Gild

Author: Raven Kennedy

Genre: New Adult Fantasy

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Gild is the introduction to a NA Fantasy series written by Raven Kennedy, inspired by the legend of the Greek King Midas who has the ability to turn everything he touches into gold.

The main character Auren is the King’s favourite. His Precious, gold-touched pet who for the last 10 years of her life has lived in a cage, never setting foot outside the Golden Palace. Why? Because she is the one who the King ‘blessed’ with his gift and turned to gold. Her skin, her hair, her body and eyes – everything about her is golden. As a way of ‘protecting her, the King has built a cage inside the castle where she spends her days and nights. Somewhere along the line, she has convinced herself that this is what she wants, that Midas is keeping her safe because he loves her and wants to protect her from the cruel world. Their story dates way back to when Auren is just a homeless little girl living on the streets and struggling to survive. Until one day the great saviour Midas rescues her and she becomes his symbol. Young Midas eventually becomes King through marriage to the princess of the Sixth Realm. However, he still keeps his gold-touched girl living inside her cage.

“Does it really matter if your cage is solid gold when you aren’t allowed to leave it? A cage is a cage, no matter how gilded.”

Blinded by her love, Auren slowly, VERY slowly, starts to realise that he caress more about his power than her actual well-being. The veil starts to lift and the truth shines through. Though Midas has managed very well to manipulate and groom her. The first book is a very long prologue to the actual story. Near the end we meet the greatest enemy – the army of the Forth Realm, ruled by a vicious ruler, King Ravinger. Auren finds herself captive to the army’s commander – Rip, who is willing to negotiate her to King Midas in exchange for something else.

Overall thoughts.. Well nothing really happens? The first book reads as a very long prologue and picks up at around 70-80%. The main character is very hard to like as she is extremely naive and being inside her mind is honestly such a torture.

The Dragon Republic

Author: R.F. Kuang

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Rating: 5 / 5 stars

The Poppy War series is a Chinese inspired grim dark fantasy following young Rin who is getting a military education at a prestigious school. She and her friends are then sent to war against the Federation where we get to witness brutal and guttering scenes of violence, fear and horror. R.F Kuang has managed successfully to dive into the dark realities of war and all of its casualties. The first book left me absolutely heartbroken, destroyed and utterly distressed. Not gonna lie I was a bit scared to pick the second instalment, however, it turned out to be even better.

The Dragon Republic picks up shortly after the events in the first novel. Rin is continuing her quest to avenge Atlan’s death for which she blames Su Daji while being under the ’employment’ of the pirate queen. She is still in denial about her actions and refuses to take accountability for destroying the island of Mugen together with all of its citizens. The Cike, though following her commands, are divided and constantly questioning her choices. We see our main characters dealing with the results of the war – the emotional impact of everything that is lost and the political consequences. The empire is unstable, rulers care only for one thing that is being the one with most power and Rin finds herself in the midst of it all. Nezha’s father offers her the one thing she desires most – the opportunity to kill Su Daji. In return she has to become his ‘weapon’ and win the war agains the other provinces. All of his false promises persuade Rin to fall straight into his trap as she ties her life and those of the Cike to his cause. We see her falling back to becoming a soldier and taking orders again. All this with the sole purpose of avoiding making choices and then dealing with the consequences.

The author really tooks it further with the sequel. It is much more fast paced, the world-building is impeccable, the writing is chef’s kiss. There is a lot of politics and war strategising. I highly appreciate R.F Kuang’s way of forcing the main characters to deal with the decisions they make and look at the devastation left behind. I just love her portrayals – broken personalities who are extremely flawed and take questionable actions. I think not presenting them as perfect and putting them on pedestal really distinguishes the series from the rest of the fantasy genre.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed The Dragon Republic more than the previous instalment. There is war, friendship, betrayal, death.. We lose a lot of characters in this book and are faced with the guttering feeling their lost leaves behind. Needless to say this book will make you go through every possible emotion.