Part of me was a bit let down- but not because of the quality of writing! Personally, I just wasn't super into the characters and the plot in this one. I absolutely love this series and Kennedy still does an amazing job with the plot and the characters. She did an amazing job leading up to book 6 and although I didn't really love the character focus in Gold, I do understand the importance of this book in the series. I'll compare it to Tower of Dawn in the Throne of Glass series by SJM, or even A Feast for Crows by GRRM. Still great books, just not enough of the characters I personally love.
With that being said, the last 15% really heated up and got me so excited for the next book! Osrik is by far my absolute favourite character and I love reading his POV and watching his character develop!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read and review Gold by Raven Kennedy!

I loved this book so much and couldn’t read it fast enough! I really enjoyed the world that Raven Kennedy created and I cannot wait to see where the story takes us in the coming books. 5/5 star read for me!

4 ⭐ 2 🌶

Holy cow that was long, but so good. It felt a bit like a book two of a trilogy, the bridge book, one where simultaneously nothing and so much happens... But it was absolutely worth the read.

The beginning is a little slow and took me a while to read, but the end had me so hooked. The last 5-10% I particular was intense af. I originally planned on putting this down at midnight and ended up staying up til just after 2am to finish. The cliffhanger may unalive me as we wait for Goldfinch...

I think one of my favorite parts of this book were the secondary romances and somehow coming to like Malina. Os and Rissa have my whole dang heart and Malina and her assassin are getting there as well. I'm so excited to see how these play out in the finale.

Is it September 24th yet?

okayyyy raven kennedy i see you fantasy world! this is honestly exactly what you’d expect from a fantasy romance series. while it wont exactly knock your socks off, it did exactly what it intended to do and i def think if you’re a fan of the genre you should consider giving this series a go!

This series has easily drawn me in and captivated me from page 1 all the way until the very last page of Gold. It is one of the best romant-asy series in existence. The cliffhanger at the end has me feeling as though I exist within a gilded cage... Waiting for Goldfinch to set me free up on its release.

“𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐈’𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟. 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞.”

Gold is a romantasy and book 5 in the Plated Prisoner Series. I love these characters and the world they reside in, but I did not love this installment. I went into this expecting to love it, but I found myself bored throughout the majority of the story.

I did love Slade’s chapters and enjoyed him getting revenge, but since that’s basically all he did throughout the entire book, it eventually got old. Oddly enough, Malina’s chapters were the ones I enjoyed the most and while I found it a bit unnecessary to give her a love story, I did enjoy it. Her redemption arc was a high point. I was excited to see Auren on her own in a new place, but her chapters really only had me hooked near the end and the ending just had me throwing my hands in the saying yelling really?!? There’s already so much left for these characters to overcome with only one more book in the series to go and I felt the ending was just yet another unnecessary obstacle thrown at them.

I will be reading the final book when it releases and still have high hopes that the author will deliver a great conclusion. But this installment felt very much like a filler novel. 3⭐️

“𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫.”

This whole series has been such a fun fantasy read! Each book has been solid, the world building was great, the story is very character driven and the pacing is medium. There are some chapters that are full of action and some that are a little more fillery. But that ones that feel like filler usually have a callback later. I don’t really mind this because I think it’s a good mix of both, but I have seen other reviews complain about this.

I feel similar about the multiple POVs as I did while reading SJM’s TOG series…there’s definitely some characters I like better than others, but I don’t think Kennedy wants us to love every character all the time. Think Manon and her character arc during TOG.

The last 30% of the book absolutely flew by! I’ve noticed this with the last couple books in the series, they pick up at the cliffhanger from the previous book, start out fast, then there’s big long exposition and the climax tends to happen around the 2/3 or 3/4 mark, which leads you right to a massive cliffhanger. Every. Single. Time. I have such a love/hate relationship with these types of endings…especially when the following book hasn’t been released yet. Good news is the next book comes out in about two months, so I’ve definitely already preordered it.

In this book specifically, Slade and Auren are separated in different worlds, desperate to reunite, but juggling the politics and rebellions in each world. The plot is building to a massive war that will probably peak in the next book, so this one ends with the main characters in peril. I really can’t wait to see how Kennedy wraps up this series; it’s been such a fun journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

As much as I love these characters it took me a bit to get through this book, the main characters are separated through the whole book and while we get to see multiple point of views throughout the book it just seemed to drag on a little. It is difficult to truly enjoy a love story when the lovers are never together Definitely excited to read the last book and see everything come together!

This is such a strong series, I don't think there has been a single book in it that wasn't excellent. That said, this is probably the weakest as there were a lot of different things happening and a lot being set up - leading to yet another really dramatic and action packed ending! Cannot wait for the final book!

Thank you to the publisher for sending a copy to review

I've struggled with this series since book one, but I really felt that the series was ramping up into something good after book four. Getting into book five, I feel a little let down, like this was simply a filler book with little to nothing that actually fed the plot but instead slowed it down to the point where reading it felt like a waste of time to me.

The writing was good and definitely enjoyable in the way it was written but the content really let me down this time around!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

Raven Kennedy does it again with ANOTHER amazing book. Thank goodness it picked up right where Glow left off because that cliffhanger was brutal. I am SO SO SO excited for Goldfinch. I NEED THE LAST BOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW!

A few of my favorite quotes:
"I love him with a fierceness that goes beyond the heart, and so I will ache and leak and grieve until he finds me. And he will find me."
“When you feel swallowed by the dark, may you become your own light.”
“Pair, you and I. Päyur, you and I.”

Thank you NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books for the ARC of this title!

Thank you to Bloom, Raven Kennedy, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Gold in exchange for my honest review.

The name of the game is character development. In many ways, gold feels reminiscent of Gild, where Auren needs to once again go on a self-growth journey and figure out who she is without Slade by her side. Gold picks up right where Glow left off, with Auren and Slade separated, and no easy way to get back together. Both are forced to go on their own journeys for the series to end the way it needs to. As much as I despise the fact that the two were separated in this book. I do recognize the necessity. Slade needed to get out his anger, and then be forced to recognize that he needs to put himself and his kingdom first, even if he does not like it (in fact he hates it). Auren needed to learn who she was without a man at her side. Auren has never had the luxury of being independent, and even with Slade, she still was not always her person. This book is about Auren coming into her out. It is about Malina, whom we also following, learning how to get past the "cold queen" facade and step into being a leader. This book is about character development, and honestly, it was essential.

I truly enjoyed reading Gold. I put of reading it for so long because I knew I was going to hate the wait between Gold and Goldfinch. Currently, that wait is only going to be two months, but it feels like forever. This is not the biggest of the cliffhangers that Kennedy left us with, but it is an important one. A lot of work was done in this book that is now seemingly undone. I want to know what happened to Auren, and what Slade will do when he realizes what was done to her. I also need to know more about Wick. There is more to the story there; I don't know exactly what that story is. I have so many questions that I desperately need answers to. I cannot wait to see where Kennedy takes us after this book.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝔾𝕠𝕝𝕕
The Plated Prisoner series
Book 5
𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗱𝘆
Fantasy
640 pages

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs
Auren finds herself back in Annwyn, a place she was taken from as a child. There she is in the fight of her life.
Queen Malina finds herself changing as she comes to terms with the fact she needs to improve her attitude with a bit of help from the shadows.

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs
Gold is an emotionally traumatic read. The fighting is intense. The characters are addictive in both a love and hate-filled way. The whole story is captivating from beginning to end.

Annwyn laid the foundation for so much of the plot. Bringing Auren back home was perfect in my eyes. Queen Malina is a large part of the story as well, which leads to what is happening with Auren.

Raven brought so much to this story: drama, action-packed scenes, romance, and the dynamics of family relationships.
The last part of the book is packed full of jaw-droppers. The ending made me gasp. Can you say cliffhanger?

💕Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

I will always admire Raven's ability to create such an intricate world for this series. In this book we're taken from Orea to Annwyn, the Fae realm. We're introduced to a new cast of characters and get to follow along where book 4 ended with the ones we've already come to love.

While I enjoyed this book, I did feel that there were parts that were very much filler and feel that a lot of this could have either been condensed or combined with book 4. There's a lot of loose threads that I thought would be resolved in this book, and while some were addressed (like Mist), they weren't completely resolved. Hopeful to see that those get addressed in the final book and aren't just a loose thread that's lost to the rest of the plot.

Speaking of the plot, there is a LOT going on. You're essentially following 4 different plot lines. Auren in Annwyn trying to get to Slade and helping the rebels, Slade trying to get to Auren and going on a rampage through Orea, Malina in Annwyn discovering herself and (slightly?) redeeming herself, and the fae vs Oreans contention. Even though there are a lot of things going on, at no point did I feel that anything was too difficult to follow. That's a credit to Raven's writing and her skill at storytelling. Several of these plot points also managed to merge in key places.

Where Glow allowed Auren to grow as a character and discover she was with Slade, I wish we had seen a bit more of who she was on her own. Every decision she makes here is driven by her desires to return to Slade. While I can understand this, I wish there had been more independent thought process.

We see a lot of Queen Malina. A LOT. She does redeem herself a bit in this book, and she did surprise me, but I also just don't care for her storyline for there to have been that MUCH of her. A lot of her chapters could have easily been condensed to be shorter and this goes back to the feeling that a lot of this was just filler.

Overall, a great continuation and very clear setup for the final book.

So far my least favorite of the series. And I really like this series! But this book falls into the hole of ‘let’s separate our two main characters and have them travel around with other people while giving useless POVs as breaks’ trope. And I hate that. Feels very second lord of the rings or final Harry Potter.

There was filler in the previous book too and a lot of filler in this that if they were edited down to the actually important stuff we would have one less book but a really good book.

As mentioned Slade and Auren are separated for all of this book. Each is traveling around doing crap. Slade’s POV was actually good because he was getting revenge for what happened to Auren in the last book. But a lot of her POV was so boring. Just a bunch of traveling and her trying to figure out the fae world.

We also get some other PoVs too. Dont care about Ostrick his story isn’t super necessary. Don’t care about Malina while some of what happens to her is important we didn’t really need her POV to learn it and honestly I don’t love her redemption arc. She deserves to suffer and die let’s not make her a hero.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I enjoyed this book as I’ve enjoyed much of this series, I love how raven kennedy writes romantasy so seamlessly. But this installment does suffer from a bit of slump not unusual for mid-series lead up to the finale kind of book like this is. Could’ve been shorter, got a little too slow, but obviously still ate it up and can’t wait for that finale.

Absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much for this ARC opportunity, I have been waiting to read this one after seeing everyone’s reactions, including my husband and best friend and decided to leave it closer to book 6 and thank the gods I did. This was an absolute rollercoaster full of emotion and depth and development. It was a hard read and took me a while to get through it but it’s soooo good and I can’t wait t for the epic finale coming our way. A fantastic series overall

3.5⭐️3🌶️

Book 5
Adult Romantic Fantasy
Dark Romantasy
Multi POV
King Midas Reimagining
Fae
War
Separation
Revenge
Rebellion
Secondary POV slow burn
Redemption



I waited too long and have forgotten basically everything. But I’m almost glad I did. The recap was drawn out, but by chapter 10 I remembered what I needed to remember with a few little helpful parts. But for the most part this was a slow paced book. RK was comfortable skipping long periods of time between POV chapters in her previous books… I’m not sure why this one had to include every second.

This was a heavily side character building book. It felt like filler for the over arching plot and main characters. For a 600 page book… that’s not a good thing. We get a redemption arc and romance for one character. We get Auren’s backstory. We get some world-building in the fae realm… but we don’t get resolution to anything.

There is one spicy scene between side characters and it really was out of nowhere and not good timing. At. All. Like normally grey timing… which I guess fits, but it still gave me the ick.

There is quite a bit of repetitive internal monologue. Nothing new for the series with that.

But the ending plot twist is interesting. I will finish the series.

The Plated Prisoner Series Book Reviews:
Gild- 4⭐️3🌶️
Glint- 4⭐️2🌶️
Gleam- 4⭐️4🌶️
Glow-3.5⭐️4+🌶️
Gold-3.5⭐️3🌶️
Goldfinch- August 29th, 2024

Thank you NetGalley and Sorcebooks Bloom Books for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Raven Kennedy has done it once more! She dragged me back into her amazing world of Anwynn and made a 752 page book feel fast! First off this book was SO sad. But obviously in the best way, as you’re back in a new adventure with Auren and Slade! Auren is still in her journey of understanding who she is, while Slade is all about being in his villain era! (Which is wickedly delicious!!) Kennedy has always had the ability to seamlessly blend fantasy and romance into books so perfectly, that you can’t help but close them wanting more! I cannot WAIT for Goldfinch, to see how she wraps this series up! (But at the same time I don’t want it to end!!)

Favorite quote: “If there is ever a choice between her or the world, it’s going to be her.”

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book! I have loved the series and had already planned on purchasing “Gold” before I was given the opportunity to read it. I am glad however that I did get to read it as I know our library members are going to love this book as much as they have loved the series. Excited to add Gold to our collection!