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Gild

Written by: Raven Kennedy
Narrated by: Zara Eden,Blake Lockheart
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Publisher's Summary

By best-selling author Raven Kennedy, comes the first book in a stunning new fantasy series, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout. The fae abandoned this world to us. And the ones with power rule.

Gold. Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold. Even me. King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m called his precious. His favored. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe. Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck. Suddenly, my trust is broken. My love is challenged. And I realize that everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong. Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.

The myth of King Midas reimagined. This compelling adult fantasy series is as addictive as it is unexpected. With romance, intrigue, and danger, the gilded world of Orea will grip you from the very first page.

Please note: This book contains explicit content and darker elements, including mature language, violence, and non-consensual sex. It is not intended for anyone under 18 years of age. This is book one in a series.

©2020, 2021 Raven Kennedy (P)2021 Raven Kennedy

What listeners say about Gild

Average Customer Ratings
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Stockholm syndrome

It was okay. Wasn’t very exciting. I hated the the relationship between the main character and the king, didn’t really feel the love or connection. She wasn’t giving badass woman and it shows. Meh.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun story - terrible listen

The book starts very spicy. I enjoyed the story overall.

I almost couldn't finish with the narrator. She uses the same dramatic tone of voice no matter the scene. She pronounces silent letters (sof-T-en) she didn't pronounce non-silent letters (nimly instead of nimbly. Also any mention of "his linggth" (length) made my skin crawl. I wish I had read this in paperback.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Would love the rest of the series

I enjoyed this audiobook and wish I could listen to the rest of the series through audible!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

not very excited

The concept was cool, but overall I was just kind of bored. The first half was extremely slow paced, it definitely got a little more interesting near the end but it was a struggle to get into this book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Il manquait un petit quelque chose

Je n’ai pas accroché à l’univers et aux personnages m. On me dit que le tome 2 est de loin meilleur que le premier. Je lui donnerais peut-être sa chance.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A complicated intro to a new world

The introduction to the world of Gild is very detailed and complicated, it doesn’t move the book series forward quickly.

We are introduced to a very unhealthy relationship between the main character and her love interest, king Midas. The reader is constantly questioning why we should care about him? This is just as the main character is starting to have the same doubts and questions about her entire existence.

We get some peeks into their relationship and their past. Generally, this book just tracks her mentally breaking away from what is an unhealthy relationship. It’s not overly exciting, this is not a romance novel. (See next book for the start of that)

It seems it could have been done in fewer books, but I still found myself very entertained and engaged. Wondering “what’s next” the whole time. The next book has more action and character development.

The performances are excellent!

I would suggest picking this up as (having read book 2) it’s building a good foundation for the future.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Why should I like Midas?

I had to DNF, I didn't find Midas likeable and the Stockholm situation was too cringey. Just not for me maybe.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

wasted credit and time

an awful waste of time and money. wasted credit and didnt make it to chapter 4. poor story line. language and sexual scenes without being sexual at all. felt robotic. extremely dissappointed.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I Really Tried to Like This

Did I finish it? Yes.
Did I want to stop reading multiple times? Yes

Honestly the unnecessary brutality both verbally and physically towards the female characters killed it for me. It barely felt like escapism with the subject matter. And I'm not even sure what the plot was outside of that. It didn't get interesting until the last 3 or 4 chapters IMO.

The world building imagery was pretty decent but it really wasn't for me.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good premise but slow and frustrating

I like the premise of this novel and some of the characters (including the main character) are interesting. However there is so much graphic sexual violence in this novel and I feel like many plot points could have been advanced without the threat or depiction of sexual violence and abuse. The main character is frustratingly passive for most of the book which makes some sense given that she is a prisoner but it seems that everything just happens to her rather than her having any agency at all. The plot is slow and pretty boring. The last few chapters are easily the best which sets up the other books in the series to be better than this one but they are not on audible and I’m hesitant to pay money for them given the first books issues. Two stars because it’s an interesting world & some good characters.

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  • Ris Gray
  • 2021-10-07

Annoying

Sounds like a robot/phone sex operator. 🥴 Couldnt listen longer than 30 seconds. Returning - next time I’ll listen to sample

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29 people found this helpful

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  • Geoff
  • 2021-10-14

Horrible performance!

Although the writing is rather juvenile, containing repetitively misused words and far too much exposition, it’s the reader that really makes its painful experience. Do NOT waste your time listening to this. I’m reading the third book now and the writing does get a little better with each book (still very clumsy). The story itself is good, and with a competent editor this could have been elevated to a noteworthy series. If you can handle the writing, it’s a decent read - just don’t listen to the audible version!

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16 people found this helpful

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  • ashley
  • 2021-11-15

Terrible performance

The narration is probably the worst I’ve listened to. The story is interesting and entertaining you should just read it, the audible version will ruin it for you

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9 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • O. Vescovo
  • 2021-10-23

Could be better

The beginning is very tedious and pretty boring. About halfway through the story picks up. I’m not sure if there are any characters I’m supposed to actually like. The narrator took a bit to get used to. Her “s” is very harsh sounding and I had to turn the volume down because the hissing at the end of every “s” hurt my ears. She also mispronounces a bunch of words which is pretty jarring and takes me out of the story.

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6 people found this helpful

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  • Reader
  • 2022-03-06

I’m an audiobook lover who can’t keep listening to this narrator.

This story is all over Booktok and Bookstagram. It’s slow moving, but I’m giving it a chance. Nothing very exciting happens in this first book, and the story doesn’t get interesting until over halfway through. However, the first half is world building and plot heavy, so I get it. Going to continue the story and see if it gets better.

The narrator tho?
Holy guacamole is this narrator bad. I think they’d be really good for memoir-type stories, but they read this story like they’re reading from a horny teleprompter.

They constantly get character’s confused, which results in a lack of consistency and difficulty following the dialogue. They also make every man automatically angry, even when the men aren’t at all angry.

The female characters are an odd mix of sultry and bland. Either they’re unnecessarily aroused-sounding, or they’re robotic.

Truly am sad to be giving up listening to this series bc I love love love audiobooks. But this narrator is legitimately ruining the story for me.

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5 people found this helpful

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  • niqueila
  • 2021-12-15

It’s too slow

It’s super slow every time something good happens the book is over I don’t even want to read the next one

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • brunerlane628
  • 2021-10-25

I am here for the story

The story opened with exciting activities. I was looking for a fantasy story with just the right amount of spiciness. The unfortunate part of this story is the narrator. She kind of rushes through the reading and the tone is on the boring side, which sucks because the story is not boring.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Moonlight_Snow
  • 2021-10-03

Refreshing !!!

Very well done! Loved the rhythmic fluidity of the Narrator’s voice, somewhat melodic. I enjoyed how she brought color and depth to the words and overall story…I could not stop listening

Very enjoyable !

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Adrienne
  • 2021-10-01

Audio makes the story more interesting

When I had to read this before the audiobook came out I found this to be a tedious , with the audio, the woman makes the story way more interesting with her voice . Nice

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Rachael
  • 2021-09-29

so good!

This series is literally the best! I can't wait for all the books to be released in audio format as well. I will collect them all in all formats :)

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2 people found this helpful