Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Gilded Ones

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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vampire_burrito's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Okay re-reading this was definitely a good idead because how was I not obsessed with this book the first time around. Sure the first few hundred pages are very slow (the first 70% took me two months to read) but the last 100 pages!! Shook!! Everything happened at once and I loved it. And though it took me a long time to read, the first part of the book is very good although it did end up feeling a little but repetitive because it's basically just a cycle of "train, kill deathshrieks, something strange happens to Deka, trying to find out why that happened" for 200 pages. My favourite parts of the book was Deka's relationships with other characters particularly her friendship with Britta. I loved how the author put friendship with woman as the forefront of the book. The other thing that I really loved was that the book never condemned any of the characters for wanting to fall in love. I feel like a lot of feminist stories do that and I hate it. But The Gilded Ones has a character who's entire motivation is to go home to her village, marry the guy that she's in love with and have children. And it's never shown as a bad thing. The romance between Deka and Keita was also very sweet and I definitely liked it more upon a re-read. Overall good, would recommend and I will be reading the sequels.

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sunberry's review against another edition

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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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auri_underthing's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

Solid read, kept me entertained the whole time. Although for some reason I found the ending a bit unsatisfactory. Still, I enjoyed it. I love Ixa.

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gigireadswithkiki's review

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

Wow, this book is exactly as violent as forewarned, but I didn't expect the plot to be so similar to the magical girl anime trope! The Guilded Ones follows young Deka as she's forced from her native misogynistic religious community upon discovering that she's unnatural and supernaturally immortal. Her only choice forward is death or enlistment into the emperor's army for other girls like her, alaki, in a quest to defeat the bloodthirsty Deathshrieks.

I really enjoyed seeing Deka's initial character in the first half of the book. She felt like a truly accurate portrayal of a devout religious teenager, constantly admonished for daring to step the slightest bit out of line. Over time, Deka grows and flourishes with her little found family, but her character development felt natural along the progression of the plot. All of her friends, notably Britta and Belcalis, have distinct and unique personalities, and are unified under the banner of overcoming the misconceptions the world thrusts upon them. Most of all, despite Deka's romance arc, the story finds a way to center the importance of female friendships in a way that doesn't feel forced.

When I first read of the 20-year-long contract the aleki forms with the government, I was curious about how the pacing of this, in tandem to the promised all-out campaign against the deathshrieks, would play out. At times, the plot will skip around a week or more into the future, but I found that this worked fairly well for the story, cutting out more mundane story points such as soldier training and travel time.

I think my only issue with this book was the level of description for the violent scenes. I understand that alaki are immortal and virtually un-killable by human hands, but the depictions of gory stabbings and beheadings was a lot for me, especially for a YA book. There were also fairly numerous depictions of vomiting, both as a result of witnessing violence and as a symbol for unease, that was a little unsettling.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal as I devoured it in 24 hours, and I'm glad I was finally able to get around to reading it after it sat on my shelf for 6+ months!

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catorureads's review against another edition

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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

2.5

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teaqueen's review against another edition

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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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tinyjude's review against another edition

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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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