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sarahreadsabook 's review for:
The Gilded Crown
by Marianne Gordon
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This really had it all to me. A folk tale world with political intrigue, complex heroes and villains, and sapphic yearning. Blurs the lines between a romantasy and a political fantasy that worked really really well for me.
I’d like to address the reviews that call Sullivain an abuser and toxic love interest. It’s a little interesting in the era of the “morally gray shadow daddy” and repackaged reylo (genocidal maniac) fanfic I see published and praised, we are now drawing that line when that archetype is being presented as a lesbian? It’s pathetic, perhaps even a bit illiterate. I find a character groomed and raised to be a villain and whose life is constantly in threat because of it, yet is deeply remorseful and going through an existential religious crisis, who is now entangled with someone who is selfless and good and sees her as a girl and not a crown, makes for a compelling character. Not to mention she is hot. She is charming and hot and interesting. I am not saying the two characters necessarily have a healthy relationship, but I am saying that I liked her, I understand Helliver’s draw to her, and I really loved who these two characters became at the end of the book because of each other.
Very, VERY excited to see what happens in the next book.
I’d like to address the reviews that call Sullivain an abuser and toxic love interest. It’s a little interesting in the era of the “morally gray shadow daddy” and repackaged reylo (genocidal maniac) fanfic I see published and praised, we are now drawing that line when that archetype is being presented as a lesbian? It’s pathetic, perhaps even a bit illiterate. I find a character groomed and raised to be a villain and whose life is constantly in threat because of it, yet is deeply remorseful and going through an existential religious crisis, who is now entangled with someone who is selfless and good and sees her as a girl and not a crown, makes for a compelling character. Not to mention she is hot. She is charming and hot and interesting. I am not saying the two characters necessarily have a healthy relationship, but I am saying that I liked her, I understand Helliver’s draw to her, and I really loved who these two characters became at the end of the book because of each other.
Very, VERY excited to see what happens in the next book.