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hanneke22's review
- 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
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 ⭐️
Graphic: Torture and Child death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, and Gore
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death
Moderate: Torture and Confinement
Minor: Infertility
aturb92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, and Child death
Moderate: Blood
leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
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).
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
- 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
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.
Graphic: Death, Child death, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Torture
k_galloway's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
jjstallone's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, War, Child death, Death, Gore, Confinement, Pregnancy, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Slavery
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, and Child abuse