3.5 In an alternate version of England there are the “Equals”, people with magical powers, passed through their families who are the controlling government, and the regular humans who are forced at some point in their life to serve 10 years of “slave days”. Abi has just finished high school and she’s been accepted to many medical schools, but she finds an opportunity that may be too good to miss. She can start her slave days now, directly serving one of the Equal families on their estate, where there are positions for her parents and siblings to join her. This way they can all serve together and live well, instead of taking their slave days in one of the brutal slavetowns.
But things don’t go according to plan, her brother Luke ends up separated from them, and her family may be in even more danger working for the Jardine family than if they were in the slavetown.

I’m a bit torn with this book, because while I was completely hooked by the end, I didn’t really buy into this world. I had a hard time accepting the whole slave days concept. 10 years seems so extreme for people to willingly give up their freedoms to serve the Equals in a modern day type society. I think this concept kept hanging me up. Yes, the equals are powerful and it’s a system that’s always been in place, but with modern technology it’s so much easier for people to communicate and gather in masses to protest, especially against the harsh conditions in the slave towns, which I guess the story does begin to focus on. But forcing myself to sort of let go of this idea, I was able to enjoy the rest of the book.

There’s a rebellion, there’s mind control and a tiny smidge of romance, and some political stuff amongst The Equals. There are a lot of different characters with alternating agendas and different abilities so there is a lot going on that makes the book fly by. The ending also leaves a lot of threads to be explored in the next book which I’m looking forward to reading.