Once Upon a Bibliophile

BOOK- Gilded

AUTHOR- Marissa Meyer

GENRE- Romance, Fantasy, legend retelling

RATING- 3.5/5

The last time I read Gilded by Marissa Meyer, I DNF’d it half way through. I realize that that might have been a wise choice, because now, after finally reaching the end, I have to read the sequel.

PLOT

Gilded by Marissa Meyer had a lot of potential in terms of the story. I was genuinely compelled by the premise, and I think that the first couple of chapters were executed extremely well.

I’ve got kind of mixed feelings about Gilded, because it seem like a book I would enjoy- a book I should enjoy. And, I find that I did enjoy it. But what is missing is the kind of satisfaction that a good book brings. I didn’t feel content with Gilded. I felt like there could be more.

I found that, as I was reading, I spent so much time thinking they could have done that better that I never really stopped to think about what aspects I did like. Because, overall I did quite like Gilded. The only problem is, that got overshadowed by all the things I didn’t like.

Gilded is based in a world inspired by Germanic fairy tales- specifically Rumpelstiltskin. The blurb goes a little like this:

Cursed by the god of lies, a miller’s daughter has developed a talent for storytelling-but are all of her tales as false as they appear? When one of Serilda’s stories draws the attention of the devastating Erlking, she finds herself swept away into a world of enchantment, where ghouls prowl the earth and ravens track her every move. The king locks Serilda in a castle dungeon and orders her to spin straw into gold or be killed for lying.

In despair, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious young man to her aid. And he agrees to help her, for a price. But love was never meant to be part of the bargain…

I think that the main thing I disliked about Gilded was that it felt like there was more than one plot, more than one tone to the story, and they clashed. The first couple of chapters had a lighthearted, almost humorous feel to them, and leaned very heavily into the idea of a fairy tale. In contrast, the later parts of the book were darker, losing the humorous feeling and instead becoming more of a dark fantasy. This change was quite gradual, and it did work.

However, there were moments when I thought that the two tones overlapped and it just didn’t feel right. One moment Serilda might be locked in the dungeon of a haunted castle with a murderous king, the next she is solving a cozy little mystery with the unusually welcoming residents of said haunted castle’s neighbouring village.

IMAO, I think it would have worked a little better if Serilda had been locked in the Erlking’s castle since the first night. It felt like the plot was jumping between a whimsical fairy tale and a darker story. Also, the romance between Gild and Serilda was just…I don’t really think there’s a word for it. Wrong? Hurried? I may or may not have me shipping Serilda and the Erlking from the moment they met (ok fine, I was), and I just don’t really see Serilda and Gild together. Plus, they went from holding hands one night to a lot more than kissing the next. I just felt like their relationship didn’t work.

On top of this general pickiness and pedantry that I am guilty of when reviewing, I also found the plot a little predictable. Granted, not the whole plot. There were still some things that made me go ‘what!’. Not many though.

Ok so I will admit that this is partly my fault for accidentally giving myself a spoiler (don’t blame me, blame Goodreads) .

But apart from that, I could guess the whole dramatic reveal at the end from about halfway in.

I think that these small things got in the way of me enjoying the story as much as I might have done, and they did overshadow the things that made the story enjoyable. Marissa has a very engaging writing style, and while there were a few flaws in terms of plotting, it was a good idea, with a clear, cohesive story.

Despite its imperfections, I find that I did enjoy reading Gilded. It definitely isn’t the best book I’ve read this year, but after reading some truly masterful legend retellings recently I have very high expectations. Though these weren’t met, I don’t truly regret reading Gilded…but I don’t think there would have been much of a difference if I hadn’t read it. It wasn’t a plot that really stood out to me.

CHARACTERS

The characters in Gilded were pretty average. I wouldn’t call them boring, it was simply that, like the plot, they didn’t really stand out to me.

However, that said, I did quite like them. They weren’t irritating, Serilda’s voice was funny and interesting, the villain was…villainous. All in all, they were enough to bring the story to life.

But that was all, really.

They were enough.

But they could have been more.

SERILDA

Like I was saying before, Serilda had quite a good voice. She didn’t annoy me, she was interesting and funny and good protagonist. She was written really well, and I enjoyed experiencing the story of Gilded through her eyes.

But that’s all I can really say about her. True, she was a good character. I’m not trying to deny that. But, like many aspects of Gilded, she didn’t stand out to me as a favorite. She didn’t really stand out to me as anything, really.

GILD

I feel much the same about Gild as I do about Serilda. There was nothing I specifically didn’t like about him, he just wasn’t anything special.

This section of the review is going to end a lot sooner than I imagined it would, because I would say exactly that for all the characters in Gilded.

CONCLUSION

I don’t regret reading Gilded.

What I do regret is going into it with sky-high expectations. I have been reading a lot of legend retellings recently, and I found that Gilded didn’t stand out to me as one I would read again in a hurry.

However, there wasn’t anything wrong with Gilded. This is a short post because I don’t really have a lot to say about this book. Gilded is far from the best book I’ve read, and I definitely won’t be buying it…but I wouldn’t entirely discourage someone from reading it. Gilded just happened to be one of those times where what I expected from a book wasn’t what would, in reality, be delivered.

(pssst! Why not check out my sequel review of Cursed too?)