Book review: Gilded by Christina Farley

Book Review: Gilded by Christina Farley

·  Print Length: 352 pages

·  Publisher: Skyscape (March 1, 2014)

·  Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

·  Language: English

·ASIN: B00FN2KR3K                                                         

Sixteen year old Korean-American girl, Jae Hwa Lee, with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a master in archery, is uprooted from her home in LA, California and brought to Seoul, Korea by her recently widowed father. Jae is just starting to adjust to her new life when she is thrust head first into a long standing family curse. The oldest unwed female in each generation in her family are sought out for by a Korean demigod, trying to woe them into the spirit world to be his queen and steal there soul. And Jae is next.

Written in first person this story is based on the Korean myth of Haemosu and Princess Yuhwa. Which, the author has expertly intertwined this myth into her own story. Giving the myth new depth and dimension.

“Haemosu was immediately attracted to Yuhwa, daughter of the river god Habaek, whom he first saw bathing in a stream. Haemosu surreptitiously placed alcohol where the thirsty Yuhwa would drink it, and took advantage of her. He then asked the furious Habaek for his daughter’s hand. In order to test his potential son-in-law, Habaek transformed into a carp, and Haemosu transformed into an otter and caught him. Moving back to land, Habaek transformed into a deer and Haemosu a wolf. Habaek took the form of a pheasant, but could not escape Haemosu who became a hawk. Habaek then surrendered his daughter to her indomitable wooer.” ~ Korean PDF  (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YTrUMKGrwS8J:www.koreafocus.or.kr/design2/pdf/pdf_download.asp%3Fpdf_name%3D/images/upload/pdf/103519+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

Adventure at every turn. I had a hard time putting this book down. The author, Christina Farley, did a wonderful job ending each chapter just at the right point, leaving you wondering what happens next. I enjoyed every characters part in the story but I did find that I didn’t have a strong connection with any of them. The main characters, for me, seem to missing something, though I can’t figure out what it is. There is a visible change in emotional growth with two of the main characters throughout the book. On another note, I found many of the mythological creatures and learning some of the Korean myths intriguing. Leaving me wanting more.

Christina Farley spent many years in Korea and her knowledge of their culture, language and land shows in this story. In the back of the book she provides a glossary of the Korean words and the translations that she uses throughout the story. I found this helpful due to the fact that two of the main mythological creatures, Haechi and Haemosu, the Korean word for grandfather, haraboji, all start with the letter H and I got confused a couple of times and had to use the glossary. The author got together with a couple of other people and made a classroom guide to go with this story. Meant for Grade 7 -10 this guide has activities/Lessons in geography, proverb/adage, and write your own myth. Complete with a list of Core standards that this guide meets for each of the grades.