I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounded up to four. This is a dystopian fantasy, and while I am perfectly capable of admitting I don't pay the best attention to book blurbs (mostly I find something I like, track it on ereaderiq, buy/read it a few months later when I've forgotten what the blurb said) I'm not sure the blurb accurately depicts that. I think if I had gone into it thinking dystopian, I would have enjoyed it more, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. 
 This book follows the unskilled (no magical ability) Hadley family into their obligatory ten years of slave service to the Skilled elite. Skilled are also known as Equals. I'm not sure why. The family is supposed to all go to a beautiful estate of one of the most powerful skilled families in England, the Jardines. Only they have no use for the brother Luke, so he gets sent to a slavetown called Millmoor, where he falls in with a handful of rebels and helps to start a revolution from the inside. Meanwhile, his oldest sister Abi is crushing on the unskilled Jenner Jardine, and the youngest, Daisy, is busy getting in the good graces of the heir, Gavar Jardine. 
 Also there's Silyen Jardine. Who is the best character in the book. He's always doing stuff, you just don't know why. I'm sure this will be explained in future books, but in the meantime, he's wonderfully gray. Whose team is he on? What is his goal? These are the questions that kept me turning the page. 
 My biggest complaint is that I wanted to connect more with these characters, but I couldn't. The view point was constantly switching. I don't mind changing viewpoints, but there never seemed to be a reason for the change. I think Luke is supposed to be the main character, and of all the POV characters I connected with him most, but honestly I couldn't tell. The problem with having at least four viewpoints in a three hundred page book is that each character gets less than a hundred pages to win you over. I think this many POVs is better reserved for longer books. 
 The world building was great if you can suspend disbelief on a few key factors. For example, every unskilled must complete ten years of slave service. They can choose when they enter service, and after completion of their ten years, they obtain full citizenship rights. However, given the deplorable treatment of slaves, I really can't imagine any kind of citizenship is worth completing your ten years for. Why not wait until your almost dead? Why enter at all if no one makes you enter at any specific time in your life? The Hadleys seemed like they were doing well enough prior to entering. They owned a vintage car, they threw a birthday party for their ten year old, and Abi had books to read. The motivation wasn't clear at all. Additionally, I'm curious about the people who work at the Labor Enforcement Bureau.. Are they not obligated to complete service? Have they already completed their slave years? If not, how are they chosen to do those jobs? I really hope some of these questions are answered in the future books. In a book where slave labor is so central to the plot I'd expect there to be better motivations or laws in place to explain these things. As it stood, slavedays seemed like it would be easy enough to avoid. 
 I do think the setting and the tone of the novel were captured very well. Having read a few of these kind of novels this year, I think Gilded Cage captured the feeling of civil unrest better than most of them (which is why I gave it four stars despite my complaints above). The slavetown setting seemed miserable. Luke and the other rebels start with small acts of defiance, like stealing medicine and food to give to those in need. They slowly graduate to graffiti, hacking, and prison breaks. These were the moments in which Gilded Cage shined, because the progression of the revolution starts so small whereas some of the others I've read seem to just start off with a violent bang. When I picture a revolution happening in the real world, I picture it starting with things like this. 
 The politics of the Skilled were twisting and turning. There was a twist at the end of the book that I definitely didn't see coming. It was a great twist. I knew something of that nature was coming down the line due to the author's foreshadowing, but it was not at all what I expected and it hit me like a slap in the face. 
 Overall, I do think that the character's of Luke and Silyen warrant a second look. Tarnished City is due to be released early next year, and knowing what I know now about this series, I'm excited to pick it up!