A war of Bloods. A war of abilities. A war that would never cease, as leaders take control or succumb to power in one way or another.

This book is hands down my most favorite in the Red Queen series. And I just can’t get a grip on the whole story yet. I have a lot to digest. King’s Cage is well written, half parts amazing and complicated, but beautiful overall. And I leave it to you to be another judge of that!

I will only share my opinions of the book, cleanly divided into 2 different sections: WHAT I LIKE and WHAT I DISLIKE. 

Let’s get to it. What about King’s Cage:

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

WHAT I LIKE:

Maven’s Twisted Obsession of Mare: Just by the end of Glass Sword, I knew that this book would give us a lot of Maven-Mare moments. It certainly did not disappoint! But his way of keeping Mare with him was also expected. He uses her to serve his own ends, keeping her locked in a cage, tortured, and left alone. We finally see the boy behind the mask. The villain. The schemer. The boy who fell in love, and got obsessed with the little lightning girl! It’s just so tragic. They are my ship, and it will never change (even with the equally romantic scenes of Mare and Cal), and it’s just so sad that Elara screwed Maven to a point that he can’t even get a bit of redemption for himself. He has some major PTSD (it’s not just Mare) and he’s the victim who will never be free from his mother’s emotional and mental abuse. Seeing him fragile, tormented, and lonely makes my heart break. He gives the biggest angst to the story and I just want someone to be there and fix him.

Mare Playing in Maven’s Head: Mare knew that Maven loved her. He did in his own sad, twisted, and obsessive way, to which our lead Newblood used it to her advantage. She didn’t really seduce him. It’s more like, playing the victim does the trick (though Maven knew that and he entertained it anyways). As you go along, you’ll realize how Mare still empathizes with Maven, how she still has that little glimmer of hope. She hates him and wants to kill him, sure, but not really his entirety.

Evangeline’s Close Relationship with Elane: The first time we read about Elane (& Evangeline) was during the Queenstrial in Red Queen. And I am super shocked to find out that their relationship borders on the romantic, instead of a friendly one. This isn’t the first #LoveWins type of love in the book. Of course, there’s Thomas and Maven. I’m still rooting for these two, even if things changed (AGAIN) for Evangeline during the ending. Also can we just talk about Evangeline’s strong-willed personality and soul? All made evident by the choices she had to make, and experiences she had to go through since she was freaking little.

All the Action Scenes: By far, this book contains the most interesting and insane action scenes we’ve seen since the Battle in the Bowl of Bones. Scarlet Guard is more organized, we got the badass momma Farley, who never shies away from any planned attacks, and we got all the Newbloods in their PROPER TRAINING GROUNDS harnessing their powers, preparing to overthrow Maven, and basically just learning all there is to know about their abilities. One hell of an upgrade!

WHAT I DISLIKE:

Cal’s Silver Blood Runs Deep: This book is full of political mind games. Just take, for example, Maven, Scarlet Guard, and the free Republic of Montfort. All the attacks leading to the very important decision made at the end are all moves played by someone in power. What made me upset was Cal’s choice to *SPOILER ALERT* sit back on the throne and sacrifice his life with Mare. I don’t think his choice was purely made to keep the peace of their land, as suggested by all the officials and his grandmother, Anabel. Let’s be real, Cal. Power is alluring. It’s irresistible. It seduces all and it makes us blind. After all the lengths you wanted to go through just to save Mare, here comes power, and behold: the love known but love lost. I agree with Julian. Their abilities are “not a god’s chosen, but a god’s cursed.”

Cameron’s Character: Is it just me or her character is annoying? I wasn’t really fond of her at first, and I thought I’d get to like her more as I read this third book, but nope. I would have preferred her POV Chapters be Evangeline’s instead, because then it’d be more worthwhile. I’m not dismissing the strength of her powers, though. Her abilities are one of the coolest in the bunch.

Rating: 4/5 

This book caught me by surprise. Really didn’t expect the twists and turns! I love the overall story, but it also made me hate some characters. But I’m happy since I consider this book the “tipping point” of everyone and now all their shells are cracked, with truest selves raw and exposed.

RELEVANT STUFF FOR YA:

Click here for my review of Red Queen

Click here for my review of Glass Sword