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WORK TITLE: Gilded Cage
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.vicjames.co.uk/
CITY: Notting Hill, London, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/vic-james * http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2136348/vic-james * http://www.vicjames.co.uk/about
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL EDUCATION:
Attended Oxford University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Channel 4 News, investigations producer; BBC1 and BBC2, documentary director. Has also served twice as a judge for the Guardian‘s Not the Booker Prize competition.
AWARDS:Talk of the Town Award, Wattpad.com, 2015, for Slavedays (earlier version of Gilded Cage).
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Vic James directs documentaries for the BBC, and she is also the author of the young adult novel, Gilded Cage. The first volume in the “Dark Gifts” trilogy, Gilded Cage is set in a dystopian Britain where the ruling class is gifted with magical powers and everyone else must serve aristocrats for a mandatory ten-year term. During their temporary slavery, most citizens end up in the workhouses and factories at Millmoor. This is where sixteen-year-old Luke Hadley is sent. His sister Abi, however, is sent to work at the powerful Jardine family estate (along with the rest of Luke’s family). The Hadleys are considered lucky for having garnered such a plum assignment, and the novel switches between Abi and Luke as each navigates the vicissitudes of their enslavement. While Luke joins a secret club that works to improve the lives of those who suffer at Millmoor, Abi becomes embroiled in the Jardine family’s political intrigues.
In a interview with the writer of the One More Page blog, James shared her inspiration for the novel, explaining that the idea was originally more mundane than fantastic: “[T]he genesis of the story was a current affairs series I made for BBC2 called The Superrich and Us about our world right now. I realised that the power and influence of the very wealthiest in our society – the 1% – was so great that it was almost ‘like magic’. Ta-da! While the experience of those doing their days, the 99% of ‘us’, is a blend of everything that’s most unfair in our unequal society today: unremitting grind, rubbish jobs, disenfranchisement, and so on.”
In a review at the Fantasy Book Review Web site, Michelle Herbert commented: “The machinations happening throughout the Gilded Cage are cleverly thought out and the lead up to the denouement is shocking, although there were some character reveals that felt fairly obvious. The ending left me wondering what would happen next as the main characters have all come so far from the beginning of the book. There are lots of strands left open for the next novel and I can only see it becoming more breathtaking as things come both together and apart for the Hadley’s and the Jardines.” Also writing at the Fantasy Book Review, James Tivendale advised: “Although it is marketed as YA and can be enjoyed by a younger audience, I can say that if that puts you off picking this up then you are missing out on an extraordinarily good story by a gifted new author.” Nick Taraborrelli, yet another contributor to Fantasy Book Review, recommended the book “to everyone regardless of what genre is your favorite.” Taraborrelli found that despite the book’s dystopian slant, “the story is so well-written and compelling that any reader can appreciate and enjoy it. The good news is that Gilded Cage is just the first book of a planned multi-book series. . . . So there’s a lot more coming and I for one am happy to hear that.”
Book Smugglers writer Thea James observed: “The plotting is fast and deft, alternating storylines . . . and ratcheting up the stakes as both Luke and Abi learn more about their respective cages. Similarly, the voices for these protagonists are varied and convincing, and while both heroes are somewhat familiar YA-fare, their dedication to truth and family resonates throughout the book. The other powerful aspect of Gilded Cage is its clear-cut political allegory–certainly it’s applicable today.” Offering further praise, a Kirkus Reviews correspondent called the novel “an absorbing first installment that presages an intriguing new fantasy series.” Noting the broad popular appeal of the story, BookPage reviewer Chika Gujarathi remarked: “For those who can barely get enough of the British dramas like Downton Abbey or the magical worlds of J.K. Rowling, Gilded Cage reads like a perfect amalgamation of the two worlds.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2016, Frances Moritz, review of Gilded Cage.
Publishers Weekly, September 12, 2016, review of Gilded Cage.
Washington Post, February 6, 2017, Everdeen Mason, review of Gilded Cage.
ONLINE
BookPage Online, https://bookpage.com/ (February 14, 2017), Chika Gujarathi, review of Gilded Cage.
Book Smugglers, http://thebooksmugglers.com/ (February 1, 2017), Thea James, review of Gilded Cage.
Fantasy Book Review, http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/ (July 16, 2017), Michelle Herbert, James Tivendale, and Nick Taraborrelli, reviews of Gilded Cage.
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (December 1, 2016), review of Gilded Cage.
One More Page, http://www.onemorepage.co.uk/ (January 21, 2017), author interview.
Pan Macmillan, https://www.panmacmillan.com/ (July 16, 2017), short profile.
Penguin Random House, http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (July 16, 2017), short profile.
Vic James Website, http://www.vicjames.co.uk (July 16, 2017).*
about
1midtrek copy
Vic lives in London’s Notting Hill, but her life is more action-adventure than rom-com
She studied History and English at Merton College, Oxford where Tolkien was once professor. Relocating to Rome, she completed her doctorate in the Vatican Secret Archives (they’re nothing like The Da Vinci Code), then spent five years living in Tokyo as a Daiwa Scholar. There she learned Japanese and worked as a journalist.
Returning to the UK, Vic became investigations producer for Channel 4 News, then began directing current affairs documentaries for BBC1 and BBC2. She now writes full time.
Vic has scuba-dived on Easter Island, camped at Everest Base Camp, voyaged on one of the last mailboats to St Helena, frolicked with sea-lions in the Galapagos, slept in a shipping container in the Falklands, driven a dog-sled in the Arctic, hang-glided across Rio de Janeiro, and swum the Hellespont from Europe to Asia.
But there’s still little she loves more than lying in bed till midday with a good book and a supply of her favourite biscuits.
Vic James
V J
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vic James is a current-affairs TV director who loves stories in all their forms. Her programs for BBC1 have covered the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Britain’s EU referendum. She has twice judged The Guardian‘s Not the Booker Prize. Gilded Cage is her first novel, and an early draft of it won a major online award from Wattpad for most-talked-about-fantasy. She has lived in Rome and Tokyo, and currently lives in London.
Vic James
Vic James is a current affairs TV director who loves stories in all their forms and Gilded Cage is her debut novel. She has twice judged the Guardian's The Booker Prize, has made films for BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4 News, and is a huge Wattpad.com success story. Under its previous title, Slavedays, her book was read online over a quarter of a million times in first draft. And it went on to win Wattpad's 'Talk of the Town' award in 2015 - on a site showcasing 150 million stories. Vic James lives and works in London. You can follow Vic on twitter: @DrVictoriaJames
NYCC 2016: Vic James on Her Dystopian Fantasy Gilded Cage
By MATT STAGGS
October 9, 2016
Pic: Penguin Random House ©
Vic James is the author of Gilded Cage (2/14/17), the first volume in the Dark Gifts trilogy. In this darkly fantastic take on life in England, the upper class has enslaved the less fortunate by way of a monopoly on the power of magic. James and I discussed magic, money, and more in this short interview.
UNBOUND WORLDS: You’re here at NYCC doing some signings. What’s it like as an author to be promoting a book that people haven’t read yet?
BARNES & NOBLE
INDIEBOUND
AMAZON
IBOOKS
VIC JAMES: When people come up in the signing queue they will say that they’ve heard about it, or that they saw it on GoodReads, or simply stopped because the cover was really pretty. What is wonderful is that people are curious. I feel grateful because here at Comic Con every direction you look there are distractions. Some of the people who came to get Gilded Cage stood in line for an hour: That’s an hour that they could have spent buying cool things, seeing the sights, or getting coffee. Instead, they came for a book by someone they’ve never heard of. Someone came because they thought I was V.E. Schwab, but apart from that…
UW: What is Gilded Cage all about?For me, it is amazing how quickly we take extraordinary things for granted.
VJ: It’s set in a contemporary Britain that looks a lot like our UK today, but with one important difference: It is not ruled by a monarchy and a democratic parliament, but by a caste of magic-using aristocrats. Everyone else – the 99 percent of us that doesn’t have magic – has to spend 10 years in service, usually in a grim work town, labouring in a factory or call center. The story revolves around a family from Manchester that is beginning its 10 years of “slavedays”. Abigail, the eldest daughter of the family, has a cunning plan to get her family into a different position: directly serving the aristocrats on one of their grand estates. They are sent to Kyneston, the home of one of England’s most ruthless and wealthy ancient families: the Jardines. What starts out as a really great plan doesn’t work out as anyone expected.
UW: In listening to your description, I am reminded of the issues of economic disparity that we deal with here in the United States and across the world. Is this intentional? Is there a statement here on economic power and class?
VJ: It was absolutely intentional. My day job, before I became a full-time author, was a current affairs TV director. Two years ago I was making a series for the BBC titled “The Super Rich and Us”. That’s a slightly silly title, but it was a serious look at widening income inequality and a lack of social mobility, with bright, motivated young people having to go into jobs with very few prospects. At the same time, I was talking to billionaires and visiting these Mayfair mansions that are worth £100 million. I was looking at philanthropy, and talked with a Seattle billionaire who was one of the founding investors of Amazon. He’s a big champion of the minimum wage. Even when these billionaires have good ideas, the thing you notice is that they never question their ability to change the world through their wealth and influence. I realized the wealth they have, and the power it gives them in society, is like magic. It is so strong, irresistible, and out of reach for the rest of us that it might as well be magic. That was my lightbulb moment. So you can definitely read Gilded Cage as an allegory of the 1 percent and the 99 percent. But hey, also: magical aristocrats!
UW: Right, this isn’t trenchant economic analysis: This is an entertaining fantasy novel. So can you tell us a little bit about how magic works in your world?
VJ: I wanted to explore the idea that magic has been taken for granted in this world. In the same way that rich people don’t think twice about the fact that they’re rich, in this world, magical people don’t think twice about the fact that they’re magical. It’s just one of the things that makes them better than everyone else. You haven’t got a fetishization of magic. I adore the Harry Potter books, but if you took Voldemort out, what would people be using their magic for? Mrs. Weasley uses it for washing up, and Mr. Weasley uses it to commute. In Gilded Cage, in a world that is stable, the aristocrats simply use their magic in the same way that they would use their power, sexual magnetism, or wealth. The exception is one of the main characters, Silyen Jardine, who is fascinated by his magical Skill. A large part of what drives the book is what Silyen will do and how far he will go to prove that magic is not simply another form of power, but a completely different kind of power.
UW: It’s like how we have the world’s information at our fingertips, but most of us use the internet to send cat pictures.
VJ: Absolutely. For me, it is amazing how quickly we take extraordinary things for granted. Often, when you read dystopian fantasy, the dystopian elements are awful, like sending children out to fight to the death. Everyone in such a world surely thinks this is completely unacceptable. But in Gilded Cage I wanted to explore the normalization of the awful. In recent years, we’ve come to understand just how economically divided we are. It’s been in front of us the whole time, but we only recently started talking about it. That was what I wanted to do in Gilded Cage, as well. In the world of the books, the decade-long slavedays were instituted four centuries ago, and now everyone takes that for granted. They don’t like it, but everyone does their “days”. In the course of the trilogy, I explore how something that is egregious but has been before our eyes all along, tips into outrage, protest, and change.
Author interview: Vic James
21
JAN
Today I’m very excited to welcome author Vic James to One More Page to talk about Gilded Cage the first book in the Dark Gifts trilogy – a book which held me gripped from start to finish and presents a wonderfully dystopian alternative Britain.
Vic is a current affairs TV director who loves stories in all their forms, and Gilded Cage is her debut novel. She has twice judged the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize, has made films for BBC1, BBC2, and Channel 4 News, and is a huge Wattpadd.com success story. Under its previous title, Slavedays, her book was read online over a third of a million times in first draft. And it went on to win Wattpad’s ‘Talk of the Town’ award in 2015 – on a site showcasing 200 million stories. She lives and works in London. Welcome Vic!
VicJames2 C JAY DACYHi Vic. Gilded Cage is released in paperback on 26th January. Please could you tell us a little about it and the inspirations behind it.
Gilded Cage is set in an alternate contemporary Britain ruled by a magically gifted aristocracy, in which everyone else – the 99% of us – must perform a decade of service called the ‘slavedays’. The Hadley family think they’ve avoided being sent to a worktown, by applying to serve the aristocrats on a grand estate, but things don’t go according to plan. Eighteen-year-old Abi is caught up in the dark power-games of the aristocrats, while seventeen-year-old Luke is ripped from his family and treads a dangerous path in Manchester’s brutal worktown.
In the world of the books, the ‘slavedays’ system is 400 years old, but the genesis of the story was a current affairs series I made for BBC2 called The Superrich and Us about our world right now. I realised that the power and influence of the very wealthiest in our society – the 1% – was so great that it was almost ‘like magic’. Ta-da! While the experience of those doing their days, the 99% of ‘us’, is a blend of everything that’s most unfair in our unequal society today: unremitting grind, rubbish jobs, disenfranchisement, and so on.
By way of introduction, imagine Silyen, Jenner and Gavar are on twitter (!) what would their bios say?
- Silyen wouldn’t be on twitter. Or rather, he’d be an egg account, following all the powerful and provocative people who tweet in about 10 different languages. He’d never tweet himself.
- Jenner is a private, reserved person. His bio would be plain and factual: “Second son of Lord Whittam and Lady Thalia Jardine”, with a little location pin for ‘Kyneston, Hampshire’.
- Gavar is more a Rich Kids of Instagram, though his account has fallen strangely silent since he became a father and his girlfriend ‘died’…
I found all of the characters so intriguing and with so much potential; did you have a favourite to write and who caused you the most trouble when writing?
They never cause me trouble. I hear each of them clearly! The person with the most intricate tale to tell is Euterpe, who speaks to us only once, in Chapter 10 – my favourite chapter in the book, and almost a story within a story.
The one who demanded more chapters than I ever imagined is swaggering, obtuse Heir Gavar, whose past behavior has been shocking, yet who somehow occasionally intuits things more clearly than anyone else in his world. Scenes with Silyen are always a treat to write, but I have to use his point-of-view sparingly so as not to give too much away!
If you were a commoner in the world of The Dark Gifts trilogy, at what stage in your life would you choose to work out your gilded cageten years and why?
I’d put it off as long as possible, until the age of 55! But you can only do that responsibly if you don’t have children. If you die with your 10 years unserved, or incomplete, your debt passes to your children.
How have your own experiences fed into writing Gilded Cage?
It’s all in there! Obviously all the stories I covered in my journalism career – from the world of the superrich, to how politics works to the relentless grind of life at the bottom. But there’s a lot of my life experience in Abi, too. She’s a smart girl from a normal background, sent to a world of privilege of which she has no experience, to which she must rapidly adjust. I can really identify. I come from a working-class home, with two parents who never finished school as teenagers, then went to one of Oxford’s oldest and grandest colleges, a place of beauty and tradition, surrounded by the wealthy and, yes, even the titled!
As it’s still January, the month of resolutions; what are your reading resolutions for 2017?
Read more; read more by diverse authors; and read more nonfiction.
Last year was breakneck busy: I edited Gilded Cage, wrote and edited the sequel, and directed two BBC1 TV programmes. As I write this, in January, we’ve just signed off the sequel, and Gilded Cage is publishing. I can’t wait for life to slow down a little, and I’ve promised myself one dedicated reading day a week. Haven’t managed it so far, but I’m ever-hopeful!
And finally … what can we expect next from Vic James?
Oooh! Well, that all depends on what takes my publishers’ fancy, but there is an intense standalone I’m desperate to write. And I’m simmering an idea for another AU contemporary dualogy or trilogy: intrigue, corruption, secrets and untold history, and a global power struggle, in a world of dark glamour and tradition.
Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Amanda, and for loving GILDED CAGE! If anyone has any questions – come and find me on twitter @drvictoriajames
You can find out more about Gilded Cage and Vic James at: http://www.vicjames.co.uk/
gilded cageGilded Cage is published in paperback on 26th January by Pan Macmillan and is available an an ebook now.
A modern Britain
An age-old cruelty
Britain’s magically skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for ten years – and now it’s the Hadleys’ turn. Abi Hadley is assigned to England’s most ruthless noble family. The secrets she uncovers could win her freedom – or break her heart. Her brother Luke is enslaved in a brutal factory town, where new friends’ ideals might cost him everything.
Then while the elite vie for power, a young aristocrat plots to remake the world with his dark gifts. As Britain moves from anger to defiance, all three must take sides. And the consequences of their choices will change everything, forever.
Gilded Cage
Frances Moritz
Booklist. 113.4 (Oct. 15, 2016): p26.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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Gilded Cage. By Vic James. Feb. 2017. 352p. Del Rey, $26 (9780425284155); e-book (9780425284131).
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.--Frances Moritz
Moritz, Frances
Gilded Cage
Publishers Weekly. 263.37 (Sept. 12, 2016): p37.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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* Gilded Cage
Vic James. Del Rey, $26 (368p) ISBN 978-0425-28415-5
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.)
Book World: Best science fiction and fantasy books to read in February
Everdeen Mason
The Washington Post. (Feb. 6, 2017): News:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Byline: Everdeen Mason
Vic James' dystopian novel "Gilded Cage" (Del Rey) follows a family as it enters what is known as slavedays, a mandated service of 10 years to Britain's ruling class, who have magical powers. Abi, the family's resourceful and responsible eldest daughter, manages to win a coveted slavedays placement for her family as servants for an aristocratic family. But despite her careful planning, the family is separated and Abi's younger brother, Luke, is sent to a brutal slavetown to do hard labor. The plot follows the fates of Luke and Abi, but more intriguing is the politicking between the aristocrats as they duel for power using causes such as abolitionism; the historical parallels are too delicious to ignore. The characters who stand out most are the dark and powerful young Silyen, and the politically savvy Bouda. Their stories flesh out the world around them, and as their goals start to conflict with one another, one can't help but anticipate the next novel in the series.
Gilded Cage by Vic James
Gilded Cage book cover
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Rating
9.2/10
Ms. James writes with the skill of someone who has been an author for decades
A Recommended Book of the Month
Gilded Cage is the first book in The Dark Gifts Trilogy. It has an intriguing premise, where the UK has been split into two, with a very rich and privileged minority ruling the country, this minority are quite archaic in nature and are known as Equals (or those with Skill). The rest of the population, those without Skill, live quite similarly to us, except that they are subjected to ten years of Slavedays which they have to do to give Equals the time to run the country. These Slavedays, whether you spend them in a slavetown; as a manufacturer or in a call centre, or alternatively working on one of the Equals family estates. Those that are Skilled are treated as untouchable, seen as celebrities or the one per cent. Those without Skill do not know much about the powers Equals possess, as it is rare to see public demonstrations.
Centred around the Hadley family’s decision to enter their Slavedays as a family. The Hadley’s are the parents, who are never really given individual personalities, their oldest Abigail who is described as very smart and has the opportunity to go to medical school to become a doctor, Luke who is just about to turn 16 and their youngest child Daisy who has just celebrated her tenth birthday. The Hadley’s decide to do this because of Abigail’s ingenuity as she has found them a placement at the stately home of Kyneston where they will be slaves of the Jardines who are the most powerful Skilled family in the UK. This is seen as a better option than being sent to Millmoor, one of the slavetowns, where those sent there spend their days doing long shifts with no health and safety, bad working conditions, food that just about allows you to function, a lot of air pollution and security staff that will give you a beating just because they don’t like the look of you.
On the day they leave for their Slavedays the Hadley’s learn a harsh lesson when Luke is taken from them and sent to Millmoor. The Hadley’s have no power to stop this and learn that as slaves they do not have the rights of a person, they are now the property of the state. The novel then moves between Luke’s life at Millmoor and the rest of his family’s time at Kyneston. Their stories couldn’t be more different. Luke away from his family, has to learn to stand on his own two feet and find an inner strength and fortitude to survive. Whilst his family keep their hopes up that they will be able to bring Luke back to them while getting to know the cage they inhabit.
Equals don’t seem to care about the populace they are meant to oversee. They see the unskilled as missing part of their souls. Initially, the Slavedays began so that the Skilled would have the time to run the country without having to worry about being overthrown like the example made of Equals in France, but in the ensuing centuries, the Skilled have become lazy. For all the power Equals have, they rely on slavery to do the most simple jobs and rarely use their own Skill to improve themselves or their country. The Skilled have become so good at keeping the status quo, that they have forgotten what they can do with their Skill. Just like in our own world there are different levels of richness, here there are different power levels of Skill and it is frowned upon to marry someone who is not Equal.
There are lots of different character perspectives woven throughout the story. When we are with Luke in Millmoor, we get to meet a lot of different people and see how a few acts of kindness and solidarity can become a movement. Luke’s story takes us to some very dark places and shows how people not in power can be co-opted and complicit in maintaining control and keeping people down. At Kyneston, we learn more about Abigail and Daisy’s roles in the lives of the Jardines. For the most part, we follow the youngest Jardine, the enigmatic Silyen who is the most Skilled of his family. Silyen yearns to be able to do more with his Skill and feels that people with Skill have forgotten what they can do with it. Silyen is looking to shake up the establishment. Gavar the oldest is being forged into his Father’s tool to carry on their traditions, to marry well and continue the family’s political goals. The middle brother Jenner is an anomaly as he has no Skill, but unlike other Skill-less people he is not expected to give up years of his life as a slave, he is tolerated, but still seen as an outsider, even to his own family.
A lot of history and background is given throughout the story and it interesting to know of Equals in the past. Although compellingly we are never told how or why people became Skilled. As well as how the Government now works and an overview of what has happened in the rest of the world. There are themes of determination and persistence running through the novel, that you do not need to conform to other people’s expectations, that you are more than just a cog in the system.
This novel has so many interesting characters in every part of the story. The things that Skill can do is awe-inspiring and terrifying, but it is how people with Skill apply it that is truly scary, how your personality and your will can be swept away as if it means nothing. The machinations happening throughout the Gilded Cage are cleverly thought out and the lead up to the denouement is shocking, although there were some character reveals that felt fairly obvious. The ending left me wondering what would happen next as the main characters have all come so far from the beginning of the book. There are lots of strands left open for the next novel and I can only see it becoming more breathtaking as things come both together and apart for the Hadley’s and the Jardines.
Michelle Herbert, 9/10
I received an ARC of Gilded Cage from NetGalley and I would like to thank Vic James and Del Rey Books.
Gilded Cage is set in a dystopian, totalitarian alternative United Kingdom where certain individuals are born with the power of Skill. This created world is a mix of Dickensian Britain (with slave towns) and modern Britain (with computer consoles and C-pop music). The Equals are the ruling aristocrat elite here as they are born with the magic of Skill, they are the celebrities and they run the nation. Everyone lacking Skill is controlled and for ten years of their lives have to work their 'Slave Days'. Essentially, ten years of their lives where they work for the state in terrible conditions, for no money and during these times they have no rights and aren't even seen as real people any longer. James has created a large amount of back history too for the Dark Gift's trilogy that is hauntingly similar to our own. One example being the members amongst the long history of the revered Equals composed family trees. Another being characters discussing revolutions (hauntingly alike the French and American) throughout the world and also talking about countries who are living now after overthrowing their Equal ruling elite.
We view this world whilst following the point of view perspectives of members of two families on different sides of the divide. A normal, average family containing three children and an aristocratic Equal family, also with three children, who are anything but average.
This action happens mainly in two places. The home of the Equal family at Kyneston which is surrounded by an invisible magic gate/wall that encompasses the family grounds and at the slave town called Millmoor where people work six days a week in awful conditions for no money. The destinies of members of the two families intertwine and the story progresses.
The main characters all seem very developed and intriguing. My favourites to read about were Equal "Young Master" Silyen who seems to be brimming with magical prowess, the normal bloke Luke who finds out a lot about himself during these pages and the kind-hearted Dr. Jackson. The majority of the Equals seem to have peculiar motives and are manipulative. The people without the power of the skill are just trying to live quietly and act inconspicuous. Kyneston is as elegant a mansion and estate as you are likely to read about in fiction whilst Millmoor is the opposite. That isn't to say that what happens in Kyneston is all rosy. Millmoor is grotesque and horrendous for individuals spending their slave days there. There is an underground faction there below the sights of the authorities, however; who reminded me a bit of The Reckoners in Sanderson's Steelheart.
I don't wish to say too much about the story, how characters feel about, and interact with others, or discuss the magic as they are most fascinating aspects of this engrossing and highly original debut outing from James. The end I found phenomenal and it was extremely upsetting. That being said, it sets up Tarnished City (Dark Gifts #2) expertly promising to highlight more places in this compelling alternative Britain. Although it is marketed as YA and can be enjoyed by a younger audience, I can say that if that puts you off picking this up then you are missing out on an extraordinarily good story by a gifted new author.
James Tivendale, 9.2/10
England is no longer the England that we are all familiar with. In this alternate England, everyone is by no means equal and all are not citizens with full rights. It is an England now ruled by a select few aristocratic families or “Equals” touched with a special magic called the skill. This magic can burn entire buildings to the ground, influence people’s thought and actions, and in some cases even kill. Those who wish to become citizens with full rights must serve the Equals as indentured servants or even worse, be shipped to a factory slave town called Millmoor. There they will serve as slaves for a full decade of their lives under horrendous living conditions and harsh supervision. The most prominent of these Equals are the Jardines. Their family was the first to impose the Slavedays Compact upon the citizenry hundreds of years prior. Consequently, they now hold a place of great prominence, prestige, and influence in the council government. Yet there are secrets buried within the musty library inside the Jardine estate which if uncovered, could change the course of England’s future and may potentially reveal the secrets behind what led to the heinous compact that now keeps all commoners under the boot of tyranny and oppression. There are those; however, who want the Slavedays to end and are working behind the scenes to force a vote within the council eliminating the barbaric compact forever. They, along with a small rebellious faction who have risen up within the factory slave town of Millmoor to fight for their freedom, may ultimately be the key to ending the scourge of the Equals once and for all.
Vic James is a new writer who has emerged on the scene with great fanfare. Ms. James completed her doctorate in the Vatican Secret Archives, which I found incredibly interesting. Gilded Cage is her first book, which makes what she has accomplished here all the more impressive. I have wanted to read and review Gilded Cage for quite some time as I kept hearing the comparisons to Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I’m a huge fan of the Victorian-era magic theme and so I went on a quest to track down an ARC (the release date for Gilded Cage is scheduled for February of 2017) so that I could see for myself what the buzz was about. After reading Gilded Cage, I will say that the comparisons to Clarke are only valid when it comes to the splendid quality of the writing. For when I actually immersed myself in the story, it bore little resemblance to that 19th century time period and plot. The crux of the story of Gilded Cage takes place in a modern day England, albeit a significantly alternate modern day England. Yes, the feel of the writing and specific settings do strike one as Victorian in nature, but that is part of the brilliance of the book. You can’t really pin down a specific time, and so the reader is left to appreciate the story instead of focusing on when in history this is occurring. It lends a uniqueness and freshness to the story as well as a very good mystery. The aspect that really made this book work for me was that I was constantly kept guessing and wondering what was truly going on throughout the entire book. I knew there was something that the author wasn’t revealing and Ms. James would give a snippet here, and a clue there, which I thought worked beautifully. The archaic practice of the Slavedays is a brutal but intriguing premise and ultimately I wanted to find out how that came about and to what ends was this practice initiated. Ms. James writes with the skill of someone who has been an author for decades. I was blown away by how beautiful the prose was and that just lent more effectiveness to the story for me. I haven’t read a book like Gilded Cage in a long time. It disturbed me at times, moved me to moments of joy, made me angry, and also created a sense of wonder in my mind that only a skilled author can deliver.
In the end I was left emotionally spent and wanting another book to read immediately so that I can find out more about this amazing world that Vic James has envisioned. Extremely impressed is all I can really say. I recommend this to everyone regardless of what genre is your favorite. Even though it would be classified as Dystopian, the story is so well-written and compelling that any reader can appreciate and enjoy it. The good news is that Gilded Cage is just the first book of a planned multi-book series called The Dark Gifts. So there’s a lot more coming and I for one am happy to hear that. I really can’t wait to see where Vic James takes this series next. She’s an incredibly gifted author who should be making huge literary waves for years to come.
Nick Taraborrelli, 9.5/10
This Gilded Cage book review was written by Michelle Herbert and James Tivendale and Nick Taraborrelli
BOOK REVIEW: GILDED CAGE BY VIC JAMES
Title: Gilded Cage
Author: Vic James
Genre: Dystopia, Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: February 2017
Hardcover: 368 Pages
gilded-cage-by-vic-james
A darkly fantastical debut set in a modern England where magically gifted aristocrats rule, and commoners are doomed to serve—for readers of Victoria Aveyard and Susanna Clarke
NOT ALL ARE FREE.
NOT ALL ARE EQUAL.
NOT ALL WILL BE SAVED.
Our world belongs to the Equals—aristocrats with magical gifts—and all commoners must serve them for ten years.
But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.
A girl thirsts for love and knowledge.
Abi is a servant to England’s most powerful family, but her spirit is free. So when she falls for one of their noble-born sons, Abi faces a terrible choice. Uncovering the family’s secrets might win her liberty—but will her heart pay the price?
A boy dreams of revolution.
Abi’s brother, Luke, is enslaved in a brutal factory town. Far from his family and cruelly oppressed, he makes friends whose ideals could cost him everything. Now Luke has discovered there may be a power even greater than magic: revolution.
And an aristocrat will remake the world with his dark gifts.
He is a shadow in the glittering world of the Equals, with mysterious powers no one else understands. But will he liberate—or destroy?
Stand alone or series: Book 1 in a planned trilogy
How did I get this book: Review Copy from the Publisher
Format (e- or p-): Hardcover
REVIEW
In an alternate historical version of Britain, the elites rule not only by rite of economic power, but by power of magic, too. “The Equals,” as this class of aristocrat is ironically called, presides over society, runs Parliament, and makes decisions that affect the entirety of the country. For everyone else not born to power or magic, each human owes the Equals a debt by virtue of existing. Everyone must pay ten years of their life in servitude. This slavedom may be taken when you are young, or when you are old–but it must be taken.
Siblings Abi, Luke, and Daisy find themselves in an interesting, but hopeful, situation for their slave days. Thanks to the planning of their parents, and Abi’s organizational and clerical skills, the family has secured joint slave days together at a grand estate, Kyneston, for one of the country’s most storied Equal families. Together, the family Hadley will move to Kyneston, serve their ten years, and then be done. For ten-year-old Daisy, the time with her family in servitude seems like nothing; but for sixteen-year-old Luke, it seems like his entire life. For eighteen-year-old Abi, deferring her entrance to medical school by ten years is a necessary sacrifice she would make for her family, but it hurts nonetheless.
When the time to go to Kyneston comes, however, Luke is told there is no place for him and is whisked away to the slave mines at Milnoor–hard manual labor, from which many slaves do not return whole, if they return at all.
***
At Kyneston, the family Jardine rules with magic and fear. The elder brother, Gavar, has sired a bastard daughter upon an Equal, who dies trying to escape the estate with their child. The younger brother, Jenner, watches sympathetic to the plight of the commoners; but it is Silyen who possesses all the power, and watches all with calculating eyes. Silyen has magic–unparalleled magic–and has a plan.
***
For Abi and her younger sister Daisy, the Silyen’s dangerous game could change everything.
For Luke, at Milnoor, every day is a fight to survive–but others at Milnoor want to do more than just survive. They want to fight back. Little by little, game by game, Luke starts to fight, too.
For everyone else, nothing will ever be the same.
***
Gilded Cage, the first book in a planned series by Vic James, is a dystopian YA novel predicated on the threads of political upheaval, injustice, and magic. At first glance, it all seems somewhat pedestrian–the oppressed 99% rises up against the controlling class, led by firebrand young protagonists who aim to change the world even if it means burning it down in the process. And, to some extent, Gilded Cage is all of those things, wrapped in a Downton Abbey-meets-North and South-style period wrapper. The nice thing about this particular YA dystopia is that the characterization is sure-footed and the plotting deftly executed, with parallels to history and to present day. And, while the source material might be familiar, the experience of reading is still pretty gosh-darn fun.
So here’s what worked in Gilded Cage: the plotting is fast and deft, alternating storylines between Milnoor and Kyneston and ratcheting up the stakes as both Luke and Abi learn more about their respective cages. Similarly, the voices for these protagonists are varied and convincing, and while both heroes are somewhat familiar YA-fare, their dedication to truth and family resonates throughout the book. The other powerful aspect of Gilded Cage is its clear-cut political allegory–certainly it’s applicable today. The political scheming, the passivity of a population that knows shitty things are happening all the time and the injustice of the system, but refusal to do anything about it, is all too believable.
These praises said, there were two elements of Gilded Cage that failed to convince me–the world itself, and the Equal narrators. There’s a mix of modern technology alongside magic, but in an Edwardian era type setting, which felt both jarring and never fully explained. Also jarring and frustrating to read were the intermittent narrator changes to Equals–who aren’t ever as interesting as Abi or Luke as voices, though I did appreciate gaining some perspective from Silyen and others in the upper-echelon of society.
All things said, Gilded Cage is entertaining and certainly worth checking out–I’ll be keeping up to see where the story goes next.
Notable Quotes/Parts: From the prologue:
She heard the motorbike first, then the galloping horse—two distant points of noise in the darkness, converging on her as she ran.
Apart from her boots striking the ground, Leah wasn’t making a sound, and neither was the baby she held close. But their pursuers didn’t need to hear them to find them. The only place she could run to was Kyneston’s perimeter wall, and the only hope of escape once she got there was the infant bundled in her arms, her daughter, Libby.
The moon was alternately covered and revealed by high, rapid clouds, but the faint radiance of the wall shone steadily along the horizon. It was like the streak of hallway light beneath a bedroom door, comforting children waking from nightmares.
Was that what her life at Kyneston had become: a nightmare? It had once seemed to fulfill all of her dreams.
The roar of the bike engine was closer now and the thudding hooves had fallen behind. Her pursuers could only be Gavar and Jenner. Both were way off to the left, bearing down in a line that headed straight for her. But Leah had reached the wall first.
She slumped against it for a moment’s relief. One hand rested on the ancient masonry as she dragged in a breath. The wall felt cool beneath her fingers. It was slick with moisture and furred with moss, jarring with the illusion of warmth from the unnaturally glowing brickwork. But that was the power of Skill for you. There was nothing natural about this place or the people that lived here.
Time to go.
“Please, my darling. Please,” Leah whispered to her child, pulling aside the edge of the blanket she’d knitted and kissing Libby’s silky head.
The baby fussed as Leah gently untangled an arm and took her small hand. Chest heaving with terror as much as exertion, Leah leaned on the wall and pressed her baby’s palm to it.
Where the tiny fingers touched the weather-beaten brick, a greater brightness bloomed beneath them. As Leah watched, the luminescence spread, flowing through the mortar between the bricks. It was weak, but visible nonetheless. And—there!—the light jumped and climbed upward, stronger now, becoming firmer, sharper. It took on outlines: an upright, then an arch. The gate.
From the darkness came a mechanical snarl. The motorbike engine being choked off. Dying.
Then another, closer sound broke into the night: a leisurely hand clap. Leah recoiled as if it had been an actual slap.
Someone was waiting there. And as the tall, slender figure stepped into the spilling light, she saw that, of course, it was him. Silyen. The youngest of the three Jardine brothers, but not the least. He brought them into Kyneston, all those serving their days, and it was his Skill that kept them here on his family’s estate. How could she have imagined he’d let her escape?
The slow applause stopped. One of the boy’s narrow, nail-bitten hands gestured at the vaulting ironwork.
“Be my guest,” Silyen said, as if inviting mother and child in for tea. “I won’t try and stop you. I’m rather fascinated to see what little Libby is capable of. You know I have… certain theories.”
Leah’s heart was pounding. He was the last one of them that she’d trust. The very last. Still, she had to take the offered chance, even if it was no more than a cat momentarily lifting its paw off a mouse’s back.
She studied his face as if moonlight and Skill-light might reveal the truth of his intentions. And as Silyen met her eye for perhaps the very first time, Leah thought she glimpsed something. Was it curiosity? He wanted to see if Libby could open the gate. If she could, maybe he would let them both through. Purely for the satisfaction of seeing it—and just perhaps to spite his eldest brother.
“Thank you,” she said, in little more than a whisper. “Sapere aude?”
“?‘Dare to know’ indeed. If you dare, I will know.”
Silyen smiled. Leah knew better than to mistake it for compassion or kindness.
You can read the full excerpt online HERE.
Rating: 6 – Good
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KIRKUS REVIEW
In a debut novel, James introduces readers to an alternate modern-day England where enticing drama and social unrest mix with aristocratic scandal and glamorous magic.
Luke and Abigail Hadley are teenagers living in an England ruled by aristocratic families who wield magical power. All commoners without magical “Skill” are obligated to serve for a decade as slaves, either in the industrial horrors of a slave town, the lowest and most dangerous ranks of the military, or on the grand estates of their masters. When Luke and Abigail’s parents decide that their whole family should serve their decades together, Abigail manages to get them assigned to the lavish and powerful estate of the Jardine family, but a last-minute reassignment sends Luke to the miserable slave town of Millmoor. Separated from his family, Luke finds friendship among a plucky group of abolitionists playing a dangerous “game,” and the threads of his story begin to tangle with the political intrigue and powerful magic that Abigail stumbles into at the Jardine estate. The plot proceeds at a satisfying pace, switching between storylines at just the right intervals to gratify both suspense and impatience, and while the architecture of the story is not particularly original (conjuring up the specters of Les Misérables and Downton Abbey), its execution elicits the pleasurable urge to find out what happens next. The characters are similarly engaging, a cast of likable and occasionally unusual individuals who slip easily into the reader’s imagination, and while the jarring elements of their world—a society that contains video games and earbuds nestled alongside both magic and systematic, socially accepted slavery—might disorient at first, their selfish motivations and competing desires for maintenance or righteous change pull believability in their wake.
An absorbing first installment that presages an intriguing new fantasy series.
Pub Date: Feb. 14th, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-425-28415-5
Page count: 368pp
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1st, 2016
Web Exclusive – February 14, 2017
GILDED CAGE
A high-brow British historical with a dose of magic
BookPage review by Chika Gujarathi
Vic James’ debut novel, Gilded Cage, is set in Britain in a time where grand estates, class, pedigree, and money separate those with power and influence from those without. To assume that this is a story about some bygone era would be a mistake, however. In fact, where we start is far in the future, where the British society as we know it today has been replaced by a republic ruled by the Skilled. The Skilled, also called the Equals, are aristocrats with a mysterious natural gift of magic inherited only through pure breeding. But unlike the banished mutants of superhero films, the Skilled have managed to rise and rule with their wizardry. Being governed are the commoners, who are doomed in more ways than one, but the biggest blow is slavedays—a required 10-year sentence of back-breaking work. Choose to start young and it destroys you forever; choose to start old and you might never make it out alive. James’ saga starts as the Hadleys, a family of five from Manchester, are assigned to spend their slavedays at the Kyneston estate of the most powerful Skilled family, the Jardines. The Hadleys feel lucky for being assigned to a beautiful estate rather than a Dickensian workhouse—until they realize that teenage Luke was not invited. Instead, he is sent to one of the worse slavetowns, Millbrook. But, amongst its cruelty and oppression he finds the courage to be part of a revolution. Luke isn’t the only rebel however: The Jardines too have an heir who has a secret plot to remake the world. Alongside the political drama also lies a budding love story between Abi Hadley and Jenner Jardine.
For those who can barely get enough of the British dramas like “Downton Abbey” or the magical worlds of J.K. Rowling, Gilded Cage reads like a perfect amalgamation of the two worlds. In this debut, James has successfully created anticipation for what’s to come. A great book to start your new series obsession.