Gilded - Marissa Meyer

Book: Gilded
Author: Marissa Meyer
Releasedate: 2nd of November, 2021

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.

Ooooh boy... If you have been following my reviews for a while, you must know that I love the way Marissa alters the fairytales and makes them into her own splendid versions. And she has done it again!

This story has the base of the fairytale of Rumpelstiltskin. And it took me quite some time to figure out how this fairytale fitted in her story, but as the story progresses the puzzle pieces slowly fall into their place. We see Marissa conjuring up a story with so much more detail and worldbuilding then the original story beholds and I think that is magnificent.

The only, really only thing that bugged me was... Why did she use German and Dutch names as a mix in this story? Isn't the story of Rumpelstiltskin of German origin? I am aware, as a Dutch person myself, that Americans tend to mix up Germans and Dutch people, which is still highly affronting for most of us. *cough WWII* So I was confused to read German and Dutch names in the story. I don't know if it was done deliberilately, because I can't imagine not getting your research straight if you start writing. 

But, overall, I really loved it and I am genuinly frustrated that I need to wait until November to read the next book! She left us on such a cliffhanger! Her writing style is easy as always and it was really hard for me to put the book down.