Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Gilded Ones

I found this compelling and a bit disturbing, which I think it's meant to be. I don't want to say to much about the details of how it's disturbing, as I enjoyed the suspense and gradual unfolding, but it explores themes of abuse, trauma, power, gender, and betrayal. I will be re-reading, and look forward eagerly to the release of volume 2 later this year. In particular, I am eager to discover

whether White Hands and the Gilded Ones are really recreating a lost egalitarian utopia. I am hoping that Forna continues to take the messier and more nuanced approach, and they turn out to be really not so lovely as all that.

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mountain_reader19's review against another edition

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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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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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dark 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? No

5.0

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ducklingh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I'm not always a fan of high fantasy, but I thought this was great

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leabhar_love's review

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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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kiwi_33's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

This book was enjoyable for numerous reasons: a powerful female protagonist, a cast of interesting and nuanced female characters, male characters that aren’t only portrayed as antagonists but also as allies, a good dose of mystery, beautifully crafted world building…

But it does have a couple of shortcomings, however small. I do feel more pages could have been spared for the world-building. As an avid enthusiast of envisioning an entirely new world created by a passionate writer, I feel there should have been more there.

The reveal with White Hands also felt somewhat out of character. It was surprising, which I suppose is a good thing, but I feel there should have been more hints as to her true intentions. It just felt completely out of place when it happened. I felt that she could maybe be part of an entire third faction (against the emperor, but also against the alaki and deathshreiks), that could possibly prove to be an ally, or another enemy. What actually ends up happening seems less interesting to me? Like, it could make for additional interesting conflict to also have a women’s faction be opposed to the alaki. It would also add depth to the story. As a reflection of how societies around the world treats women, cases of women fighting against women’s rights instead of supporting them have been seen countless times. I hope that aspect of societies will be explored in the next couple of books.

The ending to the book also felt pretty rushed. The pace suddenly increased, which could convey a sense of urgency, but it only felt like the book was missing the maybe 50 extra pages it might have needed to feel more complete. I am really looking forward to the next instalment though, and was happy to find out it’s being released later this year.

The cover art and coloured borders were stunning on this one, which played a large part in me buying it and discovering an interesting, thought-provoking story. I’m looking forward to adding the next one to my collection.

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sauvageloup's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

3.25

A difficult book to rate because the start felt so different to the end

Pros:
- it really picked up by the end, I was fully gripped and just finished it now after hours of reading. The story and the action is definitely there, and really gets going.
- the worldbuilding and the fantasy were interesting and I appreciated the map in the front. I liked the side-characters too, Britta, Keita and the others, and whilst Deka didn't grab me, I did like her. The plot twists were such that I definitely didn't expect the reveal of

White Hands being a Firstborn. I thought she was gonna turn out to be evil, working for the emperor

.
- Ixu was very cute

Cons:
- Deka is very passive and seems to get pushed around by whoever is the first to tell her anything. She makes no steps to seek information for herself, but only when others are willing to tell her or allow her access (like to the heraldry). I thought she was a bit dim telling the other alaki all about her special abilities (she's pretty overpowered) from the off, but that worked out I guess.

She also trusts White Hands way more than I thought she ought, considering the woman had some mysterious big plan and wouldn't tell Deka anything. I fully expected her to screw Deka over and was a bit underwhelmed when that didn't happen.

- the start felt very amateurishly written, with very typical YA tropes used in an unoriginal way, and way, way too much exposition. The author introduces far too many characters who barely have a role and there was way too much telling. Every other paragraph had several sentences just narrating about the world.
- I hear what Forna is trying to say about feminism but it didn't carry off for me. The comments on the real world were too heavy-handed
- the trauma throughout didn't feel realistically handled. There's moments of dwelling on it, but it felt shallow and didn't affect Deka nearly as much as could have been expected. The ongoing impact of trauma was much better shown in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, imo.
- Deka's character also seems to change in the space between one chapter and the next. In the previous ones, she prays to Okoyo, she wants to be pure, she hates being a demon. And then suddenly she's having all these rebellious thoughts and calling all the other girls to face their natures. That character development felt totally rushed and provoked by nothing at all.

This one definitely improved and I don't know whether I'll check out no.2 when it's out or not. It felt like a book with a lot of potential, but it fell short, feeling too shallow and awkward to be really brilliant. There was also not really enough angst for me - a lot of torture and pain but very little of the actual struggling to deal and heal with it.

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