A magical, retelling of Rumpelstiltskin set in Germany

I was so excited to read this because I adored the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer! Rumpelstiltskin also really scared me as a child, more than any other fairy-tale! And whilst there were things which I liked, it didn't live up to my expectations, and I struggled to get through parts.

Things I liked:
1) The setting! I loved the German village, the creepy castle and the magical woodland!
2) The magical characters, including ghosts, monsters, witches and the Erlking.
3) I liked the beginning and the end!
4) I liked the dark feel to the story,
5) I actually liked Serilda, the main character, as she was morally grey, interesting and likeable.

Things I didn't like:
1) That this was a series! At first I thought I had missed something, but the amount of reviewers who also didn't know it wasn't a standalone when requesting, leads me to believe that it was deliberately withheld. This would've worked so much better as a standalone, and I was annoyed when I realised near the end of the book, that it wasn't!
2) The middle of the story, which dragged and slowed the pace of the story down due to so much repetition and unnecessary filler.
3) The way the characters spoke. Sometimes this would feel like it was set centuries ago, and sometimes the character's language and interactions felt modern.
4) The romance.. there was zero chemistry and it didn't feel believable to me for obvious reasons. I was actually hoping for either no romance, or a totally different combination.

So although I enjoyed parts of this magical fairy-tale retelling and thought it was a great concept, I feel it could have been executed a lot better. Cut 200 pages and make it a standalone, and I think it would work much better.

I really loved this book and the characters. It starts off a little slow but once you start reading you are hooked and there is so much mystery and intrigue that kept me hooked and reading late into the night. The story does get quite dark at times especially near the end. I loved how we are given little bits of information which at first don't make sense but after a while you can start piecing the story together and then it becomes so tense as you can see that the characters are almost there and you just want to scream at them.
I am especially looking forward to reading the sequel after that ending!

I'm a little torn on this one, to be honest. It's essentially a Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a dash of pagan mythology thrown in.

The pros - I loved all the stuff about The Wild Hunt. Marissa Meyer is a great storyteller and her books are a lot of fun to read. She's also not scared to take a few risks and there are a few genuinely shocking moments in this book. I also liked how the story of the Prince is slowly building up and it will be interesting to see how this resolves. It kind of gave me a Revolutionary Girl Utena vibe which I found really cool. Serilda is a likeable heroine and has a little more depth than many other fantasy heroines.

The cons - Serilda has NO chemistry with Gild yet oodles with the Erlking. I kept waiting for something to happen between them but then the Erlking does something which makes it impossible that anything will happen in future and I am left feeling like the romance going forward is going to be boring.

I'm curious to see where the story progresses to in future, maybe I'll come round to Serilda and Gild's relationship or maybe Meyer will surprise me yet again by going in a different direction.

Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book. Marissa Meyer is one of those authors where i will read anything that she releases as i know i will love it, Gilded was no exception. The characters, the plot, the writing style it all made me need the next book asap. Cannot wait to see what Marissa releases next,

This book!

I have previously read another book by the same author and loved it and this one was no different. Serilda is seen as cursed in her village, they blame everything that goes wrong on her and she is constantly looked at with suspicion because of her unique eyes that show a wheel… the wheel of fortune…. When she talked she always talked in lies, spinning stories like spinning straw into gold. Yet these stories where always harmless… that is until the night of the full moon when she saves two Moss maidens from the hunt… where the evil Erlking with his terrible creatures and hounds sets off to steal children, kill monsters and more.

Wow! This story starts of as a retelling of rumplestiltskin but ends up so much more than that. With twist and turns that I was no expecting… okay I expected a few but I felt like I was constantly on edge trying to work out what was going to happen next. I wanted to figure out the end and find a way to save the characters from the impending doom. It’s definitely more than a simple retelling, Meyer is so good at adding so many layers to the story, creating dark and foreboding atmospheres and really grabbing the readers attention and emotions.

One thing… that cliffhanger was so so cruel! I kept seeing the pages numbers left dwindle down and worrying how they were going to wrap it all up and then book cliffhanger! Need next book now!

I loved this authors previous book and I was so excited to read this new retelling. I really enjoyed this new book. It was dark, twisted and fast paced.

I thought the plot of this book was amazing. I liked where the author carried this retelling and the journey she took the characters on. This book definitely fits in with the style of the authors other retellings. I absolutely loved the world which was created in this book. It was so magical and adventurous. Learning about this new world was so fun and exciting. I was so eager to know more about this world. You don’t need to know about the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale to enjoy this book.

I enjoyed the characters in this book, they were great to read about. Serilda and Gild, the main characters, were amazing. I loved them both when they were together and when they were apart. Serilda was a strong female lead, I felt like she made some bad decisions but those decisions made the book so fast paced. Gild is a mysterious character and he isn’t really present that much during this book but when he popped up, he was amazing. I am excited to read more about these characters in the next book in the series. I also loved the other side characters in this book, especially Leyna.

I highly recommend this book, as well as The Lunar Chronicles (an unrelated series) by the same author.

Gilded is a really interesting take on the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale.

One of my favourite elements is Serlida storytelling. I love that they are dark stories, and people can help themselves but listen and enjoy.



Adding the Wild hunt as another element does give the story more drama. I am interested in seeing what will come of it in the next book. I also liked the way the different towns/ people deal with the Wild Hunt.

There is a feeling that I got when reading Gilded that makes me feel that it would be perfect for reading in autumn when it is dark and raining outside. Even more perfect would be reading Gilded on Halloween, All Saint or All souls day.

Gilded has a great cast of characters, I did like Serilda and Gild. There is chemistry between those two. I wish that there was more time spent together.

Overall Gilded is a fast-paced dark fantasy retelling that helps Marissa Meyer continue her reign as the Queen of retelling.

My Rating for Gilded is 4 out of 5.

As much as I enjoyed The Lunar Chronicles and I really truly did, and as much as I didn't particularly get on with Heartless, I find Gilded nestles itself somewhere in the middle. It definitely had brighter sparks than I found within Heartless, however Gilded did struggle with pacing at times for me, and could feel like a slog to get through to the next interesting part.

So, let's get into, Serilda; our leading heroine, I loved her. She was a true driving force and helped push the novel along at the times when it tended to drag. You find yourself dragged back into the story because you want to find out what will happen to her next, you're attracted to her quick wit and a gravitas that lept off the page. A vastly interesting character with the twist of her 'gods gift'.

The romance was very lacklustre for me, whilst I liked Gild on the whole and enjoyed how his story was woven into the actual story - quite ingenius really - but the romance and the pairing of Gild and Serilda felt rushed and a bit forced, and mainly just wholly unnecessary. I do get it, in relation to the plot, they just felt like they would've worked better platonically, or at least as a much slower burn as it was set up for a sequel anyway.

I was surprised at how dark this book got at certain points, notably towards the end. It was genuinely shocking and made me zoom through the last 15% of the book. It already had dakr undertones and knowing the story that it's based on does mean you know it's not going to be a light-hearted romp, but at some points near the end I was simply staring at the page in an almost state of shock.

I'll read the sequel when it comes out as I do want to know what happens next to Serilda and Gild and how it all wraps up and the good parts definitely outweighed the parts that I wasn't overly enamored with.

Gilded is the latest novel in Marissa Meyer's catalogue of fairy-tale retellings. This time, she attempts to take on the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, spinning it in to a story that's familiar, but her own.

I really enjoyed Gilded. This wasn't the case when I first begun the novel. I was intrigued by the first chapter or so, but then I found it a task to continue reading. It's not that it was bad, it just made me have the moment of 'oh, I'm not the target audience (ya) for this, and that's why I'm struggling'. But I stuck with it, because I've enjoyed both The Lunar Chronicles and the Renegades trilogy, and I'm sooo glad I did. After about 100/150-ish pages, the book just clicked for me and all the issues I had with the writing before hand (thinking it was a bit flat) vanished. The plot began to take shape, and AHHH what a plot it was!

I was so intrigued by the mystery of the castle, of Gild, and of Serilda's own past. And I enjoyed how the mystery unfolded too, slowly revealing it through itself via Serilda's stories. It was fun having the narrative in the narrative. I have to admit though . . . I accidentally flipped to the back of the book to see the page count and then spoiled one of the big reveals for myself since it was on the last page . . . BUT, this did NOT ruin my enjoyment of the book. In fact, it made me want to speed up reading as I was 'in the know' and I was looking all about for the clues.

I loved Gild and Serilda, they had tons of chemistry and I'm so angsty about the sequel. No spoilers from me but OH MY GOD. AHHH. AND I WANT TO FIGHT THE ERLKING. HE IS REALLY TERRIBLE. At the beginning of the book, I did sort of wonder if Meyer was going to set up a love triangle of 'oh, the Erlking is so misunderstood!' but she didn't, and I hope she still doesn't, because he's terrible and has done awful things and this time I'm not rooting for that kind of love story. lol.

To warn you though, this book was far bloodier, gruesomer and graphic than I thought it would be. There's frequent descriptions of animal death, beheadings, descriptions of hearts being pulled from chests, murdered children, etc. I was expecting a lot of the violence to be 'off page' but we got quite a lot of on page imagery.

All in all, Gilded was another fantastic read by Marissa Meyer and I am very excited for the sequel.

This was a great read from start to finish, I have loved her other books and this one did not disappoint!

It's been a while since I've read a fairytale retelling seeing as though you basically already know how the story is going to end up.
However this was a fantastically dark mismash of tales all wrapped up into one great story and I'm glad I read it.

Gilded tells the story of Serilda, a girl who has been gifted by the god of lies and is, therefore, an amazing storyteller. However, she ends up telling one story too far and draws the attention of the Erlking, who then orders her to spin straw into gold. It is a retelling of the Grimm's fairytale Rumplestiltskin and from what I remember it sticks fairly close to the original story. But there are clear differences which keep it interesting. Gilded is a captivating read that intrigued me more and more the more I read.

Like the original story, Gilded is set in a German-inspired world. A lot of the creatures are based on German myths, legends, and folklore.

Serilda did annoy me slightly, to begin with, but she grew on me. She did make some silly choices, but she really cares for the village children. She was really put through the wringer, and it's no wonder she became so close to Gild. And Gild... I really loved him! He reminded me a bit of Peter Pan (the animated Disney version) with his love for Serilda's stories. The Erlking was also a fantastic villain - truly evil. He reminded me a bit of Jareth from Labyrinth, but so much more evil.

I did find the story slightly predictable and did pick up on the hints for one of the big plot twists. But it was hinted at pretty heavily and I think it was something that the reader was supposed to pick up on before Serilda herself knew. But I did not pick up on the final few twists at all. My mind went in a different direction.

The pace was a bit of a mixed bag - some parts were really tense and fast-paced, but others were a bit more leisurely. The slower parts made it a bit of a struggle for me to want to read at times, but I couldn't get enough of the story as the pace picked up.

The cliffhanger has me really wanting to read the sequel, Cursed, now! I need to find out what happens to Gild and Serilda now. But I have almost a year to wait!

I really enjoyed the style of writing and the world. I liked the characters and the ending had me wanting more. I can definitely say I will read more of Marissa Meyer. Definitely Cursed, and I really need to read Cinder (which I've actually owned for years now). I'd definitely recommend Gilded to fans of YA fairytale retellings.

I was provided with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am such an enormous Marissa Meyer fan, and I was so excited for Gilded for so long! I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to read an advance copy of the book.

It was such an interesting read, and actually felt a lot darker than Meyer's other books. It was quite a mysterious story with a tense atmosphere, which really captured my attention from the very beginning. A reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin's story isn't something you see very often, and I loved how original it felt.

It did take me a little longer to connect with the actual plot than I would have liked, because it felt like quite a long build up before the story started going anywhere. However, by the time I finished it, I was hooked! I already can't wait for the next one.

A great feminist retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, but with a twist. This book was great, winding in all types of mythological creatures and a surprisingly bitter-sweet romance!

I enjoyed the book and the world-building was excellent, wish I could have seen more interaction between two certain characters but I would certainly recommend this as a good fantasy read!

‘Gilded’ is a new retelling of the fairytale classic ‘Rumplestilskin’ and in true Marissa Meyer style it is original, haunting and very dark.
It all begins on the night of the deadly hunt led by the Erlking and his undead cavalry, they stumble upon a young woman, Serilda. Serilda is an outsider in her village believed to be cursed by a God but she finds solace in the children who appreciate her extraordinary stories.
She survives the hunt by telling the Erlking a tall tale of her skill to spin straw to gold and is summoned upon the night of the following hunt.
Serilda enters a dangerous and secretive world where souls are trapped and legends have replaced the truth.
I found little parts of this story a bit drawn out but apart from that it has the Meyer touch of taking a fairytale and molding it into something far more chilling and exciting. Her heroine is flawed and vulnerable but grows in so many ways. I’m definitely intrigued as to where Serilda’s story will take her next!

t’s not often I do write-ups on the blog about books/audiobooks I quit (or DNF [Did Not Finish]). And if I do, I usually only write my thoughts on Goodreads (mainly because so I remember why I quit or because it’s a review copy and I want to show publishers via NetGalley that “hey, look, I did try and read it. Why aren’t my Did Not Finish review not affecting my Reading Percentage, NetGalley [hint hint!]?”). But mainly, us book bloggers don’t exactly practice what we preach about reading for pleasure and quitting when we’re not enjoying it. Though we are getting better.

But Gilded by Marissa Meyer, I wanted to talk about because while I did quit this around the halfway mark (57%, I believe) and I borrowed the audiobook from the library and had this on double speed (something I rarely do), I do think some of you guys will really like this book. I mean, this is a fairy tale reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin – I already know most of you guys love a good fairy tale retelling.

Serilda is a miller’s daughter who can’t stop telling stories (well, she was cursed by the god of stories and lies). When she is caught out one night, she tells a story to keep herself from getting killed – that she’s out to collect straw so she can turn to gold, she catches the attention of the Erlking who, every full moon, takes her to his castle and demands to spin straw into gold – or be killed for lying. Desperate, Serilda accidently summons a mystery of a young man who can spin straw into gold – for a price. Magic always demand payment. As the two spend time together, they form a connection and wonder why the Erlking wants so much gold. For the Erlking has plans… dark plans and Serilda has found herself at the heart of it.

Now, in theory, this is right up my street. A YA fairytale retelling (with just enough darkness at its heart and yet, a romance to keep things light) with hints of other fairytales (I keep thinking this had dashes of Beauty and the Beast thrown in, and strong Once Upon A Time vibe) with strong writing and other elements that should have ticked all my boxes.

And yet… I quit the book around the halfway mark. Not because the book is bad – it isn’t, and I do think most of you guys will enjoy reading this. But, the book had two issues that didn’t work for me as reader and now that I’m typing, I now realise that these were the same issues I had when I tried to read another retelling from this author a few years, Heartless – a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Heart: book felt too long and repetition.


I get why: most of the story takes place on night of the full moon so, of course, there’s going to be repetition over how the characters react, their actions and whatnot – hence the issue of length. The chapters of the full moon have to be long and with the story going in the direction it’s going, it’s needs that length. However, this is the first in a series (duology?), so if these issues are here now with me, I sense I’m going to have these issues in the next book. Which then leads to a question every reader ask them when starting a new series: do I want/need to continue?

For me, the answer’s no. But I have read several reviews from book bloggers I like and respect, and their answer is yes. Not every book is going to work for every reader.

But I did try to read this, and there are elements I do like and I will recommend this book to readers. It’s just that this book didn’t work for me, sadly.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

I need to stop reading YA books that turn out to be the first in a series because, holy God, does this end on … well. To call it a cliff-hanger seems to under-represent both the scope of the figurative incline and the intensity of my hanging from it.

Anyway, it’s an amazing read, though also—and I need to stop remarking on how startling I find YA’s commitment to Going There—dark AF. Kids literally die in this book. In horrible ways. In fact, a tonne of horrible things happen in general. Although I suppose I can take some comfort that the romantic lead is not, for once, a mass murderer. Yay? In any case, while Gilded may take its inspiration from Rumpelstiltskin, it’s a far richer and complex endeavour than the original tale, effortlessly blending German folklore with its own world-building to explore, y’know, the very nature of stories themselves.

The heroine, Serilda, is a miller’s daughter cursed or blessed by the trickster god of stories. Compelled to lie—or from another perspective to tell stories—her gifts, along with her peculiar eyes, ensure the adults in her village view her with suspicion (although the children are drawn to her taletelling). One night, she encounters two fairy creatures on the run from the terrifying Erlking, master of the wild hunt, and lies to protect them, claiming she can spin straw into gold. Unfortunately, this causes the Erlking to take an interest in her and she finds herself locked in dungeon, tasked with spinning straw into gold or forfeit her life. In this impossible task, she is aided by a mysterious “poltergeist” who haunts the castle the Erlking occupies—the nature of both the poltergeist and the castle being their own mystery that Serilda gradually begins to unravel.

And um. This is all completely terrifying: everyone in this story is just so damn vulnerable. Quick-thinking and story-ready though she is, Serilda is ultimately just an innkeeper’s daughter. Gild, the poltergeist, is desperately lonely, sweetly courageous and has no memory of who or what he is, or why. The people Serilda cares about are farmers, innkeepers, librarians and peasants. Even the witch is mainly a herbalist. The gods (non-binary gods, by the way, which I appreciated) are abstract in their motives and mostly absent. When Serilda does encounter magical beings, even if their needs align with hers, its clear they have their own agendas and concerns, far removed from those humans. And don’t get me started on the Erlking. He’s callous, powerful and unabashedly cruel, yet his malignancy is not without motive and cohesion. Driven by lost love as he is, his relationship with his own villainy is far from uncomplicated.

In fact, if the book had a weakness for me, it’s that the sections in the Erlking’s castle are so pulse-poundingly tense and cast such a strong sense of foreboding over the rest of the book that I had a hard time getting invested in the world beyond the castle (despite the fact it’s quite well developed). Mainly everyone just felt too doomed to care about—which, err, was broadly correct. I also suspect some readers won’t like the modernistic tone to a lot of the dialogue but, personally, I appreciated it. There’s kind of a “fairy tale” voice that can be a bit portentous when over-used and so there’s something pacey and engaging about the way Serilda and Gild especially interact with each other. It made them feel like real people living in a real place, albeit one of full of magic, mystery, and imminent disaster, and their relationship came across as genuinely sweet to me.

I should also add that I loved Serilda and Gild as characters. He’s an intriguing twist on Rumpelstiltskin, maintaining the mischief, but losing the slyness—and he’s both heroic and vulnerable in ways that usually aren’t allowed to align. As for Serilda, she’s a deeply flawed protagonist, strong but overmatched, and that kind of made her very relatable to me. I always feel like a bit of a mug when stories about stories about storytellers but … eh. Trite or not, as readers and writers we are drawn to that shit for a reason.

Ultimately this ended up being a much darker read than I thought it was going to be. But I quickly fell in love with it—though I do need the sequel urgent to alleviate some of this dreadful trauma, please.

I’ve never read a Rumplestiltskin retelling before so I was excited to read this one. Meyers breaking and subsequent reforging of classic fairytale is what always keeps me hooked with her works but I was disheartened to find this book abit of a slog at the start. I didn’t warm to Serilda and struggled through the first few characters, picking the book up and putting it back down numerous times. The Introduction and subsequent first meeting of the Wild Hunt and The Erlking started to spice things up but it wasn’t until the first straw into gold challenge was posed that I really got invested.
I ended up really liking Gild and the villagers of Adalheid especially Leyna who really bro get a warmth to the story.
I was surprised to find the story enfolding to make Gild the love interest as I was honestly expecting the Erlking to involve into a hot redemption Enemies to lovers character. After all who can resist a otherworldly bad boy!?
I loved how dark the story was at times, the graphic descriptions of some of the monsters, stories and the fate of the children in particular added a grim but pleasing sense of dread. It made the Erlking feel like a real threat.
The reveal of the world bending potential of Serildas powers thrilled me. What a brilliant power to have! I look forward to seeing how it’ll be utilised in the next book.
Overall this was a brilliant book once the action started but suffered from a slow start. Worth persevering with

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this body in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I just want to say that this is one of the best fairytale retellings I have ever read! This book is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin set in Germany, an enchanting gothic fairytale world firmly rooted in the nightmare horror end of the genre. 18 year old miller's daughter, Serilda, lives with her father, bestowed with her golden wheeled eyes and talent for deception, she is shunned by most locals as cursed, untrustworthy and a born liar. As a school assistant, however, she is loved by children for her ability to spin stories from what appears to be thin air, but are her stories really lies? Her patron deity is Wyrdith, the god of stories, fortune, lies and fate, and at the full moon every month, a time when the veil of the other darker world lifts, this opens the entry into our world of the wildly exuberant hunt led by the evil Erlking.

The world building in this book is fantastic and I was hooked from the very start, one of the things I loved the most was the dark and gothic which is a similar feel to the original fairytale. I'm excited for the next book in the series to see what else can happen to these characters!

I wasn’t expecting much going into this but J loved it! I’ve never read a rumpelstiltskin retelling before and it was so interesting. I loved the main character and the relationships she had with everyone, especially the children and Gild! I’d definitely recommend this!