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A review by fantasticalkat
The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This book had a lot of good ideas that were just not executed well. A woman who can walk in Death? Very cool (though Sabriel by Garth Nix did it so well that it casts quite the shadow). A sassy "god" that controls death kinda? Also cool (honestly the best part of the book). Political machinations and uncaring nobles using the commonfolk for fodder (including said woman who can bring back the dead). Very solid concepts, very cool idea for a world.
Unfortunately the story itself did not stand up to these very cool things. Hellevir was a weak pushover nothingburger until she wasn't. Sullivain was a callous blase princess who didn't mind threatening and using Helliver until she wasn't. The religious aspect was not a looming darkness until it was time to torture someone. The writing was often repetitive and simple, and just basically... undeveloped. It left me skipping segments that looped back over themselves too many times, and left me frustrated that the characters were so inconsistent (except Death ironically). So when the plot started to feel gelled at the 85% mark of this book, the story had already lost me. I hope that this means that the second book in the series is better, because the story now has its momentum, but I'm not sure it's enough to bring me back for a while.
Unfortunately the story itself did not stand up to these very cool things. Hellevir was a weak pushover nothingburger until she wasn't. Sullivain was a callous blase princess who didn't mind threatening and using Helliver until she wasn't. The religious aspect was not a looming darkness until it was time to torture someone. The writing was often repetitive and simple, and just basically... undeveloped. It left me skipping segments that looped back over themselves too many times, and left me frustrated that the characters were so inconsistent (except Death ironically). So when the plot started to feel gelled at the 85% mark of this book, the story had already lost me. I hope that this means that the second book in the series is better, because the story now has its momentum, but I'm not sure it's enough to bring me back for a while.