Review--The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

 

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.

The Caged Queen is the second book in Kristen Ciccarelli's Iskari trilogy and I was pleased to learn that it's a trilogy that will follow different characters that interact with one another! These are always fun as we did occasionally see glimpses of Asha and Torwin in this one, but largely, this was Roa and Dax's story!

Roa made a deal with Dax that if she married him, she would lend him the use of her army to help him dethrone his father in the takeover of Firgaard. All was successful, until it wasn't. Roa wanted Dax to use his powers as king to help give her people the freedom they deserved as they are the scrublanders, the ones who were forced into slavery by the old Firgaard king. She is struggling to get better rights for her people so they can be independent and not continue to beholden to Firgaard and forever remain under its thumbs. But Dax is not the king she thought he'd be.

Years ago, Dax would visit Roa's kingdom where he would be tutored throughout the summer as his father thought him slow and he needed better "training" for the day he'd eventually be king. These were the good old days when Roa's twin sister, Essie was still alive and the three of them were eventually the best of friends, until the accident that killed Essie instead of Dax.

Although Essie died, her spirit never moved on and instead she became a hawk, the one that is Roa's constant companion and the two still share their telepathic gift and can communicate with one another. Roa can still visit with Essie on the Relinquishing day, a sort of "holiday" where families remember and honor their deceased loved ones and sometimes, these loved ones who have not moved on, can come back on this day and visit. Roa would do anything to have her sister back the way she was before she died...and that's when a peculiar opportunity presents itself.

Roa's marriage to Dax was rushed and it was never consummated, so technically it can still be broken. Roa is appalled by Dax as he's constantly flirting with whatever girl is in front of him and while Roa never shares his bed, she can hear that he clearly shares it with someone every night. So when her ex-betrothed, Theo, comes to her with a plan to dethrone Dax and let Roa rule, Roa hears him out but is still hesitant. If she were uncovered to be plotting against the king, it would mean her death, just as it had meant for Asha, who was able to escape and go on the run. But then Theo says he knows someone who knows of a way for Roa to get her sister back whole and complete. She will just need a magical weapon and use it to kill the king.

This book was yet another whirlwind of adventure! The plots of deception that were happening ran thick with tension. I never could figure out if I liked Roa or not, or if I even liked Dax or not! It was hard to pick a side as they both didn't seem to be all good or all evil but tended to dance the sidelines between the two. I was deeply intrigued to see how far this deception plot would go and it wasn't too surprising to figure out what would eventually happen!

I was a bit disappointed that the dragons were not as prominent this time around. I think we saw one every once in awhile and again at the end, but sadly this was not a dragon book as much as the first one was. But there was still a good deal of magic going on as we learned about Essie's predicament of being in hawk form and what it would take to set her free once and for all.

Once again we had some flashbacks that were interspersed between chapters. These are not as distracting as I thought they would be and I actually looked forward to these moments as they revealed quite a bit about the past and the connections these characters had formed back then to shape them to where they were at now, relationship wise.

Once again, the romance in this one was very much on the side. Again, we were teased with little moments of bigger things to come which was a nice change of pace again. A good slow burn does wonders after having so much of it just be put on display.

The ending was bittersweet. Thankfully there were no tears this time while reading. I still experienced an array of emotions but I was not all out bawling like I did in the first book and for that I was grateful! Lol. I am deeply curious to see what the final book of the series will be about as I see that it will follow Safire this time around! If you like fantasies with a magical twist and plots deeply rippled with deception and intrigue...and a dash of dragons then you will definitely enjoy this one! While it follows The Last Namsara in terms of plot details, you wouldn't really "need" to have read it in order to enjoy this one, but you will have a greater sense of who these characters are and where they come from.

Overall Rating 4/5 stars