This is another instance of using stories within stories, which made me oh so happy. Serilda is an amazing story telling, weaving beautiful and haunting tales to entertain the village children. When she encounters the Erlking and his hunt, the subject of most of her stories, no one believes her. The Erlking returns for her every full moon to take her to his castle to spin straw into gold. The only problem? She was definitely lying about her ability to do so.

There was so so much to love about this story. I absolutely adored the characters… like, all of them (rare). Serilda is full of heart and creativity. She is fierce in her efforts to protect her loved ones and I wish there was even more of her story telling because that’s when she becomes truly captivating. Gild, the mysterious apparition who comes to Serilda’s aid added a bit of humor, though I am hoping we will see more of an exploration of his character in the next book. They did have a bit of instant love, which I am not a huge fan of, but their circumstances are unique and it works well for the story.

There are a handful of side characters and Meyer did a fantastic job of bringing them all to life. The group of children were adorable. The moss maidens, Shrub Grandmother, the innkeeper and her daughter… the world and characters were so beautifully built. I wish we had gotten more content from the Erlking. I love a good villain! Hopefully we will get much more of him in the next book.

The pacing was great. The story pulls you in and doesn’t let you go. I was a bit intimidated by its over 500 pages, but managed to finish it in a couple of days. I truly was looking for any spare moment to get back into the story. The story evokes a wide array of emotions – there were moments that made me laugh, and swoon, and some that broke my heart.

I am anxiously awaiting the sequel to this lovely story.

Another fantastic fairytale retelling from Marissa Meyer. I have been a fan of Meyers since she released Cinder. I saw the cover, read the synopsis, took it home and read it in one sitting. Gilded was the exact same. I sat down and read/listened to it in one sitting.

I was initially excited about this book for two reasons. One Meyer’s wrote it and two it was a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. Growing up, Rumpelstiltskin was one of my favourite stories for my Mum to tell me before bed.

This might be in my top three books by Meyer’s to date. The story was captivating. I enjoyed how it was sectioned off. I appreciated that we got to know the main characters from their points of view to understand where their heads were in situations, as they are not meant to be the most likeable characters. I did find the pace slowed a little bit in the middle, but that was my only “complaint” with Gilded.

I liked the darker tone of Gilded. I love fairytale retellings, but they are often so frilly, and this story was not. I appreciated that Meyer’s did a retelling that is not often done.

Meyers did a fantastic job with this novel. I also just found out there will be another book in this story, which I am super excited about, and I cannot wait for! I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Meyer’s work, fairytale retellings, and darker stories and folklore. I give this book 4.75 stars just due to the slow bits in the middle. However, push through any parts you find slow because the story is so worth it.

I also purchased the audiobook copy when it came out. It was wonderfully done, and if you enjoy audiobooks it is a great one. It also helped a lot in the middle of the story.

I received an eARC from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Another spellbinding fairytale retelling from Marissa Meyer, I was swept away with this story and loved the twist to the classic tale of rumpelstilkskin and that ending, wow! I need book 2 now.

This was such an interesting book! I've only read one other book by Meyer, but it was amazing and took some dark turns and I LOVED IT!!!! This is a Rumplestiltskin retelling and I've only ever seen his character being represented on Once Upon A Time so I didn't have a lot to go off of aside from that and I really enjoyed it!

Though author Marissa Meyer’s latest efforts have been contemporary YA romances and dystopian superhero tales, she’s still best known for her fairytale retellings. Her Lunar Chronicles series dropped several traditional fairytales heroines like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White into a futuristic world where humans, androids, and cyborgs all exist. Heartless reimagined the origin story of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. And in her latest novel, Gilded, she turns the story of Rumpelstiltskin on its head, crafting a propulsive tale of ghosts, revenge, and star-crossed love.

Meyer’s book folds in all sorts of interesting German folklore, from the Erlking and the Wild Hunt to nachtrapp and the Shrub Grandmother. The atmosphere is dark and foreboding, with liberal splashes of curses, revenge, and lonely ghosts who can’t remember anything about their pasts. A novel about deception, lies, and the motivations behind the stories we tell ourselves, Gilded is full of satisfying surprises, and its propulsive pace will make its rather extended length pass by in a blink. (This book clocks in at around 500 pages, which I suspect may be enough to give some readers pause.)

Fair warning, however, this is a fairly dark story for something that’s technically classified as a YA book, and Meyer doesn’t pull any punches about how very real both evil and risk are in this world she’s created. There are (multiple) character deaths, a handful of gruesome flashbacks, and a general air that for quite a lot of the people in this fictional fantasy world, life is generally brutish and short. Whether it was always like that – or whether it must stay the way that it is – is a mystery this series will have to tackle in its continuation, which, quite frankly, I’m eager to see, if only because there are so many questions still to be answered.

3.25 stars

I love a good retelling, especially when the author chooses something other than Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella or Hades/Persephone. Rumpelstiltskin is a story that I rarely see redone so when I saw that the fantastic Marissa Meyer was writing one, I knew that I had to get my hands on it.

Gilded definitely has a few great moments, especially at both the beginning and the end. However, I was a bit disappointed by how bogged down the story got in exposition for the eventual series. Reading this felt at times like one long set-up for the sequel with the protagonist Serilda coming off at times as less of a fully-fleshed out character and more like a vehicle through which important plot points could happen. In the process of reading this, I never really felt a pull to return to it like I do with books that completely capture my interest. I'll have to really search my heart when the sequel comes out to see if this is a series that I would actually like to continue with. The few shining moments really do make it a toss-up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Marissa Meyer is back at it again. I've yet to come across a book of theirs I hate!. This book merges fairytale with a new fantasy. And wow. Can I just say wow. No spoilers but I couldn't put this book down. I recommend picking this book up, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it was worth the wait.

This story takes on a much darker tone than Meyer’s other works in this return to her fairytale retellings. Serilda is seen by her town as a liar, a trickster, and even a thief; but readers are able to see her from a different point-of-view as the story is told from her perspective. She has her reasons for all the stories she has spun for her entire life. However, Serilda is like the boy who cried wolf. After telling so many stories, nobody will believe her when those stories are no longer fiction but actual truth, putting not only Serilda’s life in jeopardy but also those of her father and quite possibly anyone else who has ever been graced with her presence.

Gilded is the latest venture into story retelling by Marissa Meyer. I have been a fan of the author since the Lunar Chronicles. She has a wonderful way of taking a fairytale and twisting it into a new grand adventure. Like her other books, the writing is solid. In this tale, Meyer explores Rumpelstiltskin. The book is pretty hefty at slightly over 500 pages. The story has a lot of thrills, drama and even romance. For the most part the story is a great retelling, though I will admit I found the middle of the book a bit repetitive. In all, I think the book could have been a solid read at around 350 pages. From my understanding this book is the first in a duology, so it is quite possible that some of the book is setting up for the next. Like past books, Meyer creates, or remakes, some really great characters. I also appreciated Meyer's inclusion of some folklore that maybe are new to readers like Nachtkrapp and Erlking. Overall, I think this is a pretty solid read. I will definitely add it to our collection and I look forward to the next book.

I adore this book. Meyer generally doesn't disappoint with fairy tale retellings but the way I was sucked into this world and completely enamored with the characters (even, maybe especially the Eckling...) yanked me out of a several month long reading slump. Absolutely I want this on my shelf and it is a first pick for book fairying.

I was so excited for Gilded by Marissa Meyer, as The Lunar Chronicles is one of my fave YA series. (I mean, Scarlet and Wolf? What's not to love?) However, I ended up putting this Rumpelstiltskin retelling down just over halfway through. 58% through the novel should have been enough time for me to feel hooked on the story, or even remotely invested in the main character and her plight. Neither were interesting to me; it didn't feel like much happened in the first third of the novel. Perhaps I'll give Gilded another try in the future, but for now it's a no thank you from me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Marissa Meyer is an awesome writer, and I enjoyed the ebb and flow of this story. However, it ends on a note that, while somewhat satisfying, seemed to indicate that this book is headed for a spot as the first of a 2 or 3-part series. As much as I loved the story and as much as I love the "reworked fairy tale" genre, the way the story ebbs and flows had me winding up for a Big Finish. Instead, the last page felt like a To Be Continued.

Gilded created an interesting world and examined elements of fairy tales in its retelling that aren't the same frequently trod ground. It was well done but I have to agree with some other reviewers that it felt a tad overlong - I'm not sure it needed to be broken into multiple volumes but it doesn't suffer tooooooo much for this fact.

Ahh, so truth be told I was really looking forward to this re-telling of Rumpelstiltskin! It was one of my favorite stories as a child. Sadly, it missed the mark for me. It was way too long! It just was too drawn out and I quickly lost interest. I do love Meyers so it won't detract me from reading her next book!

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, NetGalley and the author for the #gifted arc.

I didn't love this book. It's overly long, the characters are not very interesting, and it's not saying much new. I don't think I'll read the second book. This is the first time I haven't adored a Marissa Meyer book!

I never thought too hard about the tale of Rumpelstiltskin before reading this book, but now it holds a special place in my heart.
Serilda, an 18-year-old girl born "blessed" by the God of Stories (who is also the God of Lies), has never been good at fitting in. The stories she loves to tell have too often led her neighbors to call her a liar, and the spinning wheels of fortune in her irises don't exactly help her seem normal. One fateful night, she tells a lie to Erlkönig, the evil king who leads a Hunt every full moon. She tells him that she has the ability to spin straw into gold, and the next full moon she's whisked away to the Erlking's castle at Adalheid. There, she's left to spin straw into gold, at pain of death of she fails. Luckily, she meets Gild, A friendly, but nysterious, poltergeist who can help her complete her task. She makes it through the night, but Erlkönig is back the next month, and the month after. As Serilda tries to get out of the Erlking's grasp, she must unravel the secrets of Adalheid to learn more about the castles dark past and her own.
Marissa Meyer's descriptive imagery never ceases to pull me into her sturdily-built worlds, and this book was no exception. Though the use of the third-person typically makes me feel a step removed from the story, in this instance it was artful and gave Meyer more space for description. The only complaint I had was that the romance seemed a bit unrealistic. But however unrealistic it was, it was still well written and I was able to believe that there was a genuine connection between Gild and Serilda. The plot revealed twists and turns that I couldn't have expected, though there was enough foreshadowing in the novel that nothing felt as though it was pulled from thin air. This book kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page and even then I was yearning for more. I cannot wait for the sequel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Fiewel and Friends for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh. My. Goodness. It took me until I was maybe 25% through to start getting into the story but once I did I was hooked. Not being very familiar with the story of Rumplestiltskin I wasn't sure what to expect. But having read other books by Marissa I figured I'd give Gilded a shot and I'm glad I did! The story has a little bit of everything: brave and daring characters, magical creatures and beings, friendship and romance. The only bad thing is now I'm stuck waiting until November 2022 for the sequel, "Cursed", to be released!

I am a huge Marissa Meyer fan and I love her re-tellings of beloved fairytales and folklore, so I was really excited to dive into Gilded. I enjoyed this book, however, it dragged quite a bit in the middle with too much “filler” which contributed to the unnecessary length. I would recommend this one and I am intrigued to know how the story will continue. I would give it a solid 3 stars.

I really don't know how to feel about Marissa Meyer taking a short and non-romantic Grimm Brothers' tale and blowing it into a two book insta-love bonanza. All I know is I didn't enjoy it much.

Serilda is a gifted liar and storyteller. It's a talent made plain in the colouring of her eyes and has made her an outcast in her small village. It also gets her into trouble when she encounters the Hunt and tells the dangerous Erlking himself that she can spin straw into gold. When he summons her to her castle to prove her skill, Serilda is prepared to die when morning comes and her lie is revealed. However, the castle's poltergeist, a young man named Gild with no memory of who he is, is willing to help her. For a price.

I'll start with what worked before I dig into how little I ended up caring for this book. I enjoyed the first 100 pages or so quite a bit. They were well written and drew me into the world pretty quick. There is a lot of German folklore in here, which I really liked, even if many of the names did sound very out of place on the audiobook. I also quite liked that this went into a bit of a darker territory. The Grimm Brothers' tales are notoriously morbid and frightening, so it was nice to see that translated a little bit here. And as far as a retelling goes, this was an interesting take on Rumpelstiltskin. This was not her best retelling, not at all, but there is still a lot to commend it.

All right, now for what made this go off the rails for me. I had a few complaints about the plot. Once we got to the first spinning of gold scene, it became quite predictable for a while because it was very on the nose in terms of the retelling aspect. I'll spin straw into gold for you if you give me that necklace, that ring, your firstborn child. No surprises or twists there. I also found it to be quite repetitive, with Serilda going back and forth between the same three locations, almost always by herself, and talking to the same people in each place. I didn't really care about what happened overall and found myself quite bored at times, not helped on by the fact that Serilda is not my favourite character in the world.

What really threw me for a loop was Serilda's storytelling. A big part of who she is is a liar and a storyteller. It gets her in trouble but she's a hit with the kids. But her stories were difficult to reconcile with the plot and made it hard to keep track of worldbuilding details. For instance, in the beginning she makes up a story for a group of children. It's made clear that she is just pulling this stuff out of nowhere, so I didn't really pay too close attention. Turns out it had all the information I needed to understand half the story, and this occurrence happened a lot. And when the truth of her storytelling came to light, I genuinely got mad. It could have been cool but actually felt quite lazy on Meyer's part.

The romance was stupid, but cleverly so. If that makes any sense. It is very much instant love, with them meeting once a month. Gild spins and listens to Serilda make up a story. Apparently that's enough for them to have sex on their third meeting. Can I just remind you, Gild is a poltergeist?! He's basically a ghost, and I was not expecting this to go into monster f*cking territory. Gild was sweet, sure, and I want to know more about his history, but I just didn't care for them together. They both come across as desperate for companionship, and that often results in toxic mindsets and relationships.

Also, is everyone just going to ignore the [pregnancy (hide spoiler)] twist, because I hate that very very much. It was made so obvious by comments from other characters, yet I kept hoping and praying that it wasn't true, that Marissa was not going down that road. For this reason alone, I will not be reading the sequel. I have zero interest in following a [pregnant teenager with what might be a very questionable child (hide spoiler)] while she tries to stop the Erlking.

If you would like to read a dark Rumpelstiltskin retelling that isn't so on the nose and doesn't make you cringe, I would suggest Small Favors by Erin A. Craig a hundred times over.

2/5 stars.

I may be in the minority here, but I didn't love this book. I'm a fan of Meyer and really enjoyed her previous books but it was very hard for me to stay interested in the one. The beginning was really good but as the story progressed it just started to drag. It was extremely wordy and became difficult to hold my interest. I skimmed the final few chapters and just read the dialogue because, again, so wordy.