Gilded

Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller’s daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue.

Or so everyone believes.

When one of Serilda’s outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her… for a price.

Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.

I think that I can safely say that Rumplestiltskin is one of my favourite fairy tales for the purposes of adapting. I’ve not read any bad ones yet and hope for that to remain.

I really enjoyed Serilda as a protagonist. She had been blessed/cursed by a god and this had haunted her for her whole life but I liked how she managed to turn this to her advantage. I liked the relationship she had with her father and the children in her village. She was somewhat shunned by the other adults but she seemed to be a good egg, just feared through no fault of her own.

The mysterious stranger who came to Serilda’s aid was a bit of a scamp. He was a nice boy but he was also a bit of a trickster and liked a bit of chaos. He was hiding his own secrets and they both came as quite a surprise! I really enjoyed the twists!

The setting of this book was gloriously gothic. There was a creepy castle, spooky woods, ghostly hunts. I absolutely loved the dark atmosphere of this book.

The castle was so interesting. When Serilda would arrive, to spin that golden thread, the castle was stunning and opulent. By morning, the castle was crumbling and inhabited by ghouls that were not best pleased for a mortal to be strolling around the castle. It was truly haunted.

I both loved and hated the Erlking. He was a perfect baddie! He was fierce and terrifying. He could only come to the mortal world when the veil between worlds was lifted, at that point he would go for his ghostly hunts and take no prisoners.

I really enjoyed the intrigue that this book gave me. I wanted to know more about Serilda’s gift/curse. What happened to her mother? What was happening with Gilt? Would the villagers be safe?

Enjoyed this book so much that I instantly started reading the second book in the duology…however it’s been a wee while and I just haven’t felt compelled to pick it back up. I absolutely loved this book but I’m not enjoying the second instalment, this could very easily have been a standalone novel.

While this book was inspired by a well known fairy tale, it truly made the story it’s own!

This book took a well known fairy tale but truly did make it their own.