Uptown Oracle Reads… The Caged Queen

The Caged Queen
Kristen Ciccarelli

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Once there were two sisters born with a bond so strong that it forged them together forever. Roa and Essie called it the hum. It was a magic they cherished—until the day a terrible accident took Essie’s life and trapped her soul in this world. Dax—the heir to Firgaard’s throne—was responsible for the accident. Roa swore to hate him forever. But eight years later he returned, begging for her help. He was determined to dethrone his cruel father, under whose oppressive reign Roa’s people had suffered. Roa made him a deal: she’d give him the army he needed if he made her queen. Only as queen could she save her people from Firgaard’s rule. Then a chance arises to right every wrong—an opportunity for Roa to rid herself of this enemy king and rescue her beloved sister. During the Relinquishing, when the spirits of the dead are said to return, Roa discovers she can reclaim her sister for good. All she has to do is kill the king

So this book followed Roa from the very beginning, which was great because I loved her in the first book. I actually wanted to see more of her and I got my wish. However, I didn’t realise that this book was going to change POV to Roa before reading… this made me extremely confused for a chapter or two as I couldn’t quite remember everything from The Last Namsara.

I would like to point out, this book doesn’t read too much like a sequel. I definitely think someone who hadn’t read The Last Namsara could get into this pretty easily as we are in that different POV and it seems like a completely separate storyline to Asha.

Ciccarelli’s writing style is really easy to read and you do get caught up in the book. Honestly this was a godsend as university often leaves me not wanting to read anything too complicated. Similarly to the first book, The Caged Queen utilises the world building to its advantage. With myths and legends being intertwined into the story to give a lot of depth. We visit different places, we meet new people and there’s also a lot of additional backstory for Dax, Roa and co.

The flashbacks are okay. They give a lot of depth to the relationships between our main players. However, I personally felt that these often slowed the book down a little bit. Also Roa’s sister/tragic backstory arc was… not as interesting as Asha’s arc in the first book. We’ve seen the dead sister revenge plotline a lot, with characters that turn out a lot more defiant, strong and dare I say interesting that Roa? So these flashbacks didn’t excite me too much when reading.

If you’re coming to this book with dragons in mind then I have to disappoint. The lack of Asha does also mean there’s a distinct void of dragon content for most of the book. Actually the lack of Asha being a focus is kind of a dull point to the whole book. I’m not saying the book isn’t good, however it does feel like Asha is going off on adventures without us. And this didn’t really make for a good sequel… maybe more of a companion book alongside the series?

Overall, I enjoyed The Caged Queen as it was a nice easy fantasy read. However it didn’t live up to its predecessor and my feelings towards it may have been higher if I hadn’t read The Last Namsara first…

Positives

• Myths & legends entwined with worldbuilding
• Writing style

Negatives

• Lack of dragons
• Different POV was a surprise

I received The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review