About: Gilded Cage is a fiction novel written by Vic James. It will be published on 2/14/2017 by Del Rey Books, 368 pages. The genres are young adult, fiction, dystopia, and fantasy. There are 3 books to the Dark Gifts series: book 1 is called Gilded Cage, book 2 is called Tarnished City which will publish 8/7/18, and book 3 is called Bright Ruin, which will be coming in 10/9/18. According to the publisher’s website, “Del Rey Books began as an imprint of Ballantine Books in 1977. Founded by editors Judy-Lynn and Lester del Rey, Del Rey is now one of the world’s foremost publishers of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction, as well as media and pop culture titles.” Please see below for more information about the author and publisher.
My Experience: I started reading Gilded Cage on 11/8/16 and finished it on 11/14/16. This book is an excellent read. It’s full of actions and happenings from beginning to ending. It draws in my attention and keeps me there. There are hints of romance and there are some heart-stopping moments. After chapter 3, I was intrigued and my heart started beating faster.
“Trust was what made everything possible. Trust lent you someone else’s eyes, someone else’s strong arms or quick brain. Made you bigger than just yourself”. 50% Luke
Multiple POVs: I like that this book has multiple POVs. There are views from the commoners and views from the Equals. It’s not confusing despite many characters introduced in this book. I like the suspense and actions in this book. The story flow nicely. Vic James wrote a compelling story with brave characters and unique world building. The characters are smart and independent for their age. I like them all, the good guys and the bad. It’s an eye opener to follow these characters’ train of thoughts. There are enough backgrounds to each characters to understand them in this book. I like Luke’s train of thoughts, but I am most intrigued with Silyen. He always shows up at the right time and he always seems to have some grand plans in the works. I like to experience Euterpe’s point of view too.
Summary: The people who are able to perform magic are called Skilled or an Equal. The people who can’t do magic are called commoners and are condemned to serve 10 years of their life as a slave to an Equal. The commoner can choose to serve anytime in their life and there are pros and cons to serve at a young age or an old age. Someone will take action and change the course of life between the commoners and the Equals, but who? and will he/she/they succeed?
Pro: multiple POVs, action-packed, page-turner, couldn’t put down, magic, adrenaline rush
Con: none
I rate it 5 stars!
Buy it here for free shipping: Book Depository
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. (Photo obtained from Goodreads and info obtained from Penguin’s website).
***Disclaimer: I received this ebook for free via NetGalley in an exchanged for an honest review. Many thanks to the author Vic James, publisher Del Rey Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. Thank you!
xoxo,
Jasmine
!!! I am so glad you enjoyed this book! I just got approved on NetGalley today, and I cannot WAIT to read this. I typically avoid reading series books until they are all published, but I had to request this after reading the synopsis. You just reinforce it. Thanks, Jasmine!
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The cliffhanger is tolerable so it’s okay to wait for book 2. Congrats on your approval. It’s an interesting read 😊
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Good review and will definitely read it sounds good Jasmine. Good information on your post.
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Thanks! Hope you will like it when you read it 😊
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Yes of course, when you recommend these books they are very good reads. Have a nice day Jasmine.
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Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed this. I was a bit worried about the multiple POVs but I’m glad it was done in a great way. I also have an ARC of this and am even more excited to read it now. Great review as always! 😃
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Thanks Melissa! Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did 😊 can’t wait to read your review on this book!
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You’re welcome!! I hope so too. 😊
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Great review! I’m so glad someone else is fangirling about it as much as I am!
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Great review! I’m still reading this as I’ve been too busy recently to sit down and read for long, but I think I’ll be rating it 5 stars like you! Glad you enjoyed it. And I agree that I’m liking both the good characters and the bad, they’re all well-rounded and interesting.
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Yes. I will be looking forward to reading your review then! How far into the book are you?
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Got about a quarter of the book left so not much more! Hopefully I might be able to finish it by the end of the week.
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Oh, I thought you and Stephanie had a buddy read for this one?
I actually really want to read it.
From your review, it reminded me a bit of The Winner’s Crime. Does it have any similarities?
I am glad you liked it so much you rated it 5 stars.
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Stephanie bailed on me. She wanted to finish Vassa in the Night and got caught up with school. We reschedule our buddy read for Dec 9 to read Wintersong 😊
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Ohh, I hope you’ll like that one. It’s the one I also plan to request eventually. (I’ll probably end up declined for it and Gilded Cage bc when my ratio finally goes up, everyone will already have it read).
Looking forward to start Roseblood tomorrow! 😉
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I got rejected for Vassa in the Night on NetGalley, but I’m not eager to read because Stephanie doesn’t think it’s that good. I hope Roseblood is good because the cover is gorgeous! 😊
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yes, the cover is amazing! I noticed that the physical ARC is on some #booksfortrade tweets so that gives me a feeling it’s not that amazing, but still I hope we’ll like it.
Sorry to hear you got rejected even if Stephanie doesn’t like it all that much.
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You think it’s similar because of the slave, but it’s still different because there’s no king/queen. And the people get to decide when to do their slavedays instead of being bought out. You should request the ARC NetGalley or Edelweiss. It’s an interesting read!
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I actually plan to, but I’m still in a war zone with my ratio. It’s 70% atm.
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70% is very good! Mine is 55%. If you don’t request, once it’s archived, you won’t be able to right?
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yes, you’re right! But there’s a book that’s my no1 priority right now, called Tricked (it’s the last book from my favorite series, middle grade), and it’s still pending, so I’m working on my ratio until I get some sort of response, approve or rejection, and then I’ll send my request for Gilded Cage.
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Edelweiss has gilded cage too and no ratio to worry about. You can try to request there.
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Ok, thanks, I’ll try!
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Awesome review! I wanted to read this book for a while now but was getting mixed reviews… I’m more confident in it now 🙂
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Thanks! Yes, do give it a try! 😊
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Wow!!!..”multiple POVs, action-packed, page-turner, couldn’t put down, magic &adrenaline rush”…I’M SOLD!!!..eagerly waiting for this boookk!!!:)
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😍💕 hope you will like it too!
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Thanks for the heads up about the awesomeness of the book! I’m so excited to finally read it.
I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sorry I couldn’t read it with you. But Dec 9…I’ll be there!
I am so happy you gave it five stars bc we tend to like the same books. So yay! Great review!
😊👏👏👏
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Are you continue reading it or read later?
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Oh, I stopped. I got as far as three chapters and then Tenille emailed me. I’ll keep going soon, but I wanted to fulfill my promise to her to read her book and get it out there. She was so understanding when I asked if she could give me until the 20th. That should give me enough time to finish Stealing Snow before the library wants it, and her book by then as well. Crossing my fingers!
But I’m glad you liked it. I really am. Means good news for me…it was hard to put down!
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These books are demanding aren’t they? I feel the pressure to get them read sometimes but I like to take my time. So I am reviewing as many early as I can and the ones that are late, what’s the problem is to late another week? 😂
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I know! They ARE demanding. And a week is never a big deal…there are some ppl that are really behind, and that makes me feel a little better. 😉
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I have a paper copy of this book and then got invited by the publisher to get an ebook, and I’m even more excited to read it than I already was after reading your review. No cons? 👍 That’s awesome news! I was hoping this book would be amazing and I’m glad it was a 5 star for you. Nice review! 🙂
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I can’t think of a con haha except Stephanie @ TeacherofYA bailed on our Buddy Reads but that’s alright 😂 (school comes first).
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Bad, Stephanie! She bailed on you? 😩😂 Just kidding. 🙂 School definitely comes first. I can’t wait to read this book.
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