Gilded Cage
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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 Cage 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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
