14.9k reviews for:

Gild

Raven Kennedy

3.49 AVERAGE


I was very interested to see how a re-telling of Midas worked out. To be honest, besides knowing about the gold-touch, my knowledge was pretty limited, on that saga. I have to admit, that at first I had some trouble trying to figure out which direction this novel would take and I didn’t quite get Auren (nice word play on the Latin name for gold, by the way). It felt that one moment she was snarky and confident and the next she was a scared and scarred little girl with no self-esteem. Yes, it added to the mystery of it all, but I just felt like it was a bit too inconsistent at times.

But that is really a minor thing, maybe I was just not in the right mind space for a new book, it happens. Once the story gets going, I found myself very intrigued and quite liked Auren. While she was a bit of a question mark for most times, it served the purpose well. You don’t want to know everything about a character from the beginning, and you certainly don’t want to be able to tell everything that will happen to said character from the beginning.
What I thought very weird was this idea of her ribbons. I kept trying to picture them without them being overly strange and I failed. I also don’t quite understood if she genuinely has no idea how to use them or just has to hide them or what exactly they all meant. Maybe I’ll get more answers to that in the next book.

Finally I do have to wonder which direction this series is going in. I felt like it really wanted to be a fantasy novel, but at the same time it really really REALLY focused a lot on sex, sexual violence and basically, men who think of little else. It was kind of weird and didn't quite fit for me. Maybe this will be amended in the second installment.
challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was very slow in the beginning with a lot of world-building and rough scenes. So definitely check the trigger warning before you start. Also be careful if you listen to the audiobook. The FMC did a lot of internal monologue, and I mean like more than half of the book. It felt really stretched out and full of fluff. But a little more than halfway it got interesting. The story and plot picked up. Small character developments and there wasn’t any romance if that’s what you’re looking for. I like the concept and curious where it goes from here. 
adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
dark tense medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

Mid audio and reading - 4.5
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
dark reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
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: Yes
dark mysterious fast-paced
adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense fast-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