ARC Review: Cursed by Marissa Meyer (Gilded #2)

Goodreads synopsis:

It isn’t true, she wanted to whisper. To lean forward and nuzzle her cheek against his temple. To press him against the wall and mold her body to his. I am not his. I will never be his.

Serilda and Gild cannot break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid’s haunted castle. There they remain trapped for eternity. On the night of the Endless Moon, the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and so be reunited with his lover, Perchta, who has been banished to the underworld.

But it soon becomes clear that the Erlking’s hunger for vengeance won’t be satisfied with a single wish, and his true intentions have the power to alter the mortal realm forever.

Serilda and Gild have no choice but to thwart his plans, all the while solving the mystery of Gild’s forgotten name, and freeing all the ghosts kept in servitude to the dark ones. As the evil forces gather, it seems only their love is strong enough to sustain them . . .

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*May contain minor spoilers for book one. Check out my review for Gilded here.

My thoughts:

After the cliffhanger ending of Gilded, I was desperate to know what would happen. This was probably my most anticipated read of the year.

Firstly, the pacing. After the ending of Gilded, I expected this to be quite fast-paced and action-packed. It’s the concluding novel in the duology. But this book takes a slower pace. It really felt like filler for the most part.

It was overly descriptive to the point where it just takes away from the plot. I like pretty descriptions and vivid writing, which was what I liked in the first book. It felt like a fairytale. However, this takes it too far. The descriptions overtake the plot and the characters. It slowed the pace too much, this sequel would’ve benefitted from some urgency in the pacing.

I found myself really bored through the first half. It took so long for stuff to happen and for the story to pick up. It didn’t feel like a final book.

The plot – as I said before is very slow and overpowered by the descriptions.
It had some interesting elements but overall pretty predictable. As it is a fairytale retelling, the plot is going to be a little predictable as they tend to follow a formula.

I did like the dark elements, it’s one of the darkest YA fantasies I’ve read. It really feels like the classic fairytales in that aspect, which I enjoyed!
How the Rumpelstiltskin aspect wraps up and the origin in the story was a nice twist. I loved the history side and the mystery of Gild – those parts were less predictable. I did guess Serilda’s mother, that didn’t surprise me at all. It was well foreshadowed, not sure if it was easily predictable or I’m just a good guesser haha.

The ending – It did have some good moments once the pace picked up and some action took place. The ending wrapped things up nicely, it took a while to get there but the ending was sweet. As it is a fairytale retelling, it did end with the happily ever after as you would expect.

Overall, I’m a bit disappointed. I expected more. It was just an okay read. I was hoping for a new favourite but alas, it did not make it. I think if the filler parts of Gilded and Cursed were taken out and these two books combined, it could’ve been an amazing standalone.

Rating: 2.75 – 3 Stars

Cursed is out tomorrow! (November 8th)
You can get these beautiful copies with sprayed edges now!

*Cursed was gifted by the publisher. All views are my own.