Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Gilded

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

6 reviews

clairew97's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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xtsukix's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

This book was agonisingly slow and I found so much of the content utterly boring. When S was in the castle (I listened to the audiobook, please don’t ask me to spell her name) and doing the tasks set out before her and interacting with Gild, I was absolutely interested and hooked, but there was so much needless other stuff going on that took up the majority of the book that I found myself disinterested the majority of the time.

I found that this book had moments that were notably dark and grotesque, but that they didn’t necessarily FIT the book. Whenever they happened it would take me out of the book and have me wondering why it was necessary, I think purely because the suspense and tension was not kept throughout the book. The main cause of this, I think, is because the villain of this story is utterly underwhelming. He’s supposed to be cold, ruthless and cruel, but instead just comes across as a template for the evil character archetype. He has no real depth, his cruelty is seen few and far between and almost entirely happens offscreen, and although the book unravels his desires and what he wants, he really doesn’t showcase this himself at all, and seems utterly dispassionate about his desires.

I think all of the deaths that happened also happened offscreen, which created such a dissonance between the random moments of gore and the reality that the most horrific things were just told to us to have happened.

The mystery was interesting, although S feels like she’s ten steps behind the reader in understanding what’s going on. The romance was somewhat rushed and rooted in nothing but them both being alone and happening to find another person they can be with, no matter who that person is, which did not culminate in the most root-worthy or shippable romance, but it was not awful considering they were only together for about 5% of the book.

The book really picked up for the ending and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, and seeing how the revelations play out, and if the various curses can be lifted. Also, it’s not often you see a ginger male romance lead, so that was very exciting. 10 points for that.

Also please do not let Gild’s real name be Rumpelstiltskin, I am praying for all that is good and holy.

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