GILDED CAGE

Author: Vic James
Series: Dark Gifts #1
Source: Traded for an ARC
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: February 14, 2017
Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary:
Not all are free. Not all are equal. Not all will be saved.

Our world belongs to the Equals — aristocrats with magical gifts — and all commoners must serve them for ten years. But behind the gates of England's grandest estate lies a power that could break the world. 

A girl thirsts for love and knowledge.

Abi is a servant to England's most powerful family, but her spirit is free. So when she falls for one of the noble-born sons, Abi faces a terrible choice. Uncovering the family's secrets might win her liberty, but will her heart pay the price? 

A boy dreams of revolution.

Abi's brother, Luke, is enslaved in a brutal factory town. Far from his family and cruelly oppressed, he makes friends whose ideals could cost him everything. Now Luke has discovered there may be a power even greater than magic: revolution. 

And an aristocrat will remake the world with his dark gifts.

He is a shadow in the glittering world of the Equals, with mysterious powers no one else understands. But will he liberate—or destroy?
I had heard that this was such a great, fantastic, unique, enter-adjective-here book so when I was offered a trade for it, I jumped all over it. But when I started reading it, I started and stopped A LOT and found it really hard to get into. And then I was just neutral about it overall. I didn't love or hate this one and found that it probably would have been better with a few adjustments.