In 'Gilded Cage', Vic James offers us an alternative version of modern Britain that I found grimly plausible. In James' Britain, everyone owes a decade of slavery to the magic-using elite that has ruled Britain since they executed Charles I in the seventeenth century. The elite, as well as having accumulated vast wealth through centuries of rule, each has the ability to use magic in ways that would allow any one of them to defeat an army.

Yet, their biggest achievement is in not having to use their power because they have convinced everyone that the status quo cannot and should not be changed. They have normalized slavery and made their role as rulers a fundamental part of national identity. They do this partly by letting people choose the decade in which they will serve out their slave days, partly by having humans manage the process of enslavement and the use of slaves and partly by presenting themselves as glamorous and admirable.

For me, what made this alternative Britain so plausible was that, if you take away the elite's use of magic, you're pretty close to how Tories like Jacob Rees-Mogg believe England should be. Over the past ten years, we've seen a steady growth in the gap between the wealthy and the rest, a relentless erosion of the Parliamentary power and the installation of leaders who see themselves above the law. What Vic James has done is show how Modern Britain might be if the Tories had had the ability to use magic that made them virtually invulnerable and had had three hundred years to consolidate their position.

'Gilded Cage' is not a political polemic or a dystopia built to deliver a message. It's a tense thriller, built around people we are meant to like who are doing the best that they can. It's also a fascinating look into how creatures with this much power might treat each other.

The main characters, human and elite, who drive the plot of 'Gilded Cage' are under twenty. Their inexperience helps with the world-building. It also gives the book a Young Adult tone that dampened the rage I should have been feeling at these magical Tory Tyrants.

The world-building at the heart of the story is filtered through the experience of two families, a human family from Manchester entering their slave years together and the elite family on their estate in the South that most of them are assigned to serve. One of the human family serves in Milmore, a Northern industrial slave town, giving us a contrast between the different experiences of slavery.

'Gilded Cage' works as a thriller. There are personal and political intrigues within the elite and significant acts of rebellion by the humans and holding them all together is a larger design, hard to see at first, by the youngest son of the elite family to use his power to change the world, although not necessarily for the better.

It was an entertaining, sometimes exciting, sometimes grim read with an ending that worked but which also left me keen to read the next book in the trilogy.

I recommend the audiobook version of 'Gilded Cage'. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.

This alternative Britain, where everyone owes a decade of slavery to the magic-using elite, is grimly plausible. Take away the elite's use of magic and you're close to how Jacob Rees-Mogg and his ilk believe England should be.

The main characters are all under twenty. Their inexperience helps with the world-building but it also gives a YA tone that dampens the rage I should be feeling at these magical Tory Tyrants.

Gilded Cage is a bit like Animal Farm with magic. It's told from the perspective of seven characters, and set in an alternate Britain where the ruling class are called Equals and have magical powers, while the non-magical populous must submit to a decade of slavery.

It's the first book in a series and while most of the threads are neatly concluded by the end a couple remain. The characters are varied, although most represent a type rather than a fully realised individual, however that seems to work in the depths of this them versus us narrative.

I enjoyed it and will probably pick up other books in the series at some point. Vic James is particularly talented when it comes to describing settings, all of which feel very real in spite of their strangeness.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Another one for the DNF pile. I couldn't get into this one. The society baffled me. I can't get my head around the concept. It was weird and annoying. In this British novel society is still split by huge class divisions. The elite aristocrats at the top run everything and all have some sort of magic ability. The working class have to complete ten years of slavery, where they don't get paid. They an either work in something called slavetowns in factories or domestic work. There's lots of different characters, lots of plots and different agendas, and it's all really really boring. Didn't care about any of it. I made it to 40% but I just don't have any interest in figuring out the plot or the characters. I just can't get my head around ten years of forced slavey in a modern world. Don't get it. At all. And really just don't want to read any more, so DNFing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for approving my request to view the title.

Gilded Cage (A Canary Club Story Book 1)...

*I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.

Masie is the daughter of a powerful boot-legger, Dutch, and returns home from the private boarding school when she receives a call her father wanting her home for a family emergency. She finds there are a few major problems and differences since she left. Her mother's not doing well, mentally unstable. Father's business is on the rocks, standing a chance of falling apart. And the boy she had come to love before she left is now her father's hired hit man. Masie is determined to make a difference in the dangerous, dark illegal work those she loves lives in.

It was great to hear different voices created for each character along with getting the feel of the era they live in. The personality and attitude comes through clear with Meghan's narration. By the end, Meghan was Masie's voice for me, along with other characters. I was stunned at the beginning of the story as Meghan seemed to start off with a faster pace than I expected. But I took a breath, rewound, and started over again. This time I slipped into the story easily with Meghan voicing the characters.

Speakeasies, flapper dresses, alcohol, gangsters, danger, love, and more all in one place.

Masie is mixed up in the dangerous world of her fathers. She didn't realize how explosive her home was until she was sent away, something her mother wanted so she didn't see the life style they were living. Masie has been gone for three years and returning seems as though everything is natural, but it gives her pauses as well.

Masie lives the inside life of being a daughter of a boot-legger. It's not all the fun and glamour people think it is. Masie has to give things up, even people she loves, to carry on. This life is one that's not easy and she always has to be aware of what she's saying and who's around her. Masie is reminded that she's a bit of light and hope in the lives of the men around her - her father, brother, and the boy that she's loved. Masie will not let this life beat her or those she loves. She's determined to save someone, even if it's just herself. But she'll help the family all she can along the way.

There is a romance here. Masie and Vinny. They grew up together as her father took Vinny in when he was abandoned by his mother at a young age. Their relationship started to grow into more before she left, but neither acted on it, and now she sees it is more. Vinny's the hired hand that is dangerous when sent after people, but he's also the bad boy I can't help but love. He feels as he needs Masie in his life, to keep from falling down a very slippery, dark slope.

Masie finds herself on a new path she never expected to take. I'm worried though. There has to be some serious trouble in Masie's future, and with the warning Vinny gave her... will someone get hurt or die in the future books? This is not a cake walk in this business.

The beginning of what seems like a very good new series. Oh how things are going to change for Masie... I can't wait to see all the trouble and excitement she lives through!