Cursed by Marissa Meyer

Cursed (Gilded, #2)

by Marissa Meyer

New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer concludes her young adult retelling of Rumpelstiltskin in Cursed, the sequel to Gilded.

Serilda and Gild attempt to break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid's haunted castle before the Endless Moon, when the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and make a wish to return his lover, Perchta, from the underworld. But as the story progresses, it becomes clear he doesn't want just one god—he wants to capture all seven, and force them to bring down the veil that keeps the Dark Ones separate from the land of the mortals. Serilda and Gild must try to thwart his plans, all while solving the mystery of Gild's forgotten name, freeing his younger sister who is trapped inside Gravenstone Castle, and trying to protect their unborn child.

Romance, adventure, and Serilda’s journey to finding her power as a woman, a mother, and a partner make this a retelling that Meyer fans—old and new—will treasure.

Reviewed by thepunktheory on

4 of 5 stars

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Full review on my blog!

I posted my review for Gilded only a couple of days ago, but I’ll let you in on a secret. I read the book just after it came out and I had been sitting on that review for over a year. At first, it didn’t fit into my schedule too well and then I figured I might as well wait and publish it together with my thoughts on the second book in the duology. So, here we are!

It somehow felt like it took forever for Cursed to come out. As I loved the first novel, you can probably tell how anxiously I was waiting for this to finally be released. Once Cursed was out and I had a copy in my hands, it was impossible to put it down. I essentially blazed through this novel and, oh did I enjoy it!

Marissa Meyer does an amazing job continuing the story right where we left off in the last part. It’s so hard to pull off fairytale retellings as often it just turns into a boring case of copy-pasting something old and familiar. Or there isn’t enough of the source material infused into the new story to be able to tell where the inspiration is coming from. Meyer really knows how to do this well, though. She draws inspiration from so many different tales, stories, and parts of the world. It’s amazing to see it all come together in such a seamless way, creating this new story that is just so captivating.

Apart from all the cool fairy tale elements, Cursed is an intricate story that comes with several amazing twists and turns that you won’t necessarily see coming (or that you don’t want to see coming if we’re honest). Nothing about this book is basic and I can only applaud Marissa Meyer on a job well done.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 19 December, 2022: Finished reading
  • 19 December, 2022: Reviewed