Cursed

The concluding half of Marissa Meyer's Gilded duology delivers the atmospheric dark fairy-tale storytelling fans came for. Serilda's fight to outmaneuver the Erlking, protect her unborn child, and break the curse that binds her and Gild to the haunted castle of Adalheid gives the novel real emotional stakes — particularly in how it handles grief, sacrifice, and motherhood. Meyer's world-building remains richly immersive throughout. The honest caveat is pacing: for a series finale, the middle stretches long, and a subset of readers found the ending less satisfying than the journey. Content note for parents: this is a dark YA fantasy with gothic violence, threats against an unborn child, and a forced-marriage dynamic, rated 14+ by Common Sense Media. Read Gilded first.