Self-preservation was chasing her, but Hellevir was faster!

This story is about a young lady who discovered that she could communicate with death when she was a young girl. This gift or curse, depending on who's asking, grants her the ability to bring back persons who have passed on to the afterlife. But this talent comes with a cost. Every time she brings back someone from the dead, she loses a piece of herself. For anyone else, that would be too high a cost and risk, but not our heroine. She willingly dives into the deep end every chance she gets. No matter how many warnings she gets, Hellevir is convinced that she knows best and does it anyway.

There is a "love interest " in this story, but for the life of me, I couldn't understand why Hellevir continued to be so enamored. I honestly felt the potential for a better connection between Hellevir and Death, and I would have liked to see them explore the origins and why's or her ability. I think my favorite character was her bird lolol. Everyone else had me making notes and talking to the pages at various points throughout the story lolol.

All in all, if you're not bothered by frustrating characters, then give this book a shot. It is an interesting storyline from the very first page, and the characters feel like real people with depth. I am definitely interested in finding out where Hellevir's story goes next and to see if she'll continue living in delulu!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book.

I think I was a little confused with this book. I got as an arc so I had little to base off of. I thought it was a romantasy. Which I guess it could be since there is a love story. I just thought it was a competition to win or something. I feel like this is a mix of a retelling. She is a necromancer and has to save a princess.

I kept reading to see if the book would redeem itself but that never happened. The romance was terrible and forced, the world building was nonexistent and the plot was all over the place.
What did I just read?
Thank you to netgalley for the arc, all opinions are my own.

The Gilded Crown was an amazing and fast read! Marianne Gordon has such an amazing writing style. I love the whole concept of the FMC being about to bring back the dead and be able to talk to death himself.

📔: The Gilded Crown-The Raven's Trade Book #1

✍️ By: Marianne Gordon-debut author

📃 Page Count: 380

🗓️ Publication Date: 7-2-24 | Read: 9-14-24

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager| Harper Voyager for this ARC 💛! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Genre: Adult Fic, Dark Fantasy, Sci Fi

🌏Setting: Rochidain

Tropes:

🧙🏽‍♀️healer/necromancer h
🧙🏽‍♀️slow burn
🧙🏽‍♀️politics/court intrigue
🧙🏽‍♀️LGBTQIA+ rep
🧙🏽‍♀️religious zealots
🧙🏽‍♀️no spice/sex
🧙🏽‍♀️murder mystery
🧙🏽‍♀️forced proximity

⚠️ TW: murder, death, resurrection

POV: single, 3rd person

💭 Summary 💭 Hellevir is tasked by the Queen to protect Sullivain from assassination attempts and bring her back to life if she dies. Death makes deals with her that every life requires a sacrifice in blood and objects. Bit by Bit Hellevir loses part of herself every time she resurrects someone. Sullivain is led by the Queen in cruelty and is careless with her life. Hellevir and Sullivain make a connection, but death keeps them apart.


Heroine: Hellevir Andottir-a healer and necromancer

Heroine: Princess Sullivain De Neid-last heir to throne

Side cast:
The Queen-Sullivain's grandmother
Piper and Pa-Hellevir's parents.
Farvor- Hellevir's older brother.
Elsevir- Hellevir's raven.
Milandre-Hellevir's guardian/mentor.
Lord Calgir Redeion-Farvor's love interest and knight
The Antler King/Death

My Thoughts: This has little to no romance between Hellevir and Sullivain. They were at odds most of the time because of the Queen and Death, but every now and then they stepped up for each other. There were plenty of deaths which made the story depressing at times. It spoke to Hellevir's gift and curse. Her and her mother Piper were constantly at odds about her "heathenistic" activities against the religious Onaistians. Farvor and Calgir were a tragic story of love and betrayal while Hellevir and Sullivain were what could have been. I look forward to the follow up.

Range of emotions: 😬🤔🙄
🌶️: Spice 0/5-1 kiss in last chapter
😭: Emotion 4/5
❤️: Couple 2/5
⭐️: Rating 4/5

The Gilded Crown, was a uniquely written dark fantasy that has a lot of promise for the next book. The pacing for this book was a bit slow for my taste, but I feel like we are building a base for the overall series. Overall, I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next in this series. A big heads up for readers though: don't go into this one expecting a romantasy. The focus in this book is not necessarily on the romance.

Hellevir is only ten years old when she crosses into Death the first time, bringing back a fox caught in one of her brother's traps. Her journey is a transition that happens in the natural accident of a child's need, but the second time is intentional and begins her life's path down a liminal and lonely road. Years later, after a decade of estrangement from her family, Hellevir is summoned by the crown princess, Sullivain, to use her powers to bring the princess back from the dead whenever necessary, even though every time she does it costs a piece of herself. Hellevir is trapped between a bargain she with Death and her deal with Sullivain.

The Gilded Crown, by Marianne Gordon, is a richly woven fantasy novel with phenomenal worldbuilding. The way Hellevir's powers are treated, both the mechanics of how it works and the social aspects of how she's treated for having the abilities, reminded me of the way sin eaters were treated by the villagers and the Church in Medieval Europe. Gordon does an excellent job balancing fanaticism, superstitious fear, and legend all colliding in the capital city as Hellevir's old world beliefs and abilities come up against an insidious force taking over the country.

I love that all the characters have their own machinations, often at odds with Hellevir's goals. I got frustrated with Hellevir's refusal to recognize that humans don't always have her best interests at heart. If I have a single complaint about this book it's this: for a woman who's seen literally more death and sorrow than most, she seems incapable of seeing past anyone's surface or question motivations, especially Sullivain's, and it continuously bites her in the ass. Her persistent naivete became distracting. Ultimately, the end was very satisfying and impossible to put down, so I both love and hate Gordon just a little bit for the last few chapters of this book. Argh.

The Gilded Crown is out now and is first in a series. I'm looking forward to the second book when it's available. If you like rich, complex fantasy with a healthy dash of the otherworldly, twists, betrayals, and romantic tension, you'll like The Gilded Crown. Plus there's a pet crow, and who doesn't love that?

I really enjoyed this book. I can’t wait to read more by this author. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me the chance to read.

In life we have hard choices to make. None more pressing then choosing what directly impacts our life. From a young age Hellevir has made selfless choices but at what cost. When you have the power to help others in some ways it always comes at a cost. One such cost ties Hellevir and inadvertently her family to the crown. The book kept a slow pace. Not awful but at times I expected a bit more of a Rollercoaster when it sort of tempered out. I enjoyed how it ended, and I appreciate the climax prior to the ending. Things seemed to come full circle to a certain extent. I'm curious about book 2

hellevir is gifted—or cursed—with the ability to visit death and bring souls back to life. when she resurrects the murdered heir to the throne, she is inevitably and irreversibly drawn into the tangled politics of the kingdom. princess sullivain’s death would mean civil war, so she is summoned to the capital city in case another attempt on the princess’s life is successful—but each resurrection costs hellevir, and death has his own demands.

the gilded crown is a dark, slow-paced political fantasy centered around a young necromancer. it’s marketed as an adult fantasy (despite the very YA cover, title, and blurb), but the writing falls more into the NA category. it is absolutely not a romantasy—hellevir and sullivain’s relationship is central to the plot, their dynamic full of yearning and inexplicable attraction, but it isn’t the focus of the novel. (i don’t think they spent quite enough time together, honestly.) while the plot is fairly predictable and a lot of its elements are very popular in fantasy right now, gordon’s execution stands out for me. it won’t suit everyone, but if you enjoy court intrigue, exploration of morality and religion, flawed (like… very, very flawed—possibly just bad people) queer characters, and gothic fairytale undertones, i would recommend picking this one up.

I enjoyed this book so much and cannot wait for the next one! My only issue honestly with the whole thing had to do with the audiobook narration and its not even a bad thing, its just that the story is already somewhat similar to Belladonna in that a young girl talks with death and goes into his realm etc, so to have the same narrator do the same voice was a bit distracting and it made me want some type of romance to spring up between them. That is the only negative I have to say about this book

The writing style is different, but I like it.. The book intrigued me, and the concept is fantastic. Having a gift to bring people back to life is interesting, but at what cost. The writing is creative, and immaginative, with great world building, but slow in parts. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely.
The cover is very good.

Rating 4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this. It took me a couple chapters to adjust to the writing style, but overall I ended up really loving the writing.
The story was different from anything I've read before, the exchanges Hellevir makes to bring people back from death were my favorite part.
I will say that Sullivain never grew on me...it was the exact opposite. I can tell as the reader we are supposed to care for her as hellevir does, but it was a NO for me! I found her to be too enraging and arrogant to like, her and her grandmother just urked me the whole book 😅 I understand they are royalty and that they want people to fear them and all that, but they treated hellevir so cruelly when she was so willing to help already? Not to mention going back on their word multiple times...anywho...their will have to be a significant character arc for my opinion of Sullivain to change.

All that aside I really did eat this book up, it felt so rich! There was backstory, and lore, different religions, Diverse characters & relationships. So much happened in the span of the book, and I never felt bored. I was happy with the ending and excited to see how Hellevir's story continues in book 2!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review 🥰

This story was a lot of world building and very little romance which I didn't mind. The FMC can communicate with spirits and raise the dead, I found that aspect f the story more interesting than the back and forth love dynamic between Helliver and the princess. I enjoyed Helliver but Sullivan was rough around the edges and unlikable most of the novel.

Oh boy do I have thoughts. The beginning of The Gilded Crown was fantastic! I was immediately engrossed and absolutely loved the vibes and potential story that was to unfold. Unfortunately, everything started to fizzle out and my expectations were never met. I think this story had insane potential and this could’ve been everything I adore in a darker fantasy. However, I was super let down by the forced romance between Hellevir and Sullivan. Sullivan was a trash can of a human being who manipulated and treated Hellevir cruelly, much like most people Hellevir interacted with. I saw more of a romantic connection between Hellevir and Death, so I was extremely disappointed nothing went that direction. The plot started to stagnate around the middle point and never picked back up, leaving me bored and not excited for the next installment. The bare bones of this story and Hellevir as a character were definitely the bright spots and I think this author will advance her writing and storytelling as she creates more. Essentially, The Gilded Crown had a very strong start, but couldn’t keep the momentum going, thus falling flat and not being very memorable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and the author for sending me an early copy!

I genuinely enjoyed the narration of this book, as it felt incredibly genuine and realistic coming from Hellevir's thoughts and words. I also had a lot of fun with the world-building, which was very immersive and entertaining. The characterization was complex, especially of Hellevir's mother, which made the experience a lot more interesting. The way the ostracization of Hellevir's powers was represented was cleverly done, and the romance was a very enjoyable plot line. It did not feel unnecessary to the book, which often occurs in fantasy books.

DNF! The advertising and the cover of this book led me to believe that it would be a romantasy book, however, it is not and not what I was wanting out of the book. Maybe we will return to it down the line.

I really wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style. it was hard to get into for me and i kept wanting to read something different

It starts out with a promise of being an interesting story. Intriguing characters, decent world building a little bit of mystery and then it falls off and becomes depressing & riddled with death. I’m sure there’s someone out there who would adore this book, but sadly it is not me. This book also may be triggering for those with religious trauma.

I usually don’t do this, but I DNF’d this story at 16%.

There wasn’t any appalling content, besides this being a bit dark. But, my issue is how the story is written. I think the premise and idea of this story is quite interesting, but the way it’s written had me feeling disconnected from the characters and having a hard time feeling connected to the world. I often found my attention drifting, and didn’t feel pulled in. Heck we don’t even know what the main character looks like besides the fact she has black hair.

That being said the writer has promise. But I found the story to be wanting.