Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

82 reviews

chellcake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol

hikingblues23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

It's worth reading for the world building alone. There is a lot of trauma and sometimes it gets annoying with the secrecy and rules, but ultimately, the pay off makes it worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

mountain_reader19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

leabhar_love's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ekmook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts'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? It's complicated

5.0

I really enjoyed how magical The Gilded Ones is. How bizarre that there are female characters, when coming of age, bleed gold blood and are seen as evil. 

Our MC Deka is such an amazing character and herself is a suspenseful mystery. As in, she does bleed gold, is tragically killed by her own father, and can continue to ressurect herself.

Soon, she is united with more Gilded girls and together discover their individual strengths, train, and become more aquatinted with their "rebirthed" selves. 

I was EXTREMELY happy when Ixia (a magical shape-shifting creature) was introduced and LOVE HIM SO MUCH😭 Deka and his initial encounter is magically  spiritual, as soon as she lays eyes on him something in her being tells her he belongs to her. He does end up biting down on her arm and locking down, I would have freaked out, I figure to be a blood bonding. After that he's fiercely protective of her and the sweetest protective pet.

Then the whole premise behind the wicked creatures the Gilded are trained to help eliminate, Death Shrieks. There were so many mixed emotions and confusion combined with Deka unexpectedly understanding their foreign language. I could just weep.

The Gilded Ones has so much deep meaning and realistically resonates with the spiritual warfare Black Women and dealing with. I cherish Namina Fora for writing such a powerful start to this duology. I cannot wait to read the next title of this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, and War

sbdelopez's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

abby_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tilde_c_s's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Grief, and War

corabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? N/A

3.75

this book was good! it wasn’t at all close to what i was expecting, and i didn’t love it as much as i thought i would, but it was entertaining and intriguing enough that i’m excited for the sequel! i think my main problem was with the pacing of the book, the way it was written just didn’t allow me enough time to bond with the characters enough to care about them. however, i did like the friendships between them, and the found family was adorable. not to mention the plot, which was really good!! i loved the plot twists and the fight scenes, and the world building/magical creatures were super cool. overall, this book was a bit disappointing (my expectations were high) but still good. 👍 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

*a lot of this book talks about or contains descriptions of blood, so be careful!*