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 Review
The Caged Queen follows Roa's quest to free her sister from death and her people from tyranny.
First things first, I didn't like this as much as I liked Asha's story, but that's simply personal preference. I loved Asha desperately so I kind of figured it would be difficult for me to fall as hard for Roa. Plus, there are severely less dragons. I did like her personality; she's stubborn, kind of cold, but deeply loyal to her people, the Scrublanders.
Dax was an asshole and the romance wasn't...to my taste. Seriously, for the majority of the book they hate each other and hardly even speak at all. I'm a huge fan of hate to love romances but I wasn't convinced that they could be as close as they were at the ending.
Essie and the legend of the Skyweaver's Knife is easily my favorite part. (Sorry if it's Skyweaver's Blade!) I adored her plight and the sisters' relationship. They have such a strong bond that even death had to wait to separate them. I would have been perfectly content if this had been a book explicitly about Roa's journey to free Essie, her soul twin. I loved "the hum," it was completely interesting and unique. I WISH SO BADLY that there had been about corrupted spirits because that freaked me the heck out. Give me the creeps, already, puhleasssse!
The politics were alright, again, would have liked to see some more. And poor Roa lacks any and all foresight. I can't blame her, but I kinda do. If you're worried whether Asha and Torwin make an appearance, they do but I am not so happy about them just striding in and saving the day. Come on, Roa! You're THE QUEEN!
