“You don’t have much choice when your both bound and one of you decides to jump.”

“The Gilded Crown,” by Marianne Gordon

Hellevir has been able to raise the dead since she was ten years old. The showed figure in the afterlife demands a price for every life she resurrected which continues to go up the more she brings back. Her gift has been her secret until Princess Sullivain is assassinated and Hellevir decides to bring her back. With the assassin unknown, Hellevir must remain by the Princess’ side in case she is needed. Hellevir begins to fall in love with the Princess, but she only has so much of herself to trade the death god.

This book was really good. I loved the premise of the story. The main character was annoying because of how much she was willing to do for people she didn’t know but it was essential to her character in the book. I wanted her to stand up for herself more. I liked how the princess was more than she seemed and how it complicated the story. I cannot get enough of the death god and his lore and really hope there will be more about all that in the Raven’s Trade series. 4 out of 5 stars.

-F/F
-Magic
-Death God
-Political Intrigue

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This tale follows Hellevir, a woman endowed with a unique ability to traverse the realm of Death, a power that brings both blessings and burdens. Caught amidst the intrigues of nobility and the disdain of priests, she finds herself in a precarious position, torn between duty and personal desires. As she navigates her path, she forms complex relationships with her family, particularly her father and brother, Farvor, yet questions linger regarding their abrupt absence from her life for a decade.

Despite my reservations about some of Hellevir's choices, I found her character compelling and empathized with her motivations. The dynamics between her and Sullivan didn't resonate with me, as I struggled to find any redeeming qualities in Sullivan herself. However, I appreciated the character growth Hellevir experienced through her interactions with Sullivan, which added depth to her journey.

I particularly enjoyed the representation of LGBTQ+ relationships, especially the romance between Hellevir's brother, Farvor, and Calgir. However, the romantic entanglement between Hellevir and Sullivan failed to capture my interest, perhaps due to my inability to connect with Sullivan as a character.

Overall, the narrative captivated me with its original premise and the development of its diverse cast of characters.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. :)

This is an amazing book that will delight fantasy fans! I also just really love the cover, which I found striking.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC for a honest review.

I wanted to love this book. The premise of the story intrigued me and I kept wanting it to get better but I felt it overall became flat. It felt like two stories shoved together (a story of a low-born family moving to the city and the adjustment mashed with a story of a necromancer trying to hide resurrecting the princess) and then rushed at the end to leave open for another adventure. I was not a fan of the main character Hellevir and the forced romance to the princess. I wish we would have seen more of Hellevir's family as her father was brushed aside, her mother was deemed a mean woman and disregarded, but her brother had a beautiful story I wish to have seen more. Also I feel the man we meet in Death that gives riddles could have had more interaction but I can see if that information has been saved for the sequel.

I also found the world-building was not fully developed. The different courts are not explained enough and I kept getting confused at the court gatherings to remember which squire belonged to which family. Along with that, the timelines felt a bit too jumpy in certain chapters.

Dnf @ 16%. This book failed to grip me in any meaningful way. Already you see Hellevir throwing pieces of herself away for people who don't appreciate her, chipping away at little bits of her soul and seemingly trying to buy her way into their respect. I don't like an fmc who doesn't have a spine and does dumb things over and over again. I think this book might work better for a younger crowd who is still developing what it means to be yourself but as an adult novel, Hellevir is just very young and has a personality that goes with being young.

This book has such great potential. The premise is so incredibly intriguing and eye-catching. A woman who can bring the dead back to life through a "simple" deal and then follow her navigation of the lying world around her is a great premise. But, in my opinion, the execution falls a little short.

There are wonderful things in this book. The witchy magic used is brilliant. It felt fresh, and it felt natural throughout the entire story. The way the magic system was set up was easy to digest and there was never a time when it felt as if things were unreal for the world this was set in.

The world was a bit confusing, as I found myself confused about where things were placed throughout it. I might have missed details that explained the proper placement of people. The hardest part to grasp was that there was a world outside of the city, as it felt like things only happened inside it. From what I gathered, it was as if every important person was in that city and that city only. All of the nobles felt as if they were in this one city, and it was this giant city that housed the important people of this country.

The characters, while they started out well, just never seemed to change. The princess did terrible thing after terrible thing and it felt as if the reader was just meant to sit there and believe that she didn't do these things on her own. The protagonist put up with so much and there never felt like there was a true tie to why she stayed. There were points where I had to put the book down because she stayed around again after another terrible thing happened.

I enjoyed the politics of the book. They were backstabbing and there was enough left behind near the end for an excellent start for the next book to pick up at.

While there were issues present, there were still plenty of highs riddled throughout the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this! This felt like a fresh idea and the premise was promising. Unfortunately, the plot fell a bit flat for me and I found myself wanting more. I enjoyed the dynamic with Death but did not feel a connection with the romance in this book.

I dnf'ed at 25% thank you Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion, to be honest I still give it a 3 stars because I did like the writing style and the characters but for me what was hard to keep going was the plot as well as the world building it didn't give me the hook I needed as a reader to keep reading. I know that everyone has different taste in fantasy and this one just wasn't for me

I definitely understand that some people will like it and her writing definitely enchants people but I wasn't one of them ..

The summary made me think that this book was going to be more in the realm of romantasy, but it really stands alone as a clear fantasy story, teeering on darkness, with very little actual romance. But the thing is, there’s a level of emotional tie, but it seems much more based on trust rather than lust.

While I didn’t dislike Hellevir, I found myself repeatedly baffled as to how willing she was to trade slices of her soul (her soul!) to save just about everyone who asked, when they weren’t being particularly grateful or even very nice to her. I could even understand being “forced” to do it for the Princess, but she was handing out life do-overs like she had nothing to lose! But, it did get us back to Death again and again, and I enjoyed those scenes. He was very fair for Death! I guessed the twist but I still thought it was well done, especially with the additional component added and the shift with her mother.

The ending made me want to read more and I’m looking forward to more development with Hellevir. Overall, the writing was wonderful and the world building in both worlds was so vivid - I’m down for another adventure!

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an Ebook arc in exchange for an honest review!

*3.5/5
The atmosphere, magic system, and world building were the best parts of this book for me! I loved the interactions Hellevir had with Death and the world that he inhabited. I loved the exploration of religion and religious structures (one of my favorite topics to be explored in fiction, it's absolutely fascinating to me). The world felt very alive to me, I genuinely enjoyed being in it. I also really appreciated the casual queer rep we got. It wasn’t a big deal that there was a gay (man-loving-man) relationship, and our main character develops feelings for another girl. That being said, I didn't care much about the main romance, I just didn’t feel like it was realistic the way it progressed but that may just be me. Romances hardly ever work for me in fiction.

I don’t have much else to say, the ending felt a bit abrupt, like I got to the second to last chapter and was like there's no way it's ending in one chapter, there's still so much happening, but I know that this has a sequel, so hopefully things get resolved in it.
A solid fantasy read with queer rep and an interesting world and magic system!

This book has an interesting plot and some characters. I just didn't enjoy how the story developed or how many of the characters behaved. The MC was beyond frustrating in my opinion. I just couldn't understand her actions when there were other options available. The characters that really made the book we didn't see enough of or you wouldn't see again. I did enjoy the magic system and having it come at a price. The world of the undead had me intrigued. This book wasn't bad I just couldn't get into it and I couldn't stand the mc. I definitely think other people would enjoy it.

I was disappointed with this one. Reading the summary I could tell it would be politically driven (I’m okay with that) and dark romansty. BUT the romansty was not there.

I loved Hellevir’s magic and Death but you don’t get a lot of him throughout the story.

The princess and Hellevir’s romance was unbelievable and she wasn’t a likable character at all.

I can see the author was trying to make the characters complex to give the readers a reason to explore and think about them. I just feel like the execution could have been better.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

The Gilded Crown is a wonderful interesting take on necromancy and the FMC and how she chooses to use her powers. She was very likable and the storyline itself was great! Loved this book! Highly recommend!

I liked this book! I would say it’s YA and not adult. Really great writing! The FMC is easy to like, the MMC not so much 🤷🏻‍♀️

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I went into this book pretty blind, and this might be one of my top reads of the year. Excellent piece of literature, and the writing was stunning.

We follow in this book a young girl journey through life that are shaped by her interactions with death and those she chooses to help with her “gift”. She must find out who is trying to kill the princess she has sworn to raise from the dead, in order to be freed to live her life.

The premise in this book is so interesting and her relationship with death also intrigued me, her relationship with the princess was all the more interesting. Honestly just read the book you won’t be disappointed.

The Gilded Crown brings a new perspective to necromancy. Hellevir is a young woman intent on saving everyone. Everything she does is for the good of the many, no matter the personal cost. When she realizes as a very young girl that she can bring the dead back to life, she becomes determined to use her gift as often as possible. As you can imagine, most others are not as altruistic as Hellevir and she quickly ends up entangled in the violent machinations of politics and court life as news of her abilities spreads. With her family, friends, and even her own soul at risk, she is forced to make decisions between what is possible and what is right.

This book includes:
- Death as a corporal concept
- Religious conflict between a monotheistic religion and a philosophical/spiritual religion
- Necromancy as it has never been seen before
- Altruism vs Ruthlessness
- Violent political machinations
- LGBT characters and love stories
- A Familiar
- Who done it murder mystery

I loved "The Gilded Crown." It was nothing as I expected based on the book title or cover art, however, Hellevir's story captured my heart. Her connection with the natural world and dynamic with Death was so visceral, and the imagery was strong. I was in blissful agony watching her be so trusting and innocent over and over, and I wished for her success so badly. I can't relate to her, I related much more to Farvor, but I rooted for her regardless.

My only plot issue is that I felt like Hellevir's relationship was a bit forced, I think the soul-bonding was enough of a motivation for her. Cutting the weak romance would have removed some of the scenes that dragged. I also mentioned the cover art and title a bit before, but I think the book title was hugely misleading. It should have been something like *The Girl Who Made a Bargain with Death* or *Death's Bargain" or *walks with Death* or something that alludes more to the dark fairytale aspects that are central to the plot. The cover art should also never have been changed. I loved the original cover and it matched the genre and themes way better. The new cover alludes to a spicy romantasy, and this is very much not that.

All that said, I did enjoy this book and I highly recommend this one to all lovers of folktales and fables. Fans of "After the Woods," "Thornhedge," and other less literal and slower-paced stories will eat this book up.

I received this ebook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Marianne Gordon for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I will have to say I was pleasantly surprised to learn that death was not the love interest in this story. That was very refreshing to me. And while I still was not invested and fully believing of the romance, the story itself made up for the rest of that. The magic system was incredible and the plot was engaging. This was such an overall refreshing read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy off this!!! Deal with Death, paying the price, and some romance. I really enjoyed the naive country girl going from being scared to actively threatening the royalty. Coming into your own is always the best trope with a little death magic is fun. I'm just going to not so patiently wait for the next one in the series.

This book had one of the most unique plots I have read in a while. The magic system is stunning and the mc's relationship to magic and death is one of my favorite parts of the story. I will say I didn't feel alot of chemistry for the romance for this book, but frankly I didn't care because the plot was quite engaging.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the E arc!
Can we all take a moment to appreciate such a beautiful cover? I am so glad that I picked up this book and get a chance as the summary was absolutely fantastic. I went in hoping for an epic sapphic fantasy, and that is precisely what I got. I think the story focuses so much on what we are willing to do for those we love, and getting to see that struggle in balance for Hellevir was very emotional. This book definitely brought so much intrigue and tension. It was a great mix of the world with a little bit of romantic elements sprinkled in.