Gilded
'The queen of fairy-tale retellings!' Booklist
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- £5.49
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
All magic comes at a price, but love was never part of the bargain . . .
The look he was giving her. Serilda had never been looked at like that before . . . The intensity.
The heat. The raw astonishment. He was going to kiss her.
Cursed by the god of lies, a miller's daughter has developed a talent for storytelling - but are all of her tales as false as they appear?
When one of Serilda's stories draws the attention of the devastating Erlking, she finds herself swept away into a world of enchantment, where ghouls prowl the earth, and ravens track her every move. The king locks Serilda in a castle dungeon and orders her to spin straw into gold, or be killed for lying. In despair, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious young man to her aid. And he agrees to help her, for a price. But love wasn't meant to be part of the bargain.
A compulsive read, and as bewitchingly good as you'd expect from a YA bestselling author. You will stay up all night reading this.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meyer (Instant Karma) explores the power of fiction in this inventive "Rumpelstiltskin" reimagining. Every full moon, the sadistic Erlking and his undead coterie enter the mortal realm to steal wandering children and hunt magical creatures. Pale-skinned Serilda Moller, 18, knows to remain indoors on such nights, but when she hears hellhounds chasing two moss maidens near her family's cabin in Marchenfeld, she feels compelled to intervene. Serilda successfully secrets the duo into the root cellar but is then confronted by the Erlking. Rather than betray the maidens, Serilda—a spellbinding storyteller with gold wheels for irises—falsely asserts that she is harvesting straw to spin into gold. The Erlking departs, but on the next full moon, abducts Serilda to his castle, where he locks her in a cell piled with hay and threatens murder if her claims prove false. Serilda is despondent until a pale, redheaded teen called Gild appears and offers to complete her impossible task—for a price. Intricate worldbuilding and star-crossed romance help temper the Erlking's brutality, and though the book is overlong, well-drawn characters will leave readers craving a sequel. Ages 12–up.
