Reviews

"The Gilded Crown" is a Nordic-inspired fantasy story that takes a basic premise - girl with unusual gift that attracts royal attention - and puts a fresh coat of paint on it. I was interested in this tale predominantly for the "Priory of the Orange Tree" comp; I love that story and sapphic fantasy is a soft spot of mine. While "The Gilded Crown" didn't hit me quite aes favorably, it was enjoyable. The writing is lyrical, the worldbuilding thorough. My disappointment was primarily rooted in character action and plot movement: this felt very much like a gorgeously-written YA book, and also very much like the *first* book of the series. The pacing is slow, our heroine is unsure of herself, and at the end of the book you realize that a lot of the payoff appears to have been reserved for later installments. Despite being a longer novel (450 pages), so much of it is set up and second-guessing. I would have liked *more* from a book one.

readwithanna's review

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3.75

This book took me by surprise!

I didn’t have a lot of expectations because the cover and title are both kind of ugly, and the synopsis felt generic. And the audiobook is over 17 hours. That’s a lot of time to spend on a single book.

But I’m so glad I gave it a shot!

I like Hellevir as a narrator. The secondary characters serve the story well. I really like Hellevir’s relationship with her brother.

I liked the way her relationship is shown with both her parents.
Her conversations with the gatekeeper were some of the best scenes. Two people having conversations can be so complex.
Sullivain doesn’t feel as deep as the other characters, which made it difficult to understand her and feel any sympathy of her. She comes across, more often than not, as a spoiled child. I think the author was going for the archetype of hiding behind humour so those around can't see the pain but I don't think it succeeds.

So I do not understand what Hellevir sees in Sullivain. Even with the Queen’s treatment of Sullivain I just don’t feel any sympathy for her.

Listen, being attracted to someone that isn’t a good person or someone that you know isn’t good for you is not unrealistic. Or a bad thing to explore in fiction. But Hellevir acts as if she’s in love with Sullivain and I don’t understand how she could love Sullivain because they haven’t really interacted in any deep way. And, also, like I said before, Sullivain behaves like a child a lot. It’s such an unappealing trait to me personally.

And the part Sullivain plays when the assassin is revealed and everything that comes after. I just wouldn’t have had any affection for someone after that.

I'm excited to see where we go from here with the series!

alex_rosewood's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a lovely debut. Dark and cold, oozing with tragedy that is only thrown into darker shadow still by the flashes of warmth and light scattered sparingly throughout. It's a deeply personal story set against a somewhat typical fantasy plotline that threatens to take the reins, but never manages to.

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