Cursed by Marissa Meyer

Adalheid Castle is in chaos.

Following a shocking turn of events, Serilda finds herself ensnared in a deadly game of make-believe with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle’s lies. Meanwhile, Serilda is determined to work with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past.

But soon it becomes clear that the Erlking doesn’t only want to use Serilda to bring back his one true love. He also seeks vengeance against the seven gods who have long trapped the Dark Ones behind the veil. If the Erlking succeeds, it could change the mortal realm forever.

Can Serilda find a way to use her storytelling gifts for good–once and for all? And can Serilda and Gild break the spells that tether their spirits to the castle before the Endless Moon finds them truly cursed?

Romance and adventure collide in this stunning finale to the Rumpelstilskin-inspired fairy tale.

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Cursed is the follow up to Gilded which published almost exactly a year ago. At the time, I noted that I felt this was a very long retelling of Rumplestiltskin. For the first half of this book, I thought the same thing; there's a lot of extra stuff being put in here, stuff that sometimes feels like padding. Once you hit the last third, things start to really take off, but I did think it took a while getting there.

However, if you're going to be reading a slower book, this is the one to read. Marissa's descriptions are lush and amazing, I could picture everything that was happening, and her characters are intriguing. For a while there I wondered if she was going to redeem the Erlking! I won't say whether she does or not, because that alone is worth the price of admission. I will say that when this is filmed, I want Ian Somerhalder in that role. (Of course, I want him in most roles, but that's neither here nor there.)

This duology is definitely worth a read, and I'll be coming back to it to pick out my favourite parts for quite a while to come.

Cursed publishes on the 8th November, 2022 in the UK and on the 15th November, 2022 in the US, using the same cover as far as I can tell. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.