Have you ever flown through a book, not because of how good it was, but instead because of how awful it was? I read Gild by Raven Kennedy as fast as humanly possible because I just wanted it to be over. I also wanted to return it so I didn’t waste my money on it😀 Gild is book one of The Plated Prisoner series. This is a New Adult fantasy retelling of the story of King Midas and his golden touch. That sounded like something I would love so I didn’t really look any further into it… I wish I had. This review will have spoilers.

I like to give a heat level rating for all books with romance. If you’re curious about my rating system, you can check it out here.

Synopsis:

The fae abandoned this world to us. And the ones with power rule.

Gold.

Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold.

Even me.

King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m called his precious. His favored. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe.

Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck.

Suddenly, my trust is broken. My love is challenged. And I realize that everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong.

Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.

My Thoughts:

• Rating-
• Heat Level- *This heat level rating is not for “romance” in this particular book; it’s for graphic content.
  

Gild is the first book I’ve ever read that is both horrifically graphic AND horrifically boring at the same time. Graphic content is NOT my thing at all. I don’t like explicit sex or violence in my books but I understand how those scenes can capture a reader’s attention. That is not the case here, however, because somehow Kennedy managed to make those things boring. Rape is used as a plot device over and over and over. It happened so much that it wasn’t even shocking or worthy of note by the end of the book. It came across as very lazy story telling and like she wasn’t creative enough to figure out how to move the plot forward without it. I will say, the writing itself wasn’t overly explicit but of course, it was obvious what was happening in those scenes. This book is advertised as a romance but there was literally not one romantic moment. There was nothing but rape and abuse.

You would expect to feel sorry for the characters who live in this world but no, they’re all awful. For the most part, they’re just dull, even when they’re trying to be big and bad. The main character, Auren, is a typical Mary Sue and a cookie cutter fantasy character. None of the other characters are even worth talking about.

The only halfway decent part of this book was the world building. I kept reading because I was curious about the six different kingdoms within the land of Orea. I was also interested to see Kennedy’s take on fae but the fae didn’t even appear until the very end and there is absolutely no way I’m reading the rest of the books in this series.

Final Thoughts:

I don’t like to read reviews before I buy a book because I don’t like spoilers. This book, though, has made me realize that I need to do more research before making purchases. I do not recommend this book for anybody because even if you don’t care about the rape or violence, it’s still a poorly written and bland fantasy. However, I’d love to know what you think down below! Thanks for reading and have a great day!