Glow
"Oh Goldfinch, I would've found you in whatever world you were in. In whatever life."
I'm going to ask a very unpopular question, and I want no hate, please. I'm going to preface this question by saying I love ACOTAR, I've devoured the entire universe and I'm patiently waiting for more.
Why is ACOTAR the pinnacle of romantasy and not The Plated Prisoner series? This series is so slept on... the writing is excellent, the characters are well-formed and interesting, and the pages fly by. Why is no one else talking about this series? It's like ACOTAR is the Marsha Brady of romantasy books.
I'm over it! I'm here to ask... no, beg every romantasy reader to pick up Gild and tell me it's not as good (if not better) than ACOTAR. Please and thank you.
This is book four in the series, and we're missing Auren for the first twenty-five percent of the book. Slade had to rot her in order to get her to stop using her powers and gilding everything in sight. He managed to pull most of the rot out of her, but there's still a tiny kernel left behind (this will be important later). He takes Auren's comatose body into an underground cave shelter where he's built a home.
While Auren is crashed out recovering, we learn more about Slade's childhood, his dynamic with his brother Ryatt, and we get plenty of dialogue from the Wrath. The Wrath is basically Raven Kennedy's answer to The Bat Boys, just with some female energy thrown in for funsies. One of the Wrath members, Osrik is obsessed with Auren's frenemy Rissa. He's down bad for the former saddle.
Auren finally wakes up and starts physical therapy (after sexually attacking- in a good way- Slade's body). Since losing her ribbons, her body is thrown off balance, and she needs to relearn how to defend herself. She's also working on getting a better handle on her magic, to prevent another gold crash out episode.
Meanwhile, politics are at play. There are lots of rumors going around that Auren killed Midas and stole his power. There are also rumors that she killed Prince Niven, and the Queen of the Third Kingdom, Kaila Ioana wants revenge. She planned on marrying Midas and living a gilded happily ever after. She wants Auren punished for the murder.
Speaking of queens, Midas's ex-wife Queen Malina is still alive and kicking, and hanging out with some weird magician named Pruinn who has her on a journey. She's not loving the journey, she's used to living in the lap of luxury, and she's thrilled when they finally arrive at a palace with twins named Fassa and Friano. Malina, girl... haven't you ever heard you need to beware of creepy old buildings and twins?
Anyway, Auren is getting stronger and getting a handle on her magic. She and Slade are also taking frequent advantage of naked time in the hot springs. Slade finally explains how he got his nickname "Rip". One night during an ugly family argument, Slade used his rot to tear a metaphysical rip in the air, and send him, his mom, and his brother into the underneath cavern.
Slade receives a summons letting him know the other kingdoms want to put Auren on trial for Midas's murder. He resists. Then, Kaila's brother Manu comes to Slade's kingdom to try and reason with him. Slade realizes the other kingdoms are going to stop trading and cut off resources to his kingdom unless Auren agrees to the trial.
Auren is about ready to agree, when she and Rissa are ambushed in the gardens. Auren is kidnapped and Rissa is stabbed. Osrik loses it, thinking Rissa is dead. Thankfully she's just mostly dead.
Slade is big mad and takes off to find Auren. From here, it gets very Game of Thrones. He arrives just as Auren is sentenced to die. It's bad enough people think she stole Midas's power, but the tiny bit of rot still lingering inside of her shows up in her gold, and people assume she is stealing Slade's power as well. She's literally being stabbed to death just as Slade shows up and rots everything. Or, almost everything. One of the royal children makes a spider web around Auren's enclosure and Slade can't get past it. So, he uses all his power to fashion another rip for Auren to disappear inside of. She doesn't want to go, she's convinced she and Slade will never see each other again (don't worry girl, we've got two books to finish. Something tells me you'll be reuniting). Auren falls through the rip, and into a new land.
Remember the creepy twins and the equally creepy magician? Yeah. They use Malina's powers to help rebuild The Bridge of Lemuria, a bridge between the fae land, and the human world. She had made a bargain to help restore what was broken. Like an idiot, she assumed it was her castle. But in fact, it was the bridge.
Another solid book in the series, and thanks to the action in the hot springs, this book is a Habanero. That's really saying something, considering Auren was asleep for the first quarter of the book. Stay tuned to find out what shenanigans ensue in book five!
xoxo,
Feed Me Romance














