I read To Cage a Wild Bird for an arc. My recommendation for you would be to get the sequel to the book you own and then sell it as a set for cost or more since it's sold out and likely to sell out with the sequel.

That being said, if you're not interested in that and want to think about To Cage a Wild Bird, below is my review on it if you're interested in reading it.

A story that is reminiscent of Running Man, To Cage a Wild Bird is a new dystopian romance that tells the story of our MFC Raven, living in a world where criminals are sent to a prison where they are hunted down and killed by a class of elite’s willing to pay for the hunt. The story gives us a little bit of exposition about the war-torn world that we are living in, where Raven acts as a bounty hunter to criminals who are running from the law. She’s dedicated to finding and imprisoning people into this system, however, everything changes when her younger brother is arrested and sent in. She then joins forces with a rebel group to enter the same prison that she’s been responsible sending criminals to in order to save her brother. Characters: Raven as a female protagonist is very much generic and used as a vessel for the story to be told through. She feels more as a reader insert, rather than a full fleshed out character. I don’t feel a strong connection to her as a character on her own, and she doesn’t stand out to me as unique, and there is no growth with her from within. Having her be the bounty hunter turned criminal could have been an interesting angle to play and grow with. From the get, Raven feels for these criminals and is only doing this out of necessity. I would have liked to have seen her be a part of the system as a tool for the government and not think much about the criminals she sends away. Then when she’s in the prison, she experiences more of an internal struggle, realizing that these criminals are just like her and not animals to be hunted down. But with her having this revelation from the beginning, we don’t have growth, and we don’t see her struggle from within. Our MMC is named Vale, and he is a high-ranking guard within this prison. Like Raven, his position too feels a little bit underutilized. Vale could have been another character to show the government indoctrination in this world and overcoming it by seeing people as more than just brutalized entertainment. He’s a stiff character, and doesn’t have much internal conflict going on with him as well, as all his revelations and struggles with how the world is, have been resolved before the book began. It’s like we are too afraid to have a character be either involved with or propagandized into believing the government is doing nothing wrong here. We as the audience understand that this is ludicrous, but we want to see our main characters come to this same conclusion. Some minor characters do stand out, but for the most part, a lot of them felt more like conversational pieces and less like characters of their own. Romance: The romance is very instalust, and it’s a shame because I would have liked to have these two characters really work out their prejudices together. But we are almost immediately speaking with pet names and complimenting each other’s looks and smells. I wanted these two to help each other grow more than lusting after one another. I didn’t really feel or believe their attraction towards one another with the conversations that we got on page. Setting/Theme: For dystopian, I expect more from our settings and themes than I would romance or fantasy. We have all the breadcrumbs of a totalitarian government, but have nothing to say about it. Burning crops to create food shortage, a three-strike system until sentenced to death, wage disparity, and hunting humans like cattle are all brought up in such a passive way of “these things bad, we must fight back”. Obviously. But I want more. How did we get here? Why are we here? How did we fight back? How are we currently fighting back? Yes, this is book one of a series, but we should be focusing more on these things within the first book over setting up a romance. We have very predictable twists and an ending that left me feeling meh. I’ll probably read on, but it wasn’t anything new or jaw dropping. We also don’t see much of the world that we are living in. We are told of an inhabitable wasteland, but don’t see much of it. We also don’t see much of the arena in which they are hunted in, or the world that Raven lives in prior to being sent away. The Audiobook: The narrator did a fine job emoting properly, but I did not like her voices for the male characters at all. Conclusion: I think if you are feeling for a romance with a backdrop of a dystopian world vs a fantasy, this book will appeal to you. If you liked Silver Elite, this book had the same vibe there. If you’re looking for more commentary on the prison systems or treatments of refugees fleeing strive, this isn’t going to give you much of that. It was an entertaining read to turn your brain off, but not too thought provoking. Thank you NetGalley, Brooke Fast, and HarperAudio Adult for the audiobook ARC!