Image: Macmillan Publishers
Happy Tuesday! Dress for the weather this morning, it's windy out there! I hope my students had a wonderful three-day weekend. We teachers had a satisfying professional development day yesterday.
Teen Tuesday features Gilded by Marissa Meyer. Ms. Meyer gave Cinderella a sci-fi mash-up with her impressive debut, Cinder in 2012. Careful readers of the Daily Book Talk might remember that I featured Gilded in a Waiting on Wednesday post not long ago. In Gilded, she reimagines Rumplestiltskin. Now, Rumplestiltskin has never been a favorite of mine. So misogynistic! But, this!
Serilda Moller is the miller's daughter who lives with her father in the village of Marchenfeld where she is known for her wild tales/ lies and her unusual eyes. Her father claims she is god-blessed. She feels it's more like god-cursed because the villagers basically shun her-all except the children. The children adore her stories and always ask for more. She also knows to remain indoors at the full moon when the Erlking and his hunting party of ghouls and hellhounds scour the countryside. On the night of the Cold Moon, Serilda saves two Moss Maidens from the Erlking, but then is discovered herself. When he questions why she is out on such a night, she says that she needs to harvest straw so that she might spin it into gold. He allows her to live, but returns at the next full moon, abducts her and brings her to his castle, where he locks her in a dungeon filled with straw and orders her to spin.
Serilda, to her credit, does try to spin the straw, but it's hopeless and she knows it. Suddenly, she's not alone in the dungeon. A redheaded boy appears. He says his name is Gild, he has no memory, and he's willing to spin the straw into gold-for a price.
If this summary doesn't quite fit your memory of Rumplestiltskin, you would be right. The bare bones are there, but Ms. Meyer has crafted her own spin on the yarn, one that is infinitely richer and more ominous than the traditional tale. The fairytale king and his court are truly hideous and terribly violent. The Moss Maidens she rescued, while grateful in their own way, viewed the act as a transaction.
Well-drawn characters and a vivid setting, especially the undead castle captivate readers from the start. I usually avoid reading too many reviews, and so did not realize that this is a series starter. I disagree that the story got a little slow. I just loved the world building.
Gilded, weighing in at ~16 hours of listening (512 pages), with its depiction of ruthless fey politics, is best suited for a more mature teen reader, but highly recommended.
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