Hiya, Ruminative Fam! Sometimes in your life, you come across a book that just blows your mind with its awesomeness! When that happens, you can’t stop talking about it and appreciating it. Today’s book is one of those. When I got the ARC for this book, I didn’t have any expectations, but it turned out to be amazing! Intrigued? Read more to find out.
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.
Of Cages and Crowns follows Monroe Benson, one of the ten goddess-touched girls destined to participate in the Culling, an age-old competition to determine the next queen of Erydia, where the girls must fight (using their supernatural powers) until one remains.
Monroe’s family tried their best to hide her from this brutal fate, but she was caught while fleeing and taken to the palace to participate in the deadly competition. With a war looming around and rebellion brewing all over, Monroe finds herself in the front line of the rebellions circle.
But her growing affection for the queen’s son, Cohen, is making it difficult for her to betray him. She must now face her destiny whether she wants to or not.. and the choices Monroe makes will reverberate through the kingdom… and her heart forever.
𝗧𝗪: Violence, Blood, Death, Deception, Manipulation, Graphic Scenes.
To start with, the prologue literally gave me goosebumps.. and I loved the way the backstory, the emotions, and the world-building were introduced. It showed us everything we needed to know about the Culling, why this world revolves around the competition, and why Monroe’s life is the way it is.. loved the world building🤩🤌🏼
During the first half, we see the beautiful bond between Monroe and her family. How her mother sacrificed everything to keep her safe and away from the fate the goddess had set up for her.. how her brothers do everything in their power to help her grow.
“I wasn’t the girl who ended up with the prince. I was the girl who burned it all down or died trying.”
Ambrose grounded her, taught her self-defense and how to use her powers, and gave her flowers whenever he came back from the market as she couldn’t roam around freely in the town. He did everything in his power to keep her safe, such a great brother he is. And Kace, he can go to hell.
As we reach the mid-part of the story, Monroe is caught and sent to the palace to participate in the deadly competition. From there, we get to see two plotlines – 1. Where the romance blossoms between her and Cohen, and 2. Where she has to practice hard in order to win the trials and NOT DIE.
“I’m a damsel that has to fight a dragon all alone in the middle of an arena. And, if I win… If I win, there’s a possibility that I might become a dragon myself.”
These two aspects of the story are in a 2:1 ratio where the romance part is more prominent than the other (and I wanted the opposite to happen). I wanted to see the action, the fights, and how Monroe fights hard to win the competition and become the queen… But there were more etiquette lessons and ballrooms, and worries about whether the prince would like her in the gown she was wearing🙄
From there till the last 70%, the plot is really slow-paced though super eventful. Something or the other kept happening and there was not a single moment of peace during this phase of the story. It included amazing actions, deceptions, rebellions, and politics along with super sweet and heartwarming romance.
And the best part was the “last part” of the story…it was super exciting and thrilling. Everything was chaos..total chaos🤯 There was so much action, fights, twists, and turns that I was almost jumping from excitement. Looved it. The ending was also beautiful and although there’s no cliffhanger, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
The Characters.
Monroe ~ was such a simple and relatable yet complex character. She didn’t deny being scared of the competition and running away didn’t seem cowardly to her. It was the most natural response to something like ‘The Culling’ and she didn’t try to hide her fear behind the mask of being strong.
“Girls like me had two choices: kill or be killed. Die or be queen.”
But, when it was time to be strong, she did not shy away and fought hard in the trials to stay alive, and did everything she could (even when it would be treason) to bring a change in the world and to end this awful tradition. Although her inner monologue was a bit too much and her emotions took a large majority of the plot, I liked her.. and her character development was amazing.
“Somewhere along the way, my desire to survive had been surpassed by my desire to make a change.”
Cohen ~ was such a sweet gentleman, kind and caring, and oh-so-romantic. His sweetness made me smile so much and I loved how he opened up to Monroe and trusted her with his life, good or bad.. he was incredibly sweet🥺🥺
His strength was also amazing, the way he rebelled against his mother even when he knew the consequences, he did not back down. He stood up for the people he loved and cared for, and did everything in his power to change the world.
“And what would you choose if it were?” His voice grew quiet. “I would choose you.”
Ambrose, Uri, Nadia, Tallis, and Juno, all have my heart. Even though we don’t see much of their character except for Ambrose and Uri (whose personality I loove💖).. they become an integral part of the plot soon and will always be there in my mind whenever I think about this book.
The Queen ~ Even though she’s an evil and vile person, her character is well-written. An incredible villain, for whom there’s only one thing one can feel. HATE. There was no humanity in her and all she wanted was power, no matter if she hurt her children for it.
Overall, it was an amazing young-adult fantasy with incredible world-building, action-packed scenes, and sweet romantic moments woven around rebellion, deceptions, and politics. Though the pacing was very slow in the middle, this book was quite eventful and never gave a dull moment as the plot became a chaotic mess. I’ll totally recommend this to young-adult fantasy/romance, dystopian fantasy lovers😄
Thanks to NetGalley, Wattpad Books, and author Brianna Joy Crump for the e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you for reading, Ruminative Fam!
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© Ruminative Philomath (2024) by Deeksha Bhardwaj. All rights reserved.
Ruminative Philomath 
Very nice
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