A review by mikasana
Gild by Raven Kennedy

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

2.75

I am terribly conflicted on what to rate this. I went into this completely blind. I was only a few pages in when my first reaction was just a loud expletive.

And while I couldn’t put the book down, I felt my skin crawl the entire time I was reading this. It was disgusting, offensive, misogynistic, devious and just had a general… sense of utter depravity. Check your trigger warnings because this entire book felt like one giant, heaping pile of red flags.

But again, I couldn’t put it down despite how uncomfortable I felt. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion — you feel your lowest for looking but you can’t look away either. That’s how I felt for 90% of this. I still feel pretty icky.

While I can confidently say I will probably never reread this again purely because of the content, I am very much interested in what will happen next.

This is NOT the book for everyone. This one is going to be a book you either hate or it becomes a guilty pleasure. I think I am the latter if only because I like what happens from here on out. Despite the content I was thoroughly entranced the whole way so I will give credit where credit is due.

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