The Gilded Cage

Title: The Gilded Cage
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year: October 2021
Pages: 429

Series: The Prison Healer #2
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Reading Time: 3 - 4 Oct
Binding: NetGalley e-arc
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb: 

 Kiva Meridan is a survivor.
 She survived not only Zalindov prison, but also the deadly Trial by Ordeal. Now Kiva’s purpose goes beyond survival to vengeance. For the past ten years, her only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever.
 As Kiva settles into her new life in the capital, she discovers she wasn’t the only one who suffered while she was in Zalindov—her siblings and their beliefs have changed too. Soon it’s not just her enemies she’s keeping secrets from, but her own family as well.
 Outside the city walls, tensions are brewing from the rebels, along with whispers of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva’s allegiances are more important than ever, but she’s beginning to question where they truly lie. To survive this time, she’ll have to navigate a complicated web of lies before both sides of the battle turn against her and she loses everything.

Review:

 Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with the arc via NetGalley, I'm so grateful I was able to pick this up straight away after finishing The Prison Healer. I rated The Prison Healer 4/5 stars as I found the pacing a little slow, The Gilded Cage is the sequel so go and get yourselves on to the first book if you haven't read it already! For me, this did not fall in to the disappointing sequel we often see with a series. For me it was actually an improvement on the first book and I am absolutely pumped for the next book. Looks as though this is set as a trilogy so prepare yourselves, we're not done with these characters yet!

 There was so much going on with this book I could hardly put it down. I rarely finish a book in two days and that's how the 5 star rating has come in. I could put the first book down and give it paus as things slowly developed but in this book I just had to know what was coming next. I was addicted and have some catching up at work to do as a result!

 If you've read the previous book you're aware we're completely changing settings from the restrictions of Zalindov prison. Going outwards in to that fabulous map, we're based now in the capital and more specifically the palace. We do venture outside the walls of the city and of course have far more news of what's going on across the wider continent. It gives an opportunity for the world building that was restricted by Zalindov's lack of information in the first book. It's not overwhelming as we don't experience too much first hand but it was refreshing from the first book.

 We've got a range of new characters, I feel diversity was set up quite well in the previous book with LGBTQ+, disability and race coming in and we have some more characters hitting these areas. Not only do we meet and spend a lot of time with the royal but Kiva's family as well. Caldon is one of my new favourite characters, briefly seen in The Prison Healer but revealed in all his glory in this book. Kiva's family, well . . . I have conflicting feelings as I think most of us will. Kiva is still a little naïve, Tipp is still a sweetie and Jaren is still a romantic. I think we see growth in each of their characters, understanding their history, ambitions and lives outside of Zalindov.

 We get to delve more in to the fantasy element of this series in this book, seeing what Jaren is truly capable of as well as understanding more of Kiva's family magic and the history to it. I enjoy that the magic is relatively limited as to what and who has it, it makes it feel more organic and unique rather than trying to introduce a whole new world of magical capabilities. The displays are bigger and more frequent than the previous book bringing some further entertainment and understanding of what's at stake and the danger presented by some of our characters.

 The plot in terms of the overall series is still moving somewhat slowly, it still feels like the beginning to a much bigger series, there are many questions to be answered! However with all the expansion to the setting, magic and characters there are side tasks and stories coming in that kept me incredibly wrapped up and entertained. I'm almost annoyed I've read it. . . I want the next book NOW! The writing as with the prior book is easy to read, a good balance of description, dialogue and plot movement.

 I was pleasantly surprised by this instalment to The Prison Healer books, some fluff, much laughter, shock and sadness. All the feels and a fantastic expansion to carry us towards what is supposedly the final book in the series. Be prepared to leave with questions, or perhaps save yourself from the turmoil and wait until all the books are out!

The Prison Healer

Title: The Prison Healer
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year: April 2021
Pages: 403

Series: The Prison Healer #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Reading Time: 26 Sep - 3 Oct
Binding: Fairyloot Hardback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:

 Here at Zalindov, the only person you can trust is yourself.

 Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan is a survivor. For ten years, she has worked as the healer in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, making herself indispensable. Kept afloat by messages of hope from her family, Kiva has one goal and only one goal: stay alive.

 Then one day the infamous Rebel Queen arrives at the prison on death's door and Kiva receives a new message: Don't let her die. We are coming.

 The queen is sentenced to the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals. Aware the sickly queen has little chance of making it through the Trials alive, Kiva volunteers to take her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

 But no one has ever survived.

 And with an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva's heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can't escape the terrible feelings that her trials have only just begun.

Review:

 As I've said before, I avoid reading blurbs of books I receive in book box subscriptions, it leaves more room for surprise. Typing out the blurb for my blog I realise quite how much is given away. Interesting indeed and makes the main reason this didn't get 5 stars (the pacing) seem even worse. Towards the end I looked back and realised how slowly this book seemed to develop and now I realise if I'd read the blurb I'd probably have been seething waiting for things to develop past the blurb.

 There are more characters to hate than like in this book but then what can you expect from a prison setting filled with murderers, rapists and thugs? Kiva is a driven character, driven by her role as a healer and driven by her ambition to get out of Zalindov. She is unliked by other prisoners and generally appears to be a relatable character until she appears to dive in to a pool of stupidity in volunteering for the Trial by Ordeal. Someone taking their job a little too seriously. . . Tipp is a wonderful young character bringing some energetic youth and a stutter to our otherwise dreary setting. Then come Jaren, Naari and even Mot. A mix of characters that are somewhat crazy, reliable, mysterious, teasing and more than they seem.

 The fantasy element to this book is subtle. It's briefly explained, with further background given part way through the book. We don't see an awful lot of the magic in this book but the foundations are there for expansion. I think the concept is strong and really enjoyed seeing how this all started and also gave a background to the wider setting of the world.

  We don't go outside of the prison, Zalindov, in this book so there is a small amount of world building given the lack of news coming in to the prison. It's appropriate and allows more detail to be given to the setting we're actually in for the majority of the book, time to expand later.

 All in all, it's quite a long book for the amount of content, there are the beginning of a really good series and I'm excited to see how it develops. My enthusiasm and the rating may not have been adequately explained by the above but the twists towards the end gave the whole book the elevation it needed for me.

The Devil Makes Three

Title: The Devil Makes Three
Author: Tori Bovalino

Publisher: Titan Books
Year: August 2021
Pages: 383
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Horror
Reading Time: 23 - 29 September
Binding: Illumicrate Hardback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:

 When Tess and Eliot stumble upon an ancient book hidden in a secret tunnel beneath their school library, they accidentally release a devil from his book-bound prison, and he'll stop at nothing to stay free. He'll manipulate all the ink in the library books to do his bidding, he'll murder in the stacks, and he'll bleed into every inch of Tess's life until his freedom is permanent.
 Forced to work together, Tess and Eliot have to find a way to re-trap the devil before he kills everyone they know and love, including, increasingly, each other. And compared to what the devil has in store for them, school stress suddenly doesn't seem so bad after all.

Review:

 This is not a book I would have expected to pick up myself but that's the beauty of having subscriptions such as Illumicrate. Receiving something that may push the limits of what you may have picked and introducing some variety to our reading experiences. I think the general theme of the ink and books makes this a generally good pick for a book box subscription and with Illumicrate often toeing the line between adult and young adult this book perfectly represents a book that is young adult based on the main characters ages however has creepy and gory elements pushing it towards adult.

 This book is a major mix of genres, I don't think it fits cleanly in to any genre. Young adult in that it's characters are of the required age. Horror in the gore. Thriller in the suspense. Fantasy in the supernatural. Urban fantasy in the real world setting. Minor romance.

 The horror element is what is going to make people pick this up or stay far, far away. So let's talk about that first. I was not overwhelmed and I am by no means a horror movie or book fan, it's something I only occasionally venture in to however others on the Illumicrate readalong were switching their reading time to ensure they read in daylight and were getting very creeped out. We have gore, lots of gore. Some self harm so trigger warning there. There is general creepiness that you see in paranormal books. I thought it was pretty tame but it is all very subjective. Perhaps if it was a film I would have been worse, I think visuals get to me more than words.

 I thought the setting and immersion in to the real world as an urban fantasy was fantastic. A library being our main setting, what better way to appeal to readers? We're mainly set in the US but have references to the UK. It doesn't require a whole lot of world building and we're kept to a few other buildings and personal spaces so that it's more personal. What really impressed me was the situational setting, our characters experience money and health problems and it is just so relatable and real. It added a whole other element to the book for me outside of what I usually feel in fantasies I read more regularly.

 We centre around Tess and Eliot, two characters from wildly different backgrounds. Tess is overworked and stressed out due to family money troubles. She's got the responsibility of her sister (who's a little brat) and herself. Throughout the book it feels like she's somewhat burned out and it give this edge of blasé that I think dampened the horror elements when she experienced them. She's a trooper and just gets on with things which I can totally relate to. Eliot is a rich boy with and English accent and a very different motivation to protect his family. Separated parents with an ill mother, he is on a mission and his drive is admirable.

 I did get to a point during the middle where I felt the plot was moving quite slowly. It just seemed like nothing was moving and side characters and plot were introduced as a bit of filler. It got better and it didn't necessarily stop me from wanting to read at any point. It probably developed that same as a typical horror/thriller plot. 

 As much as young adult fantasy has it's tropes I think thriller and horror really lends itself to some clichés, the ending had me rolling my eyes at how cliché it as. I don't particularly care for things 'fitting the genre', that doesn't make it good. So I found a few areas were quite predictable in this way, not in that I knew where things were going like I often do with a YA fantasy but that I wasn't very often surprised by the book.

 As far as we can currently see this is set up as a standalone and I don't think has any business in expanding further than this, it was an enjoyable break from my norm but taking it further I think would be stretching the capabilities of the story too much. It was a good book, let's leave it at that!