Breakaway Books

Authored by Brooke Fast; Published September 2025; Romantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

If you’re looking for a dystopian novel that shows just how bad a capitalistic prison industry can get, To Cage a Wild Bird is your novel. I wouldn’t choose it for the romance, but the suspense may be worth it.

In To Cage a Wild Bird, there is nothing that Raven wouldn’t do to protect her younger brother Jed. In this post-apocalyptic world, that mainly means serving as a bounty hunter and turning in those Lower Sector criminals unlucky enough to come across her path. When Jed is sent to Endlock, the notorious prison where inmates are hunted for sport, Raven has no choice: She follows him in and plans an escape—all at the behest of a rebel group plotting to overthrow the Council that runs the show. 

The romance in this novel should set off all the alarm bells that you have. Raven takes up with a prison guard, Vale, who falls in love with her after a glance. Literally a look and maybe five minutes alone together is enough for Vale, who then apparently experiences an undeniable attraction for her which he simply cannot fight off. There’s no talk about any real qualities of Raven’s that Vale admires, and that adds up to a lackluster romance for me. Add in the power dynamics of a guard and a prisoner together? There’s some serious ick here, and there’s not enough oomph to their relationship to overcome it. 

But if every romantic interaction in this book had me wanting to put it down, it was the premise that kept me reading. The Hunger Games vibes are strong with this one, with executions serving as entertainment for the rich masses. Dividium, the society in which Raven and Jed live, is appallingly backward, and Endlock is the pinnacle of its brutality, with human lives sacrificed, dozens at a time, all for the profit of the people who own the prison. It’s so awful that it catches the breath in your throat and makes it hard to look away. It’s right on the edge of the villains being so evil that it’s ridiculous, and yet somehow, I still had to know what would happen next.

If you’re looking for a novel with a pulse-pounding dystopian setting, To Cage a Wild Bird is a good choice. I can’t say it’s the best for romance, though.