The first book left me speechless that ending was everything. I loved it so much that i rushed to netgalley to request the second book. The squeals of delight that came from my mouth when i was approved were proof of how excited i was to continue this series.

This book did not disappoint at all. Kiva is an amazing character and reading her growth and discovering who she is and what she wanted was incredible. Jaren is just swoon worthy he's just everything! Caldon is my favourite his humour it's great i love that he's a bit damaged! I just loved learning more about the characters in this book and where thy came from.

We get to learn more about the magic system in this book and it was great. I love every aspect of it!

Yet again Lynette Noni left it on a major cliffhanger and i am not ok! I don't no when the third book is due for release but i needed it yesterday!!

Solid 5 stars!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 - The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the early copy of this book.

I devoured this book in a day!

It kept me hooked, even if I did see some plot twists coming. It was the perfect sequel - I even dare say I liked it better than the Prison Healer!

Kiva’s moral dilemma over the right thing to do and holding onto old grudges was definitely relatable on a personal level for me.

I could understand her holding onto her remaining family after being separated from them for most of her life, however you could see from the first time she met Zuleeka that her long lost sister couldn’t care less about her and was going to blame everything on her in the end, so that was not a big plot twist for me in the end. It is YA - this sort of addition was expected, so I didn’t mind that much.

The slow burn romance between her and Jaren was also another typical YA element, but I didn’t mind - I actually enjoyed watching them circle each other.

I overall really enjoyed this book, it was a page turner and pulled me into the world.

I cannot wait for the next one!

Let me just start by saying there is quite literally nothing I wouldn’t do for Caldon, and I think Lynette Noni might actually enjoy torturing readers with these endings? Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

This was SO good. I loved The Prison Healer so much, and I wasn’t sure how this could possibly live up to the twisty ending of book one, but it did!

Things I Liked:
♥ The characters were SO solid. Kiva and Jaren? Absolutely obsessed with them. I think I’ve made my feelings on Caldon pretty clear, and I just loved the rest of the royals and rebels. Although a lot of new characters were introduced, they all felt super intentional and well fleshed out, and even the characters who made me want to scream, I loved reading about.
♥ Kiva’s internal struggle was so well done. I had a feeling of dread in my stomach from the 20% mark, wondering what she was going to do. I really felt her love for each of the sides pulling her apart, and I genuinely wasn’t sure where she was going to fall.
♥ Although most of this book took place in the city, I really enjoyed getting to see little bits and pieces of the city and the surrounding towns. None of it felt like too much information, but it felt super vivid.
♥ Lynette Noni’s writing is just so easily digested. There’s tons of detail on the magic, the characterization, the history, and none of it feels like a slog at any point. She makes it enjoyable to learn the backstory, and it’s nearly impossible to put the book down when you reach the end of the chapter.

Things I Disliked:
♡ Can I just take a moment to complain about that cliffhanger?! Ugh, how long until Book #3... but seriously, that's it. I loved everything.

Overall Thoughts:
This series has been one of my biggest happy surprises of 2021. I am absolutely head over heels in love with Lynette Noni’s writing and absolutely devastated that I now have to wait for book three (once again, THAT CLIFFHANGER?!) This book was an absolute joy.

Content Warnings: Abuse, drug addiction, illness, injury, violence, mentions of sexual assault (of a minor, I think, but I wasn’t totally certain!) mentions of whipping, drugging, death.

Well, if this isn't the most perfect sequel to an already great first book! I loved "The Prison Healer" when I read it not too long ago and was pumped for the sequel. It turned out even better than I expected.

"The Gilded Cage" takes everything its predecessor did well and does it even better. The writing is superb, with the exception of some minor parts of dialogue that seemed a little too 'modern' to fit the setting. They don't really matter though and definitely don't dampen the flow of the story. The story is an exciting spin on tropes we already know from ya fantasy, and this time around I didn't see all the twists coming (which was my main criticism of the first book). Some plot developments are still predictable, but some twists really surprised me.
The characters are mostly wonderfully written and complex, too. Kiva is an amazing, loveable protagonist that I love to follow on her journey. I was a little disappointed because she didn't have as much agency as in the first book, she was quite a bit more passive this time around. Though I'm sure this will change drastically in the third book. Jaren is a little toooooo perfect and could use some more edges but I still very much liked him. Naari doesn't have as much to do as I hoped she would, but she still remains Queen of my heart. Tipp is as adorable as ever. And Caldon is now pretty firmly my new favourite character. Kiva's siblings are complex and interesting too, and I do hope that Tor becomes a more prominent figure in the next book because I adore him. Suffice to say, I think the characters in this series are absolutely great. There is a lot more character development, too, at least when it comes to Kiva. A lot of the other characters, Jaren especially, lack much development, which was an issue in the first book, too. This is, I think, definitely something Noni could work on in her next works.

The romance is deliciously slow-burn and I love that there is a connection between Kiva and Jaren that goes beyond romance, too. They've been through hell together, they're both traumatized, and while I wish this part of both their characters would have gotten even more focus, it was well done. I rarely really get emotionally involved in ya romance anymore, to be honest, but these two are just so adorable! Also, I sure do hope that Caldon and Tor get to know each other real well come the next book, because damn the potential is there and I am i n t r i g u e d.

I'm not the biggest fan of ending every book in a series, or trilogy, with a cliffhanger. Noni, so far, does exactly that and I admit I saw it coming when I neared the end of the book and sighed. At the same time, I absolutely need book 3 n o w, so I guess the cliffhanger still worked for me. It's also a super fast-paced, quick read that I couldn't put down and thus devoured in a single sitting.
This series is way too unknown and should be way more popular. I gave the first book 4 stars, this sequel deserves 4,5 rounded up to 5 stars. Now, if Lynette Noni could give me that third book please...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc!!

WOW!!!! This series is truly great. Lynette Nono takes commonly used tropes in YA fantasy and completely flips them on their head! Just when I thought I predicted something BAM I was wrong.

I absolutely loved this, just wow.

10/10!!!