Gilded Cage

Gilded Cage is set in an alternate version of Great Britain in which the monarchy was overthrown by people with “magic” calling themselves Equals. This revolution led to the creation of the Slavedays Compact, which requires that each citizen spend 10 years of their life as a slave, leaving the Equals free to govern.

This novel follows a teenage boy working in a slavetown and several other characters in/around a prominent Equal family, include the boy's sister Abi (who is a slave working for this family). Given its relatively short length, Gilded Cage follows a LOT of characters–even the character in a coma gets a viewpoint! None of the characters had a lot of depth, but some of them were interesting, especially one whose motivations are mysterious.

This was just interesting enough (and short enough) that I finished it, but it did have slow pacing, lots of exposition, (mostly) unremarkable prose, and bland dialogue. However, it also had a strong beginning and ending and a few characters who are at least somewhat interesting (even if their narratives seemed rather dull at times).

Rating: 5/10 (It's ok)

Full Review on My Site