There is much in The Caged Kingdom, book 1 in the Unforgiven series by M.A. Price that is good. Unfortunately, there are a few aspects that reduced my enjoyment too.
…a portrait of the human condition…
This book is obviously the result of the author’s grand vision of a new and intriguing fantasy world. From the very beginning it makes the epic scope of the story clear. Indeed, at times it doesn’t feel like a first book in a series at all. There are so many hints at a vast backstory that it feels more like this is the 3rd or maybe 4th book. Though the magic system appears to be relatively soft, the story arc also makes many of its limitations clear.
Exactly these strengths are what lead to several of the weaknesses in my eyes. The story begins in the thick of the action with a battle that left me gasping and dizzy as I wondered who, what, why and where. The first half of the book continues in a similar vein with a vast cast of characters thrown into the mix. At times, I really struggled to keep track of all the names. Adding to this was the unusual prose style. Told in 3rd person past, the story progresses by switching Point of View to a different character in each fresh chapter. Though the chapter titles helped with orientation, the narrative style tends to jump back and forth between characters anyway. I found this omniscient style a little disorienting at times. Added to this was a style of conjugation that I had not previously been aware of. All together, I found it a challenge to get through the first half of the book.
About half way through, however, something switched in my head. Instead of approaching this book as a typical high fantasy swords and sorcery magical epic, I started seeing that it was more of a portrait of the human condition, how people cope with pain, suffering, hardship and loss, how ordinary people are capable of extraordinary acts when faced with overwhelming challenges, how everyone must deal with there own mortality. Each character did indeed have enough depth to highlight a different angle of this.
A dizzying 3 out of 5 stars for M.A. Price. I probably found the final third the most enjoyable, but it was certainly a long trek to get there.
Please leave a short message to let me know if you found my review helpful, or at least interesting.
Even better, if you are already familiar with this, or any other books about the Unforgiven series, let me know if you agree with my assessment or if you think I have misrepresented something, but do remember NO SPOILERS! We don’t want to ruin it for others.
Find out more about M.A. Price and her books at: