Tarnished City

Our Review

The first thing you need to know about Tarnished City by Vic James is that it is not a stand alone book, it is the sequel to Gilded Cage.

Tarnished City starts where Gilded Cage left off with Abi and her family separated from each other. Luke is imprisoned and on his way to a remote island as punishment for a murder he didn’t commit. Abi’s parents are on their way to the slavetown at Millmoor and Abi has escaped the same fate and is not on the run. Meanwhile, her younger sister Daisy remains a servant of the Jardine family.

The prologue of Tarnished City begins with Jenner trying and failing to open the gate for Abi and her family to escape but his lack of Skill defeats him. His frustrations over this difference from his family build throughout the book and we learn quite how much it affects him.

Luke is taken away by Crovan, a sadistic Equal who lives on an impenetrable island. Luke has heard some bad things about him and is understandably nervous especially when he realises the collar round his neck will stop him from hurting Crovan.

Despite himself Luke is slightly put at ease when Silyen tells him that he has questions only Luke can answer and that as long as he doesn’t try to escape Silyen will ensure he isn’t broken beyond repair.

“The truth was, everyone in Britain wore a collar they couldn’t see. Millions of people, unquestionably obeying the Equals. Slaving for ten years in appalling conditions. Subject to rules they couldn’t chose or criticize. Confined to a country they couldn’t leave until their days were done. And accepting it all as normal.

Better to wear a collar you could see. That way you never forgot.”

The place in which Luke is kept sees the prisoners made to serve one another or enact cruel punishments on one another to prove that cruelty is just human nature.

Tarnished City sees the Equals getting stronger but it also sees the rebels stepping up their efforts to illustrate the inequality of the system and show people it is ok to fight back.

I had very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I love the premise of Gilded Cage and was excited to see what happens with the characters. On the other hand, I found a lot of the twists in Tarnished City to be a bit predictable.

Another problem I had with Tarnished City is that I just don’t care what happens to Abi. I am interested in what happens to Luke though and am interesting in what is happening with Silyen and Gavar.

Having said all of this I do think Abi becomes more likeable once her blinkers are off about the Equals and the unfair nature of the system they live in and she and the others begin to cause problems for the Equals.

Tarnished City is mostly about developing a lot of the primary characters and setting things up for the final book and I think I may need to read the final book to make my judgement on the series as right now it could go either way for me. 

Our Final Rating...

Tue, 12th September 2017