Only for it to again drop to 1 star in the last 25%. It's so repetitive and soporific I lost 3 days trying to wade through it and losing the battle every time, I nearly abandoned the book in this stretch, and would have if, at approximately 42%, Meyer hadn't dropped a plot bomb, the first of several to come until the end, that enlivened the dull story and made it more interesting, turning the third 25% into another 4 star read. Nothing happens there, Marissa Meyer overdoes the descriptiveness even more than usual, and the writing is horrendously basic so basic many 'paragraphs' are one word or three words, no exaggeration. It's a mud puddle to plough through at extra slow speed.

The second 25% is torture, 1-star in every sense. That it didn't happen saved the book and made it possible for me to forgive a lot of what did happen, although not everything. I'd have absolutely loathed either option, and both would've made this book my first DNF in years. None of which happens! There is no love triangle, thank goodness, and the Alder King stays a bastard till the very end, thank Marissa Meyer. As I mentioned in my old review, certain things in the sample made me worry about two things: the possibility of a love triangle and the possibility of a redemption for the Erlkönig. It's the part at Adelheid Castle after the Erlking forces Serilda to be his queen, this is no spoiler as it's already in the first book. You could divide the book into four parts, the first 25% is as I described in my old review of the ARC sample (the final published book was purchased by me, so it's not an ARC), and on reread, it still holds up and gets 4 stars. As the evil forces gather, it seems only their love is strong enough to sustain them. Serilda and Gild have no choice but to thwart his plans, all the while solving the mystery of Gild's forgotten name, and freeing all the ghosts kept in servitude to the dark ones. On the night of the Endless Moon, the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and so be reunited with his lover, Perchta, who has been banished to the underworld.īut it soon becomes clear that the Erlking's hunger for vengeance won't be satisfied with a single wish, and his true intentions have the power to alter the mortal realm forever. Serilda and Gild cannot break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid's haunted castle. To press him against the wall and mold her body to his. To lean forward and nuzzle her cheek against his temple.

New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer concludes her young adult retelling of Rumpelstiltskin in this breathtaking sequel!

Cursed book marissa meyer