Review: Caged

Title: Caged
Author: Sophie Davis 


Goodreads Synopsis:

After her brush with death at Ian Crane’s compound, Talia Lyons feels like a prisoner, confined in her childhood home. Plagued with seizures- the result of an unidentified drug injected in her neck by Crane’s men- Talia must put her dream of becoming a Hunter on hold. So when Agency Director McDonough asks Talia to go undercover at the School for the Talented, to find the spy who set the trap for her in Nevada, Talia jumps at the opportunity.

Soon she learns that her new-found freedom comes with a price- working with Donavon on a daily basis. As if that isn’t awkward enough, her former teammate, Erik, also shows up at the School. But at least Talia has the unexpected company of her best friend Penny; to not only assist her in uncovering the spy, but also to deal with the complications that the guys create.

As Talia becomes more entrenched in her assignment, she quickly learns the lengths that the Agency and Mac will go in the name of war. With Crane’s influence spreading, Talia learns that there are few Operatives without ties to the Coalition. Forced to face hard truths and dangerous conclusions, Talia realizes that it is those closest to her who are hiding the biggest secrets. As the task of finding the traitor becomes more problematic, desperation and frustration rule Talia’s world. It becomes clear that Talia can’t do this alone. But who can she trust, when everyone around her is lying?


Review:

The second I finished reading ‘Talented’ I was so excited to know what happened next that I rushed off to the author and asked for a copy of ‘Caged’ – much like with ‘Silver Knight’. The thing with ‘Talented’ was, I got a copy by joining the ARR program on Goodreads, but since this one wasn’t a part of it, I wasn’t sure about the author’s reaction. However, Sophie was so sweet and agreed to send me a copy of ‘Caged’ which I then proceeded to read right away.

The new world Sophie had created in the first book ‘Talented’ had been brilliant and well formed. The identities and different talents – as I had said before – were very creative and well thought out. This book just carries on in the same level of greatness I’d found in Talented. Sadly, there wasn’t much on combat as before, but it still existed, which for some unknown reason was my favourite part of book one.

This book starts off with Natalia recovering from her botched up mission from book one. She’s been cut of everyone else to recuperate as she wallows trying to understand what’s going on around her, and how badly her mission had ended up. She also has to deal with her ex-boyfriend Donovan – who turns out to have saved her life – and spend a lot of time in his company as Mac gives her the new mission. If this wasn’t bad enough, she also has to deal with the hostility of many trainers in school where she was relocated, and a lot of seizures every now and then.

The good side in all of this was her being able to spend more time in the company of her new best friend Penny, though guy-wise, she’s as confused as ever. Donovan had cheated on her, but he also saved her life and donated some of his blood when he thought she’d die, not to mention he’d stayed by her side for long periods after she’d suffered from a seizure. With Erik, he hadn’t contacted her in months on end, and they’d ended things badly between them as he didn’t even see her off and sent her a letter via Henri before she’d gone to her mission. Yet, the sight of him, and just one touch and she’s basically melting. As she is in conflict between the comfort of her childhood friend with whom she can be herself, and the guy she cares deeply about that makes her heart race, she discovers a lot more about the people surrounding her. And not all of it necessarily good.

Deep in her mind, whenever she thinks of what had happened in her mission, she thinks of Ian Crane’s words. She hates him for killing her parents, she knows she seeks revenge, and yet, his words keep playing through her head:

You have no idea what your Agency does to innocent people.

Deep down, she’s starting to doubt what he agency stands for, not believing Mac would be capable of that or what had happened to Erik, and yet, what if it was all true?

I really really loved reading this book, and cannot wait to read hunted!  Definitely would recommend it.

Rating: 5/5