Yesterday I finally finished King's Cage. This is the third book in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. Just a side note, for some reason I had no clue that this wasn't a trilogy anymore, but a quartet, and for this whole book I thought it was the last book. The ending killed me (no spoilers) but I literally was like what? This cannot be the last book, and it wasn't... There's going to be a 4th one, but we don't know anything about that one yet. Sadly....
Now getting into the Review:
Synopsis:
The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard consists of 4 books, so far 3 have been released, Red Queen, Glass Sword, and King's Cage. This is a YA sci-fi/dystopian story. Red Queen is about a girl named Mare Barrow who is brought up in a society divided by blood. There are those with silver blood, the royalty and the noble houses who all have powers like wind weaving, being really fast or strong, or controlling fire or water, and those who have red blood, the common people. Mare is an "average red girl", who is forced to suffer under this oppressive monarchy. Until one day, she meets a very nice gentleman, not knowing at the time that it was the crown prince, who she told her story too and who offered her a job at the palace. (I can't be calm about this part, sorry... His name is Tiberius Calore, or Cal and he is the best, nicest person ever, but he can't ever make decisions, but you'll find this all out later). Anyways, so on Mare's first day at the palace there is this big event to chose the strongest daughter of a silver noble, for the prince to marry, that is broadcasted throughout the country. On this very occasion Mare trips and falls into an area, where she should've died, but instead she released lighting from inside her body. And everything goes downhill from here. Mare is forced to pretend to be a lost royal princess, and is to marry Cal's younger brother Maven. This series is about the obstacles and people who stand in her path and how she faces them. As well as portraying her fight to free her people, the reds, from such terrible oppression. This is the basis for the first book, and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it and you should go read it right now! Then read Glass Sword and then come back and read the rest of this review. :) Sorry but since the last book, 2, has been out for more than a year I will probably spoil something from that book or Red Queen.
(I actually just realised I read Red Queen in like October or November 2015 or something like that, I had to wait a few months for Glass Sword to come out in February 2016, and then I had to wait a year! For King's Cage to come out February 2017, thinking it was the last book, and now I have to wait another whole year! What are you doing to me Victoriaaa... ;( But it's ok I'll survive, and I absolutely love the series, so I never want it to end. )
Anyways, so if you've finished any of the three book so far you know that there is currently a war, between the red rebels called "the scarlet guard" and the silvers. In this third book, other powers come into play, and we get a lot more introduction to countries outside of Norta, which is where most of these books take place. I really loved all the new developments throughout the series, and how we go from a small red town where Mare grew up to this thriving castle of silvers to hiding out in forgotten military bases, and underground. I absolutely loved the plot of all these books, and how it feels like this one long never ending journey that Mare goes on to discover herself, and what she can truly do.
I also just can't wait any longer to talk about the characters. Man the characters... I'm not even sure if I can put all of them into words. The most complex character by far is the forgotten prince, made King, Maven Calore. He has so many layers, most of which aren't very decent, but the part he plays specifically in the first and third books is huge and the impact he left on the fandom, and on me personally is as well. I think it's ok to spoil that in the first book he completely betrayed Mare, by leading her to think that he was someone he truly was not. Maven knew exactly what kind of person she wanted to him to be, and eventually completely betrayed her and revealed his true evil colours. Cal was exiled and the king was killed. In the third book Cal played a huge part as well, and in the second book he played the biggest role. In the first book, Mare couldn't choose between the two princes, until Maven betrayed her and made her choice for her. Honestly, I shipped Mare with Cal from their first moment meeting in that pub, where she tried to steal from him. After a while I realised that Cal was actually an amazing person, who was extremely kind, smart, and completely gorgeous, and that he really cared about the people of his country and Mare, but he had a few major flaws. Like his constant draw to power, his need to win, and his inability to make decisions. I have always thought that Mare and Cal bring out the best in each other and need each other to get through things. I really loved Cal for the whole 2nd and 3rd book, until the end of the 3rd book (but no spoils, you all have to go read it).
Even though a lot of the focus is on Maven and Cal (vs.) throughout the series there are a lot of other
important characters. (The first half of King's Cage Mare is Maven's prisoner, so that portion of the book is focused on him.) There is also a lot of focus on the main character, obviously, Mare Barrow. Mare is also a great person at heart, who really believed in her cause. She also has some pretty big issues and flaws, but at the same time she really does grow and change throughout the books, especially the 2nd and 3rd. Some
other characters that are important are Evangeline, Cameron, Farley, Kilorn, and Mare's Family (and Shade). Evangeline is "the most powerful daughter of a silver house", the house of metal. She was first engaged to marry Cal, then Maven, she is a character that has a very dominating personality and a big role in the first half of King's Cage, Mare really only ever talks to Evangeline or Maven at that point. Evangeline's character is also very deep and hard to see clearly, because at first she's portrayed as an evil person who doesn't care about anyone or anything, and later throughout the 3rd book is developed to have actual feelings and emotions. Cameron, is a "newblood", the term used for reds with powers (like mare being able to conjure lightning), who joins the scarlet guard. She also plays a pretty big role throughout the 3rd book.
For some reason, I felt like not as much happened in the 3rd book as in the other two, and nothing really new was discovered. I felt like it was too short, but maybe that was because for the first half it was just Mare trying to get out of her prison cell, which was actually not altogether boring. Overall, I'm happy that there is a fourth book, I just wish that is came out a lot sooner, and we didn't have to wait a year. As well, I was not very happy with the ending of the third book because it seemed very sudden, cut off, and like a complete change of character for a certain person (like back to where we started, even though we progressed so much throughout the latest two books, it felt a little unreal). However, altogether King's Cage did have a lot of development in characters and in information we know, about people, places, and powers. I really enjoyed reading it and absolutely can not wait until the forth book comes out, probably February 2018. Wow, that sounds so far away... :( I highly recommend this whole series, and I really love it. I would recommend this to any YA fantasy, sci-fi lovers, there's also a bit of romance, mainly about war though. This is a very interesting series, and I would give King's Cage 8.4/10 stars. I liked it but not as much as some of the other books, even though Cal and Mare were actually finally together for like at least half a book, my OTP. Please Victoria, don't break them up, we need them together, they're better together, if they're not together they will both be miserable.
Also I was reading when I was searching up if there was a forth book, there is and it was announce in 2015, like where have I been for the past two years, I know! But, there's going to be a Red Queen Movie! Probably... and Elizabeth banks is supposed to direct it, I'm super super excited! (Also shout out to Before I Fall, which is coming out March 3rd.) Anyways, thank you to all my readers as always for reading! Hope you're as excited for Red Queen #4 as I am, and for March, which is tomorrow!
- Kat Hearts
( Also this is super random but Cal kind of reminds me of Mako, from Legend of Kora, they both like to show off and there's many other similarities, lmao. ;) ) (Also none of the fanart or images I used, in this post are mine, but they are all super amazing, so I just wanted to share them! <3)
Synopsis:
The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard consists of 4 books, so far 3 have been released, Red Queen, Glass Sword, and King's Cage. This is a YA sci-fi/dystopian story. Red Queen is about a girl named Mare Barrow who is brought up in a society divided by blood. There are those with silver blood, the royalty and the noble houses who all have powers like wind weaving, being really fast or strong, or controlling fire or water, and those who have red blood, the common people. Mare is an "average red girl", who is forced to suffer under this oppressive monarchy. Until one day, she meets a very nice gentleman, not knowing at the time that it was the crown prince, who she told her story too and who offered her a job at the palace. (I can't be calm about this part, sorry... His name is Tiberius Calore, or Cal and he is the best, nicest person ever, but he can't ever make decisions, but you'll find this all out later). Anyways, so on Mare's first day at the palace there is this big event to chose the strongest daughter of a silver noble, for the prince to marry, that is broadcasted throughout the country. On this very occasion Mare trips and falls into an area, where she should've died, but instead she released lighting from inside her body. And everything goes downhill from here. Mare is forced to pretend to be a lost royal princess, and is to marry Cal's younger brother Maven. This series is about the obstacles and people who stand in her path and how she faces them. As well as portraying her fight to free her people, the reds, from such terrible oppression. This is the basis for the first book, and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it and you should go read it right now! Then read Glass Sword and then come back and read the rest of this review. :) Sorry but since the last book, 2, has been out for more than a year I will probably spoil something from that book or Red Queen.
(I actually just realised I read Red Queen in like October or November 2015 or something like that, I had to wait a few months for Glass Sword to come out in February 2016, and then I had to wait a year! For King's Cage to come out February 2017, thinking it was the last book, and now I have to wait another whole year! What are you doing to me Victoriaaa... ;( But it's ok I'll survive, and I absolutely love the series, so I never want it to end. )
Anyways, so if you've finished any of the three book so far you know that there is currently a war, between the red rebels called "the scarlet guard" and the silvers. In this third book, other powers come into play, and we get a lot more introduction to countries outside of Norta, which is where most of these books take place. I really loved all the new developments throughout the series, and how we go from a small red town where Mare grew up to this thriving castle of silvers to hiding out in forgotten military bases, and underground. I absolutely loved the plot of all these books, and how it feels like this one long never ending journey that Mare goes on to discover herself, and what she can truly do.
I also just can't wait any longer to talk about the characters. Man the characters... I'm not even sure if I can put all of them into words. The most complex character by far is the forgotten prince, made King, Maven Calore. He has so many layers, most of which aren't very decent, but the part he plays specifically in the first and third books is huge and the impact he left on the fandom, and on me personally is as well. I think it's ok to spoil that in the first book he completely betrayed Mare, by leading her to think that he was someone he truly was not. Maven knew exactly what kind of person she wanted to him to be, and eventually completely betrayed her and revealed his true evil colours. Cal was exiled and the king was killed. In the third book Cal played a huge part as well, and in the second book he played the biggest role. In the first book, Mare couldn't choose between the two princes, until Maven betrayed her and made her choice for her. Honestly, I shipped Mare with Cal from their first moment meeting in that pub, where she tried to steal from him. After a while I realised that Cal was actually an amazing person, who was extremely kind, smart, and completely gorgeous, and that he really cared about the people of his country and Mare, but he had a few major flaws. Like his constant draw to power, his need to win, and his inability to make decisions. I have always thought that Mare and Cal bring out the best in each other and need each other to get through things. I really loved Cal for the whole 2nd and 3rd book, until the end of the 3rd book (but no spoils, you all have to go read it).
Even though a lot of the focus is on Maven and Cal (vs.) throughout the series there are a lot of otherimportant characters. (The first half of King's Cage Mare is Maven's prisoner, so that portion of the book is focused on him.) There is also a lot of focus on the main character, obviously, Mare Barrow. Mare is also a great person at heart, who really believed in her cause. She also has some pretty big issues and flaws, but at the same time she really does grow and change throughout the books, especially the 2nd and 3rd. Some
other characters that are important are Evangeline, Cameron, Farley, Kilorn, and Mare's Family (and Shade). Evangeline is "the most powerful daughter of a silver house", the house of metal. She was first engaged to marry Cal, then Maven, she is a character that has a very dominating personality and a big role in the first half of King's Cage, Mare really only ever talks to Evangeline or Maven at that point. Evangeline's character is also very deep and hard to see clearly, because at first she's portrayed as an evil person who doesn't care about anyone or anything, and later throughout the 3rd book is developed to have actual feelings and emotions. Cameron, is a "newblood", the term used for reds with powers (like mare being able to conjure lightning), who joins the scarlet guard. She also plays a pretty big role throughout the 3rd book.
For some reason, I felt like not as much happened in the 3rd book as in the other two, and nothing really new was discovered. I felt like it was too short, but maybe that was because for the first half it was just Mare trying to get out of her prison cell, which was actually not altogether boring. Overall, I'm happy that there is a fourth book, I just wish that is came out a lot sooner, and we didn't have to wait a year. As well, I was not very happy with the ending of the third book because it seemed very sudden, cut off, and like a complete change of character for a certain person (like back to where we started, even though we progressed so much throughout the latest two books, it felt a little unreal). However, altogether King's Cage did have a lot of development in characters and in information we know, about people, places, and powers. I really enjoyed reading it and absolutely can not wait until the forth book comes out, probably February 2018. Wow, that sounds so far away... :( I highly recommend this whole series, and I really love it. I would recommend this to any YA fantasy, sci-fi lovers, there's also a bit of romance, mainly about war though. This is a very interesting series, and I would give King's Cage 8.4/10 stars. I liked it but not as much as some of the other books, even though Cal and Mare were actually finally together for like at least half a book, my OTP. Please Victoria, don't break them up, we need them together, they're better together, if they're not together they will both be miserable.Also I was reading when I was searching up if there was a forth book, there is and it was announce in 2015, like where have I been for the past two years, I know! But, there's going to be a Red Queen Movie! Probably... and Elizabeth banks is supposed to direct it, I'm super super excited! (Also shout out to Before I Fall, which is coming out March 3rd.) Anyways, thank you to all my readers as always for reading! Hope you're as excited for Red Queen #4 as I am, and for March, which is tomorrow!
- Kat Hearts
( Also this is super random but Cal kind of reminds me of Mako, from Legend of Kora, they both like to show off and there's many other similarities, lmao. ;) ) (Also none of the fanart or images I used, in this post are mine, but they are all super amazing, so I just wanted to share them! <3)
No comments:
Post a Comment