Another intense installment of the Gunnie Rose series from Charlaine Harris. My favorite thing about this series is the "alternate history" aspect of it, and how thorough she makes her world, down to the finest details. Lizbeth is back, and the time, instead of working alongside her partner, she's trying to save him. It forces her to face hard parts of her past as she must trust people she's struggled to trust in the past. I like seeing how this character has grown from one book to the next, and this is yet another I would recommend.

I loved the first two Gunnie Rose books from Harris, and this one did not disappoint in its continuation of the series. Gunnie travels to the Holy Roman Empire (in its San Francisco location in this universe) when she gets suspicious about the wellbeing of her sister. Once she arrives, she uncovers a much larger conspiracy that will jeopardize her family, the expat kingdom of Russia, and the love of her life. Definitely recommend.

The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris is the 3rd book in the Gunnie Rose series. Thank you Netgalley for the early access. Charlaine Harris has a very no nonsense sort of way of writing that I really enjoy reading. I noticed it with the Sookie Stackhouse books and it's in this series as well. Her female characters are strong and rational, and usually are the ones who save the day. Just like in this book. Lizbeth Rose rides into San Diego and the Holy Russian Empire to save Eli from rotting away in jail or being killed. She enlists the aid of his family and friends as well as her half sister. It was very interesting to get to find out more about where Eli is from and how things work there. I really enjoyed this book and am now in the mood to read more by Charlaine Harris.

I've been a fan of Charlaine Harris' novels since her early Sookie Stackhouse books, and Lizbeth Rose is another great heroine. The Russian Cage is a very satisfying conclusion to this series.

I have read most of Charlaine Harris's books but this one just did not interest me. I wanted to like it but didn't.

In this third book set in an alternate America, gunnie Lizbeth Rose is recovering from her last adventure in Dixie when she receives a letter from her half-sister Felicia. Felicia is in California, going to school and donating her blood with its rare ability to manage a bleeding disease to Tsar Nicolas of the Holy Russian Empire. But the letter is confusing, until Lizbeth figures out her partner in love and adventure, the grigori (magician) Prince Eli is in jail charged with murder. But is it all a plot? A way to bring down the present regime and put the blame on Eli, his family and his supporters? If so, someone is reckoning without Lizbeth Rose, her guns, and her determination to see Eli and his family put right

In The Russian Cage, Charlaine Harris writes an enthralling addition to Lizbeth’s story. Lizbeth is a marvelous character. A pistol-packing female who never hesitates to use her guns in the service of the goods or the people she’s been contracted to protect. Harris’s smooth prose invites you into the story and holds you captive until the spine-tingling climax. Lots of action, lots of danger, lots of derring-do is sure to keep the reader involved and asking for more. Harris’ vision of an alternate America is her most creative series yet. I hope there’ll be many more volumes in the gunnie’s continuing story.

The Russian Cage is the latest book in the Gunnison Rose series. A western with a fantasy twist, it's readable and action packed. Lisbeth Rose travels to the Holy Roman Empire to free Eli from prison. While there she gets mixed up in HRE politics.

First of all, let me say that I loved every second of it : the slow but steady start, the intriguing middle and the action-packed end

We start of a few weeks after the events of "A Longer Fall", where Lizbeth goes on a new journey not because of a job but because of personnal reasons : Eli. We get to see new sides of our heroine, softer and darker, as she goes deeper into Eli's life in Holy Russian Empire.
We meet new characters, such as his family, but most of all, we discover Lizbeth and Felicia's sisterhood as they are building it.

The Russian Cage is definitely a must-read as it is getting bigger and more interesting with each new book of the Gunnie Rose series

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for sending me this Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is February 23, 2021.

This is the third book in Harris’ Gunnie Rose series. After reading this, I really wish I had read the first two installments. I will go back and read them because I enjoyed this one so much. The series follows girl named Lizbeth (Gunnie) Rose. In this future history novel, America has been divided into five distinct areas: The Holy Russian Empire, New America, Texoma, Dixie, and Brittania. Gunnie tries rescue her partner, Prince Eli, from The Holy Russian Empire where he is imprisoned having been accused of murder. Bonus: There’s magic involved!

Charlaine Harris never fails to delight me. In this novel, the third to feature gunslinger-for-hire Lizbeth Rose, Lizbeth heads to the Holy Russian Empire--San Diego, to be precise--to spring her lover Eli Savarov from jail. But the job is complicated by politics, families, magic, and the fact that Lizbeth can't legally carry guns in the Empire. I loved the development of returning characters, particularly Lizbeth's sister Felicia, and the wonderful new characters who inhabit this book, Eli's mother and sisters especially. Lizbeth's voice is honest and plain and Harris's storytelling is gold. Readers will probably want to read the previous two novels featuring Lizbeth before this one, as it relies pretty heavily on the events of the earlier books, but I do think it can stand alone as long as readers are willing to enjoy the ride and look into Lizbeth and Eli's past adventures later.

The Russian Cage is the third book in Charlaine Harris' Gunnie Rose series. It's a stand alone novel though reading the earlier books is beneficial. The expected publication date is February 23rd 2021.

I really enjoyed reading this book and love the series. It's an alternative history novel in which the United States no longer exists but is broken up into smaller countries.

The main character, Lizbeth Rose, an armed guard "gunnie" by trade, is wonderful. She's supremely confident about her professional skills but quite insecure in other ways. This makes her very relatable and endlessly interesting. In this book she receives a coded missive from her younger half-sister that results in Lizbeth heading to the West Coast and the Holy Russian Empire to rescue her partner Eli from prison.

To a degree, this is a fish out of water story as Lizbeth contends with a land that has a lot of Eli's relatives and doesn't allow her to have guns--which would come in handy dealing with some of the relatives. At least she has a lot of knives. There's bonding time with her half-sister, a wedding, lots of fighting and even an assasination involved. All in all, this book is a lot of fun and very highly recommended.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lizbeth has received word from her sister Felicia, that Eli is in jail. He's her partner, she can't leave him there, so she decides to travel to San Diego to find out why he has been imprisoned, and to do anything necessary to free him. Lizbeth quickly realizes that it will be no easy task and she will have to rely heavily on Felicia to help her navigate through the politics of the Holy Russian Empire. To top it all off, she was informed the minute she entered the Empire that she couldn't even carry her guns.

I absolutely adore Lizbeth, but I think all the characters in this book are well written, compelling, and realistic in their actions and interactions. Unexpected twists, suspense, magic, violence, and lots of action kept me engrossed from the first page to the last. Fantastic book!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

The Russian Cage in the 3rd installment of the Gunnie Rose series.
Writer is at the top of her game in her writing quality, and the book is a page turner.
Charlaine Harris uses a futuristic, imagined universe to show an oppressive societal control in the Holy Russian Empire (HRE), previously California and Oregon, in this alternate history novel that reveals dystopian reality of the United States .
Lizbeth Rose heads directly into the Tsar's court to rescue Eli from imprisonment. The building of Lizbetth’s character continues in a very creative and compelling way providing an intellectual depth to navigate the political and familial intrigue of local society.
The originality of the plot, an entertaining blend of action, adventure and romance offers a great read for fans of Charlaine Harris' books.

Great story filled with action.
Love how the author creates a unique scenario that is difficult to place in time.
The female characters are fierce and intelligent.
Would recommend it young adults and anyone who enjoys fantasy and fiction.

I always enjoy Ms. Harris' writing and I think the Gunnie Rose series is my favorite, I really enjoyed reading this book and getting to know the characters.

This is the third book in a very exciting series. I really wasn't sure I would like them at all but turns out I can't get enough! The mix of magical realism and alternate history is brilliant! I hope this series goes on for years to come.

This was a fun entry into the Gunnie Rose series and I enjoyed it. I like Lizbeth’s reaction to being in the seat of the Russian Empire and being a fish out of water. I liked the advancement of the personal plots but I feel like some of the threads are starting to get lost in the shuffle. Definitely recommend it for anyone that enjoyed the first two books. I think this could be an ending or at most the next to last book without a significant refocusing of the series - maybe a spinoff with Felicia but otherwise I think the story is at or coming to the conclusion.

I received an advance readers copy from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an honest review.

In the third book in this series, we finally get to see Eli’s world, a world of opulence, Russian royalty, and magic, a far cry from Lizbeth Rose’s Texoma, a hardscrabble area. Years ago there was a political and social upheaving, leaving the U.S. split into several countries/territories. Lizbeth is a gun slinger who lives in the Southwestern country known as Texoma. Eli, also known as Prince Ilya Savarov, is from San Diego, California, now known as Holy Russian Empire. When Lizbeth learns that Eli has been jailed, she heads to the HRE to free him.

Lizbeth is out of her comfort zone in Eli’s world. Her world is so much simpler, straight forward, more black and white. Eli’s world is brilliant colors, distrust of everyone, and so many political machinations it was hard to know what to expect next. I loved it. And Lizbeth is willing to do whatever it takes to free Eli, even wearing a dress.
I enjoyed exploring this different world, with royalty, magic, and lots of political intrigue. Another plus was getting to know Lizbeth’s half-sister better; Felicia is studying to be a Grigori, a user of magic. We also meet Eli’s family. And I actually started to like Grigori Felix.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for providing me the eARC ; this is my honest review.

I was disappointed in this installment of the Gunnie Rose series. It felt very rushed and thrown together. I won’t be continuing the series.

I was super excited to receive an ARC of The Russian Cage! This is the third installment in the Gunnie Rose series, where we follow Lizbeth as she travels alone to the HRE to save Eli. In the past two books, Lizbeth has always had Eli as her trusted sidekick and now she has only herself to rely on. Upon arrival to the HRE, its clear that this society is more political of nature than previous books and I like that Harris ties in themes to each book (similar to racism and sexism in the second installment).

In this book, past characters including Felix, Peter and Felicia come back to help save Eli and we get to meet Eli’s mother and sisters! Eli’s mother is exactly what you would expect of a noble individual and obviously Lizbeth has thoughts about how sheltered his sisters have been raised.

There is less killing in this book compared to the others, and I like that his book focuses more on interpersonal relationships/politics. Lizbeth is finally upfront about herself and her feelings towards Eli. She acknowledges that she wants him as a more permanent fixture in her life, even given how different their worlds are. In the end of An Easy Death, I felt Lizbeth knew she cared about Eli but decided that they were too different and seemed to already be mourning their end.

This may be just me, but I sometimes felt I missed under-themes/relationships in this series. I didn’t pick up on Felix’s feelings towards Eli until it was spelled out, and maybe I’m blind but I needed more context to Alice’s reaction at the end, I thought it was someone being shaken up a bit about a certain event but the re-iteration of it made me think there was more to the story that I was missing.

Overall, this book was a page-turner like the previous two books (I read it in a day). I am happy how Eli and Lizbeth’s relationship left off in this book, it could be a great end to the series BUT I hope not!!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley.