First Line: She heard the motorbike first, then the galloping horse—two distant points of noise in the darkness, converging on her as she ran.
Summary: England is being ruled by the Equals, people with powers called Skill. They overthrew King Charles and have ruled ever since. When the Equals took power they invoked new laws including the 10-year period of slavery for all the commoners. When the Hadley family decides to start their slave days they are hoping to all be sent to the manor house of Kyneston to work for one of the leading Skilled families. However, Luke, the teenage son, is sent to a slave town instead. As each member of the family works their slave days, they each begin to learn about the Skilled and the world that they live in.
Highlights: Good dystopian storyline. I still cannot figure out what to make of the Jardine brothers. The Hadley family is the straightforward characters of dystopian fiction but the brothers are a little more complex. Are they good? Are they bad? I cannot wait to find out.
Lowlights: Nothing to complain about except that it ended at a cliffhanger. What is going to happen? How are they going to continue?
FYI: Great for readers of Hunger Games and Harry Potter!

Although the storyline wasn't the most original, it was a great read! Great characters and and colorful writing made this book a great first start to a series

An original storyline, with an unfortunate ending. I have a feeling that a lot of dark things will happen to one of my favorite characters, and I'm not sure I can stomach that.

In the world of Gilded Cage, the Equals – aristocrats with magical gifts – rule, and all commoners are required to serve them for ten years of their life. Abi and Luke are siblings who are about to make waves in the world the Equals – one by falling in love with a noble and uncovering family secrets, and the other by joining a revolution to overthrow those in power. But there is another player in the shadows, and it remains to be seen which side of the divide he stands on. It makes me sad to tell you that, despite the promising premise, this novel just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ll admit to finding elements of it intriguing – the societal power structure, mostly – and to being enticed to keep going to find out the answers to plot questions that popped up over the course of the storytelling. But overall, the plot dragged a lot, and the story structure was clunky, and the characters lacked development. It was a great disappointment to discover that I didn’t like this novel, and I will not be continuing with the series.

Hello Hello, who are you Vic James? I like you.

Well damn.. I had no fucking clue what was happening for the first 40% of this ARC. I mean NO IDEA, maybe I'm dumb as fuck, but seriously too many POVs, even the fucking dog had a chapter (kidding lol)

This book develops in an alternative society where "Equals" rule the country, and they do so because they have otherworldly abilities (like destroying houses, healing, reading minds.. you get it)
So commoners fall under their laws, and must pay a service of 10 years of slavery in order to become something like a full citizen of the country, have better jobs, but ultimately everyone has to do it.

Basically we follow the doings of both classes. I'm not going to mention characters because as I mentioned before, there are too many and frankly I didn't connect with anyone.

This book could've been so much better if only we could've gotten to know some of these characters better, build a connection, love/hate them or whatever.

BUT, the storyline is very interesting, the politics of the country, the way the Equals think, how they handle various things are very appealing and can be connected to the real world.

All in all, that cliffhanger at the end is gonna make me read the next one!!

3.5⭐️

Dear authors, if you want to keep people interested in your books, don't save everything until the last chapter.

Gilded Gage is all aspects sounded so good. Magic, revolutions, British elite, maybe even a budding romance. So what wrong? In all honesty, almost all of it.

Well maybe with how this ended up being a political book instead of fantasy, magical awesomeness. There were so many rules and laws and history of laws and history of rules thrown at us along with a million names as to who was Lord of what or Chancellor at this. Not going to lie, I kept forgetting a lot of people, including some of the main characters because there were so many names. Don't even ask me to name any of Luke's friends in the slavetown because it's all lost.

Then let's talk about the million POV's that I had to sort through. It wasn't just Abi and Luke, like the blurb makes it seem. Nope. We also had all three brothers and the comatose Aunt (yup, you read that right) and the future wife of one of the brothers (sorry, I can't remember her name. See???). There may have been more that I've lost. Along with constantly switching POV's, the chapters were so short that I never got the chance to really dive into any one character. The minute I felt like I was starting to get a hold of someone, chapter ends and we move on. There were also multiple chapters that just seemed like a waste. They weren't needed and they didn't move the little plot we had ahead any. I don't know about you, but I really need to know my characters if I'm going to root for them.

Oh, and can we talk about that budding romance with Abi? How it felt unrealistic and almost just thrown in because every YA needs a romance? Between Abi and Daisy's infatuation with their captors (because yes, I'm sorry, you are slaves to this family), I just wanted to throw my hand up. Unless they were seeing something in the brothers that we weren't, which could be the case considering how little character development we got. Sorry, moving on...

The plot itself seemed interesting, but there wasn't enough of it. And the whole slave thing rubbed me the wrong way and the dog situation was really ick (you know what this is if you've read it). I honestly don't know if I would continue this. There's a part of me that wants to know what happens just because I can't let things go unfinished. But if the next part is this discombobulated, I would rather skip it.

I stopped reading this at 34%. I am finding myself unable to connect with the characters. The characters don't feel like they have much depth. This has a lot of potential but I am far too distracted by the politics and multiple perspectives to continue to follow along.

DNF @ 28%

Okay, what it comes down to is that this book is just not my cup of tea. It is interesting and has mystery going for it -- including a dystopian world, but it just isn't working for me.

The 1st chapter captivated me and I was excited, but nothing is keeping me... I just don't care enough unfortunately. This isn't a bad book though, I think it just isn't for me.

The book was for the most part very boring, and what saved the book for myself was the characters of Luke and Silven. I thought the last 7 to 8 chapters were the most exciting.
I didn't really care for anyone else, even though Abi towards the end started to be much more interesting to me. I felt like once she meets Jenner she forgot all about trying to get Luke out of were he was sent, and back with them. But when the event that happens towards the end, changes all of that.
So I definitely want to see what happens next to Luke, Silven, Abi, and all of the other characters.

This book was a really good read! I am hoping for a sequel since the epilogue opened it up to one. I liked Abby and Luke the most since they were compelling characters through both the side of being in a Slave Town and working for the Equals. Some stuff did confuse me but I did enjoy the book!

Going into this novel, I wasn't wholly certain what direction it would take. Would there be fantastic displays of Skill, the name for the magical talents of the Equals? Would it be a rescue mission action sort of book?

The story begins with the brief introduction of Leah, the mother of a child who is half Equal, half Common. While she is not made a primary character throughout the story, this child (Libby) is a thread touching almost everyone and will come to mean a great deal, I think. Her story can't be over, given that nothing is really answered about what she can or cannot do once she's grown with 100% certainty. Will she be an answer? A downfall? Who knows?

Abi, the girl said to thirst for love and knowledge, has her situation made light of by the summary when it calls her a servsnt. Make no mistake, for as "easy" an assignment as she is able to finagle for herself and some of her family, they are slaves. It might have been easy to forget this at times because Abi, her mother, father, and younger sister Daisy are not in the same circumstance as their son and brother, Luke, who is taken to a slave town. They are the ones in the titular gilded cage.

I like the political aspects of the novel. While there were multiple points of view, they were relatively easy to keep track of. Luckily none were told in first person, which helped a great deal. Everyone had a different motives, or several motives in some cases. Watching them unfold, thinking I was seeing them clearly, was fascinating. There were a couple of twists, one of which I guessed and one I did not see coming.

With regards to the one I guessed, and I won't spoil it outright here, I will comment on the author's characterization. She built this person in such a way that I didn't realize at first that their eventual meaning to the overall plot was even a possibility. Once I got the thought in my head, though, I started to notice little clues and saw what a web was woven for this character to use to get around, enacting their ideas and plots.

As to the twist I did not guess, it came about so quickly at the end I had almost no time to decide whether I could believe it or not. The full meaning and impact may not yet be revealed, as this is only book one in series of indeterminate length, but I think there is potential yet, far reaching maybe, for the individual whom this twist concerns.

The author did an interesting thing with perspective. Prior to the end of Abi's first chapter, I was prepared to like Silyen, the youngest son of the family to which she is enslaved, because a) he was the youngest brother and showed a kindness towards Leah (a somewhat minor though quite important character) and b) he wants to end the Slavedays.

Then, there's a scene when his great-aunt Hypatia comes to the estate and brings her pet. I assumed it was a dog because of how it was described: scratching as though it had fleas, long nails scrapping the floor, etc. Plus, when he left the room, he stepped right over it and ignored it.

When Abi and her family see great-aunt Hypatia leaving a garden with her pet, though, it is revealed that her "pet" is a naked human slave. Silyen, for his talk of ending the Slavedays, only wants to do it to further the power of the Equals. He doesn't see the Commons as anything but chattel and pets, as evidenced by his​ complete disregard for this man. I don't know why he was kind to Leah, but it felt selfish and disingenuous afterwards.

I also had to go back and re-read the description of Hypatia's pet and I realized, it never once mentioned it being a dog or any kind of animal. That's terrifying, that our introduction to this person was colored by Silyen's perception of him as less than human.

The last thing I want to mention is the "romance" that occurred between Abi and Jenner, the middle brother of the family to whom she is enslaved. I mentioned earlier that she and her family were the ones in a gilded cage, not at ll like the situation Like finds himself in. This let her forget, I think, her situation as she began to fall in love with Jenner and he with her. This relationship felt, in alternating turns, wrong and lacking.

The fact that the relationship was a possibility at all felt strange and awkward, considering Jenner was in a position of power over her. Abi was set up as a highly intelligent woman who ought to have known better and Jenner, from what little we know of his character and relationship to his family, should have known better. By the end of the book, with their kissing g and embracing, I was left confused as to how they had such a seemingly deep relationship.

Which leads me to the other part of this situation. Setting aside for a moment the wrongness of the relationship, and assuming it did have to happen, it was incredibly lacking because there was never any evidence of feeling developing between Abi and Jenner. There was, perhaps, a moment or two before they were separated following an incident, but no time so long as to indicate affection of the sort the conclusion of the book left the reader with.

Would I buy this book?

As the problems with it were so few, and hopefully may be left behind in subsequent books, I think this book had a good story and left off at an interesting point. I would buy this book and it's sequel, because I am curious to find out what happens to these people.

I speed read this book. Honestly. I started reading it outside of one of my classes, only ten minutes before it started and I was more than upset when I had to eventually put the book down and go to class. Those opening lines are gripping and it didn't stop there. Not only was the concept and the world cool and unique, but the characters were awesome too. This is fantastic because nothing upsets me more than when a story has a lot of promise, but the characters are lackluster. This was not the case with The Guilded Cage. I enjoyed all of the POVs, which is rare because usually every perspective sounds exactly the same as all the other ones. I wanted to see the story as a whole, and found myself wanting to read from every characters point of view. Its like in the Sims when you want to play all of your households, but you are also attached to the one you are playing at the time. I hope that analogy made sense. Luke, Abi, Daisy. All of the characters were interesting. The story was also very multifaceted. It was a fantasy, but also a dystopian, but also had some love in there, but not too much. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and easy fantasy read. It totally deserves more hype than it is getting!

This is a difficult book to categorize. I would say it has a political, futuristic, supernatural type of vibe. Each chapter is more or less from a different character's perspective and honestly, I was not sure what was happening the first few chapters. The reviews and descriptions of the story list Abi as the man character but really I feel like it is Luke. Luke, Abi, and Daisy are all siblings that are being forced to participate in their " Slave days". Slave days are something that every commoner must participate in during their lives at some point that lasts for 10 years. The " Equals" are the elite few that have skill or are part of a family that has skill. Skill comes in all forms and can be anything from mind control to self healing. Abi is the oldest and is set on attending medical school but her parents have decided that Abi, her younger brother Luke, and her 10 year old sister Daisy will all begin their slave days together as a family on the biggest mansion known as Kyneston. Then just as the day arrives to begin the sentence a last minute decision leads Luke to being sent to Millmore instead of where the rest of the family is going.

Millmore is a glorified concentration camp. He spends his days waiting for Abi to come up with some sort of way to get him transferred. After a few months he becomes part of a secret club that begins to riot. Abi, meanwhile has been trying to get Luke with the rest of them and has also developed feelings for one of the equals who does not have any skill. Her sister Daisy begins to idolize the main heir Gavar while her job is to take care of his daughter. The 3 siblings are all making the best of their situations when tragedy strikes and Luke ends up at Kyneston with the rest of his family although he is not entirely sure how this happens. Then the rest of the story is filled but political moves and confusion as to who is friend and who is foe.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I am most certainly going to read the second book as soon as it is available since the cliff hanger in this one has peeked my interest for sure. The beginning of the book is confusing but if you stick it out things start to fall in place and a pretty decent story unfolds.

Creative with solidly written characters! This is one of those books that I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to Abi and the rest of her family. I don't like the aristocrats, but hey, every book needs some conflict. A great story that for the magic alone, will have many readers grabbing their copy.

The Gilded Cage took a bit for me to get into. I wasn't so sure about the premise.
People who have 'magic', or Skill, lording over those who do not.
Another book of 'haves' and 'have not's'.

As I got to know the characters a bit better I suddenly found myself slipping into their world.
There are some really juicy villains that I know I am going to love to hate.
The startling contrast between the <b>Equals</b> and the <b>commoners</b> was fleshed out via several different POVs.
This book set the stage for an action packed second installment of Dark Gifts. Lots of conflicting agendas, red herrings and everything on the line. I will definitely be on the look out for Tarnished City.
This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Players are in motion but it was not a painful cliffhanger so, thank you for that.

This book was provided to my via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, I want you to know what exact thought came into my mind after reading this. And that is “Uhm, can I have the next installment now? As in NOW?”



Meet the Jardine brothers. The Jardine’s are the most powerful and has the highest position among the Equals.



Gravar Jardine, the Heir of the Jardine’s. Among the three, he has the hottest temper and he can really get angry easily. Even though he is the eldest and heir to the great Wittham Jardine, he always feels like he is still not good enough for his father. And that is also what his father is reminding him and making him feel always. His Skill is not good enough. And aside from this, he also brought such a disgrace to his family that Wittham despise – Libby, his daughter to a slave.



Jenner Jardine, the Skilless. He is the kindest. I saw more goodness in him than any of the other Jardine’s. He is not soft or weak – an Equal even though Skilless will never be like that – but he is just the nicest of the three. He’ll be my new fictional boyfie if I just didn’t fell for the other. *blushes*



Silyen Jardine, the Young Master. Even if he’s the youngest, he is the most Skillfull. Silyen is cruel and the most wicked of the three. His character also is being mysterious. He loves playing games – dangerous, wicked games. He’s good at and enjoys making people his toys or subjects of entertainment. But still, I find him really sexy right from the start. He’s bad – there’s no doubt to that – but I love how powerful and smart he is. And I have so much questions about the real him. He’s like a riddle I am trying hard to solve. (*whispers* Silyen Jardine is my new fictional boyfrie!!!)



Meet the Hadley’s. Hadley’s are not Equals, they have no power, they’re just commons.



Abi, the eldest of the three and the smartest. She’s pretty good at almost everything. And she’s the reason why the Hadley’s did their slavedays on the Kyneston – where the Jardine’s live – where she thought slavedays for their family will be easier and safer. She’s intelligent and brave. A perfect picture of a big, loving and protective sister and daughter.



Luke is the second to Abi, and he’s the only member of the Hadley family who wasn’t accepted to work for the Jardine’s so he was sent to Milmoor, a horrible slavetown that seems like it had been suck out of life. Luke definitely had a hard time there but there is where he met revolutionaries who helped him be who he had become. He’s one of those who had a very good character development in this book.



Daisy, the youngest. A 10 year old that will develop infatuation (or something deeper? I’m not entirely sure but let’s see) for one of the Jardine’s – which actually, came to a point of disturbing not only Abi but also me as the reader. Because err… she’s only 10 and err.. it’s one of the Jardine’s! That feeling inside her can be her early downfall.



Abi, Daisy, Luke and their parents’ lives will be tangled up with the dangerous and powerfull Jardine’s.



Gilded Cage was really entertaining and has a really cool and exciting concept but it lacks on some aspects from the very start and I was not satisfied for most of the time because of that.



Gilded Cage was set on modern-day Britain. It was told on third person’s POV where in each chapter, characters were alternatively focused. Only one character will be the subject of a certain chapter then it will change on the next.



The story revolves around the Equals – aristocrats with magical skills literally called as Skills – and commoners who are required to do their slavedays for a decade of their lives. Slavery and rebellion are where the story was focused but love and magic were also present. These are all my favorite themes in a book. And Gilded Cage had been a wonderful combination of these all.



Right from the beginning, I was not really impressed. I was so disappointed. The beginning chapters really set me off. It was really nothing like what I had hoped for and expected. It was dragging from the start. And because there were so many characters in this book, a lot of time was given to introduce each of them that was a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It’s good because we are knowing them, we’re having some of their backgrounds, we’re learning their each and own stories and where their “hidden agendas” in their lives are coming from. And it’s bad because this took quite a lot of time, I felt like knowing the tip of the iceberg took almost half of the book. And it really felt boring especially for me because I am that kind of a reader who enjoys and loves being blown right away.



The writing was okay. The pacing changed from slow to fast as it got closer to the end. The world-building was the most disappointing for me. It was so weak on the beginning. And I just really didn’t feel it right then. The world-building was the weakest point of this book for me.



The story after more than the half of the book just slowly got better, exciting and surprising. As the time goes by and as I got closer to the end, the world-building – even just a bit – got better and so does the writing and all – especially where the story was leading. There was a sudden change in this book where the aspects lacking from the start became present closer to the end. Suddenly – I honestly don’t know how it happened – I just found myself being completely dragged into its dangerous magical world of wickedness, selfishness, greediness. The characters finally started showing off their powers – which is what I truly signed up for! Then more and more secrets have been made, kept and revealed as the story goes and got closer to the end by which really surprised and made me so excited. I clearly finally saw the REAL competition rising between the commoners and the aristocrats; the commoners who are fighting for their freedom and the aristocrats protecting their selves, their secrets, and their powers and positions. But the story was not just the Equals against the commoners. It’s also Equals versus Equals. And while I was in the middle of surprise from how the book was changing from disappointing to really entertaining, that’s when I realized that this book has a chance. This series stood a chance.



I’m expecting the next installment to start where Gilded Cage left off because how this book ended was so wonderful and magnificent. It came to a point where I started comparing the intrigue and intensity Gilded Cage has to Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen because it gave me the same feels sooner to the end. Though Red Queen is still really more heart-pounding, that’s definite. But Gilded Cage really has the potential to be like that. I know the book two has a lot more to offer and it will probably be a lot more intense and exciting. I know I wouldn’t put that book down.



Reading the first chapters of this book, I really thought that the highest rating I could possibly give was 3 stars. But after finishing it, I know that this book deserves a higher rating because of how magnificent this book had become. And the possibility it gives for a new fantasy trilogy with a world that already captivated me and I am more than willing to explore is quite exhilarating.



From dragging and disappointing, the pace got better, the characters became interesting and the story just became exciting and intriguing. From something far from what I had truly imagined it became closed to what I truly wanted. (What kind of magic Miss Vic James used in there???)



Gilded Cage is such a wonderful book. The ride may seem like nothing on the start but sooner it will be a ride that will make leaving a hard choice. I will definitely pick the next installments in this new epic fantasy trilogy.

Vic James’s debut dystopic fantasy, Gilded Cage, blends the magic of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen and the well-known squalor of The Hunger Games with a relatable cast of characters and vast plot that reminds me of A Song of Ice and Fire.

In the world of Gilded Cage, not everyone is created Equal. Most aristocrats wield astonishing magical powers in addition to their powers of wealth, governance, and prestige. The common folk are kept down by a law that requires them to complete their “slave days,” ten years of brutal servitude beneath the rule of the Equals. But the commoners can’t cower forever. In Gilded Cage, they begin to realize the strength in their numbers and how oppression steels people who were once soft.

Gilded Cage is characterized by layers. In the way of the best works of fantasy literature, the reader comes away with the impression that they have only read the very surface. The characters seem real. They all have hopes, passions, and dreams. Even those who might be villains have a positive side.

In all, Gilded Cage left me with the impression that there is so much more that this world has to offer. I applaud James for hooking me, and I can’t wait for the next installment of the Dark Gifts series.

*Disclaimer: An ARC of this book was furnished through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.