Of Cages and Crowns by Brianna Joy Crump ARC Review!

 

Title: Of Cages and Crowns (The Culled Crown #1)
Author: Brianna Joy Crump
Publish Date: November 22nd, 2022
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review!

For goddess-touched girls, there is only one destiny: the Culling

From the moment Monroe Benson is born with a mark on her hand and the ability to summon fire from her fingertips, her life will never be her own. She’s goddess-touched, which means she’s destined to participate in the Culling, an age-old competition to determine the next queen of Erydia. For most of her seventeen years, her family has managed to keep Monroe--and her powers--hidden. But now, as Queen Viera calls for the Culling to start, and war looms on the horizon, Monroe can no longer hide. She must face her destiny whether she wants to or not.

For the ten goddess-touched girls, all with different powers, the inevitably of this fight to the death has always ruled their lives. The tradition is both barbaric and cruel, but to make matters worse--Monroe isn’t prepared. She hasn’t trained her whole life for this day. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. She doesn’t want the crown.

While Monroe struggles with her fate, a rebellion is brewing in the castle and in the country. A group called the Culled are banding together; their goal--to topple the monarchy. And the more they rise, the more merciless Viera is with her kingdom, recruiting younger and younger people from poorer and poorer places to fight in a war no one wants to be waging.

When Monroe finds herself on the front lines of the rebellion’s inner circle, only one thing stands in her way: Cohen. The queen’s son and the man who will be king. The pair grows close, yet Cohen’s dedication to duty, to family, to tradition stands in stark contrast to the boy Monroe sees at night in the kitchens, secretly making the two of them a snack.

As the fight crescendos around them, and the death of innocents is a force to bear, the choices Monroe makes will reverberate through the kingdom . . . and her heart forever.

Penelope's Review

I absolutely love competition-style books with fights to the death so this was a no-brainer for me! I know it's probably going to be referred to in like every review lol, but if you love The Hunger Games, grab this one! You won't be disappointed!

Our main female lead is Monroe Benson, and unfortunately for her, one of our goddess-touched girls. She wants nothing to do with this competition or being queen, but is thrust into it nonetheless. I liked how Monroe was unassumingly confident. She's quiet until she needs to stand up to someone, and then she's able to do so with ease. Her character development is slow, but I like the qualities she gains by the end of the book.

While I liked Cohen, I found that he was a bit too timid and weak for my tastes. Too much of a pushover... I would have preferred a stronger character BUT I liked his sweet side and felt that it worked with Monroe's character. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next book does with their relationship after that ending. They both have things to sort through and deal with and I'm curious to see if it will push them apart or bring them closer together. 

Thanks to a brutally evil queen, we also have a rebellion on the rise! The people are tired of her tyrannical ways and have banded together to fight back. Monroe is pulled into the Culled's plans and even though she believes in what they're fighting for, she can't help but question what this would mean for Cohen. 

The world-building in this book is excellent. I really like this author's writing style, and I think she handled her characters arcs well. Overall, I found it to be quite an enjoyable read with some great action and I'm looking forward to what comes next after such an explosive ending!

Rating: 4/5 Devils!