Let's all be honest: Caldon 100% carried this book.

The Gilded Cage is the second book in the Prison Healer trilogy, and despite the fact that I've read this before, I forgot most of the plot twists until about halfway through the book. Plotwise, I think this was a little better than the first book, but the characters and their stupid decisions ultimately dragged down my rating because whoever said Kiva was supposed to be a villain and ended up being a doormat was entirely right.
In light of the events of the first book, Kiva Meridan - also known as Kiva Corentine, heir to a diluted bloodline - has returned with Jaren to his kingdom. There's a lot of political maneuvering in this, but most of the tension comes from Kiva's indecisiveness and her hiding her true identity from the royal family while feeding their secrets to her sibling. Look, I'm a fan of secret identity stories and the conflicts that come with them, but that can only carry the plot so far. The plot twists are fairly convenient, and the rebels' motivations are pretty weak, but it was fast-paced, and the high tensions kept me intrigued.
And as for characters... Tipp and Oriel are adorable, so we love them. I actually thought Mirryn was really cool, but the Vallentis parents were extremely flat. Naari also felt like she got sidelined. Zuleeka annoys me, but Tor is fine. Again, Jaren felt a bit generic and, likely, overly caring for Kiva? I get being in love and whatnot, but he literally put off the rest of his life for her multiple times. Kiva herself was...girl did not know how to make a good decision to save her life. She goes back on her word so many times and she honestly got kind of annoying. I have a love-hate relationship with Caldon because as much he made scenes actually interesting, he does give weird vibes, and sometimes his cockiness was a little too much.
The stakes are higher than ever in The Gilded Cage as Kiva must decide between her blood family and the Vallentis family that has taken her under their wing.

3.75/5