Gilded (The Gilded, #1)

by Christina Farley

Sixteen-year-old Jae Hwa Lee is a Korean-American girl with a black belt, a deadly proclivity with steel-tipped arrows, and a chip on her shoulder the size of Korea itself. When her widowed dad uproots her to Seoul from her home in L.A., Jae thinks her biggest challenges will be fitting into a new school and dealing with her dismissive Korean grandfather. Then she discovers that a Korean demi-god, Haemosu, has been stealing the soul of the oldest daughter of each generation in her family for centuries. And she’s next.

But that’s not Jae’s only problem.

There’s also Marc. Irresistible and charming, Marc threatens to break the barriers around Jae’s heart. As the two grow closer, Jae must decide if she can trust him. But Marc has a secret of his own—one that could help Jae overturn the curse on her family for good. It turns out that Jae’s been wrong about a lot of things: her grandfather is her greatest ally, even the tough girl can fall in love, and Korea might just be the home she’s always been looking for.

• ISBN10: 1477810978
• ISBN13: 9781477810972
• Publish Date: 1 March 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Skyscape
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Chelsea]

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. A year ago I would have loved it but now that I know a lot more about Korea it felt really fake. It felt like the author maybe visited Korea once and just did the bare minimum research. Only the very basics of South Korea were mentioned and I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to learn anything new. If you’re new to South Korea it’s a decent starting point but honestly you could do much better. Plus it didn’t even feel like we were in South Korea and I often forgot it took place in Seoul.
Besides the disappointment the plot wasn’t too bad. I liked that it played on some Korea folktales but it was very predictable and typical. The whole book felt rushed and the characters could have used some more development.

[tweetybugshouse]

I was not sure quite what to expect from this book, i think going in i was expecting your usual middle grade/young adult kind of fantasy novel. What i got was totally different i got a mixture of adventure set in a whole new place from where i expected it to be. I never been to korea so exploring the place through this series is going to be a lot of fun. I also like that our herione is not the typical girl that i usually come across she is a kick your ass strong, takes no bs from anyone type of character. The author really made this fairy tale that story is based really come to life and i was very invested in what was happening next.

[gmcgregor]

I'm a sucker for young adult lit, and young adult fantasy in particular has a soft spot in my heart (Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic books, for example, are such favorites of mine that I recently replaced my long-lost childhood copies). So when I was shopping through the Kindle sale section and saw Gilded, I thought it seemed like a great fit for my tastes.

And it promised to be based in mythology! I'm a big mythology nerd and have been since I was a kid (my mom got me this book called Greek Myths for Young Children and it was my favorite thing and I still remember it fondly to this day), but I've never been exposed to the Korean mythology background indicated as a basis for the story, so I thought it would be a good chance to learn about that too.

As the rating shows, though, it was a huge disappointment. The book follows the story of teenage Jae Hwa, a Korean girl raised for most of her life in the United States and recently returned to Korea after the death of her mother. Her grandfather is very unhappy to see her, which she assumes to be because he doesn't like his Americanized granddaughter, but turns out to be because as a female born into her father's family, she will be ruthlessly pursued by a demigod until he can pull her into his dimension and imprison her for all eternity.

There's good stuff to work with her: grief for her mother, being torn between cultures, an exciting adventure in another world...and that's on top of the usual high-school plotlines (first love, friendships, coming of age, etc ) that have driven plenty of YA novels for ages. But nothing really works. The loss of her mother and her dual cultural identities are referenced often, but without any real exploration of them...she just notes that she's sad, or that she's confused, and it completely vanishes until she sees fit to mention it again. Her love interest has two identifying traits: he's cute, and he's really smart/education/good at everything. Of course he likes her too, so their only stumbling block is that she's constantly shoving him away because she wants to protect him from getting caught up in her destiny. Which is noble enough the first time, but gets tiresome long before the end of the book. As do her constant interactions with her divine pursuer, who keeps pulling her into his world to remind her he's going to do so permanently...and then she escapes. Again. And again. I was relieved when I got to the end. The book feels like a first draft of something better.

[goodnghtmoonx]

I liked this book enough to finish reading it. When I had first seen it, it had truly intrigued me. Mythology and asian cultures had always fascinated me, so I might have been more than excited to read this. However, it fell flat for me. The story line was fine, but too many things irked me while reading this. For me, it seemed obvious that the author wasn't actually Korean--which isn't always a bad thing. The mythology of this was well researched, but there were a few things involing them and the culture that could have been explained a little better. Sure, there's a glossary at the end, but when you're reading it via ebook like I was, it is a difficult task to manage. It was also odd to me that the love interest in this happened to be a non-Korean in Seoul. No, this doesn't have to be a bad thing, but this could have been a great love for two Koreans.

Aside from that, I did like the story. It was definitely different than the stories that I've been reading lately, and I was excited for the new culture over than the two pretty white people from decent families. It didn't disappoint me too badly, but I can't complain when I had gotten it for free. (I believe I grabbed it when it was one of those Amazon first things.) I do think that the author gave it her best, and I will applaud her for that. It was really just stupid things that didn't settle with me.

But anyway, back to the story itself. It was a nice story about an American Korean who transferred to Seoul from L.A. She finds out she's part of a.... "legacy" line of ancestors fated to fall under demigod Haemosu's curse. She can either run away from South Korea where he can't find her, destroy him, or fall victim to a forced marriage. For plot's sake, if you don't know which way this story is going to go, you may or may not be surprised. Filled with a tale of mythology and love, fifteen-year-old Jae must try to overcome her destiny and save herself and her ancestors. The story itself wasn't quite a pageturner for me, some parts were harder to read than others. Other times, I found myself spacing out and completely missing pages of text. It doesn't seem like it affected anything too much, since I was still able to grasp what was happening. (I think I did at least.) As a whole, the story did work well. I might look into the sequel when I'm finished reading the rest of the books that I have, depends how I'm feeling at that time, but I would be interested in finding what happens to little Jae.

[bryannaleigh]

I liked this book enough to finish reading it. When I had first seen it, it had truly intrigued me. Mythology and asian cultures had always fascinated me, so I might have been more than excited to read this. However, it fell flat for me. The story line was fine, but too many things irked me while reading this. For me, it seemed obvious that the author wasn't actually Korean--which isn't always a bad thing. The mythology of this was well researched, but there were a few things involing them and the culture that could have been explained a little better. Sure, there's a glossary at the end, but when you're reading it via ebook like I was, it is a difficult task to manage. It was also odd to me that the love interest in this happened to be a non-Korean in Seoul. No, this doesn't have to be a bad thing, but this could have been a great love for two Koreans.

Aside from that, I did like the story. It was definitely different than the stories that I've been reading lately, and I was excited for the new culture over than the two pretty white people from decent families. It didn't disappoint me too badly, but I can't complain when I had gotten it for free. (I believe I grabbed it when it was one of those Amazon first things.) I do think that the author gave it her best, and I will applaud her for that. It was really just stupid things that didn't settle with me.

But anyway, back to the story itself. It was a nice story about an American Korean who transferred to Seoul from L.A. She finds out she's part of a.... "legacy" line of ancestors fated to fall under demigod Haemosu's curse. She can either run away from South Korea where he can't find her, destroy him, or fall victim to a forced marriage. For plot's sake, if you don't know which way this story is going to go, you may or may not be surprised. Filled with a tale of mythology and love, fifteen-year-old Jae must try to overcome her destiny and save herself and her ancestors. The story itself wasn't quite a pageturner for me, some parts were harder to read than others. Other times, I found myself spacing out and completely missing pages of text. It doesn't seem like it affected anything too much, since I was still able to grasp what was happening. (I think I did at least.) As a whole, the story did work well. I might look into the sequel when I'm finished reading the rest of the books that I have, depends how I'm feeling at that time, but I would be interested in finding what happens to little Jae.

[Kate (Blogging with Dragons)]

I was very disappointed by Gilded. I was excited to read a book that took place in Seoul, being a huge fan of all things Korean. Though Farley does a good job of immersing the reader in Korean culture through main character Jae Hwa, who has just moved there from L.A., her writing is often immature and nonsensical. Plus, Jae Hwa, who is supposed to be a kickass heroine, complete with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and mastery of archery, often makes mind boggling decisions that are frustrating and just plain unbelievable.

Would a girl who is being stalked by an insidious god named Hameousu—who has successfully kidnapped female members of her family for generations—be so trusting? I think not. At one point, Jae Hwa is running from said god and decides spur of the moment to seek safety with someone named Kim. She has only heard about this person from her grandpa—whom coincidentally, she thinks is crazy for the entire beginning of the book—but somehow putting all of her trust in this stranger seems like a good idea. Farley ends this chapter with Jae Hwa thinking something along the lines of, “It never occurred to me whether or not I could trust her.” Instances like these happen way more often than they should and make me want to bang my head against the next solid object I came across. I find it completely unbelievable that a girl who finds sneaking out of the house for a concert with friends more important than hiding from an ancient god and his pet dragons, is able to not only fend him off, but also break the curse that his enslaved her family and their ancestors for centuries.

Ultimately, if you can suspend your disbelief at Jae Hwa’s constant naiveté and poor decision making skills and enjoy Farley’s book as a simple light-hearted romp with interesting mythology, you’re in for a fast paced read. However, if you’re looking for a book that gives anything more than a shallow look at Korean culture and mythology and young love, look elsewhere.