It has taken me the better part of over 1 month to make it just under 60% into this book and I think it’s safe to say I am now going to admit defeat.

I really did try (REALLY I did), I was HIGHLY anticipating this release, so to say I am heartbroken that it became such a slog to get through and took away any and all drive I had to read is an understatement.

The concept of the story itself is such an interesting one - gods are bound to mortals, granting them immense powers but at a cost. Two sisters with such god powers rise up to save their nation and overthrow the empires leaders.

Sounds cool!…but I felt the execution just forever fell flat as nothing is really ever explored in much depth past very surface level passing comments. Like what is actually the deal with the gods? and powers? and basically the ENTIRE world that this is set in?! Who knows the author doesn’t care to share.

I found the writing very clunky, trying just that little bit *too* hard to be some sort of lyrical prose that didn’t quite hit the mark. I think the author does have some stellar ideas just this wasn’t it for me.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this!

To Cage a God by Elizabeth May had a brutal first scene which definitely hooked me to the story.

It follows two sisters, Galina and Sera who have been in hiding for four years after their mother was executed. Though this sounds horrific, their own mother tortured them, carving their bones and summoned and trapped a God within them.

Sera’s God was a failed experiment and it requires her own sacrifice to use its powers.

Galina’s God was carved with more success.

Together they plan to overthrow an oppressive, destructive Emperor who revels in the misery and torture of those around her.

‘Let my face be the last you ever see. I will burn myself into your memory.’

There was some unusual language used and some fairly obvious things happening in the story but I did enjoy it. The magic system and how God’s became intertwined in the beginning confused me a bit. However, I really enjoyed Vasya and Galina’s relationship.

If you enjoy F/f relationship, snarky husband and wife … a whole lot of stabbing and a bit of spice you will enjoy this!

3.5 stars

Thanks you to netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

It’s taken me a couple of weeks to get through this book and I have to be honest the first 30 to 40% felt like hard work and I almost DNF’d. The world building and scene setting felt awkward and cumbersome, plus the writing and language felt overly complex. It did eventually pick up, but in my opinion, it took too long to really get going.

The romantic relationships were hit and miss and felt immature at times, more suited to YA or NA. It felt like the author tried to make this an adult novel by fuelling the romance with lust and explicit language, and I liked what she was trying to achieve between Sera and Vitaly as some of their sniping was amusing to read, but sadly overall it fell a bit flat.

Generally the book just did not do it for me. The concept was good but underdeveloped and parts of the plot were too generic for my liking, I felt like I’d read it all before in multiple others books, which can be a good thing but in this instance wasn’t.

2.5 stars (rounded up)

Thank you to Netgalley and Daphne Press for providing a copy of the book for an honest review. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

I really enjoyed this! The concept of gods being caged within humans, humans having access to godlike power which comes at a cost, but the gods also being sentient beings of their own with emotions and wants and dislikes. Sera and Galina were good characters from which to see this plot unfold. The Empress was a conflicting antagonist, and I do wish she'd gotten her own POV to see things from her own point of view. I do agree that maybe some further stakes might have been necessary for the plot, other than the overall, broad necessity of getting rid of a brutal coloniser. Otherwise, I thought this was well done! It reads like a dark romantasy novel, like a fairytale but more Brothers Grimm than Disney. Anyone looking for a crossover fantasy novel will enjoy this one!

This book sounded amazing, and I was really keen to give it a go. Unfortunately it didn't quite hit the mark for me. The world building felt clunky and I had a hard time getting into the story properly. There are some good parts, I just wasn't enamoured with the book as a whole.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. This was a fast paced easy read, perhaps too much so at the start as it felt a bit rushed. I would say this is a NA book rather than adult, it felt a little shallow at times, especially in terms of some of the characters who came across rather one dimensional. I would have liked it better if there was more depth especially in the backstory of the characters. Nonetheless I did enjoy it, and it was nice to see established relationships as well as new ones as well as disability rep.

DNF at 69%

I am admitting defeat. Reading this book has not been an enjoyable experience for me, and whilst I really tried my best to give it a fair chance, I just found it very disappointing and cannot bear to finish it.

The writing style is not for me, I found the prose tedious and a little ridiculous at times.

I didn't like either of the main romance plots. The first one was already existing, it was almost a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and whilst we got to see the other relationship developing, it just felt like they were both built on pure lust and nothing more substantial.

The only characters I cared about were Katya and Vasilisa, the others all read like very immature teenagers, despite being adults. The entire book felt oddly YA in a very inappropriate sort of way. If I had to guess the characters ages, I'd have said 15-16.

Lastly, I wish the world building was more detailed, because the concept sounds incredible, but I still don't get the whole dragon/god thing. There could have been more background information given on this, and I suppose it's possible that more is revealed later - I no longer care to find out though.

Elizabeth May's adult fantasy debut is a high fantasy world based around the Russian Revolution. Some interesting world building and concept around the magic. The characters were all pretty morally grey and didn't always make the best or right choices, they did read very young, apparently they were supposed to be in 30s but I couldn't imagine them more than late teens. For an adult book there was a lot that felt very YA. This would probably be a good crossover for someone that usually reads YA and wants something a little spicier, darker and more gritty but not complex in ideas or world building. I think this book will find its audience and those that love it will go hard for it.

5 stars

This book had me gripped from start to finish and I loved every minute of it.

To Cage a God takes inspiration from Imperial Russia and contains strong themes of rebellion, power and inequality embedded in the plot. The plot itself was very intriguing for me with a unique magic system whereby Dragon Gods are caged within human bodies, giving these humans special powers and abilities. It was action-packed and fast-paced while also having focus on the political scheming of those involved.

The book is written in multiple POVs with multiple romances, including sapphic and high-stakes romances which both include some great banter. I found myself rooting for every single character we were introduced to - unlike some books where you can take or leave the odd extra characters - they were interesting, loveable, and certainly morally questionable at some points. I was invested in all of them. On top of all that, there is some great disability representation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am highly anticipating the sequel! I will also be going back and reading other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 9%

Writing was too complex and I didn’t have a clue what was going on at all. The descriptions were so extra that it took away from the actual happenings of the book.

I also felt like there was no flow or structure and it was just random events being thrown together.

Sad about this as I was looking forward to it!

Overall this was a good beginning book for a new world.
It took me a while to get into but I still felt interested enough to keep going, the ending was worth the wait and had a payoff.
The only downside is I never felt that the characters were at risk or that anything was at stake.

It took me almost a month to finish this one and I almost DNF'd it a few times because I got so bored and the prose is dull. The beginning of the book feels both slow and rushed; slow because not much happens for most of the book, and rushed because the magic system isn't explained very clearly and the politics are very confusing. It's also unclear to me how the alureans end up with zmei inside of them, even though the process of caging a god in a commoner was explained about 3 times throughout the book.

There was just one character that I was interested in at first (Vitalik) and my enthusiasm died when the principle he lived by shattered instantly. It's not really enemies to lovers, it's just miscommunication (one of my least favorite tropes). I'm trying to keep this review spoiler-free, so all I can say is that if he stood by what he believed in, the story would've been a lot more interesting.

All the characters are immature and most of their choices are questionable, and the whole thing reads more like YA than Adult. The book is full of clichés and it's all very formulaic, unfortunately.

A huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled hard with this book. I almost DNF’ed due to the prose which felt so lacklustre and almost like an editor didn’t even look through it, but I persevered and in the end I’ve come to the conclusion that I didn’t care for the characters nor the plot.

The story is rushed, two characters go from one extreme to another in one chapter that just felt unrealistic and ridiculous.

The characters are meant to be more mature than characters in other books within this genre but it felt like a bunch of kids swearing for the first time and getting a bit too carried away.

A battle of mind, strength and godly power. With vibes of Wolf and The Woodsman and a dark fairytale this soft sapphic fantasy takes you on a journey of inner power.

3.8⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and Daphne Press for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I got past the first part and got to know the characters a bit more, I was very intrigued to see where things were going.

I’m not normally a huge fan of so many character perspectives because usually there’s a character or two who I don’t like and I end up skimming their chapters, but in this case the multiple perspectives worked well and I enjoyed seeing all the different characters. It helps I am a sucker for sassy characters and I loved Vitaly’s chapters. I also loved the romance.

All in all, after a slow start I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to book 2!

Also to note: I didn’t realise until I’d finished the book, but there’s a glossary at the back for various terms. I just wish I’d realised it was there earlier, as it has some pretty helpful definitions!

This book was not for me at all unfortunately.

I wouldn't call this a Romantasy book, there was barely any romance. It was mainly political and the magic/gods powers were interesting but I would have liked to delve deeper into the magic system. Unfortunately I was just bored throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a dark romantasy that holds a story thats told well.
The writing started a little bit slow with a lot of world building, but then it tumbled into action, adventure, magic and romance. Building on a story based in imperial Russia which shows how actions can lead to consequences that aren't always calculated when making a decision.
It holds multi POV, which allow for great character banter to be lifted, relationships to develop and it leaves you hanging just a little bit when PoVs change when you're not wanting it to.

This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it's defintely worth the read

This book could have ended a few hundred pages earlier if the characters had better communication skills. Overall it was a nice book and I enjoyed reading it. The characters were (almost all of them) likeable and the story was really interesting, but there were a few things that made me mad. First of them is Vitaly. I’m sorry but apart from being hot and possesive what was his role? And why the heck did Sera leave him?? To be honest a lot of the character’s choices were questionable. Why did Sera keep the secret from her beloved husband? Because she thought he would hate her? I mean, what s the point of the marriage if there isn’t any trust. The second thing that didn’t really make sense was how easy they defeated the evil queen?? I mean what were they waiting for? It’s like the whole book they were waiting for Sera to make that panacea of what was its name but like, she could have done it in chapter 2 in my opinon🤣 because Galina had the ability to open portals so Sera could have traveled, gathered the ingredients and make it. Easy as that. Also WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HAVING AN INSIDE PERSON IF GALINA COULD OPEN THE DOORS TO ANYWHERE?? Why did poor Katya have to suffer so much? Okay, at this point I’m mean. I feel like I have to mention again how much I enjoyed reading this because it’s not a bad book. It just lacks a few things here and there.

Thank you NetGalley and Daphne Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me more than a month to read and that means that I was so bored that I almost DFNed it a few times.

Almost all the characters had their own chapters and I only cared for Vitalik's.

I could care less about the majority of the characters and the story. This was too much YA for me probably, and maybe the target audience will love it.

All I can say is that all the Russia like world and names did not work for me; the lesbian characters in my opinion is just another way of the author to "grab" different audiences and to be completely honest, too many books these days have this.

Also, saying this is a romantasy is really misleading the readers. Not even the word building is well done; and the romance, only a a couple of chapters doesn't make it a fantasy romance.

First of all I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher Daphne Press for granting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve had a bit of a disappointing reading month, so I really went into this one with the lowest expectations possible to avoid any further disappointment. But I think this just cured me from my month long slump? It’s truly a Christmas miracle.

I usually struggle with books that have more than 3 pov’s due to concentration issues. Whenever a pov switch happens I get dragged out of the story and it’s even worst when we switch to the pov of a character I couldn’t care less about, but that wasn’t the case with to cage a god!! There were 2 ‘’main’’ pov’s and 3 other that were sprinkled throughout the story but they almost seamlessly blended into each other? Each and every pov was interesting aswell as they all seemed to give you different parts of the story that continued to fit into this very precise puzzle!

The worldbuilding was top notch aswell! Very unique and intriguing and I loved the way the author introduced us readers to the world. It wasn’t an immediate infodump but you didn’t have the spend the entire book guessing for answers either (I myself truly hate it when an authors leaves readers in the dark about certain aspects of the world).

The third and last thing that made this book a 5 star read for me was the romance. Oh my god the romance was *chef’s kiss*. I’m not ashamed to say that i’m a romance driven girlie and the romance in to cage a god hit all the good spots. I mean how could it not when you have ‘’knife to throat’’ ex-lovers and ‘’I would burn the world down for you’’ sapphics.

I can’t wait to see what happens in the sequel and I will be yelling at my friends to get them to read this