The Gilded Crown is a wonderful interesting take on necromancy and the FMC and how she chooses to use her powers. She was very likable and the storyline itself was great! Loved this book! Highly recommend!

I liked this book! I would say it’s YA and not adult. Really great writing! The FMC is easy to like, the MMC not so much 🤷🏻‍♀️

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I went into this book pretty blind, and this might be one of my top reads of the year. Excellent piece of literature, and the writing was stunning.

We follow in this book a young girl journey through life that are shaped by her interactions with death and those she chooses to help with her “gift”. She must find out who is trying to kill the princess she has sworn to raise from the dead, in order to be freed to live her life.

The premise in this book is so interesting and her relationship with death also intrigued me, her relationship with the princess was all the more interesting. Honestly just read the book you won’t be disappointed.

The Gilded Crown brings a new perspective to necromancy. Hellevir is a young woman intent on saving everyone. Everything she does is for the good of the many, no matter the personal cost. When she realizes as a very young girl that she can bring the dead back to life, she becomes determined to use her gift as often as possible. As you can imagine, most others are not as altruistic as Hellevir and she quickly ends up entangled in the violent machinations of politics and court life as news of her abilities spreads. With her family, friends, and even her own soul at risk, she is forced to make decisions between what is possible and what is right.

This book includes:
- Death as a corporal concept
- Religious conflict between a monotheistic religion and a philosophical/spiritual religion
- Necromancy as it has never been seen before
- Altruism vs Ruthlessness
- Violent political machinations
- LGBT characters and love stories
- A Familiar
- Who done it murder mystery

I loved "The Gilded Crown." It was nothing as I expected based on the book title or cover art, however, Hellevir's story captured my heart. Her connection with the natural world and dynamic with Death was so visceral, and the imagery was strong. I was in blissful agony watching her be so trusting and innocent over and over, and I wished for her success so badly. I can't relate to her, I related much more to Farvor, but I rooted for her regardless.

My only plot issue is that I felt like Hellevir's relationship was a bit forced, I think the soul-bonding was enough of a motivation for her. Cutting the weak romance would have removed some of the scenes that dragged. I also mentioned the cover art and title a bit before, but I think the book title was hugely misleading. It should have been something like *The Girl Who Made a Bargain with Death* or *Death's Bargain" or *walks with Death* or something that alludes more to the dark fairytale aspects that are central to the plot. The cover art should also never have been changed. I loved the original cover and it matched the genre and themes way better. The new cover alludes to a spicy romantasy, and this is very much not that.

All that said, I did enjoy this book and I highly recommend this one to all lovers of folktales and fables. Fans of "After the Woods," "Thornhedge," and other less literal and slower-paced stories will eat this book up.

I received this ebook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Marianne Gordon for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I will have to say I was pleasantly surprised to learn that death was not the love interest in this story. That was very refreshing to me. And while I still was not invested and fully believing of the romance, the story itself made up for the rest of that. The magic system was incredible and the plot was engaging. This was such an overall refreshing read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy off this!!! Deal with Death, paying the price, and some romance. I really enjoyed the naive country girl going from being scared to actively threatening the royalty. Coming into your own is always the best trope with a little death magic is fun. I'm just going to not so patiently wait for the next one in the series.

This book had one of the most unique plots I have read in a while. The magic system is stunning and the mc's relationship to magic and death is one of my favorite parts of the story. I will say I didn't feel alot of chemistry for the romance for this book, but frankly I didn't care because the plot was quite engaging.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the E arc!
Can we all take a moment to appreciate such a beautiful cover? I am so glad that I picked up this book and get a chance as the summary was absolutely fantastic. I went in hoping for an epic sapphic fantasy, and that is precisely what I got. I think the story focuses so much on what we are willing to do for those we love, and getting to see that struggle in balance for Hellevir was very emotional. This book definitely brought so much intrigue and tension. It was a great mix of the world with a little bit of romantic elements sprinkled in.

To everyone's surprise, death is not the love interest...(I've been reading too much romantasy) but he was my favorite character

The highlight of this book is the writing. I was fully immersed in Gordon's world, hanging onto every beautiful crafted prose and feeling my heart break with Hellevir's. Though the stakes are low (as in we're not fighting in a war), this political fantasy has extremely heavy and dark themes. But she walks with death, able to pull souls back to life, so themes of sacrifice and duty to family were anticipated. Also, a raven companion? LOVED.

The queer representation was spot on, and though I've seen a lot of reviews who disliking Sullivan, I loved her how complex she was and the constant battle between her own morals and her duty to the crown. Truly morally grey.

My biggest issue is the marketing of this book. The title and the cover lead you to believe this is ACOTAR-adjacent. Do not be fooled. This is not a fantasy romance with death as the love interest. This is a much slower-paced, low stakes, spiceless political fantasy. It is great, just not what I expected when I picked it up. Other reasons I didn't give it 5 stars were: pacing felt a bit off and it was a bit too predictable at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solid read but just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really care for any of the characters, and I don’t understand how the MC’s father could just abandon her for 10 years while still maintaining that strong kind of bond they shared.

I had a lot of hope and excitement at the start of this book but unfortunately as it progressed it never seemed to meet my expectations. Hellevir is a strong character and I enjoyed her developments throughout the story, at no point did she make choices just for the sake of plot. Her relationships are also some of the strongest points of the novel especially within her family and with the man in Death, but the relationship with the princess was in my eyes the biggest weakness. The romantic tone it began to take felt a little icky given the power dynamic between the two girls and how often one of them had their family threatened with death to do something for the other. It began to feel like a chore to read the scenes where they interacted or when Hellevir thought about her.
The religious plotline was a highlight though and I would be very curious to see that develop further in other books in this world. Additionally Hellevir and Death (or the man in Death's realm) were the best scenes in the book. I was always so excited when she decided to go and save someone because that mystery kept me going.

I liked this book but I felt like something was missing. There was just something that kept me from being fully invested in the characters and the story.

I started off absolutely adoring this book - loved the atmosphere, the worldbuilding and lore, the mystery of Death. And I absolutely adored Hellevir, Elsevir, and Milandre. There were so many times while I was reading that I actually felt the weight of Hellevir's despair and helplessness.

Maybe it's because I loved Hellevir so much, but I really, intensely disliked Sullivain. At first her casual disregard for Hellevir's sacrifices grated on me and I was like "oh, she'll probably get better as the book goes on, maybe she'll come to appreciate Hellevir after all," but her wildly inappropriate reaction to Hellevir bringing her back after she's thrown from a horse made me actively dislike her. She treated Hellevir like garbage, even when they were alone. And re: Calgir, she never outwardly expressed regret for what she did until it was too little, too late. If Hellevir couldn't sense some sort of turmoil in her because of their soul bond, how would we have known she had any redeeming qualities at all? I could not for the life of me figure out why Hellevir was so drawn to her (aforementioned soul bond aside).

Also, the religious aspect seemed a little misplaced and never really went anywhere, but I have a feeling there's more to it - this book is trying to do A LOT - but I definitely intend to read the next book in this series to see what happens next! Thanks for the opportunity to read an early copy.

I want to start off by saying that I hardly give books less then 4 stars but man I was lost as to wtf was going on. This book follows the journey of a woman named Hellevir. She can raise people from the dead and talk to animals. She is brash and irrational. She mistakenly raises the princess from the dead and finds herself in her service. Sacrificing pieces of her soul to save the princess whilst hiding from the hateful religion who wants nothing more than to rid of her.

The magic system in this book didn’t really make a lot of sense and it felt that it was haphazardly thrown together. I am not sure where the title comes into the book but they are not related whatsoever. On top of that this was marketed as romance, was the romance in the room with us? The author attempted to create a soul bond kind of relationship with the princess and Hellevir through the resurrections but it felt forced. I was lost and confused a lot of the time and it felt that she spent too much time on the wrong things and little time on the important stuff. I think this could’ve had a lot of potential but executed poorly. I am not interested in reading the following books as I’m unsure even what the overarching plot of the series is. The characters were severely underdeveloped and her use of religious persecution and how that played into her family dynamic was the worst part of the book. It was a quick read and I was intrigued but I overall did not really like it.

This was an ARC provided by NetGalley.

The journey Hellevir went on was one of growth, love, and loss. I want to continue this journey with her because I feel we have only scratched the surface of her bond with death and the adventures his riddles will take her on. Sullivan, I hate to say this but I absolutely detest her character, read and find out why. Over all great writing, great storyline, I just hated how it ended. Life is never fair and this definitely proved that point!!

Hellevir can raise the dearly departed. Every time she brings a soul back the prince of the afterworld takes a little more from Hellevir though. She is summoned by none other than the Queen herself when Princess Sullivain is assassinated. Her task is to bring the princess back to life but it does not stop with just one attempt on the Princess’s life, so the Queen orders Hellevir to stay by her side in order to protect Princess Sullivain. If the princess passes away it would certainly cause civil war. Princess Sullivain is not easy to get along with, she is stubborn and hard-headed. It only gets harder as Hellevir starts to fall in love with her. With war looming Hellevir must trade more and more of herself in order to keep Princess Sullivain safe.

Even though the story was a little slow at first, I really enjoyed this book, the writing style was different than anything I’ve read before.


Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this eARC.

The Gilded Crown is an incredible book about family, betrail, and the love that can prevail through it all. Our main character, Hellevir, is a girl who can talk to death and bring people back from the dead, but like everything, the power comes with a price--a piece of her soul.
When she saves the princess's life one fateful day, she finds herself bound to protect her in order to keep her family safe.
Hellevir is such a caring character; she harbors a deep love for both her family and the one keeping them in danger. The tension grows and grows throughout the book in a way that's very fun to read.
Plot aside, the characters a very well written. Farvor--Hellevir's brother--and his boyfriend have a very sweet relationship and I adored the way Hellevir and her raven interacted.
It was a very fun read; I can't wait to see what's next in the series.

I love the idea of this book but unfortunately for me, it just never quite reached where I had hoped it was headed. The author's writing is lovely, and I found Death to be very interesting. However I think if the author had tried to do fewer things it could have made a huge difference in the overall book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gilded Crown is an adult debut about a girl who can raise the dead and ends up working as a resurrectionist for the princess and has to navigate a scheming court while dealing with her growing feelings for the princess, as well as a . While the idea of this novel was super interesting, something just didn’t work for me. I found myself struggling to finish this and just overall not as interested in the story as I had hoped. The main reason I had such a hard time getting through this book was the slow pacing. Not a lot actually happened in this book and the plot just kept repeating itself. Despite this being an adult book it read much more YA in my opinion and I wish I had gone into it thinking it was YA instead as my expectations were higher, and if I had thought it was YA I might have enjoyed it a bit more.

Another big reason why this didn’t work for me were the characters… I didn’t really like any of them and found the romance to be forced. I didn’t think the princess was likable at all and was confused as to why the main character was falling for her. As for the main character I found her choices to be too trusting which really annoyed me. I am a sucker for animal companions though and I adored that she had a raven she could talk to.

In the end this book was not for me and I won’t be continuing with the series any farther. As it is a debut I might still be interested in reading something from this author in the future.

This was a great premise, and I loved that there was so much queer representation! I will say that it felt like it could have been a little bit shorter, but I still really enjoyed it!