Review: Gilded

Gilded by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I dunno about you, but I'm sad to say that Marissa Meyer, in recent years, seems to have been losing her touch. Don't get me wrong, this latest book of hers, a welcome return to her fantasy and fairytale roots (after her strange turn toward contemporary-with-a-touch-of-magic in last year's Instant Karma), is as compulsively readable as ever - and, not unlike years past with the likes of Winter or Renegades, I spent a lot of time reading it on Thanksgiving morning while waiting for the real festivities to come. But this time, Meyer also shies away from her sci-fi roots in favor of a darker, grimmer (pun not intended) retelling, this time of Rumplestiltskin, though with the Erlking as the main villain trapping Serilda and the mysterious Gild. And while it's nice to see Meyer try something different, it's also a bit dismaying that she isn't doing it as a one-shot the way she did with Heartless in 2016 - no, this time, it's the start of yet another YA duology. (Seriously, I will never understand why the duology trend is even a thing.) Also, there's the fact that the last time I read a story with the Goblin King in it, it was S. Jae-Jones' Wintersong duology, with an increasingly gossamer-thin plot over time in favor of dreamy prose. Meyer isn't nearly as dreamlike or surreal in her story, but unfortunately, this book is far too long to have such little plot, and I'm pretty sure, looking at the list of reviews here, I'm not the only one who thinks this about Gilded. Such a shame, but hopefully the conclusion to this two-parter will prove that this one was really just little more than Prolonged Prologue.

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