Thursday, January 20, 2022

Gilded by Marissa Meyer (Gilded book 1)

 


“Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller's daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.

Or so everyone believes.

When one of Serilda's outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her… for a price. Love isn't meant to be part of the bargain.

Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I love Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and their fairytale-bending storylines. I was a little disappointed by this book because it did not grab my attention right away. With a super slow world-building background story in the first half, the second half of the book more than made up for everything. Gilded is a twisted retelling of Rumpelstiltskin with the Wild Hunt thrown in, Serilda, blessed or cursed by the god of stories and lies, is an outcast since she is seen as bad luck by the townspeople. When she draws the attention of the Erlking by claiming to be able to spin straw into gold, Serilda finds herself in an impossible situation. Saved by a ghostly boy who is trapped in the castle, she soon finds herself caught up in a centuries-old mysterious curse.

The action of this story really picks up once all the pieces start fitting together. Raiders will be left wondering how Serilda will be able to break the curse. 

The conclusion to the story, Cursed, is out on Nov. 8, 2022.

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