
Member Reviews

Thank you to DAW and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!
Oh my goodness, I have been looking for a new fantasy world to get absolutely immersed in, and this was everything I have been searching for and so much more. It was hard to get into at first because of the complexities of the world, but the characters absolutely reeled me in, and once I got the hang of everything, I needed more and more to feed my soul.
The romances are so different yet somehow both so perfect? Do not get me started with my obsession for Vitaly. I will never recover from my love for him. But then the sweetness of the other romance? (I shall refrain from spoilers but AHHHH). They both fed everything my hopeless romantic heart needed in life, and I will forever adore them. If they are hurt, I will riot.
And then there's the disability rep! I was not expecting it, but it was so beautifully done! From the self-consciousness to finding yourself and your strength through the pain - just yes! I loved the way it was all incorporated into so many aspects of the story.
I absolutely cannot wait to see where this story goes. Get your hands on this dragon book now! You don't want to miss out!

For how fast paced this book was I wanted to dnf so bad from boredom.
Characters: 1/5
Plot: 1.5/5
Rep: 4/5
Spice: 1/5
Galina and Sera are adopted commoner sisters with gods living inside of them. Sera's mother caged the gods into them when they were children even though only royalty is supposed to get a "dragon." Their only goal is to overthrow the current regime and free the people from the tyrant queen.
I didn't care about any of the characters, probably because their back stories are just glossed over. The book is all telling and no showing. There are tons of plot holes and nothing is planned out. The sisters just throw themselves into the middle of everything and then follow through on nothing.
Galina was supposed to be trying to find a way to kill the queen, but she just spent the whole book making googly eyes at the princess, Vasilisa. For trying to be a slow burn enemies to lovers relationship it was insta-love at its worst. Vasilisa hates her mom which is completely understandable, but I don't think it's reason enough to immediately forgive Galina for hiding her true intentions the whole book. There was no tension between the two at all. It was very surface level and lust to love.
Meanwhile, Sera and Vitaly's relationship is just a mess. It's pure miscommunication and Vitaly has to be one of the weakest MCs I've ever read. He hates everyone unless Sera tells him not to. They're back and forth the whole book even though they have the same goals. The relationship has no depth because all we get are brief flashbacks of them meeting, and then her monologue about how she married him even though shes been keeping secrets from him the whole time and she can't be around him now. Why marry him in the first place if you couldn't trust him?!?
Everything is resolved quickly at the end except for the fact that no one stopped to think about the war going on and how they just left their whole country defenseless.
I will not be reading the next book.

I received and advanced reading copy from Netgally via the publisher though all thoughts are my own.
This book had an interesting concept that was heavily inspired by Imperial Russian history mixed with Slavic folklore and a heavy dash of fantasy. The rich people are called alureans that have Gods with powers from another world (known as zmei) that appear to have been from birth though the actual origins of these Gods and how they came to be in human bodies has been hard to learn of because that information was destroyed due to paranoia of the Higher Class that those they considered beneath them would find out and get their own power. AT least that is what appears to have been much of the reasoning.
Told from the points of view of Sera, Katya, Vitaly, Galina and Vasilisa, they each have an important role to play though none of them is for sure what those roles will be and how they will play out.
There is also a revolution on the rise as people getting fed up with being barred from speaking their native language, having the alureans rub their wealth in the faces of those they deem below them and there's also a tyrant of a ruler known as the Empress who also happens to be Vasilisa's Mother who used to be a decent person but after years of abuse from her husband and then becoming power hungry as she became the ruler, she's turned into someone who is much worse that her husband. There's a match that's just waiting to be lit and someone who seems like the least unlikely to help may very well surprise a number of people.
In the midst of all that's happening, there's also two romances. One (a male/female relationship) is a reuniting of two people who are drawn to each other (Vitaly and Sera) and have been through a lot over the years and I think it rather romantic that Vitaly was determined to search for Sera when she disappeared for a while and then was able to find her back in the area where their love started. Sera however has been keeping secrets to protect her foster sister Galina and also in a way to protect Vitaly. Though Vitaly doesn't really need protection as he's able to survive just fine so long as he's not trying to blow things up and is for sure a morally gray character who also happens to believe that he's helping to stop the oppression to his people that the Empress and her Cronies have forced on citizens.
The other romance is one that's brewing between Galina and Vasilisa (female/female relationship) who come from such different levels of society and yet they each have their own cages in a sense and expectations from loved ones that are nearly impossible to accomplish. Though I seriously doubt that the Empress actually knows what it's like to love anyone other than herself.
Overall, this was an interesting book and while it had a slow start, I think that was mostly my brain trying to get a feel of the world and I felt as though I had been dropped into the middle of a brewing revolution that I needed some time to wrap my head around. I appreciated that one of the characters is someone who has to deal with chronic pain and how it's slowly becoming more main stream to have characters with chronic pain in books. I'm looking forward to continuing this series and maybe even delving deeper into the mystery of how the zmei became trapped in human bodies to begin with.
Content warnings: eugenics practice, ableism, a character with chronic and disability who is forced to keep her illness away from the public, self-harm to have access to a God's powers, violence, murder, immolation, explosions, injuries, gore, death, alcoholism, suicide, stabbing (self-inflicted and not), cutting, emotional abuse, manipulative relationships (parental), self-medication, eugenics, frank depictions of living with chronic pain, PTSD, other possible triggers so please be aware.

Sera and Galina, raised to overthrow a brutal empire, must carry on their deceased mother’s plans for rebellion and liberate the common people from their cruel alurean rulers. Galina attempts to infiltrate the empress’ inner circle - but her attraction to the princess threatens the sisters’ plans. While Sera works behind the scenes, she must ignore her attraction to her estranged husband and stop his violent attempts to destroy the empire (lest he also destroy her plans).
I enjoyed reading this and will probably consider picking up the second book. The story moves along quickly enough and the chapters are short (for those who like that). Vitally and Sera’s relationship was one of my favorite things about To Cage A God - fans of second-chance romances might appreciate their story. Throughout, I found myself caring more about Vitaly and Sera than the actual outcome of the empire.
The romance between Vasilisa and Galina fell flat for me, especially towards the end. It became very rushed (and felt like insta-love) but, I’m hoping that’s resolved or further explored in the next book. I also feel like the overall ending wrapped up too quickly and left me wanting more after the initial build-up.
Furthermore, the diversity amongst the characters was somewhat lacking - many of their descriptions were so similar that it felt like they could’ve been the same people. Some of the character descriptions and writing choices were… strange to me, to say the least. The author called out characters’ eye colors throughout the book multiple times, but not a single character was described as having brown eyes. (I did search for “brown eyes” after the endless descriptions of silver eyes, blue eyes and blonde hair). At a point, it became incredibly distracting and a bit frustrating that these were the only character descriptors that were included.
Romantasy readers who are fans of the movie Anastasia and those with an interest in Russian history/culture will likely enjoy this. Aside from my earlier diversity comment, there’s other non-POC rep here that’s done pretty well - disability, chronic illness, LGBT.

3.5
A great epic Fantasy with lots of strong characters.
I really enjoyed this book and its story, mostly thanks to the characters, who were three-dimensional, strong, but flawed. I especially like the friendships and the sisterly bond between Sera and Galina.
The romance between Vitaly and Sera seemed to be very unauthentic to me and catered towards the booktok community that hypes up morally grey men who only care for the woman they’re in love with and nobody else. I was hoping for something more convincing there, but luckily it wasn’t a major plot point.
Unlike that, I very much enjoyed reading about Galina and Vasilisa’s developing relationship, especially pertaining to their dragons.
I don’t think we needed quite as many POVs as we got for this book, especially Vitaly’s and Vasilisa’s (don’t get me wrong, I adore Vasilisa, she’s my favorite character) didn’t feel like they were adding much to the plot, except for understanding the main character’s (Sera and Galina) love interests better. In my opinion, the story should have centered on Sera, Galina and Katya. Nevertheless, the other POVs were interesting as well, they just weren’t necessary for the story.
To me, the plot was predictable (that’s what happens when you consume as many stories as I do), but still exciting and interesting. I was torn between hoping for plot armor for the characters (because I love most of them) and hoping they wouldn’t have plot armor, so the book would be more interesting.
The finale was a bit disappointing, I was expecting it to be bigger and the way parts of the conflict were resolved and other parts rushed didn’t sit quite right with me. But I loved the build-up to it!
I am still excited to continue this series as it was a nice reading experience.

This was so unique and an interesting romantasy/fantasy novel. I really like the different setting and I felt the characters were complicated and intriguing. It took me a little bit to get into but once I did I really enjoyed!

I had high hopes for this, and it was not that bad, but not original. The tropes seem very new, and I loved the idea of seeing something with imperial Russia.
But is not so original. Has all everything other Romantasy has.
Some quotes were soooo good, but the writing style was not so unique.

Galina and Sera’s mother was a monster. She believed in a cause– taking down the nobles who rule with the power of gods– but she tried to do so with an act of unspeakable evil: experimenting on her two daughters, Galina and Sera. Carving runes and injecting them with mysterious serums, she managed to capture a god in each of them. But now dead and with the nobles still in power, it’s up to Galina and Sera to progress the cause.
This is a fantasy inspired by early 20th century imperial Russia and its civil unrest. However, the setting has been divorced from the complex political situation that led to that unrest– the sisters’ mother is probably the most interesting villain, but she dies off-screen and we’re left with a stereotypically evil empress. The only moral greyness rests in Sera’s love interest, a rogueish baddie who’s soft for only her.
I think this will gain some fans because of the setting and the romance, but I found it bland other than the chronic illness rep.

I was so excited for a new Elizabeth May book! This was a bit slow going in the first 1/4 of the book but once the story got going I couldn't put the darn thing down! I'm excited to get my hands on book 2!
Thank you for the chance to read early!

I inhaled this book! This is the first book I have ever read by May, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Sisters Sera and Galina are both running from the past while trying to control the gods that have been forced to live under their skin. They become reluctant weapons in a fight to free their country from despotic rule. The sisters are force to be reckoned with by themselves and even more so when they stand together.
Sera is reunited with a former lover in their fight to bring down the empress. Galina finds herself sharing quarters with the princess who stirs long forgotten feelings in her and her god.
This book was great and I plan to read it again now that I have a physical copy. The characters were expertly written who each had their own story/background, but May tied it all seamlessly together to the overall story. The story, for me, was unique and not one I had read before. I’ve read my fair share of stories where humans interact with gods, but I have never read a story where humans are physically tied to gods. The world building was excellent and the attention to detail helped make the story leap off the page. I highly recommend this book.

To Cage a God is one of those books that throws you into the world with no set up/explanation and you kinda have to figure out things as you go along. The good side to this is there's no long exposition dumps. The bad side is that sometimes things aren't ever really fully explained. Which is kind of how I feel about the magic system here. Its very interesting system and I hope we learn more about it later on as I have a lot of questions.
Overall this was a fun read, but nothing that blew me out of the water. The characters ended up just being OK for me, as well as the romances. I didn't find myself rooting or attached to any one. I think most people would be drawn to Vitaly, but he didn't do much for me. I strangely needed him almost more deranged and morally lacking? I did enjoy some of his and Sera's interactions. Galya and Vasilisa felt too insta love, even with certain characteristics in place.
I'll definately pick the sequel. The world and magic system is interesting enough that I would like to know more.
Thank you NetGalley and DAW for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s rare that I DNF a book. Very, very rare. This book, unfortunately, has to join the one (1) other book I’ve ever DNF’d.
I don’t think that To Cage a God was bad at all, I just don’t think it was for me. It felt like it dragged in the beginning and I really just… couldn’t get into it. I swear I tried. Maybe I’ll try again in the future when I’m feeling ready to give it another go, but for right now, I just can’t.
DNF’d at 15%.

To Cage a God by Elizabeth May is a wonderful compliment to Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf/For the Throne and Kathrine Arden's The Bear and The Nightingale.
We follow Galina and Sera, two sisters who are tasked with taking down the gods who rule their people. The story is beautiful with vivid storytelling and characters you root for the whole time. I recommend this book to people who are interested in Eastern European folklore and storytelling.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.
To Cage a God is a romantasy inspired by Slavic, Eastern European fairy tales and folklore, perfect for readers who love Sarah J. Maas or Rebecca Yarros. Centuries ago, the nobility had discovered a way to cage dragons in their own bodies and use those dragon’s abilities to oppress the normal humans who live a miserable existence at the whims of the nobles. This is the story of two sisters in more than blood who have found their own truest loves and a reason to live.

WOW! I would define it a mix of grimdark and romantic fantasy set in world with slavic elements.
Gripping, twisty and fast paced. War and love, two strong and very powerful sisters, archaic gods.
There's a lot to love and I can't wait to read the next book in this duology
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Sisters with god-like powers thanks to a special bone-grafting done by their mother are destined to overthrow an empire. The first in this dark fantasy duology will land with those who enjoy their romantasy with darkness and violence.

I was very curious to read this title because the premises are really captivating but unfortunately the reading didn't go as I hoped.
This book has so much potential but it is not being exploited.
The setting is rich, vivid and fascinating but everything remains very superficial and at times confusing.
Unfortunately, the story sometimes gets lost in useless resolutions and filler scenes that slow down the pace and honestly bored me a bit.
Even the characters don't shine and it's a real shame.
I really expected something more!
Thanks Netgalley e the publisher for the e-ARC!

I wanted so badly to love this one. The cover is stunning and the summary sounds absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of To Cage a God.
I really enjoyed this one! I found all of the characters compelling, the magic system interesting, and boy was I rooting for the romantic relationships involved. The writing itself was lovely, and while I found the pacing slow at times, I don't think that it took much of my enjoyment away while reading but I did find myself skimming some of the longer worldbuilding sections.
Overall, very enjoyable, great LGBTQ+ and disability rep, and interesting plot!

I really enjoyed this book. I think it was well written and I was attached to the characters. My only issue is that some of the story didn’t like up and make it confusing to follow.