Cage of Deceit by Jennifer Anne Davis
Mild Fantasy. 294 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Allyssa appears to be the ideal princess of Emperion–she’s beautiful, elegant, and refined. She spends her days locked in a suffocating cage, otherwise known as the royal court. But at night, Allyssa uses her secret persona–that of a vigilante–to hunt down criminals and help her people firsthand.
Unfortunately, her nightly escapades will have to wait because the citizens of Emperion may need saving from something much bigger than common criminals. War is encroaching on their kingdom and in order to protect her people, Allyssa may have to sacrifice her heart. Forced to entertain an alliance through marriage with a handsome prince from a neighboring kingdom, she finds herself feeling even more stifled than before. To make matters worse, the prince has stuck his nosy squire, Jarvik, to watch her every move.
Jarvik is infuriating, bossy and unfortunately, the only person she can turn to when she unveils a heinous plot. Together, the unlikely pair will have to work together to stop an enemy that everyone thought was long gone, one with the power to destroy her family and the people of Emperion. Now the cage Allyssa so longed to break free from might just be the one thing she has to fight to keep intact. In order to save her kingdom, she will have to sacrifice her freedom, her heart, and maybe even her life.
My Review:
Y’all my best friend sent me this book, and my kindle said the book was about to expire while I was in the middle of it. I’ve never read so fast in all my life. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and very much look forward to the rest of the series!
Cage of Deceit is a page-turning story packed with action, intrigue, and just a hint of a simmering sweet romance. I think one of my very favorite parts of this book was all of the political intrigue. I love seeing how politics work out in fictional realms. I don’t know why, but I do. And this book was far from short of it. Though there was a map in the beginning, I did struggle a little maintaining the geographical image in my head throughout the story. I never felt confused or lost, but sometimes I did feel a little upside down and not sure where things around me were. (Part of why I prefer physical copies of books–so I can flip back and forth to the map at the beginning with ease!) I really enjoyed the double life that Allyssa led and seeing her struggle with maintaining them both, with balancing them, and with merging them together in some regards, too. I liked how she was true to her character in both settings. I must admit I did call several of the surprises in the book pretty early on. It was a bit predictable in some regards, but still very well done and I didn’t really mind the predictable elements. And, there are still a few theories I have yet to see proved or disproved, so we’ll see what’s still in store.
The characters were fascinating to me in this story. There are soooo many stories of parents and children who just don’t get along. There’s always animosity or fear or hatred or misunderstanding. Something happens. The parents are far too often the nags and ninnies in modern media and the kids the know-it-alls who don’t need their parents. This was different. I absolutely loved Allyssa’s relationships with her family and friends. Her parents were genuine, strong, and loving leaders as well as good parents. They worked together and displayed a marriage I’d want to look up to. And they loved Allyssa, truly and wholly. There were no ifs ands or buts. I kept waiting for something to happen to drive a wedge between Allyssa and her parents, but til the bitter end, they were a beautiful representation of what family is supposed to be. That doesn’t mean they didn’t make mistakes along the way, but I very much appreciated the honest, genuine portrayal of a good family in this story.
In addition to that, I just really enjoyed some of these characters! Allyssa was, much like the portrayal of her family, what I’d consider a true princess. She wasn’t pompous or full of herself. She did struggle with self-consciousness and sometimes doubt. She struggled with her temper–and she knew it. But she also deeply cares for her family, her friends, and her people. She wanted to make a difference and do not only what was best for her country, but what was right in the situation. I loved her nobility, her loyalty, her integrity, and her honesty. She was stubborn and sassy and I loved her. I liked her childhood friends: the head of her guard and her two ladies and waiting. Her city friend was one of my favorites and I’d have loved a whole book on their time together! I liked her parents and how they interacted with both each other and their people. I liked her parents’ friends. The tight-knit relationships in this story really warmed my heart. Odar and Jarvik were…well, they made me smile. I saw right through them both, but I loved them anyway. Again, they felt real. They had faults and struggles, but they also had hearts that shone out through the darkness. Oh, and our villain. Y’all this guy was goood. I’m definitely hoping to see more of where he comes from and who he is. The characters were a beautiful part of this book.
The setting had variety, but wasn’t confusing and unclear. I enjoyed the contrast between the castle, Allyssa’s cage, and the freedom of the city. I also really liked the bits of nature we were introduced to and almost wish we’d seen more of that. I liked the small glimpses into Allyssa’s character when she was on the roof, in the solarium, in the fields, the woods, on horseback. I liked who she was when she interacted with these serene settings. I loved how she always tilted her face up to catch the warmth of the sun. It felt real and genuine. I’m eager to see the next setting we come to in the sequel!
The book isn’t poorly written by any means, though I did find a few pacing hiccups throughout. I don’t know. Sometimes it just felt like there were absolutely no transitions or time indicators where there should be. One moment we’d be doing A and then in the next sentence we’d be doing B, but it would seem more natural if B were hours later and I couldn’t really tell if the time had passed and there was no transition or if I’d missed something. It didn’t severely interrupt my reading, but there were a few sections that just kind of threw me off. I only found one typo in the book. The overall plot pacing was very well done! Events unfolded in a very timely fashion and kept me intrigued until the very last page.
As for content, the romance was very mild with nothing more graphic than a kiss. There was some mild violence, but again nothing very graphic. The worst I recall is a dagger to a shoulder or a side. Oh, actually, now that I think about it, there was allusion to torture and one…slightly graphic result of said torture. There were two foul words in the story used infrequently. One I personally don’t have an issue with since it was used in a historical and proper context and the other was mild enough I didn’t have an issue with it, personally. The book wasn’t littered with foul language and the writer clearly used them to enhance aspects of the story rather than for a lack of better words to use. I’d be okay with handing this to probably a fifteen year old or so, early teen.
More:
Book 2 in the Reign of Secrets series is Cage of Darkness (4 Stars)
Book 3 is Cage of Destiny (4 Stars)
Book 4 is Oath of Deception
Book 5 is Oath of Destruction
I have read and reviewed the original trilogy on Goodreads. See the links above for more information. These definitely need to be read in order.