A review by thebakerbookworm
Gilded by Marissa Meyer

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Did not realize until the last chapter that this is not a standalone book, but a duology. I hate when this happens to me. *sigh* Don't get me wrong, I love to read series, but I like to know that it's a series going in to it, because otherwise I assume everything is going to get wrapped up by the last chapter and then I start to realize, there's a lot to still be wrapped up and not enough pages left! And it stresses me for a bit lol. Anyways, it's a me problem but there it is. Now I have to hunt down the sequel to this book and I thought I was going to have a nice tidy ending...

That being said, I did enjoy this one! It was a fun YA fairytale retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. There's magic and curses and an evil king and a haunted castle and ghosts and magical creatures and a mystery. There's a romance, of course. This one has a bit more violence than a typical YA. Serilda was a fun main character; she has a lot of lies and tricks up her sleeves that keeps the story interesting.

It was a bit long and repetitive in parts, but I remained interested in the story, and now I'm interested enough to read the sequel. An entertaining read, especially if you like fairy tales!
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