Ratings138
Average rating3.4
I don't even know what to say. Yes I do lmao.
When I first started Gild, I was horrified not only by the absurd amount of graphic on-page sexual violence and overwhelming misogyny from every single male character, but also by the main character's Stockholm syndrome, stupidity, and whininess. Auren, who I unfortunately have to share 83% of my first name with, is one of the worst main characters I've ever had to read about. Actually, none of the characters were enjoyable. None of the plot, if you could go as far as to say that this book even had a plot, was enjoyable. This read like a glorified, drawn-out prequel or prologue, with no substance except to set up the upcoming novels. I'm trying to think of a redeemable quality this book has... it was a fast read?
I DNF'ed this book twice while reading it, first at the 10% mark and again at the 50% mark. I picked it up again twice in the hopes that the hype was real and that it would get better by the end— spoiler: it doesn't. This is a boring, shitty, awful, poorly-written book. By the 60% mark, I had lost any hope for this book and I was basically just skimming and hate-reading. Though fortunately for me, things started picking up with the pirates and the Fourth Kingdom plot— though the misogyny and sexual violence was still uncomfortably rampant.
When I finished this, out of pure wonder and curiosity for what the fuck I just read, I went down a Goodreads-TikTok-Reddit rabbit hole only to see that a lot of other people agree with me and think that this book is absolute shit. And while it feels nice to be validated in my feelings, these people have also unanimously agreed that the second, third, and so-on books get better and better and that it's worth it to push through this pile of utter garbage. So, against my better judgment and because I just can't help but be morbidly intrigued, I will be reading the next book, and maybe the book after that. At minimum it will be a hate-read to fuel my stress into. I'm done.
TL;DR: It is SO bad I wanna give it a zero, but that's not possible so I give it a one.
Edit: raising my rating a little because hindsight is an interesting thing. still the worst one in the series tho.
This is an interesting story but be wary of the content. Read trigger warnings because it is not easy to read if you are too sensitive about female rights and harassment.
This book is quite slow and dealt with a lot of Auren's (FMC) inner thoughts. But I understand that as the pilot book, the author is still building the world in our minds and introducing us to the characters. I just didn't like that the Auren was like a damsel in distress here but I hope her character grows more in the coming books. She did grow balls over the last few chapters, but I hope there's more.
In my opinion, it was written beautifully. It was not as simple or as crude as some of the dark romance books I've read, to the point that the spicy scenes were already cringey. Raven Kennedy wrote this book in a way that balances elegance and spice.
Will start reading Glint now!
Gild was quite a ride and I was stranded, left without a saddle. While the description on Amazon does include a trigger warning for the monstrous things that are present in this story, the book (Kindle Edition) does not. I was unfortunate enough to not have seen the trigger warning when buying the book as it's hidden at the very end of the blur. Whoops!
For what it's worth Gild treats the subject matter well. It is not glamorizing sexual assault, it's very clearly written from a perspective of someone suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. The descriptors use could be less vulgar but that's more of a personal preference.
The problem of Gild is that it is an amazing story that has been butchered, cut apart, and strung up to look like erotica. All the fantasy aspects are for all intents and purposes useless. Removing all of the ‘spicy' elements would change nothing.
“The myth of King Midas reimagined.”
everything
Gild
I don’t know how I feel about Gild. The author writes in a unique and interesting style, and the fantasy world they create, along with the magic system, is definitely one of a kind. However, that world is absolutely drenched in some of the most disgusting representations of patriarchy I’ve ever seen. Luckily, it’s not romanticized, otherwise I would have DNF’d the series immediately.
It does end on an intriguing cliffhanger, but I’m still not seeing what makes this book so addicting or enthralling to justify the amount of hype it’s received, let alone warrant five more books. While it has some great aspects, I’m not entirely sold on the overall appeal yet.
Good story and I like the FMC and MMC.
But the writing is not so good and in general book 1+2 did not have a lot of story, could have been just one.
Summary of book #1:
You get a little back story of FMC and King Midas. He then schemes himself into another kingdom and travels there - with Auren coming later. They are ambushed by the red pirates who then sell them (involuntarily) to commander Rip of 4th kingdom.
Otro audiolibro que me escucho, a ver cuanto puedo escuchar hasta que se me acaben los 30 días libres de Podimo. Básicamente me lo he escuchado pq lo tenía pendiente y estaba disponible en Podimo, pero cuando lo empecé estuve a nada de dejarlo, pensé: ¿qué coño estoy escuchando? Pero dije bueno, seguro que mejora, osea lo veía recomendado en muchos videos, no puede gustarle a tanta gente y ser tan malo. Spoiler: no mejoró. Lo malo es que aunque no me haya gustado me ha dejado con el gusanillo de si mejorará en los siguientes y qué piensa hacer la autora JAJAJSJA. Y como me viene bien el formato audiolibro porque trabajando en otras cosas mientras lo escucho creo que me escucharé el siguiente.
2.5 ⭐️'s
The start to this book was rough. It almost deterred me from reading the rest but I'm kinda glad I trudged through. It wasn't an amazing book by any means but it was somewhat enjoyable. I am left with a lot of questions and confusion but for a fantasy book this was a pretty short read so maybe the rest of the series will answer those questions? That's if I decide to continue. I have a lot of issues with Midas and Auren's relationship, giving Tampon from the ACOTR series but so much worse, I really hope we are supposed to hate Midas in the end. I also found Auren absolutely awful for so much of this book she only gets slightly less terrible towards the end. There's a few other gripes but it's giving knock off Sarah J. Maas but worse.
Ok the first 2/3rds of this book I was on a struggle bus and as I tried to hop off things started getting fun!
Читайте на свій страх і ризик. Просто маса образ в сторону жінок. Ба більше “образа” - занадто м'яке слово, щоб описати, що тут відбувається.
Revenge porn with little plot
It is supposed to be a retelling of the Greek king Midas whose touch turned everything to gold. I liked the premise but was aware that this book was supposed to contain smut.
I understand that quite a large following in the book community likes spicy books. Personally, I don't care for them but wouldn't want to miss out on a good book simply because of smut. Oh boy, but this was not the one.
The book starts off without much exposition as to characters, places, setting, legends etc. Not necessarily bad. Anything is first mentioned directly as a major element without previous hints to it. Instead, after their first naming, we have sort of a hindsight story. Maybe this was a conscious choice and thus stylistic device, I don't know but I was certainly taken out of the little story that did evolve in those moments.
The thing is, that this happens maybe a total of three times - because nothing happens in this book! (I'm not kidding, actual plot only starts at about 80%)
Most of the plot is just sex scenes, including straight up sexual assault and rape so heed the trigger warning in the beginning (without page numbers, then again most of it is a giant swinger rape party or thinking of them).
At times, the story tries to paint sex work as a feministic thing and fails miserably to actually get this message across. Any character relation (also between female characters) at which is hinted feels unhealthy or stereotypical with no character development.
I'm not quite sure if I even want to continue reading the next books. What little plot did happen, has potential for a modernised Midas retelling. I could get behind the idea that the book wanted to paint. Just not sure if I can stomach through another book of the same style.
Gild is book 1 in the Plated Prisoner Series by Raven Kennedy. It is wonderful and horrifying all at the same time. Wonderful because the world building and character development was great. Horrifying because Auren literally lives in a cage. The more I read, the more horrified I became for Auren, and I think that is part of what makes this a great book.
I really felt the despair and hopelessness coming off Auren in waves throughout her time in the cage. It was such a good depiction of emotional abuse and an extremely controlling relationship. I mean, the book starts off with Auren being made to watch Midas have an orgy with his royal saddles (another term for harem)!! What a fucked up guy he is, and I love it so much.
Midas was written so well, another golden man who appears wonderful but is actually horrible inside. Hidden behind his golden persona lies an absolutely wretched man, thriving off manipulating and controlling a woman for his gain and her capture (aka protection in the book).
I mean her nickname is his favored, his precious. He has people travel from far and wide to look at her and he parades her in front of them like a prized trophy.. like holy shit I am offended for her. Poor Auren doesn’t even know how bad this is, she has been manipulated so much.
My favorite characters in Gild are Digby and Sail, hands down. I love them so much! I really loved the interactions between Auren and each of them as the book went on, it was so sweet.
Gild has a lot of misogynistic, horrible, disgusting men, and while it was awful to read about what they said and did, I think it added another layer to the book that made it better. The differences between the awful men and the good men were starkly obvious. While I wish no person ever had to endure SA of any kind, I think Auren’s fear of it upped the tension in the book and made me more invested. I did not want that to happen to her or any of the characters, and when they were in danger of it I could not put the book down.
Finally, towards the end we meet the Fourth Kingdom’s army, along with Rip – the commander. Can’t wait to read more of him….
Overall, Gild by Raven Kennedy was a great start to the Plated Prisoner series, and I am diving straight into the next one. I would recommend this book for sure!
Originally posted at woarr.com.
I have lots of thoughts
It was a 3.5⭐️ kind of story so overall not bad
‼️Very mild spoilers ahead
At first I was really confused about the direction this book was taking. It was kind of slow and I didn't really know what was going on buuuutttt I did love the world this was set in. It's very interesting and different
I was told this was going to be a romance so I searched for main love interest energy in literally all the male characters that were even slightly elaborated but i'm pretty sure I know who it is now.
Midas is the biggest bitch ever and I have no desire to get to know him better. Sail has my heart and had literally the most enjoyable dialogues in this book until he didn't. And then there's Fane which I won't even elaborate on his miserable existence. Rip is giving redeemable book boyfriend vibes and that's what i'm going to hold on to cause I do want to read the second book.
I finished this book in about two days; the hold it had on me immense that I could not stop thinking about it.
To get it out of the way, was this the most spectacular writing? No, but that's not what I wanted or needed. It was easy to read, and kept me sucked into the final page. I saw some complaints that the middle was not good and braced myself for it, but I loved the whole of it.
♤
When I first picked up this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised and fell in love with it. The storyline, great. The characters, relatable and enticing, I especially have my eye on Commander Rip.Thankfully I bought the second book of the series “Glint” so I can continue reading. I definitely recommend this book to be added to your TBR.4.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I've been putting off reading this book. Don't know why, I really enjoyed it.
The first chapter starts with a literal orgy, so if you don't want to read something like that, skip this book.
I don't know why, but I feel like Rissa is up to more. She isn't as innocent as she appears. Also, my guess right now is that Midas is working with that fae dude to get Auren back. Or she is going to bang the hell out of fae dude. No idea yet.
For more of my reviews, check out my blog.
I wasn't sure if I really wanted to read this series or not, to be totally honest with you. It had been recommended to me a few times simply because it is eventually fantasy romance, even if it doesn't start out that way. (In case you didn't know, I am on a quest to read the best fantasy romance books out there so I can write a nice big recommendation post for you all. So far, I have only a handful of winners, and a lot of really mediocre books.) My hesitancy was simply because there is on page sexual assault, rape, and violence. I'm not one to promote that sort of thing, and well, dark romance isn't my jam. You all should know how I feel about that sort of thing by now. But my friends kept telling me to read The Plated Prisoner series. It's free on Kindle Unlimited, so it's not like I'm wasting my money on this or anything. Might be worth a shot, right?
Well, I read it in one day. A matter of hours, really. It's excessively readable, even if it's really dark. I enjoyed what I read today, even if I really could have done without the on page rape. Gild is about Auren, King Midas's favorite whore. She is his favorite of all the others, so much so that he turned her into living gold. That's right, she's entirely gold, except for her teeth, eyes, and tongue. Needless to say, she's living something of a pampered, but hellish life. I liked Auren — you're supposed to — but damn did I want her to stand up for herself even more than she already does. I wanted her to try harder with the other women, but I understand why they hate her. I hope eventually we'll see Auren with a female friend.
So why am I rating this one as low as I did, if I enjoyed it? Well, the world building was mediocre at best — I really wanted a map, or just more about the world where this is set. It's clearly not earth, but I have no idea other than that. The lack of female companionship bothered me a lot too — I know Auren was kept on a gilded pedestal, but I hate it when main female characters are the ONLY female character around. Especially in fantasy books. Give me more women!
So, yeah, I'll keep reading this series, because I do want to see where the romance comes from. I actually have no idea who the love interest will be, but I'm really hoping it's not Midas.
J'ai téléchargé l'extrait (le premier chapitre) par curiosité. Pour voir si le style d'écriture me convenait.
J'ai été emporté dans l'histoire dès les premières pages, du coup à la fin du premier chapitre, il me fallait la suite !
Je l'ai acheté et dévoré. À 22 h il était terminé.
Pourtant dès la première page, ça commence par une orgie. Je me suis dit “ Oh boy, encore un roman ou à part du c** il n'y a rien”. J'avais tort.
Points positifs :
- L'héroine est attachante et cohérente dans ses actions du début à la fin
- Le worldbuilding est progressif, on ne vous balance pas pleins d'info dès les 50 premières pages
- La plume est agréable et fluide
- Le récit est original, je n'en dirais pas plus pour ne pas spoiler
Point négatif :
- 1er tome un peu court et qui termine sur un cliffhanger.
3.5 Stars
Lots of world building and getting to know Auren. I can't wait to read the next one.
Not a genre I usually read but thoroughly enjoyed this page turner.
An intriguing tale of King Midas and his favoured Auren.
Ends on a cliffhanger though.
4.5 stars
So I wasn't expecting most of the last like, 20% of the book or more! Very surprising. I was not expecting this book to have so much heart, but it did. Loved it.
It is a little in your face with the on-the-page SA and R. But it adds to the story mostly, so I'm not against it- it isn't gratuitous I don't think.
There is a lot of misogyny to unpack, so be prepared for these TWs and you'll enjoy it, I am sure!