LitPick Review
This book is the second in a series. The first book in the series is Gilded Cage. Gilded Cage is about the Hadley Family who lives in Great Britain and they are starting their slave days. Everyone who wants to become a full citizen is required to do 10 years of slave labor.
Once full citizens, they are able to get certain jobs and to even leave the country. But after they sign up to start their days, they give up their human rights and enter a legal non-personhood status. They have no free speech, they can't own anything, and they won't make any money from their slave labor.
The people they are working for are the Jardine family and they are called Equals. The Equals are the aristocrats who have the magical abilities called Skill, and they are basically untouchable.
At the beginning of Tarnished City, we see the Hadley family split up even more. The parents and oldest child are being sent to Millmoor. The son has been condemned, and the youngest is staying with the Equals. We learn nothing about the parents or the youngest, Daisy. Abi escaped and is trying to find a way to save Luke from the evilest Equal there is. We also see the Jardine patriarch become chancellor once again. He brings back the worst thing imaginable called a Blood Fair. Will the Hadleys have the courage to fight back?
Opinion:
I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first. It was more action-packed, had more plot twists, and it introduced more magical elements. The only thing that seemed to carry from the first book to this one was the number of characters. It was confusing and two characters, Jackson and Angel, Equals from Gilded Cage, go by their real names, Dina and Meilyr, in the second so you have to try to remember that while reading. There is a handful of cuss words throughout the book and some graphic scenes, but they felt appropriate to the story. This second book is also more violent, bloody, and gory than the first.
