A solid Fantasy entry and first novel by Vic (Victoria) James, this book probably has crossover appeal between YA and regular adult readers, since the main characters are older teens and young twenty-somethings. An interesting premise starts the obligatory trilogy off--magical people in this alternate reality are “more equal” than other people. Non-magical humans must serve a required decade as slaves either in factory towns (often a death sentence) or on the estates of the Equals. People may choose when they serve, which begs the question--what if I put it off until I decide to off myself rather than be a slave? Perhaps this will be answered in Book 2. Anyway, the Hadley family has arranged to serve their decade together in the relative servile comfort of a large estate of the most influential Equal family in the UK. I forgot to mention that the relationship between Equals and non-magical humans differs in various nations. Of course, things go awry early on and Luke, the teenaged son of the Hadleys is kidnapped and taken forcibly to one of the factory towns, while the rest of the family continues to the estate. The story is told from the points of view of various characters, but mostly we follow Luke in his Urban revolutionary awakening and his older sister Abi, who starts out trying to free Luke, but suffers from a variation of Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with the younger son of the Equal Parva-Jadine family. All the usual elements are here: class struggle, varying degrees of magical powers and the advantages they bestow, the hero’s journey, good v. evil. The twist is that this world is a little different to the usual fantasy. It isn’t dystopia, exactly, and it isn’t Medieval exactly. James does a good job with the world building (with the possible exception of my previous question--but in fairness, that may eventually be addressed). This novel will have appeal for 8th grade and up who enjoy a good fantasy that is a little out of the ordinary, but still comfortably includes the regular genre constructs. The only drawback is that they will have to wait for book 2, and you know how they hate that. This title is out this month, so it's relatively new--enjoy!
June’s Rating System:
Language--PG; Sexual Content--PG/G nothing explicit, but we know it’s happening. Violence--PG-13 It’s a fantasy, so there will be swords...Magic and the Occult--PG-13; Adult Themes--Revolution, class struggle, resistance to authoritarian regimes, etc.
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