it comes down to it who is going to side with who when it comes to the end it didn’t disrupt the storyline. At the moment, Mare and Cal are reunited in the same objective of get Maven out of power but their alliance is shaky at best. We know that Cal has no intention of giving up his throne as he feels he is the best to reunite his fractured nation but the Scarlet Guard has no intention of putting him on the throne. Maven has the Nortan crown but little support. Iris, his wife from neighboring country the Lakelands, is already scheming to take the crown from Maven as soon as he depletes his army against Cal. The western nation of Montfort that is the only democracy in this new world that has silvers and reds working together has made their intentions known that they will not have another silver king either. So who wins? Well that would be too spoilery but I will say i like the ambiguous ending. Victoria has definitely left enough open that if she ever wanted to return to Norta, Monfort or the Lakelands she could but if she doesn’t then she has given her characters a good send off. Mare is broken and bruised but is working on healing. She has been many people throughout the four books. She’s been Mare from the sticks, a thief. She’s been Mareena, a lost Silver and the lightning girl a leader and inspiration for the rebellion but who is she really. Cal’s growth is quite as strong but then again I think Cal has already had a good sense of who he was. Maven is probably the most tragic. The abuse that he suffered from his mother is beyond cruel but that shouldn’t excuse his many crimes he committed throughout the series. My biggest complaint is that Cameron who was one of POV characters in the last book only makes an appearance in one chapter. Other than that, this was a satisfying ending to a very good series.
You know that moment. That moment when the main character makes a declaration statement that you can’t help but groan because you know they are just going to be disappointed. Yeah, that happened about midway in this book and yeah, Mare was crushed when she found out she was wrong. It wasn’t all that big a surprise because it is the third book our of four, so there still needs to be some drama left. She couldn’t be set in romantic life so soon but it was also like, C’mon Mare! Haven’t you learned anything yet!? Anyway, I think I’m getting ahead of myself. King’s Cage was another fast paced thriller that fits in nicely with the previous two books. Mare begins as a prisoner of Maven, who is using her as a propaganda against the Scarlet Guard. As Mare is imprisoned she battles Maven in an emotional tug of war. She is shackled in silent stone manacles, depriving her of her power and making it impossible to fight back. Her only weapon is to use what she knows of Maven but this is not easy because her own feelings for Maven are complicated. The first part of the novel was interesting as Victoria explores the effects of abuse and can you be held accountable. This is an addition to previous themes of what makes a person a monster. Mare is scared that her powers has made her cold and heartless, to easy for her to kill someone and move on with her life. Thanks to Maven’s mother, he doesn’t have those thoughts because so much of his memories she took away from him. She took away his fears and love of his father and brother. I’m not even sure what you call this abuse. She literally molded him to be the cold killer he is today. The only sense of humanity he has is obsession with Mare but even that has been twisted. Cal on the other hand is still Cal. While he has shown some growth over the novels, he isn’t quite as developed as a character as Maven is. There seemed to be a change in him as he seemed to be turning around about the Scarlet Guard and what they are trying to achieve but the first chance to return to his old life is presented to him the seems to have taken it. The book is still Mare’s story but as the conflict expands beyond her, we are given new Point of Views from Cameron and Evangeline. This is a welcome change as all three woman are different and come at the conflict from different views. They obviously see this conflict from different point views but they all think they are in the right. My one grip with this book was the ending. After pretty cool cliffhangers of the first two books, this one sort of fell flat to me. It wasn’t the game changer of the others. Sure, it assured that Mare was going to have to stand on her without one the Princes beside her but it was also predictable. I guess since this is what is leading us to the finale, I wanted it to be more. That being said, I am super stoked to find out how this series is going to end.
2 Women, So Many Books 