Cage of Deceit

****

4 Stars/5

Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours for giving me this book to review.

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Allyssa appears to be the ideal princess of Emperion- she is beautiful, elegant, and refined. She spends her days locked in a suffocating cage, otherwise known as royal court. But at night, Allyssa uses her secret persona- that of a vigilante- to hunt down criminals and help her people first hand.

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 country 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 neighbouring kingdom, she finds herself feeling even more stifled than before. To make matter worse, the prince has a 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.

Review

Cage of Deceit is a really enjoyable YA fantasy novel which is fast paced and very addictive as I read it in under a day. I have not read the prequel series to this book, True Reign, but I did not feel I missed much and could easily read it. It has a slow-build romance but not as much action as I was expecting, but I foresee more in future books. I kind of got a Pride and Prejudice feel to this book as it had a lot of first impressions and how they can be inaccurate.

Allyssa is a fighter, stubborn and does not like to feel trapped however, is not very curious as people keep on mentioning that they have important things to discuss with her but she never wonder about what it might be. Odar is handsome and charming but is more suited to court life that politics and strategy. Jarvik is intelligent, distrustful and can be cautious and arrogant.

The ending would have been a big cliffhanger if I had not guessed the twist from very near the beginning of the book but it was still a good ending. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series and the original series in this book. I would recommend Cage of Deceit to people who enjoyed The Orphan Queen and fans of YA fantasy books.

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You can purchase Cage of Deceit at Amazon UK and Amazon USA

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