atakefromtwocities posted: " All magic comes at a price, but love was never part of the bargain . . . The look he was giving her. Serilda had never been looked at like that before . . . The intensity.The heat. The raw astonishment. He was going to kiss her. Cursed by the god o"
All magic comes at a price, but love was never part of the bargain . . .
The look he was giving her. Serilda had never been looked at like that before . . . The intensity. The heat. The raw astonishment. He was going to kiss her.
Cursed by the god of lies, a miller's daughter has developed a talent for storytelling - but are all of her tales as false as they appear?
When one of Serilda's stories draws the attention of the devastating Erlking, she finds herself swept away into a world of enchantment, where ghouls prowl the earth, and ravens track her every move. The king locks Serilda in a castle dungeon and orders her to spin straw into gold, or be killed for lying. In despair, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious young man to her aid. And he agrees to help her, for a price. But love wasn't meant to be part of the bargain.
A compulsive read, and as bewitchingly good as you'd expect from a YA bestselling author. You will stay up all night reading this.
Title : Gilded Author : Marissa Meyer Format : eARC Page Count : 435 Genre : YA Fantasy Publisher : Faber & Faber Release Date : November 2, 2021
Reviewer : Micky Rating : ★ ★ ★ .5
Micky's 3.5 star review
Headlines: This is a series... Plot is golden Story is long
I have mixed feelings coming out of Gilded and some of it is applause-worthy but other bits pulled this rating down. Firstly, the over-arching story and plot in this book are excellent. This was a Rumplestiltskin/Goblin King hybrid retelling with lots of woodland fable and magic thrown in. It was also incredibly raw narrative with gore and moments that seem to edge onto horror but retreat back quickly. I'd say this was older YA read because of some brief themes/triggers that emerge.
The characterisation in Gilded was also brilliant. Serilda was a morally grey heroine, prone to fabrication, occasional theft and somewhat unreliable as a friend and family member but in reality, she was just living out her legacy and god-given talents. She was incredibly likeable and moreso as the plot evolved. Erlking was not a nice character but he was so captivating to read about. He was evil to the core, lacking in any empathy and cruel. His court was also fascinating.
The other main character, I'm not going give a thing away about. Suffice it to say, I really liked this character, I like the connections made and I wanted more of this character. It ends in such a way that I'm dying to know what happens.
Now to my rating...why 3.5 stars? This book was incredibly long, it felt long, I had to push at times through long, descriptive narrative to get to the next plot theme. The pacing felt off and while I loved the story, the dragging of the narrative kept pulling me out of it. I wanted to be spun away like the gold bobbins on the tails of escapism but I wasn't.
I will definitely be reading on, in fact, I am quite a bundle of anticipation for what comes next in this complex, twisty plot. I do hope it's paced a little better.
If you want info on triggers, I'm happy to supply on DM.
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