Reviews with content warning for Murder - Goldener Käfig

Ha, this book broke me.

As the third installment of the Red Queen series, we finally discover the reason why Maven is the way he is (cool motive, still murder) and we get to see just how resourceful Mare Barrow is. We also see get a look into what Evangeline Samos really thinks.

Despite how absolutely morbid it is, I think this is my favorite book in the Red Queen series

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freyacarol's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The writing flips between good and bad. A lot of the metaphors are repeated and the writer tends to drag out parts where characters are explaining their feelings in an attempt to give them more depth, but it reads as clunky and overdone. That being said, I still do enjoy some of the characters, possibly because we haven't had to hear them explain the same thing over and over again. The main characters have made too many stupid decisions and the love story part of it feels forced. The main character can't seem to decide whether she's a strong female protagonist or a simpering, helpless mess.
The plot has some complexity, though it annoys me that a lot of the reasoning behind certain events is because the villain has this weird obsession with the main character that also perhaps could have been explained differently.

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kinskinn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

King’s cage was definitely a better read than Glass Sword, but does not quite add up to Red Queen. Mare Barrow is consistently an unlikable character focused primarily on herself the majority of the book.

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emmaopaline's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

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readwithde's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Having the characters split gave them some extra time for progression (both character and plot).

While I get why Mare would be kept prisoner for so long, I would have preferred more interactions with the court, if not with Maven.

Spoiler

Even bringing in Evangeline's POV chapters earlier would have helped that section fill out a bit more, even if it tipped her family's hand a bit.

Cameron was an interesting POV for the Scarlet Guard/red side of things, which again left much of the political machinations off the page, but at least gave the basics. Even Kilorn would have been a better choice, in my opinion.

I feel like the final third of the book dragged a bit, at least up until the climax,

Spoiler

the second battle at Corvium.

It just felt like the pacing was off after

Spoiler

Mare was rescued by the Scarlet Guard.

I think there was too much build up in the beginning that didn't leave enough room for the three bigger battles.

Finally,

Spoiler

I know we should want Cal to choose Mare, but I don't think he's wrong to ask Mare to choose him instead. I'm hoping there is a way for compromise in the final book, but I'm happy that each of them are actually dealing with what they want instead of throwing away their convictions, training, or lives.

Overall, this was a strong sequel, and I was surprised by a few things; I'm very excited to read the final book and the short stories.

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