Sisters Sera and Galina have been hiding in isolation since the murder of their mother, Irina, at the hands of the vicious Empress Isadora some four years ago. Irina was the leader of the rebel group "the faithless," a group of commoners determined to remove the Empress from her throne and Irina worked for decades creating the ultimate weapon by using ancient texts to cage gods in her own daughters, one natural and the other adopted. The Empress' husband was recently assassinated by Vitaly, formerly Irina's second in command and now the leader of the faithless, and Empress Isadora and the country of Tumanny are also fighting a war against the Sopol people and burning villages to root out the enemy, so Sera and Galina are on the move once again.
Galina is Sera's adopted sister, since Isadora burned her village to the ground with her godfire when she was only 9 years old, making her the town's only survivor, but leaving her horribly burned. Needless to say, she has a serious grudge against the Empress. Sera and Galina attend a huge religious celebration outside of the palace along with thousands of other "supplicants" and it is here that Galina shows her godpower while dressed in the clothes of a typical commoner, causing the Empress to take her into the palace as a much needed weapon. Of course, little does Isadora know, her devoted handmaiden, Katya, has been Sera's inside man at the palace for some 6 years, in the hopes of escaping her cruel mistress and seeing her laid low.
While Sera and Galina have their own plans, Vitaly and the faithless are taking a more explosive route at making things happen. Imagine Sera's shock when she sees her handsome husband again after four long years. But Sera left him for a reason that she cannot reveal, since Vitaly despises the alurea and has no idea that he shared a bed with one for many years.
And then there is Princess Vasilisa, Empress Isadora's only child, but one with a debilitating and cruel illness that leaves her weak and barely able to walk at times. However, the alurea are supposed to be impervious to disease, and Vasilisa's illness is a secret that Isadora cannot allow anyone to discover. With her kingdom weakened by the Emperor's death, imagine how easy it would be to remove her from the throne if anyone knew the heir was living on borrowed time, despite her powerful godfrost ability? When Galina and Vasilisa meet, sparks definitely fly, but can they trust one another? Sometimes the enemy of one's enemy can be a friend... or more.
To Cage A God is an intricately woven story with incredible depth and I have barely touched the surface in this review, but that is intentional, since it is best discovered by the reader. Elizabeth May has built quite a universe and this book ends with a very nice set-up for future happenings, yet still manages to resolve some important things. This is a fantasy story that basically takes place in an alternate version of Russia, so be prepared for lots of foreign words as the language of the common man (Zwerti) is different from the ruling class and these words are peppered throughout the story. It took a bit for me get into the rhythm of this story, with so many characters and each one having like 3 different names/nicknames, but I got the hang of it after a short while. It's worth the initial investment it takes to get into it, because the story is filled with tension, horror, romance and action. There's a lot of sex as well, so if that isn't something you like, there's no avoiding it. The climate in Sundyr is cold, but the people find many ways to stay warm, ahem.
Overall, I really enjoyed the story and can't wait to see what happens next. This is definitely not Game of Thrones though, because these dragons are inside of people and some are super pissed about it. To Cage A God is a very different fantasy, but one well worth your time. Highly recommended.
