After finishing Glass Sword, I was a little hesitant to pick up King’s Cage (Red Queen, #3) by Victoria Aveyard. The main protagonist had turned into whiny Katniss 2.0 and I was just not feeling it. You can read my full review of it HERE. But since I’d already bought King’s Cage and I loathe not completing series unless it’s for a really good reason, I went ahead and did it. So glad that I did!
In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?
Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.
As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.
When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.
The Good
- Pacing – Okay, even while Mare is imprisoned in the palace suffering through Maven’s psychological and physical torture, the pacing was still fairly steady. I never knew what was going to happen next and there were so many twists that I was never bored. It only picked up even more about halfway through the book. Once I hate page 200, I couldn’t put the book down and had to know what was going to happen next.
- Maven, the villain we all need in our lives – Seriously, who doesn’t love to hate the antagonist? You know it’s a great villain when you can’t wait for them to make another appearance (think the Darkling), and Maven is a perfect example of this. I lived for the moments when he was center stage. I want my villains to have depth, charisma, and a strong backstory – which Maven has in spades. Like seriously, I will never have enough of him. Is this the part where I admit that I might be strangely in love with him like I was with Caraval‘s, Legend? Ummmm, probably. Yes, I’m one twisted individual.
- Mare finally deciding to stop being all poor-pitiful-me 24/7 – If you read my Glass Sword review, you’ll know that pretty much despised Mare in it. Like, I was actually internally rooting for her to die and someone else to take up the mantle of protagonist. No lie. Luckily, Aveyard did something that apparently never crossed Veronica Roth’s mind with Katniss, and actually had Mare GROW. Mare’s time imprisoned let her do some soul-searching and realized that she was being a bitch and pushing people away for no real reason whatsoever. Funny how that was actually an option. If only more authors would do that, right?
- A real battle, FINALLY! – I love me some good action scenes and we finally got one in this book. Praise be to the book gods!
- Evangeline – But, but, but Larkin, she’s so awful! Yes, she is but don’t act like her evil bitchiness doesn’t give you life because I live for it. Her snarky rapport with Mare is delicious and I love that we are now getting some of the story from her POV. I’m also secretly hoping she decapitates her mother. Please tell me that I’m not the only one?!
The Bad
- Cameron – I still can’t stand her. Something about her character just annoys me to no end, even if she isn’t as awful to everyone as she was in Glass Sword. Maybe it’s that she has tunnel vision and only sees things in black and white which is so irritating to me. That’s just not realistic and I always have issues with characters who are like that. It’s always an us vs. them mentality and it makes me want to bash my head into the wall. No no, you’re always right about everything, Cameron. You’re just so much smarter than everyone else. Blahhhhhhhh… And now I have to read her POV, too? TORTURE.
- That ending….. – Listen, that ending is amazing because OMG THAT PLOT TWIST, but I won’t lie and say that I’m not going to take it personal because my heart was just broken into a billion pieces. You’re so evil, Aveyard.
If my last review convinced you to not even bother picking up Glass Sword, then I’m hear to tell you that you should, if only to fight through that muck to get to the awesomeness that is King’s Cage.
Final Verdict: 4/5 stars
Have you read King’s Cage? What did you think of it? Do you love Maven as much as I do? What are your thoughts on Cameron? Am I being too harsh with her?
Wonderfilled Reads 