Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

183 reviews

bookforthought's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A powerful story about a group of young women made to believe their golden blood and superior abilities mark them as demons. As they are made to choose between certain death and fighting in an army to protect the empire from monsters, hard truths will come to light and the biggest question of all: who is the real monster?

The cast is lovely and diverse and I loved Deka as the main character. It was refreshing to have a complex, three-dimensional black female main character for once! The female friendships in this were also gorgeous. I also enjoyed the worldbuilding and the internal mythology but my main issue with this book was that there was much too telling and not enough showing. There were a lot of very important underlying themes which definitely make this a valuable read, but my enjoyment of it really took a hit because of the way this story was told.

I quite struggled to connect with the writing style, which while easy to read was at times maybe overly simplistic. This is probably just me though, not the book's fault, and it may not be a problem for other (younger) readers. I also had some issues with the use of trauma in this, even though I appreciated the effort to show a wide range of experiences and reactions to some severely traumatic events.

This book gets pretty explicitly violent for a YA fantasy, so be mindful of triggers before reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

captainoliimar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

analienfromouterspace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I picked up this book spontaneously and ended up loving it so much. The character development, plot twist and just the whole world, LOVED IT. A little slow at times, hence not 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Death of parent

sunberry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An absolutely incredible book. So hard to put down. The characters were engaging, interesting, and fun to root for. All kinds of twists that kept the book engaging. The magic elements were also a lot of fun. It has very dark themes, and heavily features abuse, but it is empowering as well as the characters overcome. The ending feels hopeful, but with knowledge of consequences.  Can't wait to pick up the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Bullying and Mental illness

teaqueen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I really loved this book. I did have to take quite a long break after reading a few chapters, there was a lot from the book reflected in the world at that time and it was a bit too draining to get through just then, but I'm so glad I came back and finished it. 

I always get a bit lost with new characters as the story progresses and I forget peoples names, but I liked these characters. There's usually something about the main character or the love interest or their "love story" that really just annoys me because I don't like how love stories just HAVE to play a part in every damn book. This one wasn't too annoying, the focus wasn't on that, and rightly so. You could tell time was taken on each characters back story and they weren't just thrown in as filler. They have beliefs and experiences that made them the way they are, and I liked the progression and revelations of the last few chapters.

You can tell this is the authors first book because there were moments where a person or a place or a creature was introduced to the story and the descriptions here were a bit lacking, I found myself struggling to picture what was going on and wanting to know MORE, and that is really why I'm giving this book 4 stars and not 5.

I am looking forward to the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I am always ready for some book that stands for kicking the patriarchy in the ass. It follows many of the clichés typical of the ya fantasy genres but it is still very enjoyable (and is more diverse than the most known ya fantasy/sci-fi books). 

In addition, never had I imagined that I would enjoy again a straight main couple, but they were very cute and I loved how devoted he was to her. She deserves to be happy and not suffer any longer. 

Also, Ixa's sole existence adds points to the book. I LOVE TINY, AFORABLE AND FEROCIOUS CREATURES THAT ACCOMPANY THE PROTAGONIST AHHHHHHH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

neomreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

In a world where women have to take a test to see if their blood is pure and if it is not they get sentenced to something worse than death. Deka is someone who did not have pure blood.


I loved the design of the characters and the African culture references(? Is this how you say it ?)
There was a lot of mentions of sexism and racism

I believed the book was very fast paced

<spoilers> for instance, I wanted more details of the training and the expeditions rather than just skipping it to the next major plot event 

It focused too much one the main character I believe and I think the character became too much of a Mary Sue?- idk I think she just became someone with no flaws
</spoilers>

I did love the gods, also, for every female character, for you 👑

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, and War

There was mention if human trafficking

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this! I did figure out the ~big reveal about 60 pages before it happened but it didn't take too much away from the plot for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

zikin's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed parts of this book, and I liked the main character/characters. My biggest reason for not giving it 4 stars is the gore. I found the graphic descriptions of violence and abuse off-putting. I will read the sequel though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

baileyk113's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this story and the world Forna created! The writing was really fantastic—the change that Deka went through from being a scared “demon” to embracing her divine status was very well portrayed. I also liked the fact that this was such a fast-paced book. However, I did wish some parts of the book were described more. I would’ve liked to have read more about the training sequences. I understand that Forna might’ve left the fight scenes against the deathshrieks out for the most part because Deka was killing her own kind, but I think it would’ve been interesting to read more about the battles to get more of Deka’s feelings. Also, if any of these characters die for real I’ll be so sad. When I first read about Britta dying, I had to put the book down and walk away. Overall, really great!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault