loraking's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
To Cage a God by Elizabeth May is a dark, Imperial Russia-inspired romantic fantasy following Sera and Galina, two girls who had gods caged inside them. It opens with the two of them on the run and we follow them through the original intention they were created for: to defeat the empress.
I thought it was satisfying overall, it presented a problem and we got to see how they resolved it by the end. It was very Russian, not just the world, but the darkness of it as well. At first, the world building was hard to follow but I eventually got the hang of it and it made more sense. There were a couple nitpicky things that bothered me, such as why did they use other characters' full names so often?
As for the characters, Galina’s early voice was littered with parentheses that thankfully reduced as the book went on. I started skipping them after the first few pages. I was also bothered by her going cold turkey on alcohol after being an alcoholic. I would say I enjoyed her arc most of the two main characters.
The other character I really enjoyed was Katya, the empress’s handmaiden. Towards the end I found myself wanting to skip forward to her chapters. Though almost all the characters have a lack of agency in ending up in the positions they did, she was the one I was most rooting for to make it out.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC for my honest review.
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