Born of Gilded Mountains Review
Today I’m writing a book review. There’s nothing I like more than discussing books and the stories they tell. I recently read Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes and I’m anxious to tell the world about it.
Amanda is an author I fell in love with the first time I read one of her books. (Set the Stars Alight, go read it, well worth it!) Her writing style is exquisite, threading gorgeous description with unique dialogue and full-bodied characterization. Each of her novels is set in a different time and place (often more than one!) and the authentic tone for them is a skill I envy as someone starting in historical fiction. The amount of research she must do for each book has to be insane. She’s a master at weaving together past and future, multiple viewpoints, romance and plot. She thoroughly immerses herself in whatever time and place she’s writing about and I would assume she had lived them herself.
This book has an interesting style I wasn’t sure I would like at first. It is peppered throughout with letters, news articles, and other such devices, that help tell the background of the story. I didn’t want to lose her lyrical style for this more structured approach, but it turns out I didn’t. This way of telling the story ensures the audience knows important background information without revealing it to the characters themselves. Yet it unfolds slowly, the mystery behind the book and the characters being shown at the right time.
It’s probably not my favorite way of writing that she’s chosen, but I respect the heck out of it. It was a ballsy move and one that paid off. It works for this story, especially considering the Classic Hollywood she’s got running through it like a vein of gold in a mine. (That’s an inside joke for those who’ve read the book.) It actually makes it easier to read as those chapters are short so you have good stopping points along the way.
The story follows Mercy, a fugitive actress with humble beginnings and a tragic past, as she enters the small mountain mining town of Mercy Peak, CO. The main story is set in 1940s post-World War II, with plenty of flashbacks to earlier decades. She’s drawn to the town because of a pen pal relationship she had growing up with a girl from there. Their friendship, illustrated in the above-mentioned letters, is one of the main foundation points of the book. It’s hard to say more without giving things away.
Mercy is running from her past, trying to build a future, and manages to do so while helping unravel a decades old mystery from the town’s past. The charming and quaint townsfolk are a delight, as all small-town denizens should be. They are each important in their own way, a little peg for the board of holes Mercy finds when she arrives, including the ones in herself.
You get to learn more about her and the town and what happened to shape the current state of things. Redemption is always a theme running throughout Amanda’s books, and I crave that hope-filled message. But important here as well is the power of friendship, the ever-changing, suffocating, and overpowering feeling of grief, as well as letting people (and God!) in to our healing.
God is ever present in the background of the majestic mountains and simple faith of these hardy folk. It’s not blatantly a Christian book, but it’s definitely honoring to God. He’s the catalyst for all of what follows.
I must confess some of the mystery/scavenger hunt/clues/science of it all was a bit over my head and hard to follow through mere words. Maybe one day when they make the movie! But if you have the same problem I did, I don’t think any of that detracts from the overall story. It’s the people that are important and those are fleshed out, three-dimensional, and learning poignant, beautiful things.
I do miss more romance as there’s less of it in this book. But I understand that was one of the things she did on purpose here, so mission accomplished. I just really like a good romance.
If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy the easter eggs and nods to her other books. She’s a clever universe builder, our Amanda.
Overall, I’m thrilled with the book and read it as fast as possible, finding it easy to read, yet anything but simple. I’m a big fan of Amanda’s and want to read everything she does. Hopefully, this encourages you to go and pick up a copy for yourself and begin supporting this amazing author. If you are a fan of clean romance and historical fiction, she is the author for you!
http://amandadykes.com/ https://a.co/d/inNwHq3
This is going to be my last blog post for the year. I need to take a hiatus until January, but I’ll look forward to seeing you all next year with more writing related news and, hopefully, a book update!
