Review: Gold by Raven Kennedy

Rating: 4/5 ⭐

[Spoiler-Free] As a huge fan of this series so far, two words sum up the experience of reading Gold: emotional damage. To say I was not prepared for this level of suspense, angst, and full-blown heartbreak is an understatement, and it feels especially gut-wrenching to know that we now have to wait several months for the finale to be released.

In terms of character development, this book seemed to shift the focus away from our MMC and FMC a bit. The bulk of the plot still follows them, of course, but it didn’t feel like they evolved much, nor was any new information revealed about them (at least, none that felt too surprising). I absolutely loved Queen Malina’s storyline though, and truly hope she gets more page time in Goldfinch!

The only reason this wasn’t a five-star read for me was the pacing. For a book of over 600 pages, it felt like remarkably little happened until the very end. I totally understand the need to set everything up for the “grand finale” in Goldfinch, but it felt like that could have been accomplished in significantly fewer pages. Of course, I’ll still be reading Goldfinch when it’s released, and trust that Raven Kennedy will make the emotional devastation of Gold well worth it!