Gilded

Serilda was such a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre landscape! I can’t think of a single female lead who quite feels like her. From the rich lore that surrounds her origins, to her vivid imagination, storytelling prowess, and the way she sees the world, Serilda became an instant favorite for me. Her nurturing love of the children in her care and her father are so perfectly at odds with the call to intrigue and adventure that makes up the other, more mischievous half of who she is. Watching the tug of war between these two halves of… show more.

This book, the first in a duology, combines Rumpelstiltskin with the folk myths of the Wild Hunt and the Erlking. I fell in love with the impulsive but brave main character, Serilda. A miller’s daughter who has the gift of spinning extremely tall tales, Serilda becomes a queen at the end of the book – you’ll have to read it to find out whether this is a good outcome. I was entranced by the icy, northern setting, by Serilda’s relationship with charming poltergeist Gild – who saves her skin by spinning gold from straw – and by the way the… show more.

Gilded is a book I went into not expecting the cool amount of darkness that was there. After reading Meyer’s previous books, which I also loved, I didn’t know this would be as dark as it was, yet it still contained the perfect blend of unique fantasy, a wonderful romance, and a very neat spin on Rumpelstiltskin. Even after it ended, I kept thinking about these characters.