ntriguing premise and characters, but confusing storytelling and unclear genre. The twists were okay, but the romance lacked depth. Curiosity drove me to finish, even if the characters didn't resonate. Trying too hard to be too many things at once. I liked the idea of it. Lover returns as a talking cat. Forced marriage etc etc..but it was lacking in the overall world building section and could become slightly confusing in the historical aspects. I enjoyed the story, just didn't fall in love.

thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to review. :)

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for the eARC

The Kingdom is A Golden Cage is a retelling of Puss in Boots of sorts and it was definitely an interesting read.
I felt the pacing of the story was slow in parts but the storyline was executed well and the writing was great. I really enjoyed this book, so much so that I bought the pretty special edition of it.

okay so... this is a puss in boots, retelling, kind of. It was a little difficult to get into the story, the pace was slow, the writing could be improved.

- fairy tale retelling
- cursed in animal form MMC
- stuck in a tower princess
- romantasy
- slow paced

I quite enjoyed my read through of this book, so much so I brought a special edition to put on my bookcase! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

This was a great Fantasy book - really a "Romantacy" if you will. I love a good re-imagined fairy tale and this one did not disappoint. I'll be on the lookout for more of Inkwood's books!! Excellent debut.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book was definitely not for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters. It honestly felt a little all over the place and hard to keep up with. Very slow paced and fell a bit flat for me.

A retelling of Puss and Booth with twists,
Celine is a princess locked in a tower and Hugo is in a cat because of a curse.
Lots of drama,twists.
Voluntary reviewed.

The Kingdom is a Golden Cage by Lilly Inkwood was a great story! it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading the story

The concept of this book seemed really intriguing, but the execution fell a little bit flat for me. The way the perspective and time shifts were written made it a little bit hard to follow, and I felt like a lot of the content was repetitive or extraneous. After the first part of the book, I ended up just skimming the rest of it because I was not invested in the plot at all — the situation that Hugo was in was the most interesting part of the book, but even that wasn’t interesting enough for me to commit to the book. This could be a really good read for others, but it was a miss for me.

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. Not being familiar with the Puss in Boots tale, compared to others I was looking forward to how this tale was told. Unfortunately I found this very slow and whilst I liked the dual POV I found the story quite hard to follow. We were introduced to too many characters too soon and I felt that I was missing half the story. I decided to DNF this one in the end.

The Kingdom is a Golden Cage was an okay story with a great premise but it felt like it had a hard time getting the plot off the ground. It felt incredibly juvenile and didn't feel like it was taking itself seriously.

***2.0 Stars***

Overall,
The idea of this book is really very intriguing. I mean there are not very many Puss and Boots retellings out there as far as I know. The problem arises with the fact that there is no depth to the world, characters or story in general. It also felt very choppy. In that I mean at times I was incredibly confused and then boom info dump. I can see a lot of potential here it just honestly misses the mark for me.

Cover,
The cover art is really basic and pretty much the same as everything else out there in in the fantasy genre.

***Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my free and honest review***

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

This review contains spoilers because I don't care.

For the record, I hate Celine. Celine is one of the most selfish, stupid, and easily manipulated characters I've ever read. She supposedly goes to a fancy magic school but within about 5 years forgets it all. She'd rather let everyone in her duchy die of thirst than maybe annoy her dad by using her magic water powers to end a drought. She spends all her time doing what Hugo tells her to and has no follow up questions ever, then in about five minutes decides she actually likes Phillippe better and gets with him. We as readers know that Hugo is evil at that point, but Celine doesn't, she just randomly decides she wants Phillippe.

In fact, everyone in this book is insanely selfish. Celine, we've covered; whiny Phillippe thinks his personal angst is more important than saving a kingdon; and annoying Hugo wants to conquer a kingdom for pretty much no reason. Of course, Magali is the worst.

And why do we have Magali's persepective at all? All it seems to be for is info dumping and waxing poetic about the guilt in her pocket. And randomly telling us how powerful she is.

We get some basic world building info halfway through the book but mostly I have no idea about this world. And not in a way that makes me want to learn more but in a way that pisses me off because there's no reason to be this cagey about basic world building.

I could rant a lot more about this, but I'm gonna end it here because I don't want to think about this book anymore. Safe to say, I will not be picking up the next one. One star.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me and I DNF'd at 20%. I found it a bit childish and I couldn't connect with the main character.

Took me quite a while to get into this book. A points it just seems like a lot of facts about each character and nothing related to the story

I tended to skip over some of the boing, unrelated parts as I went along and was able to get into the story and found it entertaining.

The book needs more editing and word building, I my opinion

I did like the Puss n Boots retelling.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, Lilly Inkwood, and HarperCollins for granting me ARC to review in return for my honest opinions.

Three stars for me.

The Kingdom is a Golden Cage is the first book in a new fantasy series from Lilly Inkwood. Labeled a Puss in Boots meets GOT spun tale which follows the manipulation of Princess Celine as she’s told she will marry a brute of a prince.
The book opens with Celine speaking to a talking cat, Hugo, who for the last five years has been transformed into a cat, separating the two love birds and Celine is determined to save her beloved. When things go awry, Celine is manipulated into marrying Philippe, Hugo’s cousin. He’s a farmer with royal lineage but he wasn’t brought up in that life.
What takes place then is a tale of politics, arranged marriage, deceit and magic which unfortunately, for me wasn’t the most enjoyable. I felt the story had promise but the characters weren’t interesting and the whole thing felt slightly forced. It was also a fairly long book where at times nothing much took place. From the beginning I felt lost and became confused as the world built up. I see most readers enjoyed this book which is great, but for me I couldn’t connect with the characters or plot.
Thank you for the eARC!

Really impressive and unique retelling of the classic Puss in Boots. Loved the way it was written and the characters were well rounded and interesting. I could not put it down!

I was often confused reading this book. The story itself had promise – the ideas and plot were there, as were the characters and the world this takes place in.

The characters were all terrible people and very one dimensional. Yes, they liked to lie and scheme, but is that it? Where were the motivations besides “I don’t want to marry him” and “He lied to me”. Where were the explanations for such behaviours? I don’t think these characters were written in a way that they could be the worst person ever and still likeable (which is where the GOT part fell short for me as that is full of loveable jerks).

I couldn’t get on with the writing style. Things were repeated constantly. “Let me tell you a story”? Things blurred/were not clear when talking about the past and present. “Ssssseline”? And how the reader learnt about the world was very ‘info dumpy’, and often times there was no explanation or context. There was a list provided at the start of the book, but I skimmed it. I find them unnecessary and unhelpful in books, as the characters and places should all be explained and presented in the writing.

I did finish the book, as previously stated, because of the plot. The story was good (when I could understand what was happening). I so wanted to like it more than I did – it had so much potential.

Thank you to One More Chapter, Harper Collins UK, Netgalley, and Lilly for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Something has to be wrong with the pdf I was sent because the book was unreadable... paragraphs and pages were repeated multiple times

Lilly Inkwood’s new novel, The Kingdom is a Golden Cage, is the first book in a fantasy series about the Red, Blue, and Green Kingdoms which are filled with magic, deceit, and intrigue. Heavily influenced by European folk tales and armed with a large cast of characters, the novel can feel confusing at times, and I was thankful that Inkwood chose to begin her book with a map of the Kingdoms and a description of the major players in the plot. I found myself turning back to the descriptions to help me keep track of the Game of Thrones style back-stabbing that took place throughout the story.

The novel unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Celine, a young princess who is betrothed to a man she has not chosen, and Magali, a dowager who describes herself a “wife of, daughter of, mother of dukes, but never a duchess.” Through these female perspectives, Inkwell explores how the history of inheritance law in her fantasy kingdom has excluded women, leaving them to live in golden cages with little control over their own lives. The series sets out to change this, and in her final author’s note, Inkwell promises readers a Queen to come in her sequels.

In addition to historical influences, Inkwell draws inspiration from fairy tales, most notably “Puss In Boots”. Celine, a water-twirler who has recently lost the power to command rivers and oceans, is in love with a man named Hugo, who has been transformed into a cat. She is desperate to break the spell which binds him. Magic abounds in the novel which features light-cantors (who bring forth light from the depths of the sea), fire-blazers, and shapeshifters. There is also a Fallen Court, which is a secret society that wields influence over the three kingdoms. Everyone competes for power and autonomy, and the ending of the novel, which sets up the rest of the series, offers more questions than answers.

This is a fun book for readers who like plots with secrets, twists, and turns, and for those who are willing to invest in a new fantasy series.