Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Gilded by Marissa Meyer

13 reviews

bookstakenzie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5/5 stars! Great for readers who enjoyed Heartless.

This retelling has added mythical and fantastical features to it that make it it's own story apart from the short classic we know. While the beginning is slow, I found my self very engaged when the plot started to pick up. There were many extra characters that didn't have to be there, but they brought the story padding and fleshes out the world. And while the twists in the book were easy to see coming, they were still earned by the characterization. I would highly recommend, especially if you enjoyed Heartless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Suicide attempt and Animal cruelty

clairew97's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Violence, Torture, Cannibalism, Grief, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Body horror

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I think overly high expectations based on the author’s other series ruined this for me. Most of this book dragged, and the interesting bits felt like a splash of flavor to get me interested in book 2. 

The romance felt very trite and the supporting characters were incredibly flat. The setting/universe is really interesting, but it’s left so unexplored for the first half of this giant book. 

The ending is pure sequel tease. I really hate when authors can’t wrap up a book in a series well & rely on a cliffhanger 

I already purchased the second book along with this one bc I was feeling optimistic; I’ll read it to see if maybe things heat up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Pregnancy, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Violence, Torture, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Self harm, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

akira516's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

The beginning is a beautiful fairy tale but the ending is dark and bloody. The switch is so jarring but also fascinating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping and Bullying

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I went so back and forth with this book. There are parts that I really enjoyed and I will definitely read the second one. But at times it felt like this was dragging on, and I don’t particularly love any of the characters. I also found it at times just utterly depressing for no reason, like things being sad not for the plot but just to be sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Child death, Death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Abortion, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content

lottsofplots's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Sexual content and Abortion

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It’s tricky because I believe Marissa Meyer is a master at her craft. This was genius storytelling, in my opinion, but I also don’t like scary things and I would classify this book as horror. Sooo I’m amazed by the storytelling and horrified by the contents.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abortion

lc_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I picked this book up for the cover art if I'm being honest. It's so beautiful and once I read the story to completion I appreciated the cover even more, the artist really does capture the feeling and theme perfectly.

The story is set in a Germanic fairytale world and follows a Rumpelstiltskin/Beauty and the Beast retelling. We follow the main character; Serilda, a miller's daughter who is blessed with a god's gift of storytelling (or according to the villagers, lying). She is an outcast and the only true friends she has are the children she tutors and tells stories to. Her life is changed during a full moon when she encounters the fabled Erlking during the famous hunt. To protect the creatures he was hunting, Serilda lies and tells the Erlking that she can spin straw into gold - which she can't - and in the next full moon he takes her. 

All three stars go to the mesmerizing worldbuilding which was so atmospheric and was a very believable fairytale land straight out of Grimm's. I have a soft spot for ghosts in a story and I thought the castle filled with ghosts was pretty great. It would have been better if they had been further developed because, for me, the most interesting character in the entire book was the coachman ghost with an iron chisel in his eye! Because Dutch is a second language and I'm familiar with German -  I hundred percent enjoyed the word play with the German language and it added something extra special to the read for me and more depth to the world.

So, this was almost a five star read for me. It had so much potential especially in the first half, even though the main character; Serilda, didn't do it for me. I was so frustrated with her actions and behaviors that, at times, it made whole scenes unenjoyable for me.
Unfortunately, I really disliked the last third of the book. I nearly DNF'd it. 

It got dark real fast. Like grimdark dark. I found the death of all the adorable children (which I thought were better characters than Serilda) was a step too far. I wasn't prepared for it and it was very much a slap in the face. I don't need a shock like that to appreciated high stakes. I read a lot of horror and difficult scenes, gore and death. And so I realize that horrific consequences can work well depending on the theme of a story. Then I thought how can this get worse. Well, Serilda is now pregnant at the end of the book and has promised her unborn child both to the Erlking and also her ghost lover, Gild (who is basically Rumpelstiltskin). There was a very awkward abortion/anti-abortion themed scene which, after the slaughter of children, I just couldn't stomach. The worst thing that happens to Serilda, after her stupid decisions cause the death of her friends, is that she becomes Queen??!! Nope. Just nope. I can't with this ending, it ruined my enjoyment of the whole thing. Which is a real shame.

Would I recommend this book? Probably. I mean, it had it's ups and downs but I know some readers will love it. Though, I recommend the Lunar Chronicles by the same author as it is far better. Even though Gilded was childish at times, I question if this should be for kids?
Will I continue with this Gilded series? No. Regardless of the ending, I don't love the main characters enough to care what happens next.  

Such a shame. I'm sad I can't rate it any higher.         

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, and Slavery

Minor: Abortion

mundanedaydream's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Confinement, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Torture and Abortion