Reader’s Notes:
– This is book one of two, book two is to release in 2022. If you don’t like things being left unanswered/waiting for a year to find out what happened you will want to wait before reading this one 😉
– There is multiple descriptions/instances of the dead/death/ghosts/monsters/oozing blood/etc. Like almost every other chapter, giving the book a dark/creepy/haunted/horroresque feel. It makes sense for the story, I just didn’t expect it from this author (I also forgot to read the book’s description 😂🙈)
– There is a closed door scene with vague mentions of what happened (sex – a tumble into bed as the book says) before and after.
– There are children killed (as well as adults) in the story
– A character is pregnant and the villain of the story tells someone else to remove the month old fetus. (The pregnant character manages to convince the villain not to do so)
Review:
I took a star off for the closed door scene and the amount of death there was. I personally am not comfortable with reading either. I understand the reasoning for both (story-wise) and the closed door scene was done well in that it wasn’t extremely uncomfortable to me.
I did like how Marissa retold Rumpelstiltskin’s story (so far)! She made different twists to the classic tale that I haven’t seen anywhere and were really cool ways of doing it. I also liked that our main character, Serilda, is a storyteller and told a story which in the end helped explain some things. And though this is a story being retold, Marissa created a whole new world and myths for it to support the newness of the story. So if you know mythology you’ll see some similarities but there are also new things to discover. Overall this was a thrilling read that kept me at the edge of my seat!
Here’s a bit more on what the story is about:
Serilda is a girl who was blessed (or as most people in her town think, cursed) by a god of lies and stories. She can spin the most spellbinding of stories and while some are completely fiction, others are based in truth and expanded with lies. She just can’t help creating stories that will amaze and entertain those around her.
But one night, a night of the dreaded hunt, she tells a lie to o the Erlking and his undead hunters. One that he believes in the moment, but he decides to return the next full moon to test her story. Or to see if she lied and helped his quarry escape him.
Unfortunately, her lie of being able to spin straw into gold is just that, false. And when morning comes, she knows that she will lose her life. But then a young man appears in her cell and offers to help her but only in exchange for something valuable. She agrees and lives, but that wasn’t the end. For some reason the dark one, who has no need for gold, insists she return at the next full moon to complete the task once again. Serilda and her father try to run and discover just how cruel the Erlking can be.
With much life threatening events and a chance of feeling normal in worlds that make them seem to be oddities, Serilda and the young man who helped her work together to figure out what the Erlking’s goal is and what happened to the people who once lived in the castle he now resides in. And they begin to fall for one another…
– This is book one of two, book two is to release in 2022. If you don’t like things being left unanswered/waiting for a year to find out what happened you will want to wait before reading this one 😉
– There is multiple descriptions/instances of the dead/death/ghosts/monsters/oozing blood/etc. Like almost every other chapter, giving the book a dark/creepy/haunted/horroresque feel. It makes sense for the story, I just didn’t expect it from this author (I also forgot to read the book’s description 😂🙈)
– There is a closed door scene with vague mentions of what happened (sex – a tumble into bed as the book says) before and after.
– There are children killed (as well as adults) in the story
– A character is pregnant and the villain of the story tells someone else to remove the month old fetus. (The pregnant character manages to convince the villain not to do so)
Review:
I took a star off for the closed door scene and the amount of death there was. I personally am not comfortable with reading either. I understand the reasoning for both (story-wise) and the closed door scene was done well in that it wasn’t extremely uncomfortable to me.
I did like how Marissa retold Rumpelstiltskin’s story (so far)! She made different twists to the classic tale that I haven’t seen anywhere and were really cool ways of doing it. I also liked that our main character, Serilda, is a storyteller and told a story which in the end helped explain some things. And though this is a story being retold, Marissa created a whole new world and myths for it to support the newness of the story. So if you know mythology you’ll see some similarities but there are also new things to discover. Overall this was a thrilling read that kept me at the edge of my seat!
Here’s a bit more on what the story is about:
Serilda is a girl who was blessed (or as most people in her town think, cursed) by a god of lies and stories. She can spin the most spellbinding of stories and while some are completely fiction, others are based in truth and expanded with lies. She just can’t help creating stories that will amaze and entertain those around her.
But one night, a night of the dreaded hunt, she tells a lie to o the Erlking and his undead hunters. One that he believes in the moment, but he decides to return the next full moon to test her story. Or to see if she lied and helped his quarry escape him.
Unfortunately, her lie of being able to spin straw into gold is just that, false. And when morning comes, she knows that she will lose her life. But then a young man appears in her cell and offers to help her but only in exchange for something valuable. She agrees and lives, but that wasn’t the end. For some reason the dark one, who has no need for gold, insists she return at the next full moon to complete the task once again. Serilda and her father try to run and discover just how cruel the Erlking can be.
With much life threatening events and a chance of feeling normal in worlds that make them seem to be oddities, Serilda and the young man who helped her work together to figure out what the Erlking’s goal is and what happened to the people who once lived in the castle he now resides in. And they begin to fall for one another…