Book Review — Gilded
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
Fantasy Fiction novel published in 2021
Synopsis:
Long ago blessed by an ancient god, Serilda can spin and weave tales of fantasy, adventure, love, and much more. Unfortunately, the blessing is seen more as a curse from the people in her village.
One night, Serilda is questioned by the undead king, the Erlking, and she tells a tale that she can spin straw into gold. After that the Erlking summons her to his castle every full moon to spin mounds of straw into gold. Facing this insurmountable task, Serilda turns to the help of the resident poltergeist, Gild. Gild spins the straw into gold for Serilda asking payment each time in exchange for his magic. As Serilda runs out of valuables to trade for Gild’s magic, she must turn to other means to continue to please the Erlking and spin the straw into gold.
Review:
I really enjoy reading books written by Marissa Meyer and so I was very excited to read her latest novel. It took me a little time to understand this world, the gods the characters reference, and the setting of this tale. Much of the beginning of the book is exposition. It takes quite a bit of time to set up the characters, the conflict, and the precipice which will lead the characters into the second novel.
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I do think the beginning and middle of this book were a bit slow and tedious. Serilda must wait a month in between meetings with the Erlking and Gild and although that time could have been sped up its not written quite that way. It gets a little boring in between those meetings.
The latter third of the novel is where things get really exciting and events start to change and develop. Serilda has run out of valuables to exchange for Gild’s gold weaving and she is finally in trouble with the Erlking. It was fascinating to read and discover what she was going to do to get herself out of trouble. The end events were unpredictable and quite enjoyable. It definitely led me to wanting to read the sequel, Cursed.
This novel is an obvious a twist on the story of Rumplestiltskin and his beginnings. Meyer has created a new backstory for the villian of the old fairy tales, and it’s been fun to be on the other side of his story where I am rooting for him and Serilda to win and beat the Erlking.
Recommendation:
I recommend this novel to anyone that enjoys reading twisted fairy tales and reimagined beginnings of old characters. There is a little bit of adult spiciness to this novel so I would recommend it to older young adult readers and adults rather than children.
4/5
Other books by Marissa Meyer:
The Lunar Chronicles Series, Renegades Series, Heartless, and Instant Karma
