Member Reviews
I received an e-arc from Blink through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was iffy about the first book when I went to pick it up, enjoyed it, and was excited to read the second book. I genuinely enjoyed the adventure in A Curse of Gold. The character growth of Kora throughout the novel is very evident and I loved it. She went from being a princess on a mission to save her country to a soon-to-be queen (once her father ascends or passes away) who knows how to lead her country. One of the other characters I really loved was Hettie. She was fierce and knew exactly what she was doing while on the mission. I feel she was characterized well even as she dealt with the death of her father.
The other character I loved who had such a redemption throughout the novel was Triton. I did not see it coming that he was going to be assisting with the plan after the show he put on while they were at the beach. I loved his snarkiness and redemption arc greatly. Annie Sullivan wrote him perfectly, in my eyes.
I'm excited to read more of Annie Sullivan's work. I'm definitely adding her Tiger Queen series to my TBR.
Another great adventure for Kora, Royce and their shipmates. I actually think I might like this one even more than the first as Kora is more accepting of herself. Filled with more Greek myths, you can tell that research was done to both reinvent the myths while remaining true to them. This is another great read by Annie Sullivan.
“A Curse Of Gold” is a young adult fantasy book centered around Kora (the daughter of Midas) and her quest to save the kingdom she lives in.
Kora is trying to adjust to living in a palace once again, until her and her kingdom’s safety are threatened by Dionysus, so she sets out on another adventure in the hopes that she can find Dionysus and save her kingdom.
This is the sequel to a book by the same author called “A Touch Of Gold,” and I personally feel like reading the first book could have helped me understand the plot a little bit better, especially when I was reading the first few chapters and trying to figure out who the characters were and what was going on. That aside, I thought it was a pretty good book. I thought the plot was pretty interesting and the adventure the characters go on throughout the story had my attention.
4 stars.
A thing I really appreciated is that the reader can feel the greek part of the story more than the the first book. In the first book we knew it was a retelling of a greek myth just because of the reference to Midas and his story but there was not much else. Here was different because there were a lot of greek gods and mythological creatures involved, plus some topics that are very common in mythology (the oracle, the tests, the intervention of the divine...). My favorite addition in this sequel was definitely Triton, I really liked his character!
I only wish there was more development in the relationships, not only between Kora and her love interest but among the characters in general.
I don‘t know if Annie Sullivan is planning to write a third book but I personally think that the story should end with this volume.
I want to appreciate Netgalley for providing an opportunity to get acquainted with this work, however, to my great disappointment, this book didn't work from me.
I definitely liked the 1st part of the series better, this book may possibly need to be marketed as middle grade, because it is a bit too simple, the writing is extremely simple and the plot itself is very predictable and not unique in anyways, my apologies.
I truly wanted to love this book, but this is just a fairy tale for a pretty young age, and we have all the ingredients for success: Greek mythology, Gods unpredictable and with their unique, very flawed personalities, King Midas, the greedy person who is very humble in this work and the daughter, who is presented way smarter than anyone else around her, but in the same time very primitive conversations and troops.
We didn't have any character development, any interpersonal relations development.
The Greek Gods have so many unique characteristics that could have been heavily articulated in this book and make the plot less predictable.
There is no tension, no inner development, it is basically a daily tale with the hints of teenage interest.
I am very sorry for not satisfactory review, but neither language, development, interest keeping, nor conclusion and references to mythology make me love this book. But the characters were just blank and transparent. nothing about their inner or outer worlds holds my interest.
I read it once and unfortunately, I will not be referencing it anymore.
One of the aspects of author attention, which I like and which comes from Greem mythology, is that "people are nothing without gods" and the world of greek mythology works around desires and moods of the gods.
Nice story, well paced, with well crafted characters and an intriguing plot that will keep you reading. This is the first book I read by this author, didn’t read the first book (A Touch of Gold), but I absolutely enjoyed A Curse of Gold, a retelling of King Midas story.
Leí la segunda parte, A Curse of Gold sin haber leído A Touch of Gold, pero no me perdí en la trama. Una historia bien pensada y relatada; con personajes creíbles, reales, humanos, con virtudes y defectos. Si disfrutas de las historias de aventuras, ésta es una buena opción.
Thank you to Netgalley and Blink publishing for the ARC.
Kora only just survived her last journey from saving her dads life and now she is having to do it again. This time to not only save her dad but Lagonia. Dionysus a Greek God has sent people to kill her so that he can take over her kingdom. So she goes on a wild adventure to find him and destroy him. She runs into Triton another god makes a deal with him for his freedom so that they can find Dionysus and kill him.
This was an amazing edition to the story. I love Kora and Royce. They took his pirates and her cousin on an adventure where it tests their strength and how much they can handle. There is love and betrayal and I just ate this up cant wait for the final copy.
I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I had read the first book quite a while ago, so it took me a little bit of time to get into this book as I was trying to remember what had happened before this latest adventure. The little hints dropped by the author helped with that. Kora is still a strong character who will do what it takes to save her father and her kingdom.
I think my favorite parts were the ones with Prince Triton. He is very different from Triton in the Little Mermaid, though right at the introduction to him that is how I pictured him and it was very funny. It is quite the adventure, filled with oracles, talking clams, pegasi, gorgons, and other people cursed with powers.
If you enjoyed the first book, you will probably like this one too. I kind of hope there will be one more so that a certain person can be rescued.
After reading the first book in this series when it first came out I couldn't wait to read the next! And it did not disappoint! In fact I preferred it! in love!
This was definitely an improvement from the first book, with its gripping action scenes at the end of the book, but there wasn't a lot of originality that I had expected after reading the synopsis. After the first book I wasn't really sure where this one would go, considering it could have stood as a standalone. The questing was intriguing, but the tone felt a bit different from the first one. There was a constant theme of sailing and ships across the entire book, which lead to me being able to easily and quickly glide through the novel without much thought. This book, however, felt like it threw pieces of a handful of mythology and chucked it in a blender. It was one thing after another after another. It was honestly a lot considering how short the book was. I wish each aspect had been fleshed out. The oracle, for example, never really came back at the end, making it feel pointless as to why they had to try and see her in the first place despite needing the location of the island. The whole test idea and learning their fates just kind of fell flat. The writing was just as pleasant as the first books, though, and the concept, though feeling rushed, was a fun read to enjoy. I wish I had waited to be in a fantasy mood again instead of jumping right into this though since I think I would have been able to forgive more of the flaws I found. Overall, a decent read and solid ending to the story as a whole.
Firstly, thank you so much Netgalley for allowing me to read this early! I greatly enjoyed Tiger Queen and was happy to be able to read another by Annie Sullivan.
I adore this character. Kora gets through all her trials without whining at all and only thinking about her kingdom. Hettie however annoyed me greatly. I understand that she's a rough character, but she was downright stupid in parts of this. She is going through a lot with her dad doing what he did in the first novel, but that doesn't excuse leaving the group and being downright mean to Kora. I liked her character in the first book, not so much this one.
I started this by assuming they'd go on some adventure to retrieve something to save the kingdom, but Ms. Sullivan took it to a whole new unexpected level. She included Triton, who I adored with his pet Grax, and the oracle and Dionysis and many interesting characters. It had me reading enchantingly until the very end. The only thing I feel like some of the action could have been dialed down to include more relationship building. Other than those few things I love this new world and I want a pegasus.
I think overall this is a decent YA fantasy as a second book. It has pirates and mythology which I think the genre is lacking overall. That is great for me. Reading this though I felt we were in Kora’s head too much. There needs to be a balance between thoughts and talking to show the environment and what is going on in the world. I also felt some side characters fell flat. There when needed but no actual personality. The world building also lacks overall. I would get glimpses of this world and I would be interested but then it would stop. I could never fully immerse in the world. I think the writing is okay, but just does not flow as well for me or even compared to the first book. Kora as the main character is a strong heroine but I think she gets hurt or attacked a lot I know she’s what people are after but do they never see these things coming? I think it just became too noticeable for me. I have read great fantasy and bad fantasy. This lies somewhere in the middle. It’s good, but it could be better. The cover is amazing just as the first book..
Three and a half
So this book (which is a sequel) has Kora the daughter of Midas still fighting to save her father from his curse. His health and indeed his position at Court are declining when Kora is viciously attacked by one of Dionysus creatures. Kora and Royce set sail to find the fabled Oracle in the hopes that she can tell them where Dionysus hides and that they can finally get him to remove the curse of gold that is slowly draining the life of Midas away !
Hands up confession time because I haven't read the previous story A Touch of Gold but I quickly caught up to the fact that Kora had retrieved her father's stolen gold and also faced off with his treacherous advisor. Now she's on a quest traveling not only to face the Oracle but in order to get to Dionysus she needs the help of none other than Triton ! I honestly hadn't expected that and whilst the Gods are not known for their kindness I did like the way Kora never gave up on Triton. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author wove mythical creatures into this book and Kora was an absolute delight. I also loved that the couple seemed so in tune and right together. However I was not convinced that Royce felt mature or indeed old enough to be this swashbuckling sea Captain because even his crew felt extremely young. I know I'm a little older than the intended age group that this is aimed at so do take that on board. I think if I'm blunt I definitely preferred the second half because the pace definitely picked up but that ending ! Oh why did it have to end like that ? Perhaps this will become a trilogy because I'd certainly like to read more.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Blink Publishing Co for letting me have a chance to read and review this fun book. This was a continuation and sequel to A Touch of Gold and it was a bit of a slow start, but then picked up and got into lots of fast-paced action and enjoyable storytelling.
The story continues in this book about Princess Kora and her father, King Midas, with his curse of turning everything he touches to gold. The King is still trying to deal with his curse and how it messes with him and his mind with the help of his daughter, Kora and she is still trying to be okay with herself with her golden skin and her situation as King Midas' daughter.
While it started a bit slow, at first, some parts picked up right where they left off like with Kora and her relationship with Royce. Also, there's some unrest in the kingdom with Kora and her father, King Midas, as rulers with the people being afraid and nervous of the magic and the curse and then at a party, some satyrs and creatures show up and start attacking everyone to go after Princess Kora because Dionysus has put an order out for her to be killed. Dionysus wants her and her father dead and their kingdom burned so Kora has to set out with her group of friends to find out why Dionysus wants her gone and how to stop him.
Princess Kora goes out on a quest with her friends to see if she can remove the curse from her father, save him, their kingdom and stop Dionysus with his plans to destroy them and the kingdom.
This turned out to be a bit more exciting and fun than I thought after they left to go on the quest because then they had to seek out the Oracle, figure out riddles, go after the Gorgons, seek out and get help from Poseidon and Triton and ride the Pegasi to get to the island where Dionysus resides.
As a lover of all things to do with mythology, I loved this book even more than the first one. It was very entertaining, enjoyable, and fun to read. I wanted to read more and I liked how the story ended, but there were a lot of tense parts and some high stakes as they went along too.
If you read the first book, A Touch of Gold, and liked it, you'll love this one too. I would recommend reading this, but make sure to read the prior book of A Touch of Gold first so you'll get more out of this one. Make sure to keep this on your list and read it when it comes out, it's a fun and entertaining read!
A Curse of Gold started off pretty slowly for me. About half-way through, though, it did get a bit better. Which made me pretty happy since I really enjoyed the first book and was super excited to dive into this one.
Now you still meet the same people you met in the first book, they just have a new mission. Kora is out to get God Dionysus. Of course she can't just show up on his doorstep and smack him or anything. No, she has to go on this adventure with her crew/friends and try to defeat him any way possible.
Like I said, the first part of this book is pretty boring. Nothing really happens.. except like one little fight which did nothing for me. Then there's some tension among the crew but it was to be expected. I still do love Kora and Royce together and I obviously want more from them... but for some reason I didn't get that? Yes, they love one another but I just wanted to see them being together you know.. whether it's killing someone, talking, or I don't know - ANYTHING!
Other than that, we do end up meeting Triton and Dionysus. Triton was a nice addition/surprise for me and I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. Like, maybe.. it's just a trick? Also, it just kind of seemed a bit to easy for it to all go that way? Eh, it was still good though.
In the end, it was pretty good for a sequel and I'm not sure if there's going to be another book or not. If there is, I will gladly read it just to see what else can be thrown my way.
Sequels can be a hit or miss in any kind of series. So it’s always with squinted eyes and a dose of suspicion that I pick one up. Half the time my suspicions are correct, and I can’t even get past the first few pages.
Thankfully, A Curse of Gold made it past my suspicions!
Now that Kora has achieved her goal of setting out to find her father’s gold, she had a whole new adversary to face—one that she had been fighting against since the beginning. Dionysus, the god who had cursed her father, who had in turn cursed her. Dionysus will stop at nothing to keep Kora from fulfilling her goal by sending powerful warriors after her and her kingdom.
From the beginning, I was drawn in. The pace isn’t as quick as I would like, but still held enough of my interest for me to see it to the end. I loved seeing a whole new side to the world, and also having many questions answered about Kora and Dionysus. There are many things I could go on and on about but won’t for fear of ruining the plotline!
I will say, though, that this sequel will not disappoint! I would give the book a full five stars if it hadn’t been for some points that just irked me. I won’t say what, but there were several moments where the answer to a problem was right there and it took the characters several pages to find it. Other than that, I found A Curse of Gold to be a fantastic ending to a lovely duo of books!
NOTE: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes only. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I loved A Touch of Gold, so when I saw the sequel I jumped on the chance to read it and continue the tale! The book did not disappoint. It starts where the last one left off, as Kora has returned home from her last adventure, only to soon find herself in the middle of another one including gods, sea monsters, and a new group of friends. It takes everything that worked in the last book, characters, action, and adventure, and turns it up to create something even better and a solid final part of this duology. Overall I loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to finish off the series.
The first book was such an amazing surprise and can be a stand alone, but I was excited to know the story continued! LOVED this book! Exciting, who doesn't love a good story with a ship and adventure? What a great story of friendship, adventure and a strong heroine. Loved it. Will be adding it to my classroom. Annie Sullivan has become that "auto" buy author where her books become some of my favorites!
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A Curse of Gold started off pretty slowly for me. About half-way through, though, it did get a bit better. Which made me pretty happy since I really enjoyed the first book and was super excited to dive into this one.
Now you still meet the same people you met in the first book, they just have a new mission. Kora is out to get God Dionysus. Of course she can't just show up on his doorstep and smack him or anything. No, she has to go on this adventure with her crew/friends and try to defeat him any way possible.
Like I said, the first part of this book is pretty boring. Nothing really happens.. except like one little fight which did nothing for me. Then there's some tension among the crew but it was to be expected. I still do love Kora and Royce together and I obviously want more from them... but for some reason I didn't get that? Yes, they love one another but I just wanted to see them being together you know.. whether it's killing someone, talking, or I don't know - ANYTHING!
Other than that, we do end up meeting Triton and Dionysus. Triton was a nice addition/surprise for me and I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending. Like, maybe.. it's just a trick? Also, it just kind of seemed a bit to easy for it to all go that way? Eh, it was still good though.
In the end, it was pretty good for a sequel and I'm not sure if there's going to be another book or not. If there is, I will gladly read it just to see what else can be thrown my way.
I received an ARC of A Curse of Gold through NetGalley and was so so excited! I loved A Touch of Gold with treason, love, and magic. The sequel lived up to my expectations phenomenally. There are some series where the sequel feels forced or doesn’t follow the same character development, which was a huge disappointment. That is not the case here. I highly recommend picking this book up if you are interested to see where Kora goes next!