Review of The Cage by Megan Sheperd

Advance Review of Megan Sheperd's The Cage

Release Date: May 26th, 2015

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

The Maze Runner meets Scott Westerfeld in this gripping new series about teens held captive in a human zoo by an otherworldly race. From Megan Shepherd, the acclaimed author of The Madman's Daughter trilogy.

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

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Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with the idea of what an alien zoo would look like. There is a scene from Flight of the Navigator where you see all the cages at the back of the space ship and there are a plethora of animals from different worlds in each cage. So when I saw this book as an option to download, I immediately wanted to read it.

What would happen if you woke up in a strange new world. Everything looked like your world, from the sand, the sea, the swamp, and even the little town in the center, but it was all engineered to seem human made. The only problem, even though it all seems real, it just can't be. While the flora is all correct, there is no fauna; there are no birds, there are no bugs... there aren't even any stars in the sky at night. When Cora wakes up, the first thing she finds is the dead body of a girl. She is of Middle Eastern decent and has a collection of dots on her neck.

One by one, she finds different people also in this strange new place with her. There is Lucky, the boy whom she holds a mysterious unknown past with, Leon, the Maori smuggler with violent tendancies and tattoos all over his body, Nok the timid Asian model, and Rolf, the Scottish genius. Each person is special in their own way. If they hadn't been, maybe they wouldn't have been chosen. They soon meet the Caretaker (Cassian), a metallic skinned alien with black eyes. He is to be the one in charge of their new home. He claims that his people, the Kindred, have saved them from the fate of Earth. There job is to repopulate their species. Each of them is meant for eachother. Each of them has a match: Nok & Rolf, Cora & Lucky, and Leon with the deceased Indian girl. They will have 21 days to begin procreating or they will be removed.

Little by little, things come in to focus for Cora. Their new home is nothing more than a cage and they are nothing more than lab rats. She vows to escape and tasks the others with helping her. But for some of them, this cage is better than the thought of going home to a life they hated. While she is working to save them, others are working to find peace and happiness in their new home.

What will happen when Cora finds out that even a gilded cage is better than the truth?

This story is chalk full of twists and turns. The minute I felt like I had figured everything out, there is a new twist. I found myself rooting for the Cassian at many points. I can't wait until the next book comes out... which seeing as how The Cage is not even out yet, looks like I will be waiting a LONG TIME!