Firstly I want to say thank you to Hachette for sending me a copy of this amazing book. The Caged Queen is book two in the Iskari series, started with The Last Namsara.
I think my favourite thing about this series is that we’ve had different main characters for both books. I loved Asha in book one, and was a little wary of having book two be all about Roa. But I needn’t be wary! Because I loved Roa. Even more than Asha. Yeah she makes some silly decisions – but we all do that! Her struggles and heartbreak were still very real and relateable! And Dax. He’s a cinnamon roll and I love him. So maybe that why I love the book so much – because we get Dax as a main character! And the relationship between Dax and Roa was really interesting to watch. While I doubt I’ll ever be in a similar situation, I can believe the thought processes Roa was going through in trying to figure out their relationship.
The beginning of the book was a little slow. There was a lot of setting up – separating what happened in the previous book to now, and introducing Roa as a substantial character. So it did take some time to get into the story. But even in the slow section, things were mentioned that became important later on, so I didn’t mind too much.
I also quite enjoy the way that Ciccarelli gives the historical information and mythology in the book. Having a different one colour and font makes it very obvious that what you’re reading is necessary to the story, but not PART of the story. Just like really well placed footnotes that we actually read. Because no one reads footnotes 😝
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I much preferred it to its predecessor The Last Namsara – even though there weren’t as many dragons in this one. But the story was great, it gave us exciting new characters and Dax! I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ out of 5 stars. I can’t wait for the next one!
Have you read The Last Namsara? Or other books with dragons!? Let me know your thoughts!
Happy readings loves!
-B x
Bec's Bookish Reads 