"Gilded Cage" by Vic James

I got an ARC of this book from Netgalley.com. This is the first book in a new YA fantasy series. I am not sure how many books the author has planned overall, but she definitely started out with a bang. I enjoyed this book immensely. In fact, lately I have been quite disappointed with most new YA fantasy. They all seem to be a variation on the same theme: an ordinary teenager suddenly discovers s/he is special and goes on to outsmart the powers-that-be and save the world.

Gilded Cage is a refreshing exception and really stands out from the cookie-cutter YA fantasy that is out there now. At first, I thought the world was not terribly original. Basically, the story unfolds around our current time in Great Britain, and the population is divided into the ruling magic-wielding aristocracy (or "Equals) and the "commoners". The latter have to give up 10 years of their lives to serve as slaves either on an Equals' estate or in one of the industrial slavetowns around the country.

We follow several different perspectives: Abi and Luke Hadley are teenage brother and sister whose family decides to do their slavedays all together on an estate. However, Luke gets unexpectedly separated and sent to a slavetown, while the rest of his family (mother, father, and two sisters) gets sent to work on the estate of the Jardine family - the most influential Equal family in Great Britain. At the same time, we also follow the perspectives of several Equals: most notably the powerful and explosive Gavar Jardine and his power-hungry fiancee Bouda.  My favorite anti-hero in the book is Silyen Jardine. His magic (or "Skill") is extremely strong even by Equals' standards, but he is also secretive, manipulative and utterly creepy. He is by no means "a dark, brooding, swoon worthy" type of evil character, an overused and popular troupe in YA. On the contrary, he scares the crap out of me. We do not get any chapters from his point of view which makes his character even more fascinating.

The teenagers in the story - Abi and Luke - are very realistic. They are rash, naive, act their own age, and definitely do not discover any hidden special abilities or outsmart the powerful Equals around them. If anything, they are more like pawns in someone else's game and gradually come to realize their own powerlessness and inability to control anything. The plot was completely unpredictable, had a lot of twists and turns, and kept me on the edge of the seat the entire length of the novel. I found myself utterly engrossed and unable to put the book down. I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2, and am thrilled that it is coming out later this year. 5 out of 5 stars. This was definitely a rare gem in the sea of YA sameness.