THE RUSSIAN CAGE - Charlaine Harris


 

I jumped into this series three books in, and I think that was a mistake! Sometimes you can pick up a book in the middle of a series and still get everything you need to know about the characters and relationships and the world in which it is set.  And sometimes each book relies so heavily on the previous books that you might easily become lost if you haven't read the previous installments.  This books leans toward the latter.

Lizbeth Rose is a woman on a mission.  She is traveling from Texas to California to rescue Prince Eli, her partner.  Except that they aren't "Texas" and "California" anymore.  They are Texoma and the Holy Russian Empire.

Looking at the map provided in the book, Canada has expanded its territory and has taken over some the former United States' northern states.  Mexico's boarder with the U.S. has changed a bit, and the United States has been divided into five countries: Britannia, Dixie, Texoma, New America, and Holy Russian Empire.  Why?  I'm not sure.  Either that information was provided in an earlier book, or it hasn't been given yet.  But what's clear is that this is an alternate future and not all the territories are on good terms with one another.

We get the impression that Lizbeth is a fighter, a gunslinger. The few times that she is not permitted to carry a gun (or even a knife), she feels lost, uncomfortable.

Prince Eli is being held captive inside the Holy Russian Empire and Lizbeth manages to stop an assassination attempt on the HRE empress and gains an audience with the tsarina.  She also manages to visit a school where her younger sister, Felicia, is studying. She finds she will need Felicia's help navigating through the HRE.

The tsar and tsarina had no idea that Prince Eli Savarov was being held captive - by their own guards - and promise to get him released.

Lizbeth and Felicia have 'Grigori' powers.  They are descendants of Grigori Rasputin and now they are being hunted since Rasputin died.  Rasputin's blood was keeping the Tsar alive.  With Rasputin gone, the Tsar's only hope is that blood of his descendants will have the same powerful effect.

Charlaine Harris is a very good writer (I've enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse books I've read, as well as the Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, and Midnight, Texas books) and there is a lot going on in this book.  But I definitely felt  behind when I started this, and even further behind the more I read. I'd like to go and read the first two books in the series and see if this all makes more sense.

Looking for a good book? The Russian Cage, by Charlaine Harris, looks to be an exciting series, but as a stand-alone book, you can't help but feel you've missed something really important to understanding the story. Try the first book before reading this.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

The Russian Cage

author: Charlaine Harris

series: Gunnie Rose #3

publisher: Gallery / Saga Press

ISBN: 1481494996

hardcover, 304 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more