Gilded (The Gilded, #1)

by Christina Farley

[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.