Blog Tour: The Caged Queen

The Caged Queen
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Once there were two sisters born with a bond so strong that it forged them together forever. When they were angry, mirrors shattered, and when they were happy, flowers bloomed. 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.

Together with Dax and his sister, Asha, Roa and her people waged war and deposed a tyrant. But now Asha is on the run, hiding from the price on her head. And Roa is an outlander queen, far from home and married to her enemy. Worst of all: Dax's promises go unfulfilled. Roa's people continue to suffer.

Then a chance to right every wrong arises - 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 can reclaim her sister for good.

All she has to do is kill the king. 

I freaking loved The Last Namsara and this sequel is one of my most anticipated reads of 2018! I was mildly confused at first because I was told it wasn't a sequel, but it turns out you can read this trilogy in any order, but obviously if you read this book first...it's gonna spoil the previous book! 

Roa intrigued me in the previous book, so I was excited to get her POV this time round. I understood where she was coming from throughout the book, and why she felt frustrated and angry with Dax. He did seem like a bit of a prat! I mean he's off with this girl and that girl, he's not kept any of his promises and he thought he knew the Sand Sea better than Roa and refused to listen. I fully got why she felt the way she did, but I appreciated that as we got towards the end of the book and her actions become more and more questionable (even if you could see where she was coming from you could still see what she couldn't), I appreciated that she knew going through with it was going to change her. She was still a badass, and had some excellent moments though! 

As much as Dax was coming off like a prat, it became pretty obvious how he felt about Roa so I didn't really buy his act. I was sure there was more going on and nothing was as it seemed, plus plenty of hints where dropped. So at one point I really wanted to smack Roa one like, come on! Use your eyes! Dax is quite sweet and adorable when he wants to be as well! 

The thing I love about the story telling, is that much like the first book, we have some legends from the world of thebook, some history and some flashbacks to relevant past events scattered throughout the book! They're in between each chapter, kind of like little interludes and I love this method of weaving in relevant information to the plot! It means the narrative isn't overloaded with tonnes of information, and you can learn relevant pieces of information when you need them! It helps to build up a picture of what's going on, not just with Roa but with other characters, and to build up the story. For example it's one of the ways you knew Dax's feelings long before Roa found out the truth about him. Then there's the little details in the flashbacks like the wrist tapping that was mentioned in one chapter, is explained in one flashback and you're like "OOOOOOHHHHH" and things clicked in to place. It gives you more information than our narrator has, so it builds up an entirely different picture. 

We get to see some familiar faces which made me really happy! Safire, and briefly Asha and Torwin! Plus the dragons, although I'm sad there weren't more dragons in this one! This one features a lot of politics and palace intrigue, and there's secret plots and treachery too! The Caged Queen has a fast pace, and a decent amount of action and intrigue. Then there was the romance, which I thought was quite sweet! While I'm sad we didn't get to see Asha and Torwin again, we do get to hear about them, and it was nice continuing the story and getting to know Roa and Dax better! Plus it allows us to see different sides of the other support characters when viewed through Roa's eyes as opposed to Asha's.  It's certainly an interesting sequel!