Vic James’ taunt fantasy thriller, The Gilded Cage, introduced us to a horrifying alternate England, one where magic-wielding Skilled Equals tyrannize everyone else, even requiring all commoners to serve 10 years of Slave Days. The slavery conditions vary, from miserable to deadly, and Equals have little or no consequences for injuring their slaves. Once a commoner serves their 10 years as a slave they are more-or-less free, with however, no political power. (Gilded Cage review is here.)
Tarnished City picks up immediately after The Gilded Cage. Luke is Condemned, in the hands of Crovan, a psychopath Equal, highly skilled at inflicting torture via the mind. Luke’s sister Abigail has escaped from the car that is bringing her and her parents to the slave town, and now makes her way to an Equal family she believes can help her prove Luke’s innocence and set him free.
Neither sibling realizes exactly how naive they are. Only a few Equals care about commoners or are willing to take action even knowing someone is innocent of a crime. As power-hungry Whittam Jardine says, “Stupid girl. Truth isn’t what happened, it’s what people will believe happened.”
Tarnished City‘s plot is escapes, followed by searches for family, followed by desperate quests for fairness and justice, with a good-size helping of violence. The story combines Luke and Abigail coming of age, realizing exactly what their country is and what they can – and cannot – do to save it. Their counterpoint is the Jardine sons. One grows into betrayal, one into on-again/off-again decency, and one is a sociopath, caring almost nothing about anything beyond his Skill. One family is Slave and the other Equal and they are bound together.
Characters have a range of emotions and motives although a few of them remain opaque. The villains are notably sketchy (after all, what author wants to delve into the mind of a psychopath like Crovan?) Even Abi and Luke feel more like people in a book rather than real people. Despite the somewhat-limited character building we can empathize enough to realize the incredible danger and no-win situations for the individuals and the overall country.
Overall Tarnished City is well-done. It is difficult to read in large doses given the truly terrible and horrifying events and situations that Vic James develops. On the downside there are a lot of characters and some are in-and-out, no one you have to remember. The author tries to help us keep the point of view narrator clear by noting the person in the chapter titles, but it is still a little hard to recall a minor character from the first novel.
I just received an advance copy of the final novel, Bright Ruin, and am curious how James will end this. There is no happy ending that I can see.
Please note that this series is marked YA because the protagonists are older teens but I certainly would not recommend this to anyone very young. The concepts are blatantly moralistic and political, and while we hear the villains tell us why they think they are right, they don’t make a lot of sense. Don’t give this to a young person who can’t distinguish motive from means from ends.
4 Stars
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