Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Gild

I felt like a lot didn’t happen in this book and it was a lot of Auren complaining about life. I’m glad that she started to take charge of her life and see that she has been consistently failed by the men she encounters

other than Sail. I loved him

I don’t really like Midas and I don’t trust him. He gives me the ick and seems emotionally manipulative to someone who is naive and traumatized. I hope to see Auren get him in the future.

I’m intrigued enough to continue but this book was a little meh for me.

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hmb86's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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filipa_maia's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I do appreciate this other side of the story. This is not King Midas' story (the one that everyone knows), it's someone else's... someone very important that stays in the shadows. Also, I very much enjoyed all this mystery around Auren, there is an aura of secrets involving her that kept me very focus till the end. Solving this mystery is exactly one of the things that is going to make me read the second book.

On a less positive note, this book is very hard to read: maybe I was distracted or maybe the trigger warnings weren't enough... I almost quit reading this book. Several times. I understand that women weren't seen as people, especially these women being King Midas' harem... but there is a less brutal way of describing some scenes. Honestly, the excessive use of some words were not to emphasise the narrative, but just to trigger the reader.

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missgarceau's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Please check TW’s BEFORE reading!!

Spice: 🔥🔥🔥

I couldn’t put this down from start to finish.

Although it felt somewhat predictable, I found myself not anticipating major plot twists.

This is not a “happy” retelling, and deals with dark & difficult topics. Please be advised.

However, I found the world, characters, and plot absolutely riveting.

This ends on a cliffhanger, is an unfinished series, but the final book is scheduled to be released this year.

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mspilesofpaper's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

God, those ~400 pages had been the most boring ones so far because nothing really happens. The majority of the book is Auren's musings and ramblings about being Midas' pet and snippets from their/her past.

Did I feel sorry for her and the other "saddles" (I still wonder why saddle when nothing else has to do with horses or riding in Midas' kingdom.)? Yes. Was I still absolutely annoyed by them? Hell yes.

After 80% something happens because the Love Interest appears and of course he’s fae. Why is every dude in a fantasy novel a fae nowadays?

Also, it’s rather blatant that it isn’t Midas who holds the power over the gold but Auren. I mean the girl is already named after the chemical symbol for gold (au).

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kayanoelle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really liked this book!
Interesting premise so I'm excited for part 2. The story is very dark and brutal so you should definitely be aware of that! Auren was a great protagonist and a real delight despite her situation.
The world building is amazing and easy to understand!

I didn't like how all the girls/ women hated each other when it was really the men who were the problem so I hope that the feminism comes through in the next books.

One thing I would criticize is that I didn't get what the plot of the series is supposed to be, it felt a little random but I guess (and hope) it's gonna get more obvious in the next book.

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jaymrtn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

So I went into this book with no knowledge of what it was about or what would happen. I have been hearing great things about this book for a while now but nothing could have prepared me for how amazing this was. Personally, it's not like anything I've ever read before. And as soon as this review is posted I'm going to start Glint. I 100,000% recommend this book. I can't wait to see where this goes. I'm honestly so shocked and I have so many questions. This book evoked so many emotions. I was and still very angry at a lot of the characters for the cruel ways they treated Auren and other saddles. I cried and laughed. (Also I want to say that I don't think that this book is a sure way to make you cry or anything. I tend to be an emotional reader. However, I do think that even if you aren't as much of an emotional reader as me this book will still bring forth the strong emotions.) So stop reading reviews and READ THIS!

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