At first I had a hard time getting into the plot. I think it was because I didn't really understand how the characters were linked to each other. In addition, I think that the book is probably written for a younger target group despite the slightly darker theme. I'm also not very fond of romances in fantasy. It was almost too much of that stuff for me. What got me hooked was the revenge motive and the magic they used for the purpose. I liked how the story unfolded and how it ended. The revenge is done but the war is still knocking on the door, so a sequel is welcome.

An exciting fantasy with some romance thrown in. This is a multi pov story following 2 sisters as they try and carry out a revenge plot. It took me a bit of time to get into the book in the beginning but once the story picked up and I started to understand the relationships between the characters a bit more I really enjoyed it. Seeing the story being told by several people instead of 1 or 2 helped build a full picture of everything happening and understanding each characters thinking. I enjoyed all the build up to the final conflict and enjoyed how there was no major cliffhanger at the end but definately left the story open to be continued. If you love a good fantasy this should definitely be on your tbr!

Thankyou to Netgalley for sending me an arc of this book! This book follows a story of two sisters navigating a world set against them and their fight to get it back. I really liked our two main Characters, Sera and Galina and the concept that they had gods with different powers trapped inside them, my only thing was that it felt like we were dropped halfway into the story and we didn’t really get any backstory into how it properly happened. We get mentions here and there of the sisters lives in the past but the explanation of the caged gods was confusing to me because it felt like I had missed 100 pages at the start! That being said I thought the world building was creative and the plot when it got going was really fast paced and gripping. I also didn’t care too much for Katya’s POV so often found myself zoning out whenever she was telling the story. All in all I think the concept is super cool but the delivery missed a few points in my opinion!

‘To Cage A God" is a very fast-paced, relatively easy read with a nicely-executed romance and a decent representation of sapphic themes. However, the narrative lacks depth and character connection, feeling rushed at times, missing crucial backstory and leaving gaps in explanations. For some, it may involve going back a few pages for a reread.

Despite these shortcomings, the Russian-inspired world, political intrigue, and inclusion of god powers within society offer a unique twist. The concept of caging gods was something I wish was explored more.

The multiple POVs, though initially daunting, ensure good pacing and keep the story engaging. However, I could see readers struggling with this pace and switching. While the sapphic love story works well and is the star of the book, i do wish the dragons and Slavic setting could have been further developed.

Overall, this book holds promise for readers seeking modern fantasy with diverse relationships and an intriguing premise.

Rebellion. Revenge. Royalty.

In this tale May gives us anger, romance and sacrifice, told simply but fluidly. It is an adult novel, so prepare for spice and swearing, but is as readable as a YA - fairly linear and not excessively complex.

Two sisters contain gods… the result of dark experiments, they are set to destroy the empire that broke their own families and bring down the unjust regime that leaves the commoners in poverty whilst those blessed with power do as they please. But what - and who - will they sacrifice to achieve their aims?

Featuring:

- villainous queen, just ugh, the worst
- dragon spirits
- chronic pain/illness
- F/F and F/M romance
- loads of stabbing. like, so much
- drug use
- A really unhinged baker, possibly my fave

A dark Russia inspired fantasy about sisterhood, empire and revolution. A unique premise and mythology but unfortunately not well executed. Clichéd characters, rushed storyline and clunky writing meant I almost DNF several times. Not one for me.

This was beautifully unique.


In this book there are 5 POV’s, but we mainly follow two foster sisters, Sera and Galina. We follow them on their journey to save their kingdom with the help of the horrible and amazing power etched into their bones (as well as some amazing allies… and enemies).

This book was truly unique. I really enjoyed the magic system. I’ve read something similar before, but it was executed completely different. The writing was great and the characters likable. I actually enjoyed all 5 POV’s, which is incredibly rare. Of course, I had my favorites, but I still enjoyed them all.

I was a bit hesitant toward one half of the romance at first. Mostly because I prefer meeting a love interest from the beginning and following as the mc falls in love. This was not the case, which I did not think I was going to enjoy, but it was truly incredible. (I would LOVE to get a prequel to this book, btw. It would truly be amazing to follow their relationship from the beginning) The chemistry and banter was great and their relationship really helped build on the story.


———
“You do have a husband,” Anna reminded her. “But I suppose he’ll be less than thrilled when he finds out we destroyed his explosives stockpile.”

Sera rolled her eyes. “The man’s deranged. He’ll probably think I’m flirting with him.”
———


I really loved him, as well. (He was whipped, my dude, as well as a bit insane). I was scared for a bit… but he turned out to be as great as I could have hoped. I love him. He was a bit morally grey (lol), but who doesn’t love that?


———
“My mortality begins and ends with you. It’s always been that way. Always will be.”
———


I enjoyed the other side of the romance as well. It was refreshing to see two people find peace in each other in such a way. I would have liked to have read some more about them. I don’t think their relationship was properly shown. I would hope that we get more of them in the next book.



A big thanks to NetGalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to confess that I expected more and better about this book. It is a fun book, yeah!But if it didn't have a Sapphic relationship between a princess and a rebel it would fall to 2 stars. The most exciting story is that of the empress's maid. The dragons are interesting but I would have liked to have seen more development of their usefulness and reason for being and not leave it all as: they are there and do things. The Slavic setting just makes the story a bit more complicated but doesn't really add much to the plot. All in all it is a book that many modern fantasy readers may like.

I enjoyed the interesting premise but wish we had explored how the god caging occurs to a greater extent. The story was fun and easily digestible, but it was not necessarily anything new or groundbreaking. The overall story felt a little more YA than Adult. The funny and loveable characters made up for the slightly formulaic plot.

For me this book was more YA than adult/NA. For those who enjoy a fast paced, easy read, fantasy with Spice this is a perfect book.

However, this book was lacking in substance for me and lacked in character connection and depth. It all felt quite rushed. It didn't feel as though you were experiencing the world through the characters eyes but more being told this is what happened to them with no experience of reading it and connecting with it. There was a lot of back story and explanations I felt were missing to which made it quite confusing and difficult to follow. Maybe the need for a prequel?

The romance was written quite well and was the standout for me in this story, the spice was OK and there was good representation of the sapphic themes.

I would definitely read more from this author.

I was unable to link this review to good reads as it couldn't find the isbn number so I have posted it manually

To Cage a God follows Sera and Galina, two sisters and rebels, as they use powers normally reserved for the nobility to take down a tyrannic ruler.

The story is very rushed. The two protagonists go from having been on the run for years to planning a revolution in one chapter. Galina starts out so depressed she can't get out of bed, but a few words from Sera are enough to convince her to infiltrate the palace. She also gets over her alcoholism in about 2 paragraphs.

Everything is over explained yet under described. Descriptions of people and places are generic and non specific, with Russian (or at least Russian sounding) words scattered throughout the dialogue to support the vibe. The author seems to be afraid of losing the reader's interest: most of the scenes and chapters are super short, with conversations lasting only a few lines. There's no time to develop anything.

At the same time, we are given way too much explanation for people's motivations and thoughts, and we are often simply told of characters' relationships and skills, instead of being shown through their actions.

...it had forged an unbreakable bond between Galina and Sera...



Katya gave her next words the same consideration as a master strategist in combat.



We are repeatedly reminded of simple facts. These lines are all from the same chapter, all telling us that Empress Isidora could kill Katya whenever she wants:

Her days existed at the whims of a monarch—a harsh word away from being unceremoniously demoted from a prized companion to a footstool for the empress’ weary feet.



Her life had a single trajectory unless she saved Galina.



...Galina’s life depended on the answer.



...tomorrow, she could be kneeling before the throne, with the monarchs boots grinding into her spine.



Characters keep using the word panacea to refer to an experimental drug to increase Galina's godpower. That's not what a panacea is.

The characters all talk like teenagers who've just discovered swearing. The villain is a generic power hungry monarch who flies into rages and executes people for no reason. The F/M romance is enemies to lovers, which means there is a lot of bickering while Sera thinks how infuriating handsome Vitaly is. We get the obligatory knife to throat scene, but at no point did I think that Sera would actually stab the guy. The basis of their conflict also seemed stupid - Sera gets angry every time Vitaly, the revolutionary, does something violent. How does she expect to overthrow the aristocracy without any violence.

I stopped reading 26% in because there was nothing to interest me. I think if you are not bothered by the simplistic prose and want something comfortable, easy to read and familiar, with a Russian setting, you might still enjoy To Cage a God, but I do not personally recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Daphne Press for the digital ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Daphne Press for sharing an e-ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This review is spoiler free.

We follow the story of two the two foster sisters Sera and Galina, strong in personality and power. They are out for justice and revenge against the empress who took away everything they had. In this book they navigate life in the slums with the rebels and cook up a wicked plan to overthrow the empress. This story has major imperial-Russia vibes, it reminded me a bit of Shadow and Bone.

This book is set in quite an unique setting, the world is ruled by a tyrannical aristocracy, where the aristocrats are born with an ancient god bonded to them who lives in their bones. These gods are wrathful and angry to be caged and seek chaos. Due to this power, the aristocracy abuse their power to burn down entire villages and oppress the regular folk. That is until one of the rebels figures out a way to call upon a god and cage them in regular people. This rebel calls upon two gods and traps them in the bones of her two daughters (Sera and Galina).

Overall, I give this book 4 stars. It was a bit difficult to get into the book (especially since I did not see there was a translation guide at the end of the book, and a lot of Russian-style words are used which is a tad confusing). However, after I was about halfway through the book I could no longer put it down! I absolutely fell in love with Galina's storyline and she is my favourite character from the book. I love the different strengths the characters had, Sera is insanely smart and can engineer her way out of anything, Galina is poised and would do anything to protect those she loves, Vasilia doesn't let her physical limitations stop her while most would just give up and is very creative in finding solutions, and lastly Katya is an expert at manipulation due to her years of torture next to the Empress. This book had me on the edge of my seat, especially in the last 80% I pulled an all-nighter to get to the end. I am not completely sure if there will be a sequel, the end is written in such a way that it could be a stand-alone book but also part of a series. Curious to see what is up next!

I’ve been really looking forward to reading To Cage a God and it did not disappoint.
This book is inspired by Russian dark fantasy featuring gods and politics.

I loved the uniqueness of fantasy of how the Dragons being bound into their hosts. I like that each dragon had their own powers. I would have enjoyed learning more about this area too. I felt it would benefit from more depth and potentially helping me understand more.
I don’t think I’ve read a book with any kind of similar magic system.

The story is told from multiple POV’s but mainly between two foster sisters whose mother bound unwilling forbidden gods into them hoping the pair would overthrow an empire.Their mother was killed after being caught as a leader to the faithless rebellion.

I found the characters to be well written and had good depth to them. I loved the characters relationships between each other and found it came across well. I think my favourite character was Galina and I loved her relationship with the Princess!
I loved how the romance was written into the story and it didn’t feel forced. I felt they came together at the right moment.

I really enjoyed the authors writing style and found it easy to follow along. The plot did start off a little slow but that was to be expected with the book starting off. Once it got going I was hooked.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up!

I really enjoyed this one! I loved the two romances and the worldbuilding!

The book follows the POVs of the two sisters: Sera and Galina. Both sisters are headstrong and reliable, very loyal and very protective of each other and those they love. While Sera is more collected and strategic, Galina is more of the 'go with the flow' mentality. Both sisters fell in love with people very different from them and sort of surrendered to their feelings in an endearing way. I liked Sera more because I relate to her more *I'm a thinker lmao* but I enjoyed Galina's POVs too. It was refreshing to see the world through her eyes. While it's said that Galina is more traumatized by what their mother forced her to do, I felt like it was Sera who struggled more with having a god inside her, so I felt little disconnected to what the text was meant to convey and what it did convey to me.

The two romances was actually the best part of the book. Galina's relationship with Vasilisa was enthralling and exciting, as was Sera's relationship with Vitalik. Fiercely loving, wonderfully delightful with a bit of spice. Energetic and full of life and passion. Galina's relationship with Vasilisa felt passionate in a sort of youthful, new and fresh way. Sera's relationship with Vitalik was passionate in a raw, playful and biting kind of way, as in Sera: "I'll break your neck if you do something stupid again", and Vitalik is like "Please, threaten me more, you look so sexy when you do". I enjoyed seeing their relationships evolve in different ways and levels.

The worldbuilding was original. Some people, the alurea, caged gods (as in dragons!) inside themselves in order to use their magic and rule with wrath. But after having capturing dragons within themselves for centuries, things haven't been going so well for them. Actions have consequences, after all. I found the worldbuilding unique and refreshing.

It is Slavic inspired. It did take a bit for me to realize some parts that could have been explained better, but all in all, I'm not knowledgeable enough to tell if it was done well or not.

Overall, it's an exciting, compelling adult fantasy with one f/m and one f/f relationship, both sparkled with spice and delight!

I had been looking forward to “To Cage A God” since I heard about it and it did not disappoint.

I loved the Russian inspired world and the political background to the story interwoven with dragons and magic.

I enjoyed the female dominated main cast of characters and I found it easy to root for the two main protagonists. They were likeable and I loved their sisterly bond and how it was such an important facet of their characters. Their relationship was one of my favourite parts of the story and it’s something I hope to see more of in the next one.

I think the one thing the story would have benefitted from is stronger world building from the start. The pace was quite breakneck and I did find myself having to read back at points to understand the importance of some of the key plot points to get past some confusion.

All in all I really enjoyed and I’m looking forward to the next one. Really hoping that I get to see more of Galina and Sera’s relationship and that we get to delve into some more of the history and get to know the world a bit better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a review.

I've read a few books by Elizabeth May now, and everything I've read so fae is so different from the next.
I really enjoyed this book, I loved the writing style, the plot, Elizabeth Lim's take on fantasy in this book.
Also the cover is just beautiful!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is Imperial Russia with fantasy thrown in told from the perspective of revolutionaries. It's a lot more about the politics, power plays and resistance to bowing to the rich upper classes than it is about fantasy but the addition of god powers adds another dimension of separation from those in power and the poor.

The first 50 pages were a bit of a struggle as the scene was set but after that I was hooked. The idea of gods being caged within people and that only certain people in society house gods was an interesting one and added an extra element to a overarching story that has been done before.

I wasn't convinced by how many POVs there were at first (there are 5 throughout the book), but it actually kept the story going and ensured good pacing. Without these POVs in the narration, I think it would have been difficult to keep things moving.

It's also nice to see a sapphic love story get more focus than a straight love story. While both romantic relationships are prominent, the queer one is definitely more interesting and engaging.

I'm interested to see where the next book goes as this could easily have been a standalone fantasy story.

Loved it! Four women determined to take down an empire. A second chance romance and a forbidden love. What's not to love?

Generally, more than two POVs and multiple romances don't do it for me because I always prefer one character/storyline/romance over the other(s) but To Cage a God was an outlier in that I liked all the POVs and both romances.

A lot of the more recent fantasy romance tends to read like YA with smut, with insipid 20 year old who are not like other girls but have a tendency to make bad decisions. I'm glad to report that there was none of that with Sera, Galina, Anna, Katya and Vasilisa. All of them were intelligent determined women and I loved reading about them. Vitaly was a typical male romance hero in that he was an arsehole who cared nothing about anyone except for Sera but I stl devoured their romance. I wanted to hear more about their exploits pre To Cage a God. The series is crying out for a prequel novel/la. Galina and Vasilisa's romance was felt more emotion driven given they met on page and had no prior history but was equally compelling. I did want more of their flirty conversations though. I tend to roll my eyes at how unnecessarily long some fantasy romances are but I wouldn't have minded an extra 100 - 200 pages for the author to dedicate to the romance and more POV time to Vitaly and Vasilisa.

As well as good romance, I really appreciated the sisterhood between Sera and Galina as well as their friendships with Anna and Katya. I will definitely be reading the sequel.

It seems like 2024 will be a good year for Fantasy Romance.

I really wish I could of liked this a little more than I did, I found it really hard to connect with the characters and I think that’s mainly as it’s in third person PoV which I am not a huge fan off but did get use to. It started off very slow and I really struggled to get into the story, I found it dragged for a long time and had a lot of info dumping and fillers that I am afraid to say bored me. Though it did pick up towards the end I just wish it had happened a little sooner. I really wanted to love this book as I am a fan of the authors The Falconer series but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an EArc in exchange for an honest review.

This beautiful cover houses an unusual take on a fantasy novel where the magic doesn’t belong to the wielder, but a dragon bound into their being. Very imaginative and full of colourful characters. I could see this making a great streaming series.

In this Russian-inspired fantasy land, there is a ruling class called Alurea, whose bodies are inhabited with dragon gods which give them powerful magic and make any uprising for the subjugated classes almost impossible. Years prior to our story, the leader of the resistance found a way to bond the dragon gods to supplicants, using her daughters as Guinea pigs. They’re her secret weapon in the war. When she’s killed, her daughters Sera and Galina go into hiding, until war across the empire breaks out and they know they have to finish their mission and take out the alurea once and for all.

There’s a lot to be liked about this book. I really liked the Russian influence and the language. As a lover of language I was fascinated by the names, the nicknames and the pet names. I also really liked the way the dragon and the person were warring within one body, two souls in one cage and the cost of the power. I do wish the story would have elaborated more about how the two were bound together. Is it spirit? Is the dragon physically inside someone’s skin? I couldn’t quite get a handle on that.

I didn’t love this story. For me it had a lot of problems. Firstly, I feel like it started in the middle and all the interesting stuff happened before the book started. How did their evil (but clever) mother figure out how to cage a god? How was she caught? It felt like a really interesting character was marginalised. Same with the empress, we never delve enough into her.

There were multiple POVs which ordinarily I enjoy, and while I understand why the device was used here, I don’t think the characters were developed enough to warrant it. I even had problems with the two main characters. I found Sera and Galina’s plan (which is essentially the plot) really hard to follow. It was a strange blend of not enough happening to drive the plot forward and too much that didn’t take us anywhere. Also when something big did happen and we were in the action sections, I found it incredibly chaotic, I couldn’t work out how I’d gotten from a-b and found myself flicking back to see if I’d missed something.

This could comfortably be described as a romantasy but it actually doesn’t lean far enough in either direction. The romance is superficial and the fantasy is confusing. The breadth of the world was not clearly constructed in my mind, and neither were the actions of the characters, I understood the why but not the what.

This book has been recommended alongside books like Six of Crows, which I also did not enjoy and for similar reasons, so my read here could purely be user error. I want a book that makes me forget I’m reading and that was not this for me, but hopefully it will be for lots of other people.

Thank you Netgalley and Daphne Press for my arc