King's Cage (Red Queen Series 3)

King’s Cage
By Victoria Aveyard 

ALL WILL BURN

  3.5 stars, actually, even though I gave out 4 stars at Goodreads. Well…thanks to the beautiful cover? Red Queen Series has one of the most gorgeous covers I’ve ever seen, not to mention the exquisite inner pages, and besides, how can you ask a blue addict not to be obsessed with the cover? AND WITH A BEAUTIFUL CROWN??? (Even it created by bones…)
 All right…I think you’re not here to watch me being crazy about the cover. All about book, I promise. (Like hell) What do I feel after reading this book? I feel like Mare. Really, I just feel the same as Mare does, and I have no idea whether that’s a good thing or bad thing. But one thing I’m really sure…I’m not the type for dystopian…so all hail fantasy???  

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. 

        Compare to the previous books, King’s Cage is really, really thick…with 500 pages. I don’t know whether I like it to be so long or not, but to be honest, I had some difficulties to get into the book at first. It’s not only because of the book’s length, but also my personal problems as well…I’m kind of busy previously and without any proper time to devour it at once, which is a reading habit of mine. So let’s just put the book into two part—Mare’s prison, and after that. Oh…don’t blame me for such kind of spoilers, it’s mustn’t be surprise to you at all!!!
 Now I warn you, there will be some little spoiler in the review below, if you mind any spoiler, I deeply regret for your loose, but I promise there will be no huge bomb.  



“To stand in front of a person who is your whole world and be told you are not enough. You are not the choice. You are a shadow to the person who is your sun.”

Maven…oh maven…after being neglect in Glass Sword…he finally had his moment, and it’s brutal. Oh! And by the way…I didn’t say the quote has anything to do with him…I simply like the words.
 Back to Maven, I still don’t know how to judge him after so many descriptions of his. To Mare, Maven is the monster, to Cal, Maven is his fallen brother whom he hope to fix so much, to the rebellion, Maven is just another tyrant, and there are much more. But to me? It’s kind of an unpopular opinion though…”if” Cal wasn’t the first prince, Elara Merandus (It took  me so long to find how did her name spell…) wasn’t Maven’s mother, Mare truly love him, and they became the Silver King and Red Queen…there are a lot of potential in what Maven can do. He is the only one in the Silver society whom I think…just believe that could change the world better. Yet…there is no turning back, and those assumptions are all “if.” Maven is still the boy king everyone hates, the one tried to maintain his throne…which I doubt he wanted it at all. Maven got a lot of twists in this book, and I absolutely love it. If I must choose between Maven and Cal, sadly, I’ll choose Maven over Cal, despised the fact that he is monster. Weird, am I? Thankfully, I don’t need to suffer the choice…since I have my Rhysand and Rafe and Riden. (I found myself having crushed with all the bookish boys start with letter “R.”) Well…aside from Maven’s twists…he is really a schemer, and I can’t wait to see what will happen in the last book of this series, especially with new ally with him. Even though he might not be the King of Nortan, he may as well caused a lot of trouble in the Lakelands.  

“You aren’t alone.” The hope in his eyes cuts deeply. “You have your crown.”

Cal, Cal, Cal…how am I going to mention your name? Usually, I have a certain ship inside books and I seldom change my choices. My choices will be on the characters’ personalities and how their interaction goes. Strangely, I don’t feel anything toward Cal and Maven, if they both had some…romance with Mare. Especially, I must confess, he was one of the really rare examples that I feel nothing toward the leading male character. He was so tradition!!! And I hate him for that.
 When I was reading Cal’s part, he was basically shouting those words to me, sorry, team Cal. I know he was a brave soldier, but he wasn’t born to rule. Even though Mare thought he had already chosen a side to fight for, he never did. All this selfish prince wants is Mare, and wait, doesn’t that sound the same as Maven? Especially till the ending of the book, I just fell reading an older Maven repeating his plead again and again, saying how good he’ll be if Mare… Shhhhh!!!!!! Nothing, nothing important for you to concern.

The person she loved is dead, stolen by someone else. Mine chose to walk away. Chose everything I hate over everything I am. I wonder which hurts more.”

Still, even as hopeless as Cal seemed…I still have a little hope for you, and you better change yourself, Cal. Let wait and see what’ll happen in the finale. After all, who knows? Cal is still Maven’s brother…he might be as scheming as well. Perhaps…he’ll turn out and prove himself less naïve?  

“Through it all, I stare at the boy on the throne. He maintains his mask. Jaw clenched, lips pressed into a thin, unforgiving line. Still fingers, straight back. But his gaze wavers. Something in his eyes has gone far away. And at his collar, the slightest gray flush rises, painting his neck and the tips of his ears.
He's terrified.
For a second, it makes me happy. Then I remember―monsters are most dangerous when they're afraid.”

        Mare…she’s definitely much better than in Glass Sword, even though she was broken and suspicious all the time. In Glass Sword, she was so damned important…which she believed herself was. But not in King’s Cage, not anymore. She was merely a prisoner, favor by the monstrous king, waiting for any moment to escape and rebel. Oh, and I definitely love her training after that. The book became so excited after her strength regain, and the fight started. Her training with Cal, her training with Newblood, which is really surprising, and her interaction with Farley and her family…she had become so much more. Worthy to fight with and a better fighter as well. Her lightening never end, not even when she was confined, and finally, she learned her mistake. Well…sort of.  


“I thought I knew what heartbreak was. I thought that was what Maven did to me. When he stood and left me kneeling. When he told me everything I ever thought him to be was a lie. But then, I believed I loved him.
I know now, I didn't know what love was. Or what even the echo of heartbreak felt like.
To stand in front of a person who is your whole world and be told you are not enough. You are not the choice. You are a shadow to the person who is your sun.”

And my heart ache so much during the last part. Oh…and much to my surprise…I feel nothing at Cal and Mare’s hot moment. Weird…huh?  

“The lightning girl is easier to read than the pages of a children's book.”

        And we finally come to the part that I’m most excited to write!!!! I’m so shock when I saw Victoria Aveyard’s post about the POV on Evangeline, I was like: “how on earth am I going to read from her point?” However, as it turns out…she became one of my most anticipated characters to read, even though she only appeared in three or four chapters. She was exactly the girl we remember, but the author gave her a shocking twists, and it’s one of the most extraordinary thing to read from this book, especially dystopia isn’t a genre I practically like. But with her, I manage to survive and can’t wait to hear more from her and how she will become after all those chaos. AND EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT AGREE WITH ME, I hope she’ll have a happy ending.

My heart breaks for him; my heart hardens against him.”

        And that, is what I’ll say how I feel for Evangeline.  

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