With her signature pithy, no-nonsense style, Harris distills suspense and action alongside romance into this well-crafted conclusion to Gunnie Rose’s arc toward love that started with book 1. In first person POV, we follow our gunslinger protagonist as she travels to a new Russian empire on the erstwhile American west coast to rescue her lover from imprisonment. An absorbing read, with an old-fashioned Western climax and an unsentimental but satisfying romance ending.

This series made me like Charlaine Harris again. The Russian Cage is brilliant. The magical/western/dystopia is so well done that despite all the hardship that Rose and Eli go through, I want to live there. Also since I live near Sweetwater, Texas, I can vouch that this is believable.

Lisbeth Rose is out of her element. Finding out that Eli is in jail she travels to San Francisco to try and rescue him. Lisbeth has to part with her guns and using her wit save the man he loves.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I'm curious if this is going to be the end of the series or if Eli and Lisbeth will have more adventures together.

Loved, loved, loved! I have always enjoyed Charlaine Harris's books. This new series was something I was not expecting from her and I loved all she did with this. It is so much fun and thrilling. The romance is believable and as always the book was hard to put down. I have already told patrons to watch out for this one when it comes out.

I was never a fan of alternate history novels until I started reading this series! I guess that goes to show you that certain authors can turn works your normally wouldn't like into something you CRAVE! That's how I feel about this series and The Russian Cage was the perfect addition! Charlaine Harris is a fantastic writer and I've been reading her books for a long time! Still, she impresses me! I highly recommend this one. Just make sure to read the series in order.

I just love Charlaine Harris' writing. This is the third book in the Gunnie Rose series, so it's hard to just pick it up without reading the first two beforehand.

I love Lizbeth Rose. She's just such a badass character for me. In The Russian Cage, Lizbeth finds herself in the Holy Russian Empire to save her estranged partner Eli.

It was a great read, and I actually enjoyed this one more than the second book, A Longer Fall.

Although Harris is a favorite, this book falls flat. The characters are wooden constructs compared to her earlier work. There is a lot of action but not much heart.

Lizbeth Rose is an awesome kick-ass hero! Charlaine Harris creates compelling characters and Lizbeth Rose is right up there with Sookie Stackhouse. I was really excited for The Russian Cage, which is the third book in the Gunnie Rose series. I zipped through the first book, An Easy Death, and simply got hooked in this alternate world where California is now Russian territory and this is a different wild west.

As much as I enjoyed the first book, I felt a bit of a dip for the second book, A Longer Fall. Still great characters but just not as exciting as the first book in my opinion but I think The Russion Cage is back on track! This book has the same excitement and thrills as the first book. This feels like a better followup to An Easy Death. Character building and world building are fantastic. All characters here feel to have depth and personality. The ending felt a little drawn out, just a tiny bit, but overall it had a nice conclusion.

I want to thank Charlaine Harris, Gallery Books, Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Before I say anything about the story here, I just need to say I have to find my copy of Gunnie Rose #2. I have it, but I hadn't read it. I did read book 1 for my reading group Novel Conversations when we were reading alternative histories. I do like Lizbeth "Gunnie" Rose.
In this volume, Lizbeth is not acting as a bodyguard, so she doesn't call herself Gunnie. She has received news that her boyfriend/husband Eli, Prince Savarov, has been arrested and sits in prison. He has not been charged and his family can't visit him.
I won't go into the changes in American history and in America itself. Just know that the Russian Tsar is the ruler of California and Oregon. Eli is a member of the family, although far enough away that lots of people would have to die for Eli to come to the throne. However, political chicanery permeates the book.
Does Lizbeth get her man out of prison in one piece? She's not used to failing and doesn't plan to start now. It's a fast read and exciting. There is more magic in this book that in the others. Lizbeth is still hiding the fact that she is a descendant of Rasputin, and that's important. I enjoyed reading the story.
I read the copy of this book for this review on Netgalley.

Like many people, I saw Charlaine Harris had a book available for e-arc and immediately jumped at the chance, I was a bit Sookie Stackhouse fan and figured this would be just as fun. Kind of western, kind of magic? Sign me up.


Upon downloading it I realized it was actually the third in the series and I needed to go back and find 1 and 2 so I could properly understand the story of Lizbeth Rose.


In this installment of our favorite Gunnies life we find her going to the Holy Russian Empire (formerly California/Oregon) to save Eli after he was falsely imprisoned.


Overall I think this was my favorite of the 3, I enjoyed how much time we spent getting to know the Russian politics, seeing more of Felicia and seeing Lizbeth actually come to understand what she set her sister up to do.

Personally I am not invested in the romance of Eli and Lizbeth so him being off screen for so much of the book worked in my favor. If you love their pairing this may tug at your heartstrings but you don’t see a lot of them together.

I also liked that it ended with enough resolved to end the series, though I know another is planned this easily could have been the end and I think it would have been very satisfying.

If you’re a fan of Gunnie Rose I think you’ll continue to enjoy this installment. The world building is fun, and I think the quality is on par with previous books.

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher and #CharlaineHarris for the opportunity to read and review the new entry in the Gunnie Lizbeth Rose series, "The Russian Cage".

Picking up right where A Longer Fall left off, this thrilling third instalment follows Lizbeth Rose as she takes on one of her most dangerous missions yet: rescuing her estranged partner, Prince Eli, from the Holy Russian Empire. And Ms. Harris takes us deeper into the workings of the HRE.

We meet Prince Eli's family, and find that he has been imprisoned for the charge of murder. But Lizbeth is buying none of it, and sets out to find out exactly what has transpired to get him into this predicament. Along the way, she 'saves' the life of the Empress and manages to find her way into the palace, where intrigue of all sorts is the order of the day.

With the help of her sister (who is studying to be a Grigori, and whose powers are growing exponentially), and a close friend and confidant of the Prince who has the power over life and death, they infiltrate the prison and get Eli out of trouble just in time to uncover a conspiracy deep in the heart of the court.

This book has all of the hallmarks of Ms. Harris's previous Lizbeth Rose stories, as well as her other series (Midnight, Texas; True Blood) and all of the twists and turns that her fans have come to expect. And some excellent alternative history moments.

Recommended.

I see “by Charlaine Harris” and of course, when I am invited to read and review one of her ARCs, I am all over that! This time out, our daring heroine is Lizbeth Rose and she carries that same razor sharp wit and ingenuity that is signature to Ms. Harris’ characters and that easy to read, easy to fall into style is right there, too.

THE RUSSIAN CAGE had all the trademark characteristics I love about this author, except, I was unaware…I know, my bad…that this is a mid-series book, leaving me floundering throughout, not quite making that investment I was expecting. I can say the series looks to be a good one and the characters are intriguing, just start from book one!

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Gallery/Saga Press! This is my honest and voluntary review.

The third volume of this series picks up right where the last book ends. Actually, it felt like a really sudden beginning--I would have appreciated a little more review from the author, reminding me of where things had ended for the characters last time. Heck, I would have appreciated a little reminding of who was who. But it's not rocket science and no one was going to be giving me a test on this, so I just barreled on and hoped that it would all come back to me.

These books are a lot of fun. In this volume, Lizbeth Rose gets sucked into the political intrigue of the Holy Russian Empire as she tries to free Eli from prison. To be honest, this particular installment of the story seemed a little rough around the edges. Its strengths are letting us see a lot more of Felicia and introducing us to Eli's family. But there were a lot of messy bits, inconsistencies, and the writing did not have the same power as I felt it did in the earlier books. IMO the blurb for the book is somewhat misleading as well. But I give it 3 stars just based on my appreciation for the general badassery of Lizbeth and Felicia.

This book rounded out the series well. It was a slight departure from the first two books, since Lizbeth spends less time interacting with Eli in this book than the previous two, but in some ways that helped keep the book from falling into too much predictability and/or cringe-worth relationship drama. Instead, we got to witness Lizbeth forging new relationships with her sister, and with others in Eli's life all while learning more about the Holy Russian Empire.

THE RUSSIAN CAGE by Charlaine Harris brings intrigue, romance, danger, suspense and much more to a well-written and entertaining novel that is a mix of historical fiction, urban fantasy western and alternate history. It is the third book in the Gunnie (Lizbeth) Rose series and is largely set in San Diego which is now part of the Holy Russian Empire (HRE).

This novel picks up soon after book two ends with Lizbeth reading a letter from her half-sister Felicia. There are hints that Lizbeth’s estranged partner, Eli Savarov, needs her help. Lizbeth packs her guns and knives and takes a train to what was once California. Will Lizbeth be able to save Eli? How is Felicia doing in school in a world so different to her native land? How can a gunnie from Texoma (used to be Texas and Oklahoma) fit in when she gets to the HRE? Who can she trust to help her? How will she get along with Eli’s mother and sisters? How is a gunnie supposed to help Eli when she can’t carry her guns in the HRE?

Charlaine Harris is one of my favorite authors and she did not let me down with this addition to the series. The characters are compelling, led by strong and capable protagonist, Lizbeth. Her lack of patience and unfamiliarity with Russian court protocol made her feel more real. Her motivations are believable and well-drawn and the secondary characters were well-rounded and enhanced the story. The reoccurring characters gained in depth in this book and helped sustain the complexity of this story line.

The plot twists were believable but a few were unexpected. The story moved at an appropriate pace and the scenes were well described and gave me a clear sense of place. With this fantastic world-building and the cultural elements, it helped this reader feel as though she were a part of the action. I also liked that there was both some humor and new challenges for Lizbeth to overcome personally.

Overall, this novel brings thrills, action, family drama, political intrigue, magic, loyalty, power and much more making it a definite page-turner. Is it the last or will there be a book four?

If you like alternate history, action adventure, thrillers and fantasy, then this series is for you. I recommend reading the books I order. The first novel explains the alternative history aspect that is not fully explained in books two and three. Additionally, both earlier books show the growth of relationships for some of the secondary characters as well as for Lizbeth and Eli.

Thanks to Gallery Books – Saga Press and Charlaine Harris for a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for February 23, 2021. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Book Review for The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

I always know I'll have a great read when it's one of Ms.Harris' books, and this is no different.
Picking right up where the last story ended, we jump right back into the action. Eli is incarcerated, Lizbeth is on her way to help him, and the adventure continues. We still have our moody little Felix, Felicia is in grigori school, and we meet Eli's family.
thanks Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this very enjoyable segment in the stories of Gunnie Rose.

I absolutely enjoyed this third installment of the Gunnie Rose series. I recently read the first and second books so I was delighted to get this third book so I could read them all together. I have not read any other books by Charlaine Harris before and this is definitely a different genre for me but I thought it was great.

Lizbeth Rose and Eli meet in book one and in A Russian Cage she finds out through a letter from her sister that Eli is in prison. She rushes from Texoma to San Diego which is now part of the new Russian Empire to see if she can rescue him. Of course there are all kinds of adventures, shooting and magic going on as usual!

I really liked all the new characters (Eli’s family, Felix, and the Tsar and his family) that we meet in this book. I am hoping that there are more books to come in the series!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

Mrs Harris sure does know how to build a world and make you feel like you are there. This book has lots of action and the characters are very likable and reliable. I really enjoyed this book I could not put it down. It is part of a series so definitely read the first two or you might be a little lost. But even then you can still figure out what’s going on. I highly recommend this book and the rest of the series or any of Mrs Harris books they can always be counted on to just take you away. I did receive a arc of this book.

Lizbeth and Eli left off their relationship a little ambiguously at the end of Book 2, but right from the start of Book 3, we find out that Eli is in trouble in his home state of California (now called the Holy Russian Empire). And although Lizbeth has never been that far east and she’s very unsure of the lifestyle, the crowded streets, and the fast-paced beat of the city life, she’s learning fast. In this installment, we get a much better picture of Eli’s life (including his family), as well as how deep Lizbeth’s feelings run for him. I don’t think I liked it as much as I did Book 2, but if Ms. Harris sends out a Book 4, it will definitely be at the top of my TBR list.

4 Stars (rounded up from 3.5)

NOTE: Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.