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A review by thestarlessmaisie
Cursed by Marissa Meyer
4.0
This was a great conclusion to an immersive, grimdark fairytale duology. It’s always fun to step into a world Meyer created, whether it’s the first time or hundredth, I always feel so at home.
The stakes were high, the fantasy was cosy, the vibes to Cursed matched its counterpart perfectly and was symmetrical in the ways fairytales and fables tend to be. Meyer upheld the pace set in Gilded, in fact I think it was done even better!
Disclaimer though— pregnancy trope in our year 2023. Though it reads like YA, I’d hesitate to rec it to younger audiences becausse this might be off putting and weird/hard to relate to. It’s nothing graphic but it does become a big plot point.
Serilda will live among the strong, warm, compassionate protagonists i’ve come to love (like Emma from TSC, Vasya from Winternight, Ophelia from La Passe Miroir). I love this about Meyer’s works and they lend so well to the fairytale retellings she favours. Serilda builds wonderful connections with all the people she meets, even the villain, the Erlking. However I felt at the end of the duology they deserved a more attentive and fleshed out stand off. Meyer spent a lot of energy spinning their story, I wanted more dedication to Serilda’s finale with him.
The stakes were high, the fantasy was cosy, the vibes to Cursed matched its counterpart perfectly and was symmetrical in the ways fairytales and fables tend to be. Meyer upheld the pace set in Gilded, in fact I think it was done even better!
Disclaimer though— pregnancy trope in our year 2023. Though it reads like YA, I’d hesitate to rec it to younger audiences becausse this might be off putting and weird/hard to relate to. It’s nothing graphic but it does become a big plot point.
Serilda will live among the strong, warm, compassionate protagonists i’ve come to love (like Emma from TSC, Vasya from Winternight, Ophelia from La Passe Miroir). I love this about Meyer’s works and they lend so well to the fairytale retellings she favours. Serilda builds wonderful connections with all the people she meets, even the villain, the Erlking. However I felt at the end of the duology they deserved a more attentive and fleshed out stand off. Meyer spent a lot of energy spinning their story, I wanted more dedication to Serilda’s finale with him.