First of all, thanks to Daphne Press because it's always so kind to grant me its arcs.
Rate: 2-5 stars
Unfortunately, this is the kind of review I never imagined to write about a book written by Elizabeth May.
I'm so disappointed, because I really love this author and here and there I saw glimpses of her beatiful writing style, but that's not enough to make me enjoy this story. Maybe it wasn't the right time to start it, maybe it was me who didn't pay the appropriate attention to the worldbuilding and the plot, but I constantly had the feeling to be reading a first draft, not just an uncorrected version.
The structure of the story is built around several events that yes, make the reader and the characters move forward and adapt to different situations, but their reactions, their interactions seemed trivial and obvious. The ending too is confused, without great cliff-hangers or surprises.
The main figures are interesting considered as individual units, but - even if I LOVE romance in a novel - when together, were just a mix of "your mine"; "I want him/her" and at a certain point the whole thing became just boring and already seen. And I'm really displeased, because I see the potential and I appreciated both Vitaly and Sera/Galya and Vasya... Even when Vasily discovers Sera's secret the entire situation resolves itself in... few pages? Too fast and a little bit too "easy", maybe.
Furthermore, the main antagonist is an empress that seems, at the beginning, to be this way because others (and the events marking her life) forced her to, but this wasn't explained more or deepened, leaving Isadora just as a mad woman who wants power, with distorted feelings for Katya (?) and her daughter.
One of the only thing I appreciated was the sisterly bond between Sera and Galya, strong and consistent during the whole book, and the fact that Sera's zmeya is attracted by Vitaly (there will be an explanation in volume two...? I hope so), and I can understand her, because without his endless praise to Sera, he's my favorite character.
At this point I'm divided whether continue the series or say goodbye to it. What I'm sure of is that Elizabeth could do so much better...that's a real pity.

This is just not for me. I adore the premise but I just cannot ever get myself to pick it back up again.

I really really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I couldn't get into it. I DNFd it.

I also don't like the cover, but to each their own, I'm sure it was picked for a reason and there are people who do.

To Cage A God

By Elizabeth May

Audiobook :- 17 hours & 50 Minutes

Narrator :- Sofia Engstrand

Book :- 384 Pages

- Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia; the sisters have grown up to become living weapons. Raised to overthrow an empire – no matter the cost....

Review...

I want to say thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I have been reading this on and off for the last few days and was excited to see what story unfolded because the description sounds amazing (gods being blended into the bones ), but unfortunately I think the story put forward really didn't work for me & I could not get into the book nor the characters. I saw potential but the story come across lacking but felt like it was trying to concentrate to much on matters not as important to the story with some parts felt like they were dragging because i really didn't really care about the queen/ruler woman and her daughter, I listened to 85% before I DNF'D the book.

this story did not work for me but if u are looking for adventure with little character building then this might work for some.

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc copy of this book for an honest review.

Elizabeth May's - To cage a god is a unique read.

I got through the first 60%, but dnf. I wanted to love it more. But unfortunately it was not for me.

"You were the one thing my mother got right."

Two sisters and their efforts to unseat a viciously cruel monarchy amidst magic, mystery, and romantic entanglements.

This was quite good!

I was immediately sucked into the worldbuilding in this one - trapping the spirit of a living god in your bones for power, and even reverse engineering the process for leverage in a revolution?!? Amazing. Stunning. Spectacular! The classism and oppression were also fairly well explored, both in the different kinds of trauma living through that can create and the different ways everyday concepts can be weaponised by the ruling class (language, religion etc).

The characters were great, well-defined with distinct wants/needs/flaws etc. I really appreciated that our villainous monarch Irina had some depth as well, both in her few treasured relationships and her personal identity as a female ruler struggling to hold onto power. Some very good chronic illness/disability rep as well!

The m/f couple were very compelling with a delightful dynamic I couldn't get enough of. The sapphic couple were very sweet, more of an insta-attraction magical bond kind of thing. They had some lovely moments, but perhaps because of the nature of the bond they felt a little less developed and a little more fast tracked. They're in a pretty stressful environment for 90% of the book so it makes sense, but I would have liked a little more of them.

If I struggled with anything in this one, it was the almost relentless use of descriptive imagery. I love lyrical prose, I love metaphor and simile, but it just didn't stop! It felt like every other moment was set aside to describe what scent the air was thick with, how someone's voice was akin to a sharpened blade, how someone's body was a battleground. In some scenes it lent itself to the moment beautifully, providing atmosphere and richness. In others it completely undercut the tension of the scene. If the asides for imagery are pulling me out of the world, I feel like they're not doing their job.

Despite this, I had a pretty good time with To Cage a God! I'm definitely looking forward to diving back into this world in the future.

Both the main protagonists are young women with grim backstories which shape their current lives and form them into the rebels they are. Part of their history is a shared one, which accounts for their particular closeness. I always enjoy books which feature strong friendships between women.

The struggle between the obscenely wealthy alurea, the ruling class whose might comes from the dragons imprisoned within their bodies, and the truly wretched commoners who scrabble to get by on starvation rations is the narrative engine of this book. The setting is an empire that looks very much like Imperial Russia back in the days before the Revolution. As Sera and Galina work towards putting their plan in place to bring down the very unpopular Empress, I found the tone a tad bleak. Which isn’t a criticism of the book – but more than I struggled with the downbeat mood due to my own mental state at present.

However, the inevitable seriousness around a gritted struggle for survival against a merciless and very powerful oppressive ruling class is nicely alleviated by the sparky relationship between Sera and her former lover. He pops up right at the wrong moment, endangering Sera’s careful plotting and appears blithely unconcerned at her fury. After following the women, who aren’t exactly brimful of careless joy as they start to execute a plot that could see them facing an agonising death – his humour and real joy at having found Sera is a shaft of light in the gloom.

I was fond of both Sera and Galina, but my particular concern was for poor Katya – the handmaiden to the Empress, who has to endure all sorts of humiliations and painful punishments meted out by her harsh, capricious mistress. I had figured that Sera and Galina would probably survive to the end of the book – but I wasn’t sure that Katya would. So I followed her progress through the plot with real concern.

Overall, this is the engaging, well-written adventure I was expecting. And while it might not have the fresh immediacy of the Falconer trilogy which had me devouring those books in greedy gulps and recalling the series with fond clarity years later, I still had a thumping good time with the characters and look forward to reading the second slice of this adventure in due course. While I obtained an arc of To Cage a God from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Thank you to Daphne Press and Elizabeth May for an arc copy of To Cage a God. I started off enjoying this book with a smashing first chapter, but to be honest I wasn’t gripped by the characters or the plot much further than chapter 8. Nothing wrong with the writing or the premise of the book, it wasn’t the story for me in the end and I had to DNF. I hope to try read it again as a physical book, sometimes some stories need to be read and appreciated in a book form not on kindle to be read.

Having read and loved Elizabeth May's Falconer trilogy and the Seven Devils duology she co-authored, I had high expectations for To Cage a God. While I loved the premise, the novel fell a bit flat for me overall. We're thrown right into events at the start, and are reading from multiple POV. However, it took a while for me to get invested in the story, and I always felt like the reader was kept a step or two behind the characters from whose POV we were reading. For instance, it took ages for the nature of the relationship between Sera and her lover to be clarified. As far as the Gods from the title are concerned, I felt that we didn't learn as much about them as I would have liked.

I enjoyed the slavic setting, the plotting and planning of the revolutionaries, and both Sera and Galina's romances. I will definitely see where the series goes in the next installment, even if this series opener didn't quite live up to the high expectations I had.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Daphne Press for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: violence, imperialism, eugenics, chronic pain, ableism, war, death, child abuse, murder, self-harm, addiction and implied suicide
“To Cage A God” is the beginning of an epic, Russian-inspired series set around a world where humans trap the souls of dragon gods inside of them for magic. I’ve been a huge Elizabeth May fan since I read “Seven Devils” (co-authored with L.R. Lam) so I was delighted to be approved to read this book. It follows sisters, Sera and Galvina, in the aftermath of a life experimented on by the leader of a rebellion, and their mother, to be the vessels of violent dragon gods available only to the royal family- granting them incredible power but also making them reviled by the common people. Having escaped years ago after their mother Irina was executed by Empress Isidora, the sisters have been living on the run for years, struggling with their cursed existence. As the country is pushed to the verge of war by the empress’ actions, the sisters return to the rebellion they abandoned to end the reign that always causes destruction and blood. Galina is sent into the palace as a spy, working to keep herself and her destructive powers under control as she seeks out weaknesses; her only ally ends up being the hidden, lonely but beautiful princess Vasilisa who has her own hidden secrets and a mind sharp enough to discover Galina’s secrets. Meanwhile, Sera is forced to reunite with her estranged, passionate lover Vitaly, the new rebel leader resisting the royal family, before he can destroy the entire palace with Galina still inside with his bombings- though if he ever finds out the truth about her, Sera will be the next to die.

This is a dark, fast-paced fantasy with gorgeously morally grey characters in a massively immersive world. I adored Sera and Galina for different reasons, but my absolute favourite character in this is Vasilisa because she has such a brilliant storyline; her experiences as someone with chronic pain and disability (caused by her god) were so relatable and powerful but she also shone in every scene she was in with Galina. Their relationship is a gorgeous forbidden love set in the corrupt and violent court, while Vitaly and Sera’s romance is more passionate, full of hurt and a destructive past. The main highlight of this book for me, after the magic system and the gods, was the sisterhood between Galina and Sera; their love for each other is one of the most prominent themes throughout the book and I liked how it ended. This book won't be for everyone, it's brutal and the twisted relationships combined with court intrigue are so tense, but I'm delighted I read it.

To Cage a God has a unique and creative magic system, along with vivid characters and an interesting plot.

I initially struggled with keeping track of who was who - between the similarity of some of the names (particularly in the audiobook where the patterns were similar) and the variety of nicknames they’re referred to by - however once I got my head around it I was completely engaged, and I absolutely loved the magic system.
The way it was slowly revealed to us, along with the information we still need, was intriguing, and kept me guessing.

I would recommend To Cage a God for fans of interesting magic systems and Eastern European inspired fantasy, and will definitely continue the series when the sequel is released.

The premise seemed more unique than the story ended up being. The writing felt little disjointed and it was hard to connect with the characters or really care about their lives. I'm sure this book will find it's fans, but sadly it left me quite cold.

To Cage A God is a fast-paced, exciting fantasy novel with one of the most fascinating magic systems. In this world, dragon gods are forcefully removed from their realm and bound to the mortals, giving them powers depending on the dragon’s ability. The fact that a dragon is grafted into a person’s bones and able to communicate with them is original and fascinating. I hope to learn more about the bound in the following books in this new series. I loved the main characters, especially Sera and Galina's close relationship. Moreover, the novel shows the characters planning a rebellion and discussing different routes to overthrowing the monarch, which I found very interesting. I will definitely reach for book two in this series.

I felt like this book was initially written with a different outlook in mind.

It felt like it had more to it that the usual romantasy: steamy romance with a fantasy gloss, the caging of the dragon gods was interesting, as was the world, the Russian inspired setting, and the idea of monarch worship, turning the ruling classes into a religion, conflating secular rule with faith. But then it felt like there were elements forced in because of the success of other books, the gods weren't just gods, they were dragon gods, not relevant really, and nothing dragon-like happened, they were just referenced as scaly and with talons, there was a late mention of the dragon gods having mates, and so their human carriers were like mated pairs, which, to me, ruined a perfectly good romantic relationship. And then we have the not really enemies-to-lovers, a two people with a different approach to a similar end, but with nothing between them, seemingly, except a lot of sexual attraction, and for the male character especially, a worrying almost obsessive need for his lover in that it defined everything he did, he just followed her around on and off page, wreaking havoc for everyone because he's so bad and morally grey, except when it comes to her. Having that type of alpha/mate style relationship in an otherwise interesting and relatively nuanced story setting didn't sit right with the rest of the book, and really didn't do the characters or their relationship any favours.

It felt like an afterthought and unnecessary, for me, the book could have done without the hetero romantic relationship completely and been better off, or even kept it in, but kept the lovers at a distance from each other, their opposing methods and ideologies not allowing their relationship any space, that would have been more interesting than all of their differences suddenly being resolved because sex happens. It also wasn't helped that the two sisters' romantic relationships seemed to happen at precisely the same time.

Luckily, despite having these romantasy elements, they don't happen much, aren't the real focus of the story, and come into the book pretty late in the plot, impacting none of it, so for the most part I can rate the book as if they weren't there. I liked a lot of this book, and wanted even more from it, which is a good sign, it was also a super quick read for more which suggests that the pacing was right, there was a decent balance between character relationships and plot, it just fell a little short for me once it seemed to fall into the trap of an over-awareness of what sells. A pretty decent 4 stars otherwise.

Russian set Romantasy vibes from the author of the under appreciated (but phenomenally written!) The Falconer books. This was a really enjoyable read with some unique ideas that I don't see in other Fantasy books (which is a very good thing!)

Unfortunately, I did not get on with this book and had to DNF at 8%!
I felt that the writing was very disjointed and I had to reread parts to understand what was going on (I still don't toh). It also felt like a lot and nothing happened at the same time!
As I only read 8%, I only got to meet two characters and I couldn't connect with them from what I read of them.
The 35 pages I read were regrettably not engaging enough to get me to continue reading.
I do not enjoy DNFing books and I really was excited for this one but honestly, the thought of picking it up filled me with dread and it almost put me in a reading slump.

The reason why I chose this book was the premise of a Russian romantic fantasy book with gods and LGBTQ+ representation?! I was all in.
There were very interesting bits that I wished were more explored, like the politics, the relationships in a more mature setting and writing style, as well as the sister's relationship (It fell short for me). The banter was very entertaining at points (If you know me, you know I really like that good banter).

However, I'm disappointed to say this book fell short for me. The writing didn't hook me in the first two chapters, and at points, I had to force myself not to skim parts. The plot felt very generic, and maybe because it reads very YA, it took me out of the actions at points where I was meant to be invested in both the characters and the plot. It still leaves me stunned how books can be advertised as new adults but still read very much as YA, especially when there's sexual content, but the YA tone makes it seem very inappropriate.

I was struggling in between giving it 1.5 and 2. But I do believe this book had a lot to go for, but it fell short because of what I said before. It has a lot of potential to grow, especially with such a cool concept as gods trapped inside people's bodies.
How cool is that???!!

I absolutely loved this book soo much, and was so excited when I read the blurb and it also said it was suitable for fans of Leigh Bardugo because I strongly agree. The book was packed with so much action, adventure and is completely ruthless in its portrayal of Russian history and war and although there are a lot of characters it felt easy to follow and flowed really well for a fast paced read.

The story follows sisters Galina and Sera who set out to end the injustice beseaching the Russian revolution taking place around them and to bring down the empire, after their mother was brutally killed for being a rebellion. However they are not your normal sisters as their mother entwined, bound and trapped gods within their very being, a secret that nobody knows.
I loved the strong sisterly bonds but also loved seeing their own individual relationships blossom between Sera and Vitaly, and Galina and Vasilisa.

I thought that the depth of the Russian history would make this a really heavy read but I thoroughly enjoyed it and flew through the pages!

I wanted to love this book because when I first read the blurb it had so many things I usually like, but in the end it was an okay read with some parts I thoroughly enjoyed and others that fell a little flat for me. I think my main problem was the pacing, which was slower than what I usually like for a good chunk of the story. This definitely made it a longer reading experience and I found myself a little confused with the worldbuilding at times which is inspired by Imperial Russia. However, I enjoyed the magic and the dragon gods as it was a good concept.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC!

This was not the book for me and I’m honestly not sure why. It didn’t really hook my attention at all, despite the concept of caging gods and borrowing their magic being quite a interesting concept. But despite how interested I was to see this play out, I just couldn’t get into the actual plot.

The one thread line that I did enjoy though was the relationship between Vasilisa and Galina. Most of the times that the story was about the other characters, I was impatient to get back to Vasilisa and Galina.

The disability rep was very good as well. Vasilisa’s illness was sensitively dealt with while still showing an accurate portrayal of a chronic illness. I enjoyed how the relationship with her mother was impacted by this and the way it played out. The ending was especially impactful without turning into inspiration porn. It was very well done.

The narrator was fine and I liked how she pronounced the russian words but nothing particularly stood out for me about her performance.

Though this book wasn’t for me, it was really well written so if the ideas intrigue you, I would recommend you try it for yourself.