4.52k reviews for:

Gilded

Marissa Meyer

3.85 AVERAGE


I haven’t read anything by this author, and now I’m not sure why, because this book was incredible, and it dominated all of my thoughts when I wasn’t reading it.
The retelling itself was very well done, and generally I am not a huge fan of retellings, but this one was spectacular. It was gruesome, dark, and clever. Someone left a review saying it was a little on the nose, and I do agree with that. There were definitely times where I was frustrated that the MC was unable to see what was right in front of her, but overall I loved it.

2.5⭐️ rounded up

this is only as high of a rating as it is bc i respect marissa meyer as an author and bc the dialogue was pretty entertaining (vaguely. occasionally. sometimes.). it’s just that the story was,,, bad? like, just bad. nothing offensively awful or downright hard to read, just,,, not good.

like, the plot was actual, honest to god nonsense and the worldbuilding was a wreck. the writing was solid enough that i didn’t hate it, but if i wasn’t trapped in a car with this book as my only option, i would’ve skimmed the entire thing and called it a day. i just could not be bothered. but!!! when serilda and gild would banter i was giggling!! having a little laugh!! it was pretty cute!! so it evened itself out. ish.

and then. the pregnancy drop. um. guess i maybe sorta kinda should’ve expected it knowing the OG fairytale, but like. girl. what??? felt like clicking on a fic on ao3 only to find it has untagged mpreg bc my jaw was on the floor. i needed to take a walk. i simply couldn’t compute it. it was so utterly jarring- and not in a cute plot twist way, in a random ass, this feels developed, pregnancy drop way.

will probably not be touching that second book!! maybe i’ll skim it but i don’t think you could pay me money to sit through 500 more pages of this mediocrity.

literally only bought these books to win a poster, btw. bc i will do insane things for free enamel pins and posters. it’s my favorite hobby.

scrolling through preorder campaigns and buying books with even the slightest intrigue to me so i can have the funky pin >>>>

So much potential but didn’t get there. Especially disappointing since heartless and the cinder books were so good!
My big issue with this book is it was way too long. There was so many elements drawn out and it got really repetitive and boring. The romance was also really not good. I think if it was a 300 page book, I would’ve loved it. The first 100 pages were really entertaining but then it went downhill. I will skip the sequel, because so much of this book already felt unnecessary

Na každou knihu Marissy Meyerové se moc těším, obzvlášť na její další retellingy, protože ty autorka prostě psát umí. Série Měsíční kroniky je jedna z mých nejoblíbenějších a převyprávění pohádek je to snad úplně to nejlepší, co jsem kdy četla. A když teď vyšla Zlatá, musela jsem do knihy hned pustit.

Hlavní postavou je Serilda, obyčejná mlynářova dcera, která vypráví ty nejlepší fantazijní příběhy široko daleko. Jednoho večera si takový příběh vyslechne i samotný Král duchů, ten ale nezůstane jen u vymyšlených slov a po Serildě chce přesně to, co si vyslechl - upříst zlato ze slámy.

Pohádku o Rampelníkovi jistě všichni známe a Serildě se s něčí pomocí a za nějakou cenu přeci jenom slámu povede proměnit ve zlato, jenže ani tím nemá Serilda zdaleka vyhráno.

Do toho světa i postav jsem se hned zamilovala. Serilda se mi jako jedna z mála ženských hlavních hrdinek zapsala fakt hodně hluboko, moc jsem jí fandila a vůbec jsem nechtěla dočíst, protože pokračování je zatím v nedohlednu.

Naštěstí autorka knihu nijak neuspěchala. Všechno se tak příjemně táhlo, vyprávění bylo pomalejší, ale vůbec ne nudné. Narazíte na spoustu mytických bytostí a od začátku do konce je příběh zahalen tajemnou atmosférou. Za mě je to velké doporučení!

#spoluprace @albatrosmedia
adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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: Yes

I enjoyed this book but not enough that I’ll be picking up the sequel. 
slow-paced
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Didn't know much what to expect of this book, but I had fun while reading it! I liked how Meyer introduced and developed the characters as well as the framing device of Serilda's stories. The romance was a bit too rushed for me, but not to the point where it bothered me much. The plot was also interesting if a bit predictable towards the end and it set things up rather nicely for the sequel.