"Gilded"

More horror than fantasy, but the ending has more twists than any Grimm fairytale. Need the sequel ASAP.

Summary:

A blessing or a curse, Serilda was born with a literal god-given talent for storytelling. While her lies have made her the town bad luck charm, they also get bring her adventure. When the Erlking, a supernatural hunter who obtains the souls of ghosts and ghouls, happens upon her doorstep, Serilda lies her way out by saying she can spin straw to gold. What she didn't expect was that the ghoulish king would want her to spin for him. The Erlking takes Serilda to his castle in the netherworld to test her abilities, yet a boy (neither ghost nor human) happens to have the gift Serilda lied about. With his assistance, she may just make it through this ordeal, but can they keep up their charade when the Erlking calls again?

Verdict: 7/10

Marissa Meyer is fantastic at reshaping fairytales as her Lunar Chronicles series was one of my favorites. However, that was more futuristic whereas this story is a blast to the medieval past. And while Lunar Chronicles focused on very familiar stories, Gilded (besides having a loose basis on Rumpelstiltskin) involves much more germanic folklore that is harder to recognize.

The writing was fine, and the story was action-packed - but I had trouble connecting to this Grimm world and wasn't particularly engaged with monsters like nachtkrapp or drudes. It just didn't hit home.

And while the mythology wasn't familiar, the plot points felt like I'd heard them before. Not sure why falling in love with a ghost seems predictable, but the romance really felt cliche and forced. I could spot that intended sideline a mile away.

And spoiler alert, if the main character promises her firstborn child and happens to have sex in the same scene, it's not going to surprise me when she ends up pregnant. It's too obvious a plot point. Spoiler ended.

What wasn't obvious was how many twists that plot point would cause at the end! Whatever faults the beginning of the book had was all worth it for the last scenes. I stayed up late into the night reading the last hundred pages (haven't done that in a while). All the dull points suddenly came together in a diabolic race to the finish. I was left gaping by the final reveal and begging for a sequel. It's a killer cliffhanger! I can't wait to see where the story goes from here. So many questions!

I also continually respect Meyer for not making her stories a glitzy fairytale. Like the true Brothers Grimm, this story is dark and full of nightmarish haunts. Hollywood gave them happy endings; Meyer gave us a throwback to the real spooky feel.

In summary, push through the unfamiliar or dreary to get to the ending. You won't be disappointed... Unless the sequel doesn't resolve these side-plots like the questions of her mother or what's in the cage upstairs. Then it will all be for nothing (like the Game of Thrones ending). Only the next installment will determine that.