Gilded by Marissa Meyer

Published by Feiwel and Friends November 2, 2021

Genres Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Romance

Pages 502

Format Hardcover and audiobook

Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.

Or so everyone believes.

When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her… for a price.

Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.

Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times-bestselling author, returns to the fairytale world with this haunting retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.

First, I want to say I LOVE retellings. It’s one of my favorite genres. But a retelling of Rumplestiltskin? Who would’ve ever thought?! It is such a unique, creative take. I love retellings in genres that no one else would think would go together.

At first, I didn’t think I would like it. The story got a bit confusing, and there’s something about the writing style of Marissa Meyer that I don’t like. It’s one of the reasons I never finished her book Winter. But with that twist that I should’ve seen coming near the end of the novel, I’m sitting on the edge of my seat to be able to read the second book and last book, which is called Cursed.

I love her inner journey that she undergoes, it kind of reflects what I’m going through in my life right now. And towards the end, I like how the message was kind of (to me at least) saying “You can write your own story.” Meaning you have all the control you need for your own life. You don’t have to go with what was pre-written by others.

Overall, I think I will give this book a 3.5 stars. 4 on goodreads. The overall rating on goodreads is 3.89, which I think it deserves at least an overall rating of 4.0.

Thank you for reading my last review for the month of June, and stay tuned for my post where I will showcase the next four books of the month for July!

Happy reading!