Beyond despair, Serilda calls for help and it arrives in the form of the poltergeist of the castle, a mysterious redheaded boy who remembers nothing of his own life before. And she has one night to spin a roomful of straw into gold or she dies. She's to ride to the Erlking's castle on the other side of the enchanted wood and on the other side of the veil separating the living and the dead. But the next full moon a ghost arrives at her door with a carriage. The Erlking leaves, a little confused but satisfied, and Serilda breathes a sigh of relief.

She's out collecting straw, she tells him, because she can only spin straw into gold by the light of the full moon. Has she seen the moss maidens? And why is she out in the middle of the night? Serilda is terrified, but still bold enough to weave one of her stories for him. Serilda is spotted by the Erlking and his undead friends just after she hides his moss maiden prey in her cellar. She's so adept that, when the dreaded undead Erlking visits one full moon with his Wild Hunt, she's able to save the lives of two moss maidens from the enchanted wood with only her tongue. Her father claims she's been blessed by Wyrdith, the goddess of storytelling and lies, and indeed Serilda is adept at both. In GILDED, Serilda, a miller's daughter, is an outcast of her agrarian village because of her strange golden-spoked irises. Even though she's treated like a cursed outcast by most of her village, she's someone who looks past it and cherishes her relationship with children in the village and her father. Serilda's god-given gift for storytelling and lies gets her into trouble but it also keeps her alive and keeps her searching for the truth through story.

A straight couple has sex, with little described beyond kissing, some light groping, and undressing.

Sexual content is slightly more mature in Gilded as well. There's much talk of parent loss as well, and wonder if parents are truly gone or can be found. Magical animals are also captured with mentions that they are tortured. An undead creature gnaws at his own arm and attacks its live family, a hell hound gets an arrow shot through its eye, a ghost's head rolls off its body, and more. The main character, Serilda, cavorts with a whole world of the cruel undead led by the Erlking who kidnap young children and rip out their hearts. Expect more gory violence in this story than in Meyer's past books. Parents need to know that Gilded is a bold reimagining of the fairy tale 'Rumpelstiltskin' from Marissa Meyer, the popular author of the Lunar Chronicles series and Heartless.

Gilded marissa meyer