Rebecca Roanhorse's Reviews > Cagebird

This is the third in the series and I can't imagine jumping to this one without reading the others first. So start with WARCHILD which imo is the best of the three. Speaking of series, Lowachee calls it a mosaic (which I love) as opposed to a trilogy or a cycle, etc. Accurate, because the three books cover the same chronological time through different lives and different eyes, with some overlapping events near the last third. Internally, this book also follows two timelines: the MC through his childhood and his adulthood, which got a little confusing for me. Nothing fatal. But with the other 2 books fresh in my mind and this jumping timeline, I frequently forgot when I was.

Lowachee's sentence-level craft is impressive here. So many lovely turns of phrase. However, the book is relentlessly grim, which is interesting because at heart, I think the story is about love. And it does offer a bit of hope at the end.

The only issue for me is I didn't care for the MC, and it's hard to enjoy a book when you don't enjoy reading about the MC or learning about his life, esp when it's in 1st person. The good news for you, reader, is that is simply a matter of preference for me, and likely due to the fact that I love the MC from WARCHILD so much I really just want to spend more time w him and/or Niko. #sorrynotsorry