Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Gilded Ones

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

165 reviews

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

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!

Content Warnings

nessas_lair's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

3.5

TW: Rape off-screen, violence, and gore.

This was such a great book and I would highly recommend reading it. The worldbuilding with the patriarchy was so interesting to read about and I loved how descriptive it was! I thought Deka’s romance didn’t have much substance, but I’m glad it wasn’t a huge plot point of the story. It was nice to see the focus more on her relationship with her blood sisters, especially Britta. That part at the ending with Britta shocked me for sure and I had a huge, “OH NO THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING” moment. Luckily this book has a great ending that is filled with closure and could honestly be a standalone. I’ll still check out the next book because I’m interested to see what happens next. I also thought Adwapa’s character was great and I loved that there was a lesbian romance. This book definitely features some heavy content but I think it was beautifully written and was very much “girl power.” On a sidenote, I totally called the deathshriek plot twist super early on in the story.

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levi_j_s's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

All in all, this is a good young adult book. The pacing is odd, and the plot twists seem to drop out of nowhere. I wasn’t really sold on the love-interest part of the book, but perhaps that is fleshed out more in the sequel. Personally, I am not a fan of YA books because I have a difficult time finding children/teenage characters “believable” and relatable. This book is also guilty of many YA tropes. However, The Gilded Ones is a well-written (accessible, easy to follow) story with mythological creatures and the very real conflicts of a patriarchal society. It does a great job with world-building; it is immersive. I felt satisfied with the conclusion of the story, even knowing there are more books in the series.

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whatcassiedid's review against another edition

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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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zikin's review against another edition

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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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haylzno's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

DEKAAAA ♥️

5 billion stars. I LOVED this book. I have The Merciless Ones on my shelf now and I can't WAIT to continue in the adventure.
The "exaggerated" story of the patriarchal society and the oppression these women faced because if it was just...spot on.
I love found families and bad ass women

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whatjasread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring 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

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would! Not too sure that I'm desperate to continue the series, but this book was very different to what I expected. The writing was great, though a little slow at times and could probably have been a little shorter with some decent editing. Plotwise this was predictable but not in a bad way, I enjoyed seeing the story unfold. I do wish there was a bit more focus on Deka's Uruni bond with Keita. I also wish the queer relationship was a bit more obvious and woven through the story, as it felt a bit like an afterthought.

TWs: racism, colourism, sexism, sexual harassment, illness, murder, graphic violence, gore, blood, death, stab wounds, torture, body-shaming, scarring, vomiting, ref to rape, sexual assault, fat-shaming, dismemberment, body horror, death of mother (before book)

Tropes/rep/themes: war, legends, sapphic SCs, found family, ritual bonding

Content Warnings