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halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition
I was reminded how heartbroken the first book left me and felt it going further downhill starting this title. Honestly, I am not trying to read any books that will further upset me and am throwing in the towel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Child death, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse
trulyhopelessromantic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, War, Blood, Pregnancy, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, Gore, and Violence
indieandajean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.25
I've been patiently waiting to borrow the audiobook of Cursed for months on Libby and let me just start by saying it was well worth the wait.
Marissa Meyer continues to have the perfect stranglehold on romance tropes that make my heart race. Someone give this woman a medal, seriously.
The pacing of this one was a bit too fast at times and a touch too slow at others and the new conflicts at every turn didn't offer much breathing room for Serilda and Gild's relationship which is my favorite element of the duology. I wish this book had some more moments of them talking and just being together to ease the conflict a bit.
Overall the HEA feels earned and the story was great, but this is the weaker book in the duology in my opinion.
Marissa Meyer continues to have the perfect stranglehold on romance tropes that make my heart race. Someone give this woman a medal, seriously.
The pacing of this one was a bit too fast at times and a touch too slow at others and the new conflicts at every turn didn't offer much breathing room for Serilda and Gild's relationship which is my favorite element of the duology. I wish this book had some more moments of them talking and just being together to ease the conflict a bit.
Overall the HEA feels earned and the story was great, but this is the weaker book in the duology in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Dysphoria, Infertility, and Pregnancy
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
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
aturb92's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, and Child death
Moderate: Blood
silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? No
3.25
Most of my reading experience was *almost* as good as the first book. The main thing that made me drop the rating is the gender neutral 'gods' went from just showing up in reference to being actual supposedly gender neutral characters. I did also (trying to put this vaguely to be spoiler free) found parts of the ending to be emotional, and not in the good way, but in a stressful way that pulled me out of the story and made me resent story choices the author made.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexual content
leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
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
k_galloway's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
An inclusive story with great lore and world building that’s completely clotheslined by cringy troupes and unnecessary violence against children.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder