Gilded Cage, which is the first book in the “Dark Gifts” series, is emphatically not a romance. However, it’s the kind of story that I think might appeal to those readers who like fantasy and alternate history that includes class struggles. Beware, though, as this is the first book of a trilogy and I doubt that everyone will have a happy ending. Things certainly are figuratively and literally messy by the end of the first book.

In this alternate modern day version of Britain, a small percentage of people are born with the ability to do magic. All have shared core abilities, of which the most notable is the ability to heal oneself and others. In addition, people have more specialized abilities. This group, the Equals, are the ruling class of Britain.

Everyone born without magic (the UnSkilled) has to spend ten years of their lives in slavery. These ten years, which must be served consecutively, are called the slavedays. During a person’s slavedays, they have no rights and are called by a number, not a name. Many do not survive this period. People can choose when they serve their time as long as they are ten years old or older. The saying is, “Do your slavedays too old, you’ll never get through them. Do your slavedays too young, you’ll never get over them.” Savvy readers will immediately spot a loophole (why not start at the age of 99?) but this and some other loopholes and plot holes are filled in in the next book, The Tarnished City.

In any case, the Hadley family has the rare opportunity to do their slavedays together and in relative comfort, thanks to the efforts of their eighteen-year-old daughter, Abi, to find them a good placement. Mum and Dad, Abi, seventeen-year-old Luke, and ten-year-old Daisy are assigned to work for a family of Equals, the Jardins, on the Jardin’s estate. However, when it’s time to go, it turns out that Luke isn’t on the list and is sent to Millmoor instead. Millmoor is an industrial hell pit. But it turns out that the Jardins are a family who live in splendour and an appalling case of familial dysfunction. Between the scheming of the Jardins and the physical hardships of Millmoor, it’s hard to say who has it worst.

Like the Hadleys, the Jardins have three children. Jenner seems to be a decent guy. He is Skilless and thus the shame of the family. However, his family’s status protects him from having to do slaveday time. Skill is almost always inherited, but in Jenner’s case it wasn’t and no one knows why (at least, not in the first book). Abi, the Hadley’s oldest daughter, has a terrible crush on Jenner but has enough sense to know that acting on such a crush cannot possibly end well. Gavar is violent and short-tempered with a soft spot for his infant daughter, Libby. Libby’s mother died in mysterious circumstances soon after Libby’s birth. The Hadley’s youngest daughter, Daisy, is put in charge of Libby’s daily care. Gavar is nothing but charming in the presence of Daisy and Libby, and Daisy looks up to him. The third son, Silyen, likes to pop up out of nowhere and say cryptic things. He’s also at the heart of a lot of political machinations.

I regret to say that the Hadley mum and dad never get to be more than background figures. They don’t even have names (unless I missed them). That’s too bad, as much of the Jardin family involves parent/child dynamics and it would have been an interesting parallel to see more of the Hadley parents. It’s also a shame because one might expect that they would be more dynamic in trying to protect their children, and if they are as passive as they seem to be, it would be interesting to learn if there’s a generational and historical reason for that.

The book alternates betweens Luke’s involvement with the UnSkilled resistance movement in Millmoor and Abi’s efforts to keep her family safe with the Jardins, while the Jardins run around pursuing their own political goals. The story involves a lot of mystery, a lot of daring, and incredible atmosphere as it contrasts the glamorous world of the Equals with the grime and endless machinery noise of Millmoor. None of the characters in this first book become very complex, and yet they are all interesting to follow. The book succeeds on the “Ooooh look at that,” level and the “What happens next?” level. It’s fast-paced and suspenseful.

In addition to the atmosphere, I liked the ways in which characters were continually being surprised by themselves and each other. In a book about political and societal upheaval, the latter is to be expected. There’s a lot of concealment and backstabbing involved. However, characters were just as likely to be surprised by or about themselves. For instance, Luke, who starts off desperate to avoid Millmoor, settles into the routine of his new life and his resistance activities and finds himself not wanting to leave. Gilded Cage is always flowing and dynamic not just because of external events but because of internal developments as well, and those internal developments keep the book character driven in interesting ways even though the characters are not terribly complex. This trend continues into the second book (The Tarnished City). I haven’t read the third and final book yet.

I’ve heard this book recommended to Downton Abbey fans. It’s not set in the same time period, and the Jardins are much more nasty than the Crawleys of Downton Abbey, but there’s a similar structure of the lives of the upper class being intertwined with those who work for them in messy (literally and figuratively) ways. Wherever the overlap is between Downton Abbey fans, Game of Thrones fans, Charles Dickens fans, and fans of fantasy, that’s the audience that will love this book the most.