Gold
70 pages • 2-hour read
Raven KennedyGold
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse, sexual assault, and death.
Series Context: The Conclusion of The Plated Prisoner Series
Gold is the fifth installment in author Raven Kennedy’s internationally best-selling series, The Plated Prisoner. The novel ends the overarching narrative in the preceding books: Gild, Glint, Gleam, and Glow. The series takes place in Orea, which holds the Seven Kingdoms, the seventh of which was lost after the bridge to the adjoining fae realm was destroyed. The series begins with the protagonist, Auren, living as the gilded and caged possession of the avaricious King Midas of Sixth Kingdom. Believing his control and isolation are forms of protection, she slowly awakens to the reality of her abuse after being captured by the army of a rival monarch, King Slade Ravinger. Both Auren and Slade are secretly fae, with Slade being able to transform between his kingly form and his disguise of Commander Rip, leader of his army. He encourages her to embrace her powers: She carries 24 sentient ribbons protruding from her spine and also has the ability to turn things to gold, an ability Midas takes credit for to gain power. At the end of Gleam, Auren used her magical powers to kill Midas.
In Glow, Auren deals with the fall-out of this choice. Despite being protected by Slade, other monarchs demand punishment—including Queen Kaila, who had arranged a politically motivated marriage with Midas. Kaila claims Auren steals magical powers and is a threat to other monarchs. Meanwhile, Auren learns that Slade, while in the fae realm Annwyn as a child, accidentally tore a rift in reality between Annwyn and Orea, bringing his village there. While in Drollard Village, Auren is kidnapped by Second Kingdom and sentenced to execution. Slade rescues her, but in the fight, he accidentally opens another rift through which Auren escapes to Annwyn. This causes Drollard Village to disappear, and Slade vows to find its residents and Auren again. Throughout this, Midas’s former wife, Queen Malina, enters the assumed-lost Seventh Kingdom after being presumed dead, as Midas attempted to have her assassinated. There, she is tricked by the fae into rebuilding the bridge between Annwyn and Orea, after which they will invade Orea to take it for themselves.
Literary Context: A Feminist Reimagining of the King Midas Myth
The Plated Prisoner series is presented as “THE MYTH OF KING MIDAS REIMAGINED” (vii), joining a significant modern literary tradition of feminist retellings. In the classical myth, most famously recorded in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, King Midas of Phrygia is granted a wish that everything he touches turns to gold. The story serves as a cautionary tale about greed when he accidentally transforms his beloved daughter into a golden statue. Kennedy’s retelling fundamentally shifts the narrative’s focus by centering the story on the gilded woman, Auren, who actually wields the golden touch despite the power-hungry Midas claiming to have it himself. This broadens the myth from a lesson about a man’s avarice into an exploration of female objectification, commodification, and the psychological cost of being treated as a possession.
This approach reflects a trend in contemporary feminist literature, where authors give voice to historically silenced female figures from mythology and folklore. For example, Madeline Miller’s novel Circe (2018) reframes the titular sorceress from a minor obstacle in a male hero’s journey into the complex protagonist of her own epic. Similarly, Kennedy uses Auren’s perspective to deconstruct the original myth, exposing the violence inherent in Midas’s “gift.” The series’s explicit content warnings for “emotional manipulation and abuse, sex trafficking and on-page sexual assault” underscore its commitment to portraying the grim reality of Auren’s objectification (vii). Gold concludes this feminist arc, with Auren’s journey from a gilded captive to a powerful queen completing the transformation of a classical myth into a modern story of survival and reclaimed agency.
Genre Context: Dark Romantasy and the Exploration of Trauma
Gold utilizes the conventions of dark romantasy, a literary subgenre that blends fantasy and romance with mature, often disturbing themes or relationship dynamics. Popularized on social media platforms like TikTok, dark romantasy distinguishes itself from traditional fantasy romance through its morally ambiguous characters and its direct engagement with difficult subject matter. The author’s note in Gold explicitly warns readers of “dark and potentially triggering content” (vii), including abuse and sexual violence, which are common elements of the genre. These elements often provide a narrative framework for exploring the psychological aftermath of trauma and the complex process of healing.
Auren’s journey throughout The Plated Prisoner series mirrors a recognized trauma recovery narrative. Her decade-long captivity in Midas’s cage is written to capture real-life cycles of abuse, particularly in intimate partner relationships. The series charts Auren’s path through stages of healing, from establishing safety to confronting her past. Kennedy highlights this focus, stating that if the fourth book “was about healing, Gold is about individuality” (v), positioning the following installments as the culmination of Auren’s recovery. The genre also allows for morally gray relationships, such as Auren’s bond with Slade, whom Kennedy describes as “the villain for her” (v), to serve as a catalyst for her empowerment. In this way, dark romantasy provides a metaphorical lens through which to examine a survivor’s journey toward self-actualization.
Unlock all 70 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs