Release Date: November 25th 2014
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 304
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Synopsis: For the past two months, Kitty Doe’s life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate the Prime Minister’s niece, her frustration grows as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoats keep her in the dark more than ever.

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she’s accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape.

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she’ll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in—but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?

Review: This review contains spoilers for the previous book.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, it was a strong start to ‘The Blackcoat Rebellion‘. I enjoyed the storyline, and I liked the spunky protagonist, Kitty. I especially loved the conspiracies, the secrets and the power-games. And I was looking forward to more of all of this in Captive.

Captive picks up not too long after the ending of Pawn, with Kitty agreeing to continue with the rebellion as Lila Hart. Not many people that the face of the rebellion is not who they believe it is, with only a handful of people knowing that the Lila that everyone sees is actually not the niece of the Prime Minister. But the Prime Minister knows, and the only thing that may keep Kitty alive is the one trump card up her sleeve - she knows the Prime Minister isn’t who he says he is either.

Kitty must find proof that the Prime Minister has been masked, otherwise the rebellion will lose everything they have been fighting for. They will lose the freedom they are fighting for, they will not be able to free the people in Elsewhere, and more importantly, they will all probably lose their life.

Whilst we do spend some time in the lavish Hart empire, Captive also takes you from away from the extravagant lifestyle of this privileged society, and you get to see more of the heartbreaking truth of Elsewhere. Where people are used as slaves, as entertainment and as punching-bags. And whilst I really enjoyed seeing this side of this world, and I felt the story needed to be moved away from the empire, I found one aspect that I loved about Pawn was a little disappointing in Captive: Kitty.

Kitty was intelligent, thoughtful and had attitude in Pawn, but she seemed to have lost a lot of that in Captive. She was whiney, bitter and dependant. On more than one occasion was she reluctant to help the rebellion, and basically had to be bribed to do so. And she certainly didn’t do so without complaint - constantly whinging about how this affected her, how this was inconvenient for her - completely forgetting about all those lives she is fighting for - the people in Elsewhere, the people who are suffering for the privileged lifestyle she was now leading, the people who are suffering day in and day out, the people who have no hope at all but still manage to survive.

For me, Captive didn’t have the same strength as Pawn because I didn’t connect to Kitty in this one. The emotions weren’t as strong, the intensity just wasn’t there. I wanted the girl who was strong and fierce- I wanted the emotion. The Kitty from Pawn did return after a certain event. But it took something pretty major for her to return to the pages. And she did so out of anger, not because she was the fierce and intelligent character we were originally introduced too. But after her bout of anger, the original Kitty remained, and this is where the story really picked up for me.

But the conspiracies, the black-mail, the secrets, the power-games and the underhandness is still there. And I love it. I love the evilness or the sinister reasons for all the secrets and conspiracies. I admire the fact the even the Prime Minister is pure evil, he is nothing if not intelligent and plays the game well. I like the deceitfulness and crafty manoeuvres of some of the characters, I enjoy the fact that secrets keep being revealed. So this part of Captive did not disappoint.

After some events transpired and the original Kitty returned, the storyline certainly picked up. The pace was quicker, the action really started and the defiant determination returned. The last part of this book was great, and I really enjoyed going on this journey with Kitty and the rebellion. Events unfold, secrets are revealed and the book ends on a note that will leave readers excited for the finale of this series.

The Pawn has played this twisted game.

Pawns can pay the ultimate price. But they can also become Queens.

Quotes:

“An armory isn’t always made up of guns and knives. Sometimes, information is the most powerful weapon of all.”

“Finally he closed the distance between us and kissed me — a sweet, gentle kiss that held within it every single one of the thousand days I’d loved him as my everything, long after I’d begun to love him as a friend.”

“The rebellion had begun.”

“The only thing that really matters in the end is how we choose to live.”