In the second instalment of the Talented saga we find Talia fully removed from the TOXIC compound, her team and her friends. This instalment leaves a sort of leaden feeling as the goals and dreams of Talented are all but abandoned. They're "set aside" to be retried later but as the story plays out there is a sense of ominous change that kept me turning pages long into the night in an effort to get to the happy ending. This book does not get you there, the Sophies are terrifc at cliffhangers and will keep you reading.

The most prominent thing about Caged was that it created feelings, a sense of stress, that I felt physically as I was reading it. The carefully crafted world we were previously introduced to has some cracks and the facade is crumbling. We get a deeper look at the Talia/Donovan relationship post TOXIC as they are placed back in their childhood home while simultaneously building the Talia/Erik and Talia/Penny relationships. There is a lot of movement in the Talia/Mac relationship arc that is going to become immensely important in the next couple books.

I would say, out of the five currently published that this one was my least favorite. It was very slow moving, there was not a lot going on but it managed to explore the characters and their connections and it revealed personalities and secrets while serving the dual purpose of keeping Talia away from the life she was previously pursuing.

Again we see some dialogue that is not necessarily the greatest and some of the issues that take up a lot of Talia's time and attention really are meaningless but keeping in mind that she is a teenager these factors do not deter me from continuing on in the series. I would like to see a shift away from Team boy #1 versus Team boy #2 but that seems to be an issue in this novel.
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Caged is a perfect second book to an exciting series. Talia wakes up after the dangerous but yet intriguing confrontation with Crane. Unfortunately, Talia did not come out of the meeting unscathed; Crane injected her with a mysterious liquid. Now, due to this Talia has been taken off the main lines and asked to uncover the spy at the School for the Talented. As much as I hate Donavon, he is around a lot in this book and sometimes seems to be somewhat helpful. However, he made me hate him even more in this book because he expected to be let off the hook so easily! But for whatever reason, I think Donavon might prove a bit useful or helpful in the future.

Erik is in the picture for a small part of the book but I have hopes for him being a bigger picture in the future books! Most of the book is devoted to finding the spy and I was extremely surprised of who it was, I didn’t see it coming. Even after the things that Crane said to Talia and Erik’s note, I am very surprised that Talia hasn’t been questioning the Agency more. I am not sure if this will take the turn like most dystopians do where the Agency is the bad cop and the Coalition is the good cop but I am excited to see where these books go!

As always the first book in the series is free so go grab it, if you haven’t already!

Link: http://thepassionatebookworms.com/review-caged-by-sophie-davis-talented-saga-2/ ( )

If you've not yet read Talented, stop here or risk spoilers for the first book in the series.

*** As of 5/26/2013, Caged has been re-edited and proofread ***

After her brush with death at Ian Crane’s compound, Talia Lyons feels like a prisoner, confined in her childhood home. Plagued with seizures- the result of an unidentified drug injected in her neck by Crane’s men- Talia must put her dream of becoming a Hunter on hold. So when Agency Director McDonough asks Talia to go undercover at the School for the Talented, to find the spy who set the trap for her in Nevada, Talia jumps at the opportunity.

Soon she learns that her new-found freedom comes with a price- working with Donavon on a daily basis. As if that isn’t awkward enough, her former teammate, Erik, also shows up at the School. But at least Talia has the unexpected company of her best friend Penny; to not only assist her in uncovering the spy, but also to deal with the complications that the guys create.

As Talia becomes more entrenched in her assignment, she quickly learns the lengths that the Agency and Mac will go in the name of war. With Crane’s influence spreading, Talia learns that there are few Operatives without ties to the Coalition. Forced to face hard truths and dangerous conclusions, Talia realizes that it is those closest to her who are hiding the biggest secrets. As the task of finding the traitor becomes more problematic, desperation and frustration rule Talia’s world. It becomes clear that Talia can’t do this alone. But who can she trust, when everyone around her is lying?

Talia's solo mission ends in disaster. Talia begins suffering seizures after her failed solo mission, courtesy of the injection she was given when she met with Ian Crane. Before her departure and upon her return the lies are flying fast and furious, leaving Talia less and less certain who she can trust outside of Erik and Penny.

Mac pulls her back to the McDonough School after a fair amount of time in a medically induced coma to allow her body and psyche to heal. He makes her pose as an Assistant Instructor to try and ferret out a spy, as he is sure that is how Talia was almost caught and killed, given that Crane called her by name. Donovan and Penny are both there as well, and eventually Erik ends up there also.

Talia wavers between Donovan and Erik before finally choosing Erik. A large part of her problem with Donovan are all the lies he has told her. While looking for salt in Donovan's bedside drawer she finds a photo of a small blond boy wearing glasses. When she tells him how cute he was as a kid he blanches and says thanks, but clearly there is something else going on that Talia missed. Does Donovan have a son?

After much hard, frustrating work Talia makes a breakthrough and discovers the spy, much to her horror. For the spy is one of the only people she never would have suspected in a million years. . . After the revelation of who the spy is comes out Toxic keeps Talia medicated to suppress her memories, particularly those she got from the traitor. Even with the meds deep down Talia wonders if those memories are real, and that maybe TOXIC is exactly what its acronym spells.

Excellent story arc and character development again, which was very nice to see in the second book. Maybe not as much physical action, but certainly more than enough espionage and mental thrills to keep the reader engaged from cover to cover. The questions over what was done to Talia medically loom in the forefront of everything - both because she is always at risk of another seizure, and because she seems to be developing more talents (though she doesn't see it that way, nor is it mentioned), and is emotionally far less stable than she should be. ( )

Talia Lyons, is pretty much under house arrest (she’s told its for her own protection). Talia almost died during her botched solo mission… to gain information and possibly kill Ian Crane. She was injected with a mysterious substance and is suffering from seizures. Mac McDonough, Director of TOXIC, offer Talia a chance to get back out in the field, but still remain close. Mac tells Talia that the only way they could reason that Ian Crane new she was coming would be that they had a spy in their mist. It now has become Talia’s job to find this spy, while working undercover as an assistant in the McDonough School. I can’t say much more because it would give something away.

I found Caged to be an excellent, adventure filled story. Just like the first book in this series, I was riveted once again to the pages. It does have a slight mirroring to the XMEN , but the action, the drama, the twist and political maneuvering, the plots and lies, pull you along for this fabulous ride. OMG, what an emotional roller coaster Caged presents. Talia, although emotional and full of faults, must find the strength to survive. In the end, the enemy is always closer than you realize. There are a few issues with grammar, but for those of us who can over look editing issues this book is awesome. ( )

Talia Lyons, is pretty much under house arrest (she’s told its for her own protection). Talia almost died during her botched solo mission… to gain information and possibly kill Ian Crane. She was injected with a mysterious substance and is suffering from seizures. Mac McDonough, Director of TOXIC, offer Talia a chance to get back out in the field, but still remain close. Mac tells Talia that the only way they could reason that Ian Crane new she was coming would be that they had a spy in their mist. It now has become Talia’s job to find this spy, while working undercover as an assistant in the McDonough School. I can’t say much more because it would give something away.

I found Caged to be an excellent, adventure filled story. Just like the first book in this series, I was riveted once again to the pages. It does have a slight mirroring to the XMEN , but the action, the drama, the twist and political maneuvering, the plots and lies, pull you along for this fabulous ride. OMG, what an emotional roller coaster Caged presents. Talia, although emotional and full of faults, must find the strength to survive. In the end, the enemy is always closer than you realize. There are a few issues with grammar, but for those of us who can over look editing issues this book is awesome. ( )