King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 507

Publisher: Orion Publishing 

Released: 9th of February 2017 

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

What I Have to Say 

This series gets better with each book. This book is where the war between red and silver really begins. It was interesting to see the different perspectives in the book, to see the fight from three different sides, the things that Mare could find out from her place as Maven's captive, the red guard's actions from the point of view of Cameron and the political breakdown of Maven's rule from the point of view of Evangeline, who I'm starting to adore. 

What I liked most though was the way that Maven and Mare's relationship was treated. Obviously the love triangle between Mare, Cal and Maven has been evident from book one and I was worried that they would make him one of those character who is evil but still has the character's heart. But with Maven, the love is all one way. Mare despises him and reacts to his attempts at affection with revulsion and fear, in the way that she should after everything he's done. It's refreshing to see that even though there's some explanation for why he is the way he is, it's not a way to dismiss everything he's done and make him a viable love interest again. 

But of course Mare still has feelings for him. Not for Maven the king, but for the boy she thought she knew. The boy who was being controlled by his mother. The confusion in Mare was really interesting to see, the way she wanted to see the boy she remembered while still reminding herself constantly that he isn't that boy, that he's done a lot of harm even without his mother to force him to. 

This series is doing some really interesting things and I can't wait for the next book! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Orion for providing me with this copy for review.