To Cage a God by Elizabeth May Review (Gifted, AD)

Hello Readers,

Thank you, Jamie and Black Crow PR for sending me an arc of To Cage a god by Elizabeth May for free in exchange for an honest review. I helped with the cover reveal for this book back in September and have been so excited to share my thoughts with you. As it is publication day this review will be spoiler free.

Happy Bleated Book Birthday

Content warnings from Elizabeth May copied from Goodreads
To Cage a God depicts violence and the impacts of imperialism against the backdrop of a budding war and revolution. The ruling class in this book is ruthless, ableist, and openly practices eugenics. There is frank reference to grim eugenics practices. One character manages chronic pain and disability and is forced to keep her illness invisible because of this. In addition, another character is bonded to a god that demands self-harm, so please be aware of this if cutting is a trigger for you.

List of additional CWs:

  • Violence: murder, immolation, explosions, injuries, gore, death
  • Self-harm: alcoholism, suicide, stabbing (self-inflicted and not), cutting
  • Abuse: emotional abuse, manipulative relationships (parental)
  • MISC: self-medication, eugenics, frank depictions of living with chronic pain, PTSD


Title: To Cage a God

Author: Elizabeth May

Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Romantic fantasy, Dark fantasy  

Pages: 384

Cover Image:

Synopsis:

To cage a god is divine. To be divine is to rule. To rule is to destroy.

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.

With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.

While Sera reunites with her estranged lover turned violent rebel leader, Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess, whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire—or bring it all down.

 

Miniature Review

This is a dark romance fantasy that has been inspired by imperial Russia. I enjoy the politics in this book we all know how much I love a bit of fictional political drama but add a sprinkle of a great villain like Elizabeth did I am here for it. In this story society is divided between a god-like elite, commoners, and is filled to the brim with rebellion. Two of my favourite things in this story are the worldbuilding and the magic system. It was a given I was going to lap up the political drama, so it doesn’t count.

To Cage a God is beautifully written and had me hooked from the start from the pacing to the storyline everything was precisely done. The book is written in multiple POVs with multiple romances, including sapphic and high-stakes romance. Elizabeth does an amazing job at making a clear distinction between Sera and Galina personalities and at no point did I get confused at who POV I was in.

It’s not only the sister point of view we see as we see multiple POVs of characters who play an important role to the story.  I found myself getting attached to almost every single character we met. There was no throw away characters in this book I found everyone interesting, loveable, and even occasionally morally questionable. I can’t wait for the sequel.

L x

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