Glow

Glow (2022) is a dark romantic fantasy by Raven Kennedy, and the fourth book in the Plated Prisoner series. The novel picks up moments after Gleam: King Midas lies dead, Rot King Slade whisks Auren to safety, and the gilded woman who once lived in a cage must now stand trial for regicide. While rival monarchs maneuver to steal her magic and power-hungry Queen Kalia calls a Conflux to condemn her, Auren fights to master the gold inside her and decide who she will be in a realm hurtling toward war.

The series became a New York Times, USA Today, Sunday Times, and Spiegel bestseller with four million copies sold worldwide. The entire series consists of Gild (2020), Glint (2021), Gleam (2021), Glow (2022), Gold (2023), and Goldfinch (2024). The Plated Prisoner is currently being adapted for a television series.

This guide is based on Raven Kennedy’s independently published 2022 Kindle edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, bullying, sexual violence and harassment, substance dependency, graphic sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Glow takes place in a fantasy realm. The seven kingdoms of Orea are inhabited by humans, most of whose crowned heads possess magical abilities. Annwyn is the domain of the fae, a powerful race of magical beings. The novel’s events unfold in Orea with most of the action confined to Fourth Kingdom, while flashback episodes involve Annwyn. The story is told using first-person narration, primarily from the viewpoint of the novel’s two protagonists: Auren and Slade. A small number of chapters are told from the perspective of several other minor characters. Events transpire over a period of approximately one month.

Glow picks up immediately after the conclusion of book three in the series, with King Midas’s former “pet,” Auren, rebelling against years of abuse and fleeing to freedom with her lover Slade. Auren tries to gain control of her gold-touch power, and Slade tries to defend her from being scapegoated by the rulers of Orea for Midas’s death.

The novel begins in the aftermath of Auren’s rampage at Ranhold Castle. Midas is dead, and the fortress is drowning in liquid gold, killing many inside. Slade arrives on his timberwing to fly Auren to safety, but her enemies are already crafting a narrative to blame her for the incident. Queen Kaila spins a story saying that Auren stole Midas’s gold-touch and that she might steal the magical powers of the other crowned heads of Orea.

Slade takes Auren to Drollard Village, a hidden part of his Fourth Kingdom domain. He needed to use his rot power to end her rampage, so Auren remains unconscious until he can remove the rot and revive her. When she awakens, Auren is overcome with remorse for the harm she did at Ranhold, even though her rage was justified. Auren is an abuse survivor, having been kept in a golden cage by King Midas for the previous decade. As a fae with golden skin, she possesses the power of gold-touch, which King Midas passed off as his own. He told everyone that Auren’s gold skin was the result of his magic touch. This lie helped win him the crown of Sixth Kingdom.

The preceding novel ended with Midas mutilating Auren’s back by hacking off the 24 magical gold ribbons that grew from her spine. This violence tipped Auren over the edge and unleashed the fiercer aspects of her gold-touch. After Slade flies her away from the scene of the massacre, she spends many days recuperating in a cottage built entirely inside an immense mountain cave. Initially, Auren is terrified of the dangerous aspects of her power, but Slade helps her learn to control her gold-touch and direct it. She also learns combat skills to defend herself from future physical attacks.

While in Drollard, Auren learns about Slade’s own childhood abuse in Annwyn. His brutal father, Stanton, tried to kill Slade’s mother for adultery. In a magical clash between Slade and Stanton, Slade accidentally tore a rip in reality that transported his entire family, minus Stanton, to Drollard Village in Orea. As a result of the abuse she suffered, Slade’s mother, Elore, can no longer speak. She lives in isolation in a cave cottage away from the village. The rest of the villagers are all former family servants. Though human, their years in Annwyn gave them long life, and now they are bound to the rift in Drollard Village. If they leave, they will die. Slade feels a heavy burden of responsibility for the lives of all these people.

Slade’s burdens only increase when the royals of the other kingdoms demand that Auren answer at the Conflux for Midas’s death. When she refuses, she is kidnapped and taken to Second Kingdom for her trial. Once there, Auren is prevented from using her gold-touch by counter-magic. Slade arrives just in time to stop her execution, but she is separated from him by a magical barrier. He finally succeeds in breaking through with fae magic, but accidentally creates another rift that opens a portal to Annwyn.

The novel ends with Auren escaping to the fae realm and Slade vowing to find her. When he returns to Drollard Village, he discovers all the inhabitants are missing and the original rift is gone. Meanwhile, in Seventh Kingdom, Midas’s widow has been tricked into rebuilding the broken bridge between Annwyn and Orea. The fae warn that their armies will march across and claim Orea for themselves.