Gild (Book 1 of The Plated Prisoner Series) – Raven Kennedy
Cost – $4.99 for Kindle, $17.99 Paperback, on Kindle Unlimited
Gild is the first book in the plated prisoner series, which is a retelling of the myth of King Midas. The core plot of this book is Auren (the main character) has been gold touched. Everything about her has a golden hue, and she is King Midas’s precious, his favored. Auren has known King Midas for a decade and has trusted him with her life. For the ten years Auren lives with King Midas, she lives essentially behind bars. A caged bird in a beautiful prison, but caged nonetheless. King Midas, the ruler of Sixth Kingdom strikes a deal with the ruler of Fifth Kingdom. However, the deal he makes breaks the trust Auren had in him, and challenges everything she has ever known.
I typically love the retelling of fairy tales and this is no exception. The way Raven Kennedy builds the world does not leave you questioning or wondering why things are the way they are. The characters themselves are well fleshed out with personalities that make you love them, hate them, or become intrigued by them. This is especially true for King Midas. The book is told in first person through Auren’s eyes and how she describes Midas makes you as the reader fall a bit in love with him. When he breaks her trust, as the reader you feel your heart break a tiny bit. However, you also see how he is really treating her and part of you wants to punch him in the throat.
This book does incredibly well at building the characters and the world inside of it, and when it ended, I was not prepared. I finished the page and prepared to turn to the next one and was surprised that it was over and recommended I read the next book in the series (and yes, it is already in my Kindle app and I will be reading it).
That being said there were moments of the books where I was expecting it to end and was surprised when it continued. While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book, there were parts of it that seemed dull and boring and you did have to slog through it.
The part I did happen to like the least of this book involves the Snow Pirates. This happens almost towards the end of the novel and it almost feels like it was an irrelevant add. For instance, if the entire section with the snow pirates was removed, I don’t honestly know that I would notice a difference and I do hope that they make an appearance later to have been worthwhile. It does take up a large chunk of the book (when I looked it on the Kindle app, I was using to read they are mentioned on page 236 and are through the rest of the book) but they truly do not feel necessary. In addition, there is never a mention of them anywhere else in the book so they appear suddenly like an apparition and we as the reader are suddenly supposed to adapt to these new characters and what they are.
Overall, this book approx. 393 pages and an excellent. I did not expect the ending that happened and I am eagerly going to be diving into book two to see how the story continues. I highly recommend this.
Plot – 9/10
Characters – 9/10
Originality – 10/10
General Joy of Reading – 8/10
Overall Score – 36/40
*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published
Alicia Jeanne 