Title: Gold (The Plated Prisoner #5)
Author: Raven Kennedy
Genre: Fantasy, romantasy
Publisher: N/A- Independent
Publication Date: December 7, 2023
Format: Kindle Unlimited
Length: 646 pages

Read if you like: fairytale retellings, grey and black morality, major plot twists, touch her and die, found family

Rating: 

Gold was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023, so I picked it up the second that it was released. It was a beast, coming in at well over 600 pages, and it accomplished a lot in terms of moving the story forward.

I probably should have guessed that the book would be mostly set up given that Kennedy announced earlier this year that Gold would no longer be the final book in the Plated Prisoner series, but I went in still expecting a little more resolution anyway. 

That said, it was still a supremely entertaining book and a lot of focus went into some of my favourite characters. Kennedy focused on evolving a few side characters to play more pivotal roles, while simultaneously walking Auren and Slade through their new circumstances. Despite that the book was mostly build-up to the next book in the series, it was still a very solid read, but now I’m just even more keen to get my hands on the final installment of this story.

The Book: Gold by Raven Kennedy

Gold jumps into the thick of the action right where Glow left off. Auren has been ripped from Orea as a result of Slade tearing open the world to save her from the conflux. After a seemingly endless descent, she finds herself right back where her story began: in Anwynn.

On the other side of the universe, Slade is bringing death and destruction to every single kingdom that played a role in Auren’s torture and death sentence. His rage and revenge would have been significant on their own, but compounded with the fact that the rip he created closed immediately after Auren entered it (along with the other rip he’d created with his mother and his people) and that he can no longer reach her, and the level of rage and destruction that he’s ready to bring is unmatched. 

From here, Auren must find her way in a world that is no longer familiar to her, with a mandate that she didn’t create among people who revere her. At the same time, Slade is working tirelessly to try to find a way back to Auren and will do anything, at any cost, to get to where he needs to be. 

The Review

This book was a strong and necessary addition to the Plated Prisoner series. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved seeing Slade lean directly into being a villain, unapologetically. He’s not morally grey in this book, his morality is straight black and fuelled by vengeance. To be fair, Kennedy has never positioned Slade as any kind of moralistic hero, but she doubles down on his villainous side in Gold, particularly when she contrasts Slade’s position against Ryatt’s in the coming war. I thought using both brothers was an interesting way of demonstrating that while some are motivated by the greater good, Slade is not one of them. He is motivated by Auren alone, and while he’s willing to provide mercy and assistance occasionally, it’s only if it furthers his cause or is something he feels that Auren would have wanted. 

I also kind of fell in love with Malina. I’ve always felt like she had been dealt a bad hand, and while she was always cold and calculating, it felt like she was very much a by-product of her environment. She was a queen without power, without influence, without independence, deprived of her birthright because of her gender and her inability to wield magic. I felt like her getting a redemption arc was well-earned.

The only challenge I had with this book was that it felt long, with the entire plot focused on building towards the next book. A lot happened and there was a decent amount of action, but it felt it took an exceptionally long time, nearly the entire book, before things started to come together and we started to see directionally where this new war was headed. I also felt like I didn’t get to see as much from Auren as I would have liked; a lot was happening around her, but it wasn’t until the end that the significance of what was happening around her became clear. It felt more like she was just experiencing things rather than growing through the things she experienced. That said, again, I probably should have expected as much given that Kennedy noted this was no longer the final book in the series. It shouldn’t have been a surprise this book would mostly be build, so that’s on me. 

This was still a very solid addition to the series with some super exciting setups. I’m looking forward to finishing this series when the final book, Goldfinch, releases in 2024.