Be prepared for horror and heartbreak, be prepared for your heart to race and to be broken.After you’ve read a few million YA novels, they all kind of start to run together. And the narrator gave each character their own individual voice. Each of the characters seemed to be trapped in their own little cage in so many different ways. This is a world of magic and power, slavery and abuse. It made what happened all the more powerful. I loved how the word 'equal' was redefined, and its use in this context was perhaps the most striking thing in the book. Being set in an alternate universe the world is startlingly familiar, yet chillingly different. It is challenging in content and the way it explores the current definitions of words. Avita Jay does an amazing job with the challenging content in Gilded Cage. What I actually read couldn't have been more different. I'm not sure what I was expecting, perhaps something fun and a little vapid, and totally unbelievable. This book was horrifying in the best of ways. Some of the accents are a wee bit generic but nothing that jars you out of the story and she is always consistent with characters voices.įamily, slavery, magic, rebellion, separation. What can I say? I'm a greedy reader and terrible at waiting.

Or rather this kind of trilogy is fine if you discover them after they've all been written and can binge on the whole lot. I like books with an overarching story but with a satisfying conclusion at the end of of each book. One star off for being a trilogy so no resolution at the end. I will definitely be getting the rest when they appear. Much as I love London, it makes a change to have a northern industrial setting for parts of the story. So, if you like alternative England with magic then I recommend this book. There's a bit at the very end which I wasn't expecting and which made me happy and expectant. Vic James is good at showing not telling and all the exposition comes naturally from the characters. The characters are well-formed with believable (if currently obscure in some cases) motivation, and I'm looking forward to finding out what they do next. What if those with power had absolute power and knew they could get away with anything? I totally believe that they would. The magic of the Equals is well thought out and interesting. You've read the synopsis so don't need me for that.

Gilded Cage by Vic James