Reviews with content warning for Murder - Glow

Glow is the third book in the Plated Prisoner series. Gild is the first book in a fantasy romance series following a girl named Auren who is gold touched. She has lived in a cage in a palace with King Midas for what feels like her whole life but she doesn't mind. She's in love with Midas and would do anything for him. But when different plots start to come to light and Auren is let out of her cage for the first time, she finds that everything is not as it seems.
I really loved this fantasy romance series so much! The strength of this book series is in its characters and Raven Kennedy really leans into that. I loved seeing Auren and Slade growing as characters. One of my favorite parts of this book was reading Slade's past and learning more about his past growing up. I really loved the way this book was split between those two perspectives plus the other perspectives in this.
When I wasn't reading this book, I was thinking about it and wondering where it was going to go next. I really love how this book leans into the political elements of the story and how we learn even more as the series goes on. This book made me so excited for Gold and I cannot wait to read the last book when it is out.

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monica0309's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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scarlett_f's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Thank you, Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing, for sending this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is still based on Auren. She has burned down the court of King Midas and from those flames, she will rise and wield her own power. The problem Auren having is when you turn against a King, everyone else turns against you. The whole kingdom is wanting Auren’s to be put on trial for the deaths of King Midas and Prince Niven. But with Slade by her side, they will fight the monarchs that come for them. And if they need to be villains, then so be it. Because as long as Auren is alive and breathing, she has vowed she won’t be used again.

I was disappointed in this book. I think I was expecting too much after Gleam. I felt like some of the storyline was repeated. Auren thinks she can trust x person, x person betrays her, she gets kidnapped and goes missing. That was this storyline which we read about in Glid. I just felt like it was too repetitive, I wanted something else other than the storyline we’ve had. The only difference between this and Glid is that I love Slade and the way he cherished Auren. The spice and tension between those two were hot and intense. The only thing I loved in this book was the additional romance brewing with Rissa and a member of the Wrath. I also loved learned about how Slade got his powers. That was it. The additional POVs saved this book.

I am hoping the fifth and final book in this series will be as good as Gleam and that we will see some progress and not a recycled storyline.

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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kayanoelle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I shouldn't have read this book before the next one is out so if you're thinking about doing it, don't!
I love this series! This book was pretty long and there's lots of scenes where we just get to know some of the characters better which I personally really liked. Several relationships are explored in a deeper fashion and there's lots of different POVs! I loved Queen Malinas POV in this book, it was really mysterious and kind of creepy (?) but so so great.
We get Osriks POV (which was a delight) as well as Rissas.

Spoiler

when Rissa was nearly killed I got so mad omg. There was absolutely no reason to do that, so cruel:(

The ending was amazing!! The story really picks up on the last 100 or so pages and I couldn't stop reading!!! Everything that happened throughout the book basically came to a breaking point and soo much happened at once.

Spoiler

One thing that gets me mad af is when people can't voice their opinion or the simple truth and don't have a say in anything/ are just overruled by unfair methods so that one part with the Conflux had me steaming lmfao. I had to close the book several times and take a breather or act like all these crappy monarchs were right there in front of me to tell them off.

Overall, the book is slower than the third one and there isn't so much going on in the beginning but instead we get a whole lot of character backgrounds and chosen family trope:)

Spoiler

One thing I really hated was when Auren was trying to voice her opinion about the Conflux but Slade just silenced her with sex?? I hated that because it kinda felt like he took away her voice/ opinion even though he promised not to do that ever.

Content Warnings

forgottencupoftea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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