The Cage by Megan Shepherd

The Cage by Megan Shepherd

The Cage  (Cage Series book one)

Author: Megan Shepherd

Length: 405 pages

Content notes: 9th grade and up (the characters are told to procreate but details are not included)

Release date: May 2015

“They always said crazy people never knew they were crazy.”

Synopsis:

The main character, Cora, is ripped from her life and finds herself in a strange world. She last remembers riding with her very dysfunctional family to a ski resort, but then she just wakes up in this alien locality ….She finds four other teenagers who are just as confused as she. The young people find themselves living in a comfortable place, and their needs are being adequately met, however, they soon discover that they are being watched and controlled by aliens who are studying them. Then, they find that they have a couple of rules to follow. The main one is to procreate within 21 days and they are told that should not be a problem because they have already been matched up with a partner….cased closed…. Anyone who refuses to follow this rule, will face a fate worse than this pleasant cage. Cora is not willing to go along with this and she plans to escape. But how can she escape when she is not even on Earth anymore? Also, she and her alien captor seem to be connecting romantically. Can she escape and get the others onboard with her plans?


My thoughts:

This book has a great setting and the idea of this book really intrigued me. Also, I have to admit that I could not put this book down. The characters were varied and the book kept me interested. The idea of aliens so curious about us that they put us in a “zoo-cage” to watch and study is a fun idea ….but creepy. Then, seeing how the characters react when the aliens start to manipulate them caused me to think about human nature. For example, the characters are to solve problems and then get a nice reward. But they give more reward to one character and not as much reward to another. This unfair reward experiment causes anger and distrust among the characters, but surprisingly enough, this anger is not always at the aliens but with the one getting the favors. Of course, the characters seem very immature at times, but they are all very young and inexperienced. At first, a couple of them actually liked the idea of no school and no responsibilities (except to perform), until they figure out they also have no freedom. I feel this book can give the older YA reader something to think about. I have read the 2nd book in this series and it takes the characters on a very new journey. Also, I do plan to read the 3rd book which came out in May 2017 because I want to see how the author resolves this series.

If you like science fiction (and I really do), drama, and YA books you will probably like this book.