Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
For readers of Victoria Aveyard and Kiera Cass comes a darkly fantastical debut set in a modern England where magically gifted aristocrats rule and commoners are doomed to serve.
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?"
Synopsis
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. . . .
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 Miserables 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
"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."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)