King's Cage Review: A Rollercoaster That Left Me Wrecked

Is King's Cage worth reading? My honest, emotional take on Victoria Aveyard's third Red Queen book — the chaos, the loss, and why I loved every twisted bit of it.

8/15/20263 min read

King's Cage Review: A Rollercoaster That Left Me Wrecked

After Glass Sword's slower, setup-heavy pace, I wasn't sure what to expect from book three. What I got completely wrecked me, in the best way. Here's my honest, still-a-little-emotional take on King's Cage.

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Quick Answer

I loved this book. Genuinely. So much happens — it's a full rollercoaster from start to finish, and I mean that in every sense: the plot never lets up, the romance comes to us in these small, aching crumbs instead of anything easy, and there's a loss in this book that made me cry real, actual tears. It's a little sick how much I loved a book that put me through that, but here we are.

What It's About

Picking up after everything that happens at the end of Glass Sword, Mare is now a prisoner — trapped in Maven's court, forced to play a role in his twisted vision of a future together, while the Scarlet Guard and the wider rebellion continue fighting without her. The book follows her fight to hold onto herself, her identity, and any hope of escape, while alliances shift and the stakes of the entire rebellion come to a head.

My Honest Take

This book is relentless in the best way. So much happens across these pages that I genuinely felt out of breath by certain points — just when I thought I understood where things were headed, everything shifted again. That's what I mean by rollercoaster: it's not a metaphor I'm using loosely here, this book earns it.

The romance in this book is all in the small moments, and that's exactly what makes it hurt so much. We don't get big, sweeping romantic scenes here — what we get are crumbs, fragments, moments that matter more because of how scarce and complicated they are given everything else going on. I found myself holding onto every small piece more tightly because of that scarcity.

There's a loss in this book that genuinely broke me. I'm not going to spoil what happens, but I cried real tears over this. Not the kind of "aw, sad" reaction you have and move past quickly — the kind that sits with you. I think that's the mark of a book doing its job properly, even when it's genuinely painful to read through.

Maven's twisted vision of Mare and their relationship is uncomfortable, and I think it's supposed to be. After what we learned in Glass Sword about how his feelings were shaped and manipulated, watching that play out here — him holding onto a version of "them" that was never real — is genuinely unsettling. I keep saying I love this book and also that it's a little sick, and this dynamic is exactly why. It's disturbing, and Aveyard clearly knows it, and I think that discomfort is intentional.

This book doesn't let Mare (or the reader) off easy. Being trapped changes her, and I appreciated that the book doesn't rush her back to her book-one self the moment circumstances shift — the toll of everything she's been through actually shows.

What to Know Before You Start

Read Red Queen and Glass Sword first — this assumes full context from both.

This book is emotionally intense, more than the previous two. Go in prepared for real loss and genuine discomfort, particularly around Maven's dynamic with Mare.

The pacing picks back up significantly from Glass Sword. If book two's slower pace worried you, know this one moves.

Who Should Read This

  • Anyone who's read the first two books — this is essential, not optional

  • Readers who want the political and personal stakes to fully collide

  • Anyone ready to have their heart broken a little (or a lot) by a genuinely well-earned loss

My Rating

5/5, easily. This book put me through it emotionally and I loved every twisted second of it. The pacing, the loss, the deeply uncomfortable Maven dynamic — it all worked on me exactly the way I think it was designed to.

Amazon link: King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this book more intense than the previous two? Yes, significantly — both in pacing and in emotional weight.

Do I need to read Red Queen and Glass Sword first? Yes, essential — this continues directly from Glass Sword's ending.

Does this book deliver on romance, or is it mostly plot-focused? Both, honestly — the romance is present but comes in small, complicated pieces rather than anything easy, which I think makes it hit harder.

Final Thoughts

King's Cage put me through an emotional rollercoaster and I don't regret a second of it — the pacing, the crumbs of romance we're given, that loss that genuinely made me cry, and Maven's deeply unsettling vision of Mare all combine into a book that's a little sick to love as much as I do. But I love it completely.