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Summary
Summary
MAGIC RULES. WE SERVE.
In a darkly fantastical debut set in modern-day Britain, magic users control everything: wealth, politics, power--and you. If you're not one of the ultimate one-percenters--the magical elite--you owe them ten years of service. Do those years when you're old, and you'll never get through them. Do them young, and you'll never get over them.
This is the darkly decadent world of Gilded Cage . In its glittering milieu move the all-powerful Jardines and the everyday Hadleys. The families have only one thing in common: Each has three children. But their destinies entwine when one family enters the service of the other. They will all discover whether any magic is more powerful than the human spirit.
Have a quick ten years. . . .
Look for all three books in the mesmerizing Dark Gifts trilogy:
GILDED CAGE * TARNISHED CITY * BRIGHT RUIN
Praise for Gilded Cage
"Beautifully characterised and compellingly plotted, Gilded Cage is an impressive debut." -- The Guardian
"Exquisitely wicked . . . a lavishly opulent, yet brutally vivid, alternate England which subtly questions modern beliefs . . . If ever there was a speculative fiction book that captured the zeitgeist of an era this is it." -- SFFWorld
"An alternate modern-day England where enticing drama and social unrest mix with aristocratic scandal and glamorous magic . . . conjuring up the specters of Les Misérables and Downton Abbey . . . an absorbing first installment that presages an intriguing new fantasy series." -- Kirkus Reviews
" Gilded Cag e is a heart-pounding combination of dark magic, political revolution, and forbidden romance that had me addicted from the first page!" --Danielle L. Jensen, USA Today bestselling author of The Malediction Trilogy
"Devious and deliciously dark with lashings of magic, mystery, and mayhem, this juggernaut of a book will keep you hanging on by your fingernails until the very last page." --Taran Matharu, New York Times bestselling author of the Summoner series
"A dark and intriguing vision of an alternate, magic-drenched Britain, Gilded Cage kept me up long into the night." --Aliette de Bodard, author of The House of Shattered Wings
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
James's clever debut, first published on Wattpad, introduces an alternate present day in which British society is stratified into aristocrats, who have magical skill, and mundane commoners, who are required by law to spend 10 years serving the skilled. Most end up in the factories and workhouses in Manchester's infamous slave town, Millmoor. That's the fate of 16-year-old Luke Hadley; the rest of his relatives are sent to work at Kyneston, the country estate of the Jardines, one of the most powerful families in the country. At Millmoor, Luke quickly becomes part of a secret group that helps ease the harsh lives of workers. Meanwhile, his parents and sisters are caught in the middle of Jardine family intrigues and political scheming that could change the country forever. The setting is so interesting that readers will eagerly suspend disbelief, and James drops tantalizing hints about how the rest of the world treats those who do and don't have access to magic. Brisk plotting, sympathetic characters, and plenty of intrigue will keep readers on the edges of their seats, eager for the next book in a very promising series. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown, Ltd. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
At first glance, the world of James' first novel seems familiar, but that illusion is quickly dispelled. The monarchy has long since been destroyed the British aristocracy has been replaced with Equals, people born with magical gifts, who lord it over the commoners with their powers. The story starts just before siblings Abi and Luke begin the 10 years of slavery mandated for all commoners (i.e., those without magic). Unexpectedly separated, they quickly learn how little they understood of the Equals as their views of the world shift. Luke adapts to life in a factory town by joining a rebellion, while Abi and the rest of the family live together but grown apart while serving a powerful family of Equals. Nobody emerges unscathed from their slavery years, as the Hadley family can attest after mere months of service. The twists and turns make this book hard to set down; a second read may reveal many details that readers might breeze past the first time through. Readers will eagerly await the rest of the trilogy started here.--Moritz, Frances Copyright 2016 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
This captivating dystopian tale of forbidden love has all the makings of a successful YA fantasy novel. Riveting and accessible writing will quickly draw readers into a story full of surprises, grief, and mystery. The book follows two siblings at the bottom of their extremely stratified society. Abi and Luke must endure 10 years of mandatory service to the exclusive and manipulative elite class, ironically named the "Equals." Blending modern technology and Oliver Twist-esque poverty and cruelty, James has created a Britain that teens will want to see fall. Readers will easily connect with the variety of narrators. Some may be turned off by the blatant political undertones, but the plot is so well developed that most won't mind. VERDICT An easy sell to fans of fantasy and dystopian fiction, but be prepared-teens will be anxious for the next installment in the planned trilogy.-Ashley Selima, Lincoln Public Library, RI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
Under a Watchful Eye by Adam Nevill, The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo, Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove, The Iron Tactician by Alastair Reynolds, Gilded Cage by Vic James, Defender by GX Todd Adam Nevill's riveting ninth novel, Under a Watchful Eye (Pan, [pound]12.99), ventures into the heartland of British horror so successfully charted by the likes of MR James and Arthur Machen. Horror writer Seb Logan is struggling with his latest novel when he becomes reacquainted with his old university friend Ewan Alexander, now a shambling down-and-out alcoholic who stalks and then moves in with Logan. Alexander is obsessed with the work of the horror writer and con man ML Hazzard, leader of a mystical cult investigating astral travel who, through Alexander, wishes Logan to do his bidding. Nevill charts Logan's descent into the eldritch realm surrounding Hazzard and his cult with subtlety, drip-feeding doses of horror to great effect, ramping up the tension to an edge-of-the-seat denouement. You don't read an Adam Nevill horror novel: you live it. The Core of the Sun (Grove, [pound]12.99) by Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo, translated by Lola Rogers, tells the story of the Eusistocratic Republic of Finland. This is a near-future dystopia in which women have been genetically altered to form two subspecies: eloi femiwomen, attractive and destined for procreation; and the intellectually superior morlocks, who are sterilised and consigned to lives of hard labour. Vanna is a morlock who passes as an eloi, searching for her lost twin sister who she suspects was murdered; in her grief, Vanna becomes a drug addict and a dealer. Through flashbacks, letters and sections from textbooks, the novel describes how the society developed. The Core of the Sun has been compared to Atwood and Vonnegut, but Sinisalo's disturbing and often whimsical vision is uniquely her own. James Lovegrove's latest fantastical Holmes adventure, Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (Titan, [pound]12.99), contains a conceit within a conceit. A preface by the author claims the manuscript was sent to him by a lawyer in Providence, Rhode Island, while Dr Watson's introduction states that what follows is the true account of the exploits of Sherlock Holmes, and that the established canon has been adulterated to save the world from the terrible truth of the Cthulhu mythos. It's a clever metafictional nesting technique which allows Lovegrove to mash together Doyle and HP Lovecraft to great effect. The year is 1880. Emaciated corpses have been turning up in Shadwell, and Holmes and Dr Watson's inquiries lead to an evil genius who is intent on bringing the Elder Gods to Earth to further his own ends. The pastiche is pitch-perfect; Lovegrove tells a thrilling tale and vividly renders the atmosphere of Victorian London. The Iron Tactician (NewCon, [pound]6.99) by Alastair Reynolds is his fourth novella featuring the free-wheeling Merlin and his sentient starship Tyrant. Merlin is vain, wise-cracking and sardonic, though his heart is in the right place, and he is on a quest to locate a superweapon which, he hopes, will aid humanity against the onslaught of the implacable aliens known as the Huskers. This adventure finds him embroiled in a war between humans in a far-flung binary star system, helping one side to retrieve the eponymous Iron Tactician, an advanced military AI that might bring an end to the centuries-long conflict. Reynolds excels at capturing hi-tech far futures, imbued with scientific exoticism and peopled by believable characters. One of the many strengths of Vic James's Gilded Cage (Pan, [pound]7.99) is its depiction of institutionalised magic being used to rule contemporary Britain, which provides a familiar backdrop for a fantastical premise. Britain has been ruled for 300 years by the Equals, an aristocratic elite who have the "Skill", or magical ability. The have-nots, those without magical powers, are forced to undergo a decade of indentured servitude to the aristocracy or serve their time labouring in the grim northern town of Millmoor. The novel follows a diverse cast of characters drawn from both the unSkilled and the Skilled to give a rounded picture of the privilege and terrible deprivation that exists in a divided country. Beautifully characterised and compellingly plotted, Gilded Cage is an impressive debut. Another accomplished first novel is Defender (Headline, [pound]12.99) by GX Todd. Seven years before the story opens, humanity began to hear mysterious Voices that turned citizens into homicidal maniacs and resulted in a global apocalypse. Those left alive now engage in a dog-eat-dog fight for survival in which loner Pilgrim teams up with orphan teenager Lacey on a 600-mile trek across a blitzed US to locate her sister. As well as having to evade and outsmart ravaging homicidal gangs, Pilgrim has his own problems, not least of which is the Voice in his head ... Defender is lifted way above other novels in the over-subscribed post-apocalyptic subgenre by Todd's sympathetic characterisation and superb pacing. * Eric Brown's latest novel is Jani and the Great Pursuit (Solaris). - Eric Brown.
Library Journal Review
Every person in England lacking the gifts of an Equal dreads their slave days, the ten years they must labor without wages or rights. Thanks to eldest daughter Abi, the Hadleys believe they have a better deal than most, as they have arranged to serve their decade together at the Jardine family estate. Things go wrong almost immediately, as son Luke is sent instead to the Millmoor workhouse where he falls in with a group plotting the end of slavery while the rest of the family are at the mercy of the Jardines. Debut novelist James does an excellent job of creating a dark contemporary world in which magic is used to prop up a corrupt aristocracy at the expense of ordinary people. Hopefully the details of this realm's powers will be fleshed out in the next volume, which readers will eagerly anticipate after the cliff-hanger ending here. VERDICT With solid YA crossover potential, this first novel should especially appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games" trilogy. [See Prepub Alert, 8/22/16.]-MM © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.