Raven Kennedy’s Gold (2023) is a dark romantasy novel and the fifth installment in the internationally bestselling The Plated Prisoner series. A feminist reimagining of the King Midas myth, the series gained significant popularity on social media platforms like TikTok. Gold picks up in the immediate aftermath of the fourth book, Glow, with the protagonist Auren ripped from her lover Slade and transported to the fae realm of Annwyn. Separated from everyone she knows, Auren must confront her forgotten past and heritage on her own. Meanwhile, a rage-filled Slade seeks retribution across the kingdoms of Orea, and another monarch, Queen Malina, fights to save her own kingdom from a fae invasion she inadvertently caused.

Gold explores themes such as The Reclamation of Bodily and Emotional Autonomy, Propaganda as an Instrument of Power and Control, and Distinguishing Justice From Vengeance. The Plated Prisoner series is an example of the dark romantasy subgenre, directly engaging with mature themes of trauma and healing within a fantasy framework. The series has become a commercial success, selling over 4 million copies worldwide and hitting multiple bestseller lists, including the New York Times and USA Today. The series was picked up for a television adaptation by Mandalay Television.

This guide refers to the 2024 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual content, cursing, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

Immediately after the events at the Conflux, the trial wherein Orean monarchs sentenced Auren to death, Auren falls through a rip, or rift in reality, created by King Slade Ravinger. The rip closes behind her, separating her from Orea. She lands in a field in Annwyn. She discovers her 24 golden ribbons have miraculously returned to her back, though she cannot move them. A group of fae, led by an old woman named Nenet, greets her as “Lady Auren” and tells her she is home before she collapses.

Two weeks later, Slade flies to Third Kingdom to seek revenge on Queen Kaila, whom he blames for Auren’s capture. His secret village of Drollard, including his mother, Elore, vanished when its rip imploded as he created the one for Auren. He has since been unable to open another rip to find either of them. He arrives at Gallenreef Castle, learns Kaila is in Sixth Kingdom ruling over Highbell, and captures her brother Manu Ioana. He then continues his vengeance tour in the city of Derfort, harming everyone who ever hurt Auren.

Meanwhile, Queen Malina Colier is imprisoned in the ruined Cauval Castle in Seventh Kingdom. She was tricked by fae twins into a blood ritual that restored the Bridge of Lemuria between Orea and Annwyn, inadvertently unleashing a fae army that now marches toward her kingdom’s capital of Highbell. The ritual also gave her uncontrollable ice magic. An assassin named Dommik, who was originally hired by her husband Midas but failed to kill her, appears and challenges her to take responsibility for the invasion. After being tortured by the fae King of Annwyn, Tyec Carrick, who controls stone with magic, Malina convinces Dommik of her desire to save her people. He agrees to help her escape using his shadow magic.

Auren awakens in an attic in the town of Geisel, where a healer named Estelia tends to her. Nenet reveals that Auren is Auren Turley, the last heir of Saira Turley’s royal line, and that her parents were killed in the battle of Bryol by the Carricks. Estelia and her partner, Thursil, warn Auren that the ruling Carrick monarchy sees the Turley line as a threat. Despite the danger, Auren insists on returning to the field to look for Slade, and Nenet agrees to help.

For five days, Auren finds offerings from loyalists to her but no sign of Slade. She meets Wick, leader of a rebel group called the Vulmin Dyrūnia, who asks her to be the face of their rebellion. She refuses. When the royal guard, the Stone Swords, arrives in Geisel searching for her, Auren decides to leave with Nenet to protect her new friends.

Slade continues his revenge across multiple kingdoms, eradicating the flesh trade in Derfort with one of his warriors, Judd, and rotting the dewdrops supply in Fifth Kingdom, as the addictive drug was used to sedate Auren by King Midas. He tracks Red Raids pirates, who previously hurt Auren, to force them to stop trafficking people.

As Auren and Nenet try to leave Geisel, Stone Swords confront them, holding Thursil captive. Auren intervenes, using her magic and sparking a battle. During the fight, a traitor kills Nenet. Auren kills the remaining soldiers, paves the street in gold as a memorial, and agrees to join Wick and the Vulmin.

Malina and Dommik travel across Orea, trying to reach Highbell before the fae, who are slaughtering villages as they march. Malina begins doubting her right to rule as queen. As they travel, she and Dommik develop an attraction to one another.

In Slade’s Fourth Kingdom, his warrior Osrik watches over a dying Rissa, another of Midas’s escaped concubines, whose stab wound is infected. She was injured when Auren was kidnapped to be taken to the Conflux. She and Osrik had developed a relationship. Slade continues trying and failing to open another rip to find Auren; simultaneously, a mysterious, painful rot has taken over his heart, which could kill him.

Malina and Dommik arrive in Highbell to find Queen Kaila has seized control using her former betrothal to Midas and hatred against Malina, whose selfishness as queen caused a violent riot before Malina’s kidnapping by the fae. Malina confronts her and reveals the fae invasion but is mocked and imprisoned in the same gilded cage Auren once occupied. Kaila reveals Auren killed King Midas, undoing Malina’s jealous hatred of Auren. Dommik frees Malina, but she fails to convince the Highbell soldiers of the threat.

Determined, she builds a massive ice wall to defend the city. The fae army arrives, and Kaila flees, abandoning Highbell. The army breaches the city. After a passionate encounter with Dommik, Malina fights in the streets but is knocked unconscious. When she awakens, Highbell has been sacked, its inhabitants dead. She heads to a nearby forest to search for survivors and finds a small group that pledges their loyalty to her for coming to save them.

Auren travels with the Vulmin, befriending a rebel named Emonie. They visit the ruins of Bryol, Auren’s childhood home, where she creates a golden tree as a memorial. The group undertakes a mission to rescue Oreans from the cruel Lord Cull, who enslaves remaining Oreans in Annwyn.

In Fourth Kingdom, Rissa’s condition worsens. On the brink of her death, Slade’s advisor, Isalee, arrives with two sisters from Second Kingdom. The younger sister, Wynn, possesses powerful healing magic and completely heals Rissa, who awakens. Slade’s health continues to fail as the rot in his chest worsens, something Wynn says she can’t heal.

After, Queen Kaila arrives looking for her kidnapped brother Manu Ioana. Slade learns from his captain, Lu, that the fae have invaded Orea via the repaired Bridge of Lemuria, prompting him to forge a fragile alliance with First and Third Kingdoms to defend Orea. He gives Queen Kaila her brother back in exchange for her army’s support. Realizing this is his only way to Annwyn, Slade prepares to leave for Seventh Kingdom to find Auren after setting up defenses.

In Annwyn, Auren infiltrates the Cull estate and discovers the Orean captives are Elore and the Drollard villagers, who were pulled through a broken rip from Orea. Auren learns that Cull is Slade’s father, from whom he originally saved his mother and the villagers. She attacks Cull, who uses his magical power to shatter her bones. During the fight, the rot in her gold connects with Slade’s own power across realms, revealing they are a Pāyur, a fated, bonded pair whose powers are connected. Auren realizes Slade has known this all along.

The Vulmin leader Wick’s golden blood is revealed when he is wounded, confirming his Turley heritage. The group is betrayed by their guide, Brennur, who Auren realizes kidnapped her as a child and brought her to Orea. He transports them via fairy ring to the fae capital, Lydia, where King Carrick and Lord Cull capture them. As they are tortured, Carrick reveals his army is sacking Orea. The hope of reaching Slade via the bridge gives Auren a final burst of strength, but a fae named Una uses magic to erase her memory.