Gilded Cage is the beginning of a promising series about magic, political intrigue and class.

I’m not going to lie. The beginning started out slow but after 50 pages in, I couldn’t wait to get home and read some more. Abi and her family have been transferred to the great estate of a Skilled family, a family that uses magic and is a higher class than Abi. There she meets the three sons, their ruthless father and mostly absentee mother, along with various other Skilled individuals who all have their own agendas. Abi and her family are sent there to serve out their require 10 years of slavery term, put into place many years before. Everyone except Abi’s brother Luke. Luke is sent to a slave working town where he befriends some very interesting characters, all seeking revolution. Thus, Luke is thrown into bigger plans that might get him killed, but he can’t seem to stop.

Going back and forth between Luke and Abi, the story fluctuates between the mysterious family and the brewing revolution. I really loved all of the characters. They are so extremely multi-layered and interesting, especially the Equal family that Abi is living with. Every son is hurt, powerful, beaten. Good and bad. I was suspicious of all and trusted none, but still rooted for each one, hoping they would find goodness.

Luke’s journey is also fun with a lot more action and suspense. I liked the setting of the labor camps and how realistic they were, how they changed people and how they were changing him.

At the beginning, it was slow to get into, a lot of set up and explaining. But soon, it was clear that the parallel story lines were both equally intriguing. And now that I’m done, I’m fully invested in the characters, the revolution and that cliffhanger ending!

Wow!

**This book was reviewed for the San Francisco and Seattle Book Reviews & Netgalley**



Vic James has woven a vision of a dystopic alter-earth where certain people, known as Equals or the Skilled, have magical abilities. In some countries, the Equals rule to the exclusion of others. Great Britain is one such country.



Luke Hadley and his family are preparing to enter their Slavedays a ten year period of enforced servitude all commoners must endure. His elder sister, Abi, has worked hard to get all of her family assigned to serve at Kyneston, the home of the Jardines, the Equal Founding Family. Unfortunately, things don't work out as planned, and Luke alone is sent to the slavetown of Millmoor. Shrouded in a miasma of pollution and thunderous with the noises of industry, Millmoor is a harsh place that ages people before their time.



At first desperate to rejoin his family, Luke ends up finding friends and a purpose at Millmoor. Meanwhile, Abi and the rest of the family get settled at Kyneston, and becoming attached to various Jardines. Abi finds herself falling for Jenner, the sole Skilless Jardine. Daisy, her young sister, has been given the task of caring for Gavar Jardine’s illegitimate daughter, Libby. Over time, Daisy becomes fiercely attached to both Gavar and Libby. And brewing under both Millmoor and Kyneston are plots to shatter the nation, and topple regimes. It’s more than just the commoners who are held fast by chains of custom and fate. The bonds may be fancier, but the Equals as a whole are captives just as much.



I devoured this book. James did a marvelous job of making you both despise and love the Jardines, especially Gavar, and many of the other Skilled as well. They really aren't what they seem at first, at least the brothers. It becomes easy to see how they have been shaped by their father, and by their own relative Skill, or lack thereof. It's equally easy to fall in love with Reni, ‘rhymes with genie’, the young girl who befriends Luke and introduces him to the Doc, and the rest of the 'games’ group. I can't wait til the next in the series comes out!

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻 Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy dystopic fantasy.

This is a great read! I enjoyed every page of this book. The story line was awesome and the characters where great.

I spent half of the book wondering about the audience reaction to the idea behind this book, "slavedays", and the other half wondering if this undermined the struggles slaves have gone through in the real world. Just the fact that they have a choice where to go, and when to do their slavedays, takes away the real meaning behind the word.

That aside, though it is quite a big thing to put aside, I got through this book in one piece. The writing wasn't bad; in fact, the writing wasn't noticeable which is usually a good thing in my book (literally). I want to be dragged under the depths of the book, have to fight to come back to the surface, and this book took me down under.

It had the typical teenage love but without the triangle. The love affair isn't unexpected, which does make it rather boring, but it made sense. I love me a good love triangle so to not have one made me feel cheated. However, the way the book presented the love in relation to their societal standing seemed reasonable enough. It made sense. If it hadn't worked out the way it did I would have sunk to the bottom of the book, with no fight in me.

I'm giving this book three stars because I kept putting it down, and going days without reading, but also three because when I was actively reading, I couldn't tear myself away from the pages.

In this class-divided YA dystopia, Equals are anything but. Their special powers set them apart, and they look down on the "skillless" rabble. Since they hold all the political and social power, the Equals make the rules, and the Skilless are bound to follow them. All people who have no power are consigned to ten years of slavery. This rule divides the Hadley family when Abigale's brother Luke is sent to do hard labor while the rest of her family works as household slaves.

The narrative shifts between characters and I enjoyed seeing the perspectives of both commoner and aristocrat. I was far more entrenched in Luke's story over Abi's. She seemed to spend most of it mooning over her crush while Luke immersed himself in the fight for freedom and agency. Bouda is fantastic in her antagonist role. While I understand that this is a YA novel, I was disappointed at the adult roles here. They were less fleshed-out as characters. There were also a lot of subplots, which dragged the story down for me.

However, by the end, I could barely put it down. All of the stories converge into an ending that begs for a sequel. The book left me with some unanswered questions, like why slavery was tolerated for so long without wide-spread rebellion.

I wanted so much to love this book but I had a hard time with it.

I liked the characters. I found them interesting and I cared about some of them. I liked Luke and Dasiy. I found Silyen intriguing. Abi was okay but I wanted more from her and I didn't like Jenner (I found him completely useless and she can do better, just sayin.) The majority of the Equals were terrible people, not only to commoners but to each other. They are a group of power hunger manipulative terrors. Which means I had a hard time seeing if things would change.

I struggled with this book because its about trying to change things in this alternative Britain and I finished it feeling that nothing was going to change. I know that there are 2 more books but I felt so hopeless through out the entire book that I started skimming looking for happy spots and was more upset the farther I read.

So I want to know what happens and I wish for a more hopeful part two.

I really liked this book. It was very engaging and had me hooked right from the Prologue with Leah! I like how each person had their own story line. I thought the story was going to focus on the baby Libby, but was pleasantly surprised that it was about a family. I don't want to give away spoilers, but it was a very different take on the dystopian theme that is very popular now with YA books. When they mention 10yr slave days and described how it worked., I knew I was in for an interesting read.

A great read! I highly recommend this fantastic novel.

Fantastic book. The only problem I have is that it ends too soon. It's also the first in a series yet to be written. So really I guess that's two things. There's a little bit of everything for everyone: magic, adventure, mystery, intrigue...And characters who you want to see succeed, fail or simply disappear. Highly recommend and can't wait for the next addition.

A delightful read! Although there were a lot of characters and sometimes hard to follow, I did enjoy it. Can't wait to see what the next book in the series has to offer!

Del Rey and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Gilded Cage. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Abi Hadley, her parents, and her younger sister are all servants to one of England's premier families, while her brother Luke is enslaved in a factory. The Equals, aristocrats with magic, rule and commoners must serve them, in whatever capacity is deemed necessary, for a period of ten years. As Abi grows close to the son of her Master, Luke takes increasingly higher risks in order to help secure his freedom. When the balance between Equals and commoners is threatened, who will emerge the victor?

In the tradition of Red Rising and Red Queen, Gilded Cage is a story of the strength of the human spirit. Despite horrific conditions and terrible odds, the commoners, especially those committed to serving their time, persevere and soldier on. I wish there was more originality here, as it seems that Gilded Cage has the same basic theme as many others in the dystopian genre. The ending leaves room for a sequel, which may prove to be more interesting than Gilded Cage. This book laid the groundwork, so it is up to the author to build upon it in the future. I do like the character of Abi, so I would be interested in seeing the path she takes in subsequent books.

Gilded Cage was a fun fantasy book that I absolutely adored - especially when it comes down to how well built the world was and how rounded out the characters were. The political aspects of the book were intriguing and made the story feel deeper and more fleshed out.

Not all are free. Not all are equal. Not all will be saved.

Our world belongs to the Equals — aristocrats with magical gifts — and all commoners must serve them for ten years. But behind the gates of England's grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.

A girl thirsts for love and knowledge.

Abi is a servant to England's most powerful family, but her spirit is free. So when she falls for one of the noble-born sons, Abi faces a terrible choice. Uncovering the family's secrets might win her liberty, but will her heart pay the price?

A boy dreams of revolution.

Abi's brother, Luke, is enslaved in a brutal factory town. Far from his family and cruelly oppressed, he makes friends whose ideals could cost him everything. Now Luke has discovered there may be a power even greater than magic: revolution.

And an aristocrat will remake the world with his dark gifts.

He is a shadow in the glittering world of the Equals, with mysterious powers no one else understands. But will he liberate—or destroy?



* * * * *



I found this book to be rather eerie. It is just a couple steps sideways from our reality where the Haves, or Equals, have magic rather than money and the Have Nots are required to spend ten years in slavery to the Equals. I found it to be rather relevant to today's political climate.


Abi and Luke could be from any family that are ready to serve their years of Slavery. Abi thought that she has played the system so that all of her family could serve out their time together on an Estate. However things go wrong right from the beginning with Luke being assigned instead to a factory town where he quickly grows up.


This book is one that will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering just what is going to happen next. All of the characters are well developed and some are really easy to emphasize with. I can hardly wait for the next book in this trilogy to drop.


I highly recommend GILDED CAGE to any of my readers who enjoy books that cover what might have happened if magic is blended with technology. There is violence but no graphic sex scenes.

This wasn't for me. I thought it would be different according to the description but this just was not my genre.

Bleh, this book had potential but it just didn’t do it for me. Set in an alternative Great Britain where The Equals (ruling class) have magic ability and everybody else is a loser and has to “give” 10 years of their lives as a slave. Seriously, they just decide that they are going to go do their slave time. The book tries to be political, but it fell flat for me. There were the typical political troupes without any exciting twists. And the ending sets up a book 2 that seems like it will be a rewrite of book 1 with a different character. I wouldn’t recommend.

I enjoyed this dystopian book. but at times I felt like it was getting too bogged down in details and backstory. I definitely had to leave it and come back to it a few times before finally finishing it. I hope the next book in the series moves a little faster now that the world-building has been done.

This was a thrilling read! Dark becomes light, evil becomes good, the lines we think we know are twisted by time and circumstances. Readers of dystopian fantasy will love the twists and turns in this book as you slowly uncover the good from the bad and discover that the lines of good and evil are often twisted together and blurred. Everything is not black and white but many shades of grey. Excellent write!!

This has to have been one of my favorite books this year. It has EVERYTHING. Special powers, an oppressed class, dystopian setting and a beautiful world building. This is an alternate reality world and oh does the author take you on an adventure to understand each part of this world and how it is different. I felt a lot of political undertones in this book, but that may just be my political self bonding to the book.The story is from several POVS and it moves at a fast past. It is dramatic and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. For an author debut this book is going to be wildly popular with fans lining up to read the next one (cough cough hurry!!) READ this now.. This totalitarian alternative UK is just amazing. The ending is amazing. There is so much amazingness in this book that I can't speak about because...spoilers!! So pick it up and read it!

A well-constructed dystopian setting that felt both realistic and fresh; it included magic and slavery and romance and friendship and multiple points of view that were all interesting. Strongly recommended for fans of Divergent, Hunger Games, Queen of the Tearling, and the like.

This book may not be perfect; but it's really, really, really good; especially for a debut novel. In Gilded Cage, Vic James has created a rich 'skill' (aka. magic) world with engaging and complex characters.

Be forewarned, this story definitely doesn't stop here. If you hate waiting for the next book then don't read this until it's out as you will likely be dying to read book 2, as I am now.

James does a solid job of tackling the difficult, and over saturated, Young Adult Fantasy genre. As someone who adores fantasy and has read a lot of it; I can honestly say that the magic and world set-up have unique aspects I enjoyed.

What to expect: you will encounter magic, slavery, some cute romance, torture, sadism and a lot of "I'm better than you because blah, blah" attitude. There are lots of great prejudice and tolerance lessons or points made in Gilded Cage. James does a great job of showing how unfair the world is by making us appreciate characters from all sides. There is a lot more to many of these characters and clearly interesting future story to come for many of them, especially the younger ones.

<I>"Trust lent you someone else's eyes, someone else's strong arms or quick brain. Made you bigger than yourself."</I>
The theme of trust is throughout the story and I love the way it is used to show characters connections; but also how tenuous a bond between people can be. I feel one of the many things we don't talk about enough these days is trust. Who do you trust and when? There are some great scenarios in Gilded Cage that are worth anyone considering, not just teens.

Although I wish it wasn't an alternate version of Earth with out country names. I definitely would have preferred an original map and world over recycling and kinda bastardizing our current country map. And while there was a moment about 40% in where I was bored with the droning politics chapters that were back to back; it was well worth the push to keep going.

However, these are relatively small critiques overall in comparison to the gun I had reading Gilded Cage. I'm really hoping we get book 2 quickly (is tomorrow too soon?).