Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

203 reviews

mysteryspouse's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Cursing, Abandonment, Colonisation, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, War, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Vomit, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Excrement

kimreads14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.25

The Gilded Ones was a great introduction to a new world by Namina Forna. 🏆

The overall experience of reading this book made my blood boil at all times. Forna's capacity to depict a patriarchal and misogynistic world that will make you question your own reality is masterful!
Forna offers a beautiful piece that pushes you to critically think about the state of our society.

The reason why I bumped it down from 5 ⭐️ to 4.25 ⭐️ is because from time to time the writing and the world-building felt a bit forced rather than carrying you inside Otera smoothly and with grace. 
Also while I understand that Deka is meant to be special among even the Alakis, the way this was depicted sometimes felt a bit borderline of a Mary Sue character. Anyone who is used to reading books of this kind will admit that the MFC tends to always be special... However, it sometimes felt like Deka was way too special for no real reason other than pumping up the character's ego instead of moving the story along. 
Finally, I was a bit disappointed with the brevity of White Hands' final explanation of who she is and why she did what she did. Parts of the story could have been shorter to give this more space, or pages could have been added. 

Overall though, this book was beautifully written and truly makes you question how 'free' you are as a woman in society. I'm excited to get back to Deka and her friends' story with the next book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death, Slavery, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Torture, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

molliford's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Pedophilia

obscureprism's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

3.75

I enjoyed reading this, but the character relationships felt very rushed and left a lot to be desired. A lot of emotional aspects of the book I felt like I was being told I had to care about rather than being showed why I should care about them. Overall, I think the book and storyline in general needed more detail to help me develop actual feelings towards the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Animal death, Racism, and Hate crime

dannmaher's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Child abuse, Body horror, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Slavery, and Gore

Content warning: In adding my review I have included over ten content warnings that I believe are necessary. I think this is an important book to talk about and the way that women are viewed(?). There is just a lot of various forms of violence that women face throughout the book so it is hard to suggest to some of my AFAB, Trans, feminine presenting friends because it touches on experiences that 'women' face in the world. I think if you can accept the content warnings it is overall a good book and potentially going to be a good series.

swane_nook's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Death

bridgettetepper's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

Some of the writing took away from the story (Repetitive lines, not much left for implication) but the character and story was cool enough to see past it. The beginning was hard for me to grab onto but a few chapters in and I saw the direction a bit better. Overall, nothing super surprising or unique but a good story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: War, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

marketa_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, War, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Grief, Rape, and Sexual assault

genevievefv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

Such interesting concepts and ideas (also incredibly dark), but not perfectly executed. Happy I read it, but I don’t think I’ll continue the series - the writing just isn’t great at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: War, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

demented_delights9448's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

This book is not at all what I was expecting. It's so much better! No matter your ethnic heritage or skin color, you will find a character that resonates with you. This book oozes female empowerment. It tackles every religion, cult, and political structure that has ever blamed women for simply being women. It calls out the oppression that women face on the daily, encourages women to be themselves, and gives credence to our struggles, voices, bodies, and dreams. This is the book to have your teenaged daughters read. 

It has a decent pace, plenty of mystery that resolves, endearing characters, action, witty dialogue, and thoughtful exposition on top of believable world building. It can be a little dark emotionally, tackles very difficult topics, but is hopeful. At no point does this book blame all men as being oppressive. This is a book about equality for all: all genders, all faiths, all ages, all races, all sexualities. Romance is there but it's very low-key and it speaks encouragingly of all walks: from lesbianism to maintaining virginity to young men who don't want to hump every female thing in sight. 

It's a beautiful story set in a beautiful world with beautiful women and men battling it out against pure, unadulterated evil. There's even a dragon. What's not to like?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Genocide, Blood, Sexism, Misogyny, War, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Child death, Body shaming, and Rape

Minor: Racism

Regarding content warnings, this book is not promoting such things. The author is drawing attention to them, illuminating these things as the difficult or downright heinous things that they are. This is a book for girls to learn that their voices are valuable and worth hearing. Surround yourself with people who value you as the living beings that you are. Value yourself.