I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris Series: Gunnie Rose #3
Published by Gallery/Saga Press on February 23 2021
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Lizbeth is back in this imaginative alternate history fantasy, but this installment was just too slow paced for my taste.
I’m still plugging away at this series, although I have yet to enjoy a book as much as An Easy Death. Still, there are some nice moments in the Russian Cage, and I’m still loving Lizbeth’s character, so at this point I’ll probably keep going with the series, even if this latest installment didn’t blow me away.
The story picks up soon after A Longer Fall, when Lizbeth sent her younger half sister Felicia to the Holy Russian Empire (HRE) with Eli for safekeeping. But one day, Lizbeth receives a letter from Felicia that seems to be written in code. It doesn’t take her long to figure out that Felicia is trying to tell her that Eli has been arrested and is currently in jail. Lizbeth leaves the comfort of her familiar home in Texoma to travel to San Diego, California, the heart of the HRE. When she arrives, she is shocked to discover that Eli has been accused of murder, and so she devises a plan to break him out of prison, knowing that he’s been falsely accused. Joined by Eli’s brother Peter and his friend Felix, Lizbeth navigates the complex political situation with the Russian grigoris (magicians) while keeping an eye on Felicia. But there is unrest with the Russian royals and LIzbeth is about to find herself caught in the crosshairs of a grigori power struggle.
Once again, Lizbeth was my favorite character, although I really liked Felicia as well. The story is told from Lizbeth’s first person narrative, and Harris is pretty consistent with her character throughout the series. For those who haven’t started this series, Lizbeth is a “gunnie,” or gun for hire. She’s usually hired by groups of people travelling across the barren deserts of Texoma, her trusty Winchester rifle at the ready to shoot and kill anyone who becomes a threat. She’s brash and blunt doesn’t follow societal conventions, and in this story she finds herself in a more conservative environment where women are expected to behave and dress in certain ways. This gives us a nice “fish out of water” scenario where Lizbeth isn’t very comfortable with her situation. There are some very funny moments, particularly when she needs a gun but the HRE forbids carrying weapons on the streets. Luckily Lizbeth is a very resourceful woman and guns aren’t her only option for wounding and killing, but I have to say I nearly cheered with excitement when she finally had a gun in her hand and started shooting!
I also loved the banter between Lizbeth and Eli, who have definitely had their ups and downs when it comes to their relationship. Unfortunately, Eli isn’t in the story much, since he’s in jail for most of the book. But once he gets out and he and Lizbeth are reunited, the story really came to life for me. Harris’s dialog is definitely one of the best parts of the series, and whenever Lizbeth is part of the conversation, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
That being said, my least favorite part of The Russian Cage was probably the pacing. There were bursts of exciting action here and there, but the rest of the story was a lot of Lizbeth going through the motions of her day to day activities and literally waiting for something to happen. This story was slow, and I really missed the fast-paced, action heavy scenes of An Easy Death, although we do get some good ones near the end of the book. What should have been a quick, two day read for me took over a week to finish, since I just couldn’t muster much enthusiasm to pick it up. And while I really love the unique alternate world that Charlaine Harris has created—the United States has fractured after a series of events, including a complete breakdown of the political infrastructure, and the Russians have come in and taken over the Western part of the country—there was a whole lot of nothing happening for a good chunk of the story.
But I have to say, Harris really knows how to wrap things up. The ending was very satisfying and sweet, and best of all, Lizbeth and Eli finally head back to Texoma. I enjoyed learning more about the Holy Russian Empire, but I missed the dusty, lawless streets of Texoma, and I hope we spend more time there in the next book.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
I swore off Charlaine Harris after the end of the Sookie series, but I tempted now to read An Easy Death to see what this world is all about — you’ve definitely piqued my interest!
The first book is great! I would definitely recommend it.
It sounds strange that what should be a very fast-paced story, full of obstacles to be surmounted, seems to move at a snail’s pace for a good portion of it, as if the author was not sure about where to take the character…
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…THE FALL OF KOLI (Rampart Trilogy #3), by M.R. Carey
The pacing was odd. I know when I’m reading a book and I make up excuses not to pick it up, there’s something wrong, which is what happened here.
So far I’ve only read the Sookie Stackhouse series but have been wanting to try this one as well. Kind of a bummer about the pacing in this installment but the characters and premise both sound really good.
I really love the world and I love Lizbeth. Hopefully the next book will get back on track:-)
Here’s hoping the series picks up the pace again in the next book. It’s tough when you enjoy and are used to a faster paced story just to see it slow way down. In cases like this I sometimes wonder if the pacing wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I hadn’t already experienced the faster pacing of what came before, or whether it’s just too slow regardless of that.
I don’t really mind a slower pace, but in this case “slow” just felt boring to me, unfortunately.
I’m really sad to see that this one dragged on in the pacing. I still need to catch up on this series and fully intend to but it might be a while haha. I hope it the next book is a bit better!
A lot of reviewers love it on Goodreads so it could just be me. Hope you enjoy it when you get around to it:-)
I had planned on grabbing this from NetGalley but put it off until closer to release date…and then it completely slipped my mind! Reading this review though, I can’t help but feel I dodged a bullet. Such a shame, because the first book was so good! The second one was meh, but I was hoping it was just a blip…now I fear it’s a pattern. Still a slim chance I might want to read this, but I’ll probably grab the audio from the library…
Yeah, I don’t think you missed much. I hope she gets back some of the charm and excitement of the first book soon.
Great review, Tammy:)). Like you, I LOVED the first one and didn’t enjoy The Longer Fall quite so much – but despite the pacing issues, I really want to read this one…
I was surprised that I felt like continuing with the series when I was finished with this one. But she really gave it a strong finish which pushed me over the edge.
Shame about this series. The first book held such promise. Still, I’m going to keep an open mind and see if books 2 and 3 are blips.
Lynn 😀
A lot of readers loved this so maybe it was me…
So odd that the pacing had to be so dramatically-changed for something so low, lacking so much action! Great honest review nonetheless, Tammy! 😀
Thanks Lashaan:-)