e-Audio, 16:29:17
Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
Release Date: November 8, 2022
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: November 6-9, 2022
Gilded, #2
Source: LibroFM (I received the audio copy of this book from LibroFM and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Demons, Violence, “Death”, pregnancy and birth but there are no details depicted
For Readers Interested In: Fantasy, Dark, Retellings, Romance, Fancy Cover, YAIn Cursed, Marissa Meyer brings the fairytale-inspired Gilded duology to a conclusion..
Be still now, and I will tell you a tale.
Adalheid Castle is in chaos.
Following a shocking turn of events, Serilda finds herself ensnared in a deadly game of make-believe with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle’s lies. Meanwhile, Serilda is determined to work with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past.
But soon it becomes clear that the Erlking doesn’t only want to use Serilda to bring back his one true love. He also seeks vengeance against the seven gods who have long trapped the Dark Ones behind the veil. If the Erlking succeeds, it could change the mortal realm forever.
Can Serilda find a way to use her storytelling gifts for good—once and for all? And can Serilda and Gild break the spells that tether their spirits to the castle before the Endless Moon finds them truly cursed?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Was this next on my list to review? No. Did I feel like I had to do it anyway since it was so close to release and I knew everyone would want to know how the ending came out but most of y’all were still reading Bloodmarked? Also yes. So now I’m using this time to give y’all some answers on this instead.
Ok so at the end of Gilded I was hella confused. Why did it end like that there would be another one. I remember thinking Marissa Meyer was the only person on the planet who could stretch one story into two full length books. And that’s exactly what happened. I don’t know if this is how the original Rumpelstiltskin is told, but if not, ya girl Marissa Meyer is like an everyday Hans Christian Andersen writing these fairy tales. This series was less whimsy than her Lunar Chronicles story and felt more like I had opened a book of the original tale. Even the fantastical elements in this were good. I really thought her book Instant Karma was cute, but I have to say I hope there are more re-tellings of folk and fairy tales in her future.
The coolest thing about this was unfortunately the hunt. I say unfortunately because man I didn’t want him to harm those creatures. I had caught on to what was happening with the tales she was saying before she did, and even though I was listening to it, I had to pause it and yell at her about what she was doing lol I haven’t yelled at a main character in a long time, but Serilda got all the words that day. But even though I was upset that they were getting caught, I enjoyed getting to know more about them through their legends and frankly just seeing them in the book. (Like HELLO, unicorn!) So although it sucked, the hunt was also pretty cool.
For the plot, I wanna talk about it over both books. I remember thinking the first one was a little drawn out, and wondering what in the world this one could be about. This one was the opposite. It was so good I didn’t want to stop reading it. I really think we could have easily made this a stand-alone with just the one. And that’s saying something because y’all know I’m a Marissa Meyer stan lol I would have been ok without the first one. BUT with that being said, the way it ended, it all tied together really good. The pacing in this one is ALOT faster than the other one also. The little pockets of when the demon finds something and having the little battles mixed inbetween, Idk it just seemed to always have some action going on and I appreciated that.
The characters were really top notch tho. Well most of them. Y’all know how I felt about Serilda this time. She just made a lot of bad decisions and seemed to be thinking with her “I’m hurt” brain and not her actual brain. Because Lordt what in the world was that at Darkness’ gates? I mean I get it, it’s about the end game, but girl. I think I was angry because she didn’t have a plan, she just was giving him all that he wanted like “Oh well!” It just bothered me. The King, as terrible as he was, he was bad ass and hella smart. (I seem to always like Meyer’s villains too.) He called so many shots I had to admit that I didn’t think there was a way for them to get out of this. I just knew it was going to end up a way I didn’t want it to.
The world building was a bit better with this one too. The tapestry, the now regal castle, the forests and just all the details in the book were enough for me to picture the setting and the inside of the castle in my mind while reading. I really felt like I was in the castle versus just reading about it. It truly felt like an experience and not just reading words.
As always Rebecca Soler was a joy to listen to. She is the person who got me started in listening to audios. I gave her a try after listening to Cinder and I’ve been stuck ever since. I got to talk to her about being an audiobook narrator earlier this year for my library system and she’s also a delight in real life.. Her ability to read and put so much emotion into her words and to change voices for different characters, just made this so much fun to listen to.
I can’t lie, I was a little afraid to read this because I was so worried there was going to be some more weirdness where the plot dragged and a large chunk of it could have been cut out. But nope, that couldn’t be further from the truth. What it did do, is solidify the fact that Marissa Meyer is an auto buy author for me and I will be ready for anything she writes. (I’m just saying hopefully there’s more fairy/folk tales lol)
Overall, I give this
