[Review] Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1) by Vic James

Gilded Cage by Vic James

Series: Dark Gifts #1

Rating: 2 stars

Format: ARC Paperback

Published: February 14th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

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. . . .

Too many characters and too many POVs. At some points I felt like DNFing it, but I kept on reading on, and was left more confused.

In Gilded Cage, modern day Britain is ruled by the magical aristocracy, the Equals. The commoners are subjected to a period of ten years of servitude. Our main characters Luke and Abi are siblings who are about to be split up for their slave days. Abi, her parents, and her younger sister Daisy, are being sent to the Kyneston household, but because they could not find work for Luke, he's to be sent to Millmoor, a factory town.

First thing is first, there are too many things happening in this story. So many ideas and plots that it was very hard to concentrate on what is happening. In my opinion, there probably should have been only Luke's. Or Luke's + Abby's. The fact that there were several others just made me disinterested. A Song of Ice and Fire does alternating POVs well.. I'm fully aware of the characters and who they are and their motivations. In The Gilded Cage, just as I'm about to get a better idea of who this character is, bam, there is a new chapter with a new POV.

Let's talk about the POVs and the various characters.

The prologue had Leah, who doesn't really even play much of a role because she dies in a few pages (not really a spoiler...)
Luke is sent off to Millmoor and joins a resistance group to protest the injustices of the commoners. This is where the story has the most action and is by far the most interesting part.
Silyen is one of the Jardine kids, and he's kind of a weird one with some strange powers as an Equal. He's got some hidden motivations and I can't even fully articulate them (because of all the confusion).
Abi is Luke's sister and she works at the Kyneston household. She isn't that exciting but we do see how her life contrasts to Luke's, so there's something.
Bouda is engaged to the eldest Jardine, Gavar. She's the scheming and calculating one, and she doesn't even want to be married to Gavar. She's only in it for the power and his name.
Euterpe is the aunt of the Jardine sibling, who has been in a coma for some time. Silyen talks to her through trances... not sure how exactly that works.
Gavar, as previously mentioned, is the oldest Jardine. He tries to be threatening and menacing and it doesn't really work on some of the characters, like Bouda.

So 7 POVs. The gist of the story is seen in Luke's - the commoners are seeking to rebel against their Equal overlords. The rest are more or less insight to Equal society and how intricate/complicated it is.

I wish I liked this book, but I didn't.