The Aviary (The Uncaged Series Book 1) by Emily Shore
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The Aviary
The Uncaged Series Book 1
Young Adult Dystopian
Clean Teen Publishing
March 5, 2019
paperback, ebook
294 pages
amazon.com
"Gentlemen, we have a special treat for you today. Feast your eyes on this pure-blooded beauty!"
Sixteen-year-old Serenity has spent her entire life in hiding to protect her from this exact moment. In a world where beauty is bought and sold on the streets like a corporate commodity, Serenity's natural assets are more like liabilities. Despite her parents' best efforts, she's been taken—ripped from her home and the only life she's ever known—to find herself on sale to the highest bidder. And that bidder? Enigmatic and dangerous, Luc is the director of The Aviary—an elite museum where girls are displayed as living art by day…and cater to the lascivious whims of the highest bidder by night. In this elaborate and competitive world, girls go by names like Raven and Nightingale, and will stop at nothing to become top Bird.
Luc comes to idolize Serenity's purity and aims to turn her into his grandest exhibit of all time—The Swan. In no time, she becomes one of the most coveted exhibits in Aviary history. When she discovers Luc holds the key to finding her parents, she must learn to play The Swan to perfection…to win his heart and earn his trust. But she doesn't anticipate falling for him in the process. Now she faces an impossible choice: escape The Aviary and lose her only chance at finding her parents—or become Luc's Swan for good and lose her identity forever.
The Jewel by Amy Ewing meets Tricks by Ellen Hopkins in this gritty Young Adult Dystopian that tells of a fear-inducing future where the world of sex trafficking has become a social norm and where woman aren't treated as humans and are no safer than they were than they were in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
The Aviary is a stunningly captivating tale of what happens in a world where the sex trade has been completely decriminalized and young girls are now seen as commodities and no longer fully human. The world Shore has created is deep, rich, and all-encompassing and will suck you in from the first page till the last.
The first thing that hooked me with this book is the absolutely GORGEOUS cover. It’s simply stunning and I want to frame it and hang it in my house. But when I looked into the book and actually talked to Emily herself, I found out the amazing story behind this book. The Aviary, and the whole Uncaged Series was written as a glorified Handmaid’s Tale for young adults set in a high tech decadent dystopia. The series aims to raise awareness to trafficking and Shore works with a foundation that is anti trafficking and proceeds from her books go back to rescuing children out of sex trafficking. It is a truly amazing cause and I am so moved by Shore’s commitment to this effort. Because of the heavier tone to the book and the topic in general, the book comes with a discussion and resources page in the back to help further the conversation and understanding of this issue.
While the main message of this book may seem heavy, Shore creates a vibrant world for the fast-paced story to play against. There are so many layers of intrigue, mystery, deception, and an interesting look at romance that this is a story I absolutely could not put down and left me thinking for several days once I finished reading.
The story follows Serenity, a sixteen year old who lives in a society where sex-trafficking is not only legal, but the norm. Up till this point in her life, her parents have been able to keep her safe and hidden away from the darker sides of the world, but one brazen choice sends Serenity right into the hands of the kidnappers she has been avoiding her whole life. Luckily (if you can really call it lucky), she’s purchased by one of the top ‘museums’, the Aviary. Through a series of high-tech adjustments and procedures she is trained and prepared to become the more desired bird in the Aviary – The Swan. The idea of displaying girls in themed museums allowed a type of beauty to mix in with the dark side of this world Shore has built. By doing this, she allows the reader to be drawn into a mesmerizing world which almost has enough glamour to blur the lines of right and wrong. Almost. As you watch everything unfold it becomes easy to see why the girls don’t want to leave, but there is still a part of you that wants to scream at them and save them from the nightmarish realities behind all the glitter.
Novels in The Uncaged Series by Emily Shore:
- The Aviary (Available Now)
- The Garden (April 8, 2019)
- The Temple (April 22, 2019)
- The Temple Twins (May 6, 2019)
- The Aquarium (October 28, 2019)
Get your copy on Amazon today!
Also available as part of Kindle Unlimited
