If the ErlKing succeeds (and Serilda and Gild cannot break the curse that tethers them to the castle, or learn to utilise their unique gifts before the Endless Moon) —then the mortal realm will be forever doomed… Sailor, Craig. "Tacoma novelist hits it big with her futuristic story "Cinder" ". The News Tribune. Tacoma News - McClatchy Company. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Cursed is the highly-anticipated follow-up to Marissa Meyer's 2021-release, Gilded. I genuinely love Meyer's style of writing and her always clever take on classic stories. In my opinion, she's the queen of retellings.

awkward laugh* um sorry that was cheesy but um I've gotten my point across so... bye! *falls down the stairs and runs out the door* Haas, Shawnee (January 29, 2022). " 'The Lunar Chronicles' Series Gets Adaption From 'Ron's Gone Wrong' Animation Studio". Collider . Retrieved March 3, 2023. The start of Cursed is more sedate, overdescriptive at times, and with more quiet scenes than you'd have been expecting from how Gilded ended. En route to the Erlkönig and Serilda sealing their fate on the day of the Winter Solstice, something is bound to happen, she hopes, but so far nothing seems to be going to happen to throw a wrench into the Alder King's schemes. He and Serilda are keeping up a farce for the benefit of the whole of Adelheid, and it's not clear whether the court is buying it or not, and since nobody's helping her, Serilda is resigned. The stakes are high. Can Serilda and Gild figure out how to free themselves from the Erlking's grasp before the Endless Moon finds them cursed forever?

For half of the story I listened to the audio. Fortunately, the narrator, Rebecca Soler, is also very good. The story was easier to get through in audio format and I would recommend listening to it. In November 2021 she released Gilded, a novel based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the first in a duology. [24] It sold 9,000 copies in its first week, and was the top YA title when released. [25] The second book in the series, Cursed, was released in November 2022. Meanwhile, the Erlking is plotting revenge against the seven gods who trapped the Dark Ones behind the veil. If he succeeds, it could change the mortal realm forever. Media, Mast. "Author, alum Marissa Meyer talks 'Sailor Moon' and 'Cinder' | Mast Media" . Retrieved December 1, 2021. Fantasy Author Marissa Meyer Reveals Her Next Book Cover: Gilded". io9 . Retrieved February 27, 2021.

a b "Bestselling YA author Marissa Meyer details her career in writing". HS Insider. December 18, 2021 . Retrieved March 3, 2023. It's really exhausting, in the end. I'm not sure I'd read another retelling of hers, because even though I've enjoyed what I've read of her work so far, some more than others, I always have ended up with a sense of exhaustion after every one of them. Not elation, not the pleasure of having finished a great story, but tiredness and the feeling that I've eaten a greasy cut of beef with more fat than meat in it instead of the lean and delicious steak I sought. When a book makes you work this much to get to the point, you have to wonder if it's worth the effort, and in this case it wasn't. None of which happens! There is no love triangle, thank goodness, and the Alder King stays a bastard till the very end, thank Marissa Meyer. I'd have absolutely loathed either option, and both would've made this book my first DNF in years. That it didn't happen saved the book and made it possible for me to forgive a lot of what did happen, although not everything. The conclusion to this couldn't have been better. It felt so complete; a true 360. I loved sort of the exploration of the idea of what is in a story, folklore, legends that are passed down over generations. Is there truth in them? From where did these legends come?

In a classic power move, the Erlking forces Serilda to become his wife. He's hoping to be able to use her powers for his own gain. She plays along, mildly, as she has her own agenda going on under the Erlking's nose; keep your enemies close and all that. The second 25% is torture, 1-star in every sense. It's a mud puddle to plough through at extra slow speed. Nothing happens there, Marissa Meyer overdoes the descriptiveness even more than usual, and the writing is horrendously basic; so basic many "paragraphs" are one word or three words, no exaggeration. It's so repetitive and soporific I lost 3 days trying to wade through it and losing the battle every time, I nearly abandoned the book in this stretch, and would have if, at approximately 42%, Meyer hadn't dropped a plot bomb, the first of several to come until the end, that enlivened the dull story and made it more interesting, turning the third 25% into another 4 star read. Because of this, Gilded, pitched as a haunted retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021. Spoiler alert: it did not disappoint!!