#but not only has Thomas said they are coming for lgbt+ marriage AND relationships next

[tarrare-big-naturals]

I'm gonna say this: While I am fucking terrified and moreso absolutely livid to be a black lesbian in the US, as I am actively watching my rights get stripped away in real time, it's going to be very interesting to see Clarence Thomas try to backpedal when they go for Lovings v. Virginia.

[stardustandsuffering]

King’s Cage Review

Let me just start off saying that I forgot how much I loved Mare.

(spoilers below)

The beginning was very hard to read through. While I understand that it was necessary and that the ending wouldn’t be anywhere near as satisfactory it was still a very long read. The first half (two thirds?) of the book was mainly detailing Mare’s suffering and her abuse at the hands of Maven and the other Silvers. You could slowly tell that Mare was changing as you read. You could see her give up and then tentatively start to hope and fight back again. It was nice to see Mare get back the spark that she had lost in Red Queen (pun intended). And my god was it satisfying to have Mare get her lightening back and raise a little hell after those agonizing first chapters.

I REALLY liked that every (but Mare) was 100% aware of how much of an asshole Cal is. Like dude we get it you’re a racist. And before you cry “But Cal loves Mare!!! He can’t be racist!!!” let’s think about how everyone in Scarlet Guard knows Cal would willingly let Reds die. It’s been stated a few times that Cal only cares about Silver lives and honestly? It’s true. Cal’s not a good guy he’s just obedient. Though only to Silver laws. Cal gets furious whenever anyone in the Guard so much as mentions killing Silvers who have been their oppressors for generations. But he’s seen and let thousands of Reds die and not even batted an eye because at the end of the day he only cares if one Red dies and that’s Mare. And don’t even get me started on how that isn’t romantic in the slightest.

Worldbuilding

It was interesting to see how the Silvers felt about love. As it was implied in the previous books familial love is very important to Silvers. Many Silvers are shown to care deeply for their children and siblings despite their overall cold attitudes toward one another in public settings. It was also interesting to note that they don’t really seem to put much value in romantic love. As most marriages are arranged and if a married person loves someone else it’s seen as socially acceptable for them to have an affair (i.e. the casual mentions of Elane and Evangeline’s relationship).

That being said child abuse runs rampant through Silver society. How Evangeline fears Larentia and is controlled by Volo, Elara literally using Maven as a puppet, and King Tiberias’ apparent neglect of him. Which I thought was kinda strange do the importance placed upon blood (haha) relations. Then again we have similar issues with romantic love and we all know how big a deal that is in our society.

It would have been nice to see how the lgbt community would be treated in Silver society. But all we got was a general lack of reaction to Elane and Evangeline’s love. We also find out that Maven was in love with Thomas (which I kind of thought since Red Queen ngl). But Thomas being a boy had nothing to do with how their relationship went wrong and Maven being bi (pan? poly?) isn’t put in a positive light. It can be assumed that same sex relationships would be frowned upon as marriages in Silver society are meant to produce heirs and there was no reference to any same sex marriages already existing. Going by that logic would it then be socially acceptable for two men/women to marry if they were capable of conceiving?

Lgbt

Three of the four lgbt characters were evil; in other news water is wet. I didn’t appreciate Maven being depicted as bi. Like really??? You pick one of the worst, if not the worst, characters to be your token bi? What does that say to young biromantics/bisexuals? Imagine them reading that Maven is what they have to look forward to becoming. That this boy who is constantly suffering and terrorizing others is the representation they get.

Admittedly I thought that Evangeline might be gay since Red Queen, mainly because of that oddly sexual tension that she had with Mare (and goddamn does that ever come back in King’s Cage). While I didn’t appreciate yet another evil lesbian trope I liked how this book humanized her, and I even think she might be redeemed next book. There’s a lot of room for growth with her but I understand why so many people are upset with another antagonist being gay.

Magically Healed Disabilities

I didn’t like how physical disabilities were treated in this book or the previous ones for that matter. Since Red Queen Mare’s father has been depicted as this miserable man whose life ended the moment he lost his ability to walk. Now all of a sudden he’s got both his legs and is steadily relearning to walk. But why couldn’t he have been happy as he was? Mare’s father was described as being broken until he was healed. He was bitter and resentful and he couldn’t be happy until he could walk again. Then suddenly he was a changed man who smiled and was happy. That’s such a messed up ableist notion. Able-bodied doesn’t equal happiness and people need to stop treating it like does.  Frankly the whole “magically healing disabilities” trope is so ableist and disgusting.  

Then there was what happened with Sara. Sara was mute up until the end of King’s Cage when another skin healer used their ability to give her back her tongue thus enabling her to speak again. Instead of continuing to magically heal character’s disabilities Sara and those around her could have learned sign language. I would understand the Silvers not needing sign language as an option any longer considering they have people who can magically heal any injury. But surely Reds would still have and use sign language. Think of how useful it would be to the Scarlet Guard to be able to communicate in a language that Silvers have no idea of. Why weren’t they already using it before? Why was Sara just using a pad of paper to communicate? There was so much wasn’t opportunity here.

I did like that Mare’s PTSD wasn’t just washed over. We get to see how scared she is to have something touch her wrist and we actually see her have a few attacks. I’m hoping the next book goes a little more in depth with it but we’ll see.

Considering its flaws I gave King’s Cage a 3 star rating as it’s apparent that Aveyard is trying to improve her writing in terms of diversity.