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aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I adored the children and I am glad for the ending but the story was so slow paced and I found the pregnancy stuff kind of ick
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Kidnapping, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Blood, and Death of parent
passionatereader78's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is well written. I liked the overall story. I was frustrating at times because the main character has all of the information in front of her but can't comprehend it. I loved the guilded prince, the princess, the forest folk, and the ghosts. The dark castle was spooky and creepy with the different creatures. Serilda is now cursed with the guilded prince. They are trying to find a way to break the curse and set everyone free.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, Death of parent, and Child death
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Confinement, Slavery, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and Toxic relationship
honuzbubbles's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Abandonment, Death of parent, War, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, and Torture
jburson's review
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Probably my own complete lack of maternal sentiments but I just couldn't get behind the sudden devotion to her unborn child when it wasn't something she wanted in the first place and when, because of magic its growing completely separate from her inside her physical body and she's a spirit for 99% of the narrative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Pregnancy
abby_can_read's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed this book. I think it was a good sequel. This is a dark fairytale retelling. The characters are entertaining and there is come character development. The relationship between the characters is interesting. The plot is a little predictable though I did enjoy it. The writing style is lovely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death, Gore, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, War, Torture, Animal death, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Confinement
bandysbooks's review
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Once long ago, I read and enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, so naturally when I saw Cursed, I thought I might enjoy it as well. I don't know if it's just that I was much younger when I read The Lunar Chronicles or if this duology isn't quite of the same quality, but I was left wanting.
We have a fairytale retelling which is Meyer's bread and butter. This time it's of Rumpelstiltskin. Instead of centering on Rumpel himself, we have a story that features a damsel in distress and he is her protector of sorts. I thought the way she twisted the story was fairly interesting.
Where it fell apart for me was the main character. I found her incredibly frustrating. I can't count how many times the bad guy did something horrible, she pleads with him, and then he does something even more horrible. He's clearly a sadist who gets off on psychological torture and she gives him exactly what he wants by begging him. She even makes deals with him on multiple occasions and they always end with him doing something terrible and finding a loophole in the deal. I understand trying once, but after he backstabs her once, she should never make a deal with him again. It honestly got a bit tedious.
Also, this book relies heavily on the unplanned pregnancy trope which is one of my least favorite tropes. I get that it's an important part of the story arc, but it just wasn't for me.
All in all, I just think I am maybe the wrong demographic for this book. I could imagine a 14 or 15 year old reading and enjoying this, but as a 35 year old there was a lot that left me cringing. I honestly wouldn't have read this second book in the duology, had I not had an ARC of it. If you're into young adult fantasy, you might enjoy this.
* I received an E-ARC of this from Netgalley. This in no way affects my review.
We have a fairytale retelling which is Meyer's bread and butter. This time it's of Rumpelstiltskin. Instead of centering on Rumpel himself, we have a story that features a damsel in distress and he is her protector of sorts. I thought the way she twisted the story was fairly interesting.
Where it fell apart for me was the main character. I found her incredibly frustrating. I can't count how many times the bad guy did something horrible, she pleads with him, and then he does something even more horrible. He's clearly a sadist who gets off on psychological torture and she gives him exactly what he wants by begging him. She even makes deals with him on multiple occasions and they always end with him doing something terrible and finding a loophole in the deal. I understand trying once, but after he backstabs her once, she should never make a deal with him again. It honestly got a bit tedious.
Also, this book relies heavily on the unplanned pregnancy trope which is one of my least favorite tropes. I get that it's an important part of the story arc, but it just wasn't for me.
All in all, I just think I am maybe the wrong demographic for this book. I could imagine a 14 or 15 year old reading and enjoying this, but as a 35 year old there was a lot that left me cringing. I honestly wouldn't have read this second book in the duology, had I not had an ARC of it. If you're into young adult fantasy, you might enjoy this.
* I received an E-ARC of this from Netgalley. This in no way affects my review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Torture, and Child death
hanneke22's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overall a bit of an underwhelming experience.
I couldn’t for the life of me remember the plot in Gilded, so I actually re-read that one and I flew through it and I loved it all over again. I was soooo ready for Cursed!
But it all just fell a bit flat. There was a ton of more (!) worldbuilding. And sometimes it felt MM set thing up in Gilded that didn’t work for this plot, so some loophole had to be inserted.
This book had quite a bit more horror elements to it.
I guess my main beef with this one is this: why such a build up (with so many ideas and plans that failed) with such an underwhelming battle and rushed finish?
It could have been so much more 🥲
3 ⭐️
I couldn’t for the life of me remember the plot in Gilded, so I actually re-read that one and I flew through it and I loved it all over again. I was soooo ready for Cursed!
But it all just fell a bit flat. There was a ton of more (!) worldbuilding. And sometimes it felt MM set thing up in Gilded that didn’t work for this plot, so some loophole had to be inserted.
This book had quite a bit more horror elements to it.
I guess my main beef with this one is this: why such a build up (with so many ideas and plans that failed) with such an underwhelming battle and rushed finish?
It could have been so much more 🥲
3 ⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Child death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, and Gore
nrogers_1030's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I liked this one much more than Gilded.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death
Moderate: Torture and Confinement
Minor: Infertility
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Lengthier than a lot of Marissa Meyer's books, this sequel to Gilded tells the rest of a story woven from fairytales that might seem familiar to us. The structure is broad in scope but rumbles along at a good clip.
This fairytale retelling is quite different to Meyer's more futuristic Lunar Chronicles, as it keeps its roots firmly in the pseudomedieval past. It does have twists though. It's not set in OUR past. It is a distinct world with different (but similar) gods and monsters. I found myself well at home with griffons and basilisks (though I did go wandering to figure out whether it's a basilisk or a cockatrice, and found that in most literature the two names are interchangeable).
Having a character who is blessed/cursed to be a storyteller, prone to lying or withholding the truth, was agonising for me to read (as a compulsive blurt) but it was consistent and true to the character. It was good to run into some of the bit-characters that were in the first book too.
Having been grossly disappointed by the Stars Above short story collection and it's frustratingly boring weddings and heteronormative drivel, it was really refreshing for me to see how Meyer challenged that in this book. For starters the gods in her pantheon transcend gender. Each of them is referred to as They, rather than He or Her, and why not; these are powerful beings who can change their form at will. The other thing that made me smile was that two of the weddings in the story were gay marriages (not an eyelid batted nor an eyebrow raised thank goodness!). Having a huge celebration and joyous whimsy directly after a huge boss battle felt like a load off from the drear and tense parts of the story, and I enjoyed it despite myself. (Bring it in Marissa, all is forgiven).
This fairytale retelling is quite different to Meyer's more futuristic Lunar Chronicles, as it keeps its roots firmly in the pseudomedieval past. It does have twists though. It's not set in OUR past. It is a distinct world with different (but similar) gods and monsters. I found myself well at home with griffons and basilisks (though I did go wandering to figure out whether it's a basilisk or a cockatrice, and found that in most literature the two names are interchangeable).
Having a character who is blessed/cursed to be a storyteller, prone to lying or withholding the truth, was agonising for me to read (as a compulsive blurt) but it was consistent and true to the character. It was good to run into some of the bit-characters that were in the first book too.
Having been grossly disappointed by the Stars Above short story collection and it's frustratingly boring weddings and heteronormative drivel, it was really refreshing for me to see how Meyer challenged that in this book. For starters the gods in her pantheon transcend gender. Each of them is referred to as They, rather than He or Her, and why not; these are powerful beings who can change their form at will. The other thing that made me smile was that two of the weddings in the story were gay marriages (not an eyelid batted nor an eyebrow raised thank goodness!). Having a huge celebration and joyous whimsy directly after a huge boss battle felt like a load off from the drear and tense parts of the story, and I enjoyed it despite myself. (Bring it in Marissa, all is forgiven).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Animal cruelty, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Torture
sylvia_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book went a lot darker than I thought, but I’d really recommend it to people who don’t have a problem with that.
Because it was really pretty good, there were some twists I saw coming and some I didn’t and overall it was just a very good mix that kept me on the edge of my seat. The story of rumpelstiltken was not as prominent anymore, but then we had most covered already in the first book.
Just. I really liked it. Read it.
Because it was really pretty good, there were some twists I saw coming and some I didn’t and overall it was just a very good mix that kept me on the edge of my seat. The story of rumpelstiltken was not as prominent anymore, but then we had most covered already in the first book.
Just. I really liked it. Read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Torture
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