The way how he surrounds himself with so much gold, gives me the feeling that he needs to compensate for something. Unfortunately for majority of the book, things like that happen which I hated and because of that I just really can't give this a higher rating. little does Auren know that stepping out of her cage means she will see the world for what it truly is. She does a splendid job in introducing a cast of very interesting characters whether their actions are questionable or not.

This is one of those series that started off phenomenal, and only gets better with every subsequent book. In my opinion, it gives it more realistic depth and macabre charm, but I would advise it against audiences who are sensitive or impressionable to the contents in this book. It’s on this journey Auren comes into her own having to dig down deep discovering reserves of strength she thought she was no longer capable of. I would march out in London streets and protest that they aren't actually creating an imprint to publish these books.She has Main Character Protection in that everyone else gets hurt because of her actions but she is miraculously saved from torture, rape, abuse etc. The king turned her entirely to gold, making her his prized and favorite possession, and built her a series of cages in the palace to protect her from the outside world. i finished this book like a week ago and genuinely don't remember enough about it to review it so i must have started skim reading at the 75% mark. Spoilers start below ⚠️I also liked that in this retelling, Midas ended up not being the one with the gilding touch at all. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I'm finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I've been kept in.

I swear to God this one went so well and I had so much fun and was so excited to read this book together with her.To give you a taste of the story, I'll try my best to summarize it in a way that is not very spoiler-y. This wasn’t always an easy story and it did manage to move me to tears some of the content here was darker than I was expecting but that was also what made this such a stunningly immersive experience I’m excited to continue on with the next book, especially with where we left things here. If you've read the 1 star reviews you can tell they either didn't bother finishing it before leaving a review or are wrong about why she is like she is because they assumed something that you get told the truth about further along in the book. But I can see that the author is setting up everything and Auren's character is definitely going to develop from here on out. Yes, the travel felt a little bit slow at times, but we got to know how Auren's real personality would be if she had a normal life outside her gilded cage.