Jess Lourey | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Book Review: The Verdant Cage by Jess Lourey

The Verdant Cage, by Jess Lourey
Mayhem Books, April 2026
ISBN: 9781682816455
Available: Hardcover, ebook edition
Buy: Bookshop.org

The Verdant Cage is a decent YA dystopian novel that in terms of basic setup, strongly resembles the old M. Night Shyamalan movie The Village: small utopian, self-sustaining community cut off from the rest of the world behind a wall in an idyllic village, no electricity, they all live in peace and harmony. It’s a good read, although a bit slow and predictable through the first two-thirds. However, the payoff and increased pace in the last third of the book are worth the wait. As far as where it falls in quality in the YA dystopian genre, it is certainly a good deal better than the Divergent series, if not quite at the level of The Hunger Games.

The first third of the story is basically stage-setting, getting the characters and location characteristics into place, and there’s a fair amount to cover. It’s a reasonably large cast of characters, each of them working in different Houses, where they apply their trades, such as Apothecary, Cobbler, Insect Farmer… there are at least 15 houses. Thankfully, the author had the foresight to include an appendix at the end, a very helpful idea that more authors today should consider. While the setup is well done and detailed (cricket flour was a nice touch, in terms of creativity for a modern self-sustaining community) the plot here is guessable. Teenage protagonist Rose Allgood is stuck with a pre-arranged marriage to someone she doesn’t like, but used to; murder happens in a community that has never seen such a thing; no one knows how or why they wound up in Noah’s Valley…predictable, but still interesting. The setting and character interactions are intriguing enough to keep the reader engaged at that point. The author did enough research to make the community feel believable, in terms of how trades such as a medic would function in pre-modern times. It’s a good job of world building, very in-depth, and it feels realistic.

Rose’s brother is the person labeled responsible for the murder of her mother, at which point he is sent up and over the Wall, to his likely death. Naturally, Rose isn’t buying it, and about half the book is her trying to find out who is responsible, which of course slowly leads to her uncovering certain hidden truths about Noah’s Valley. Once she puts all the pieces together in the last part of the book, the story takes off and improves dramatically. Faster pacing, and the shifting loyalties and double-crossing by many characters make the plot much more engaging, and less predictable. The big reveal in terms of the Valley and the history of its inhabitants is outstanding: very high marks for creativity to the author! It adds an unexpected change to the plot, and a much wider lens for the story. The book continues in high gear right up to the end, with an open-ended finale. I expect a lot of readers might wind up screaming for a sequel due to the ending, as there is potentially a LOT of story to tell, and the ending’s nature makes it a perfect fit. However, I would actually vote against another one. I liked the ambiguous ending and feel it should be left where it is. Let the reader imagine what happens next.

For readers that can exercise a bit of patience to wait for the story to get rolling, this one is worth the time invested. The big payoff certainly is enough to justify reading this.

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Book Review: Litani by Jess Lourey

Litani by Jess Lourey

Thomas & Mercer, 2021 (release date: Oct. 19)

ISBN: 9781542027014

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, compact disc, MP3 ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

Set in the mid-1980s, Litani is a mystery/thriller dealing with the unpleasant subject of child molesters, but the book is couched into language that will work for younger readers. While written for adults, it has value as a “crossover” title to the young adult crowd. Fourteen-year-old Francesca “Frankie” Jubilee moves in with her mom after her dad’s untimely demise. She is quickly beaten up by three 10 year old girls. The girls allude to The Game, something many kids know about and fear. Frankie finds her town to be one with an unpleasant past that centers around children that have gone missing over time. The story follows a fairly predictable path, with Frankie trying to find the truth, and getting it in bits and pieces. There’s a minor story thread of Satanism, but it’s really just window-dressing and could have been left out. There’s a big reveal at the end to explain it all, and everything ends up okay, more or less.

The writing is simple and to the point, and the plot devices are familiar: Frankie’s past may have secrets, she makes one friend with a troubled past of his own, she doesn’t get along with her mom due to her being absent from her life for years, etc. The Game itself is no big mystery, and most of the characters act in a pretty predictable manner. The predictability and basic nature of the writing may not be enough for adult readers to get caught up in the story, but for high school kids, it’s perfect. Entertaining enough to keep teens enthralled, there’s mystery, some excitement, a dead body, characters that kids will understand, and nothing too violent or graphic. Example: while some of the characters are child molesters, the author wisely doesn’t use any graphic firsthand descriptions of molestation. Same goes for the Satanic angle: no elaborate ceremonies or sacrifices, just a few pentagrams and candles. It takes skill to write about vile subjects for a younger age bracket, and Jess Lourey does it extremely well. The violence is also mild: a couple fights, a rock to the head, nothing over the top. All of the above and the straightforward nature of Litani make it a good choice for teen readers.