A Duology? Interesting!!!
Last week I had the huge and unexpectedly delightful pleasure of seeing and listening to and meeting Marissa Meyer at Bookmarks in Winston-Salem NC while on her book tour for the recently released Cursed. She is my daughter's favorite author, mainly for another series called The Lunar Chronicles. That series has about 6 books total, so guess what? I'm on book three. ;-)
Meyer is a gifted and energetic storyteller, and this duology is all about storytelling. I won't really say much here, as I dove in without knowing anything about this series and found all the surprises and twists and tone so fun that I would want that for any reader. She starts with a miller's daughter who boasts she can turn straw into gold, and then when she is called out on that boast in horrific fashion, the fairy tale we think we were getting becomes something oh so much more. This is a lighter toned story, very lyrical and light but with some heavy darkness woven in. Also, the second book has some more, um, adult situations that were a bit bothersome to this prude (when it comes to YA fiction at least), but were kinda necessary to forward the plot. So, enter at your own risk. But the creativity here in how she twists a well known fairy tale, and how she manages to still give some great nods to the origin story while making it truly her own, really makes for some fun reading! She drops a bombshell I did not see coming toward the end of the second book, and I was highly impressed with how she set that up!!
I am currently halfway through The Lunar Chronicles, and that series is set in the future, which makes it a bit more serious as a group of teens try to save the modern world (that combined review coming soon). I found the Gilded duology a lighter read even with the monsters, as I knew that was fairy tale, set in a medieval village with a castle and a scary forest, etc. Overall I believe I have found a new author to love (she was so fun to meet! Full of energy and spunk!) and anticipate. And yes, daughter of mine, I should have read these way back when you told me to!! Thanks for letting me borrow all of your copies!!! ;-)
