Gilded

Meyer, Marissa. Gilded. Book 1 of the Gilded series. 2021. 502p. ISBN 978-1-250-61884-9. Available at FIC MEY on the library shelves.

Serilda was blessed by Hulda with the abilities to tell stories, or so her father tells her, along with the story that he had saved a god and had been granted the wish of a strong and healthy child. For others, however, Serilda was cursed, with eyes that look like golden wheels. Always distorting the truth and weaving in outlandish lies, Serilda has grown up in the small village of Märchenfeld with her father, the local miller. Her mother disappeared one full moon night, lured by the hunt, the one time of the month there the veil between this reality and that of the Dark Ones breaks down. 

Led by the Erlking, the hunt seeks rare animals, monsters, and other creatures, and its call often lulls humans to its ranks. Most die, but some are found later confused and abandoned. Often, children are taken by the hunt and are never seen again. The Erlking dwells within a castle on the other side of the Ashen Wood, which borders Mächenfeld.

On a full moon night, Serilda heard the hounds of the Erlking. Going outside her home despite the legends warning her not to do so, she saw two moss maidens attempting to hide. She helped them disappear in the crawl space below the house, and when the hunt and the Erlking at its head. His Grim inquired what she was doing out in the middle of a winter full moon, and Serilda's tongue once again got the better of her as she claimed she was here to harvest winter wheat so she could weave it into threads of gold. 

Intrigued, the Erlking let her live, and Serilda could almost have imagined the whole thing except for the ring and necklaces the moss maidens offered her as payment for saving their lives. The next month, the Erlking returned, and this time he demanded she accompany him to his castle to prove that she could in fact weave gold from wheat.

Caught by her own lie, Serilda is imprisoned in the castle, where she meets Gild, who can in fact weave gold from wheat, but his help will come at a cost. As the months repeat themselves, and the amount of weaving increases, Serilda finds herself a captive in the Erlking's evil plans. The castle is imbued with a curse, its inhabitants now ghosts bound to the Erlking's service, but she's sure that if she could break the curse, then the Erlking's power would dissipate, and the denizens would be free.

Engaged in a deadly battle of wits with the leader of the Dark Ones, Serilda can only count on the power of her stories, and the help of unlikely allies, to keep her safe, while knowing that every day that passes gets her closer with a reckoning that could cost her her life.

Fans of fantasy will love this reimagining of the tale of Rumpelstiltskin from an author who successfully recreated the tale of Cinderella into Cinder, the first of awesome Lunar Chronicles series.