As someone who [at the time of reading] didn’t know the FULL story of Rumpelstiltskin, I gotta say, most of this story took me by surprise, holy wow. After catching up on the tale and what happens, I muuuuuch more clearly understand the artistic choices here and made me look back and enjoy it more.

I adored Serilda as the main character. She was brave and wily. I love the spinning of tales and how she just lied. And rolled with it. She was somehow a bit morally gray, and completely the hero at the same time and that’s the kind of characters I love. I wish there was a bit more depth with her romance with Gild. They didn’t get a lot of page time, meaning I didn’t get enough pages to love them.

This is a dark and twisted tale. And the chapters focusing on the actual moon cycle were good, enthralling, and kept me going. All of the stuff in-between? Eh. I found the pacing here much slower causing me to feel like this book draaaagged itself through the middle.

It was a wild set-up at the end and I have MANY QUESTIONS and answers needed. Can’t wait for the next book because as always, I love Marissa Meyer!