She’s not perpetually sunny-her life has been marked by loss too much for that-but she’s hopeful. I loved her ability to be cheeky even when in mortal peril and her ability to tell stories under the strangest circumstances. She’s been cursed–or blessed–by the god of stories to always have a fantastic tale at the ready, but this makes her a bit of a girl-who-cried-wolf to her town, who rarely put stock in anything she said. To balance him out, heroine Serilda is stubbornly optimistic and full of moxie. His cruelty is on full display, and he only becomes more fearsome the more we learn of him. He rides across the land seeking prey of all kinds, whether mythic beasts-or human children. And thus, instead of a mortal man, we have the Alder King, immortal leader of the Wild Hunt.

Meyer starts with the very reasonable premise that this king must be an absolute piece of garbage to make this unreasonable threat. The woman then marries the king and defeats Rumpelstiltskin by learning his name. To accomplish this, she trades her most precious possessions to Rumpelstiltskin, who is actually able to produce golden thread.

We know the beats: a young woman, under pain of death, must spin straw into gold for a king. That’s no small feat given that the source material is already established. I really never knew what was going to happen next in Gilded, her 12 th novel and her return to fairy tales after some time away.

Hopeful marissa meyer