Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

109 reviews

annniina98's review against another edition

3.0

I was left wanting more. There were so many time skips, that you really didn't see Deka's character arc, nor the relationships building. They learned things and became friends, but it wasn't shown as it was happening. It was just told that it had happened. That left me at an arms length from everything that happened in the book. I liked it, it just had potential to be better, with like 100 pages more of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Religious bigotry, Child death, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Trafficking

Minor: Death of parent

jachnax's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so powerful, lush and thought out. I loved every page, every sentence and i will immediatly pick up the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Confinement, Deportation, Genocide, Violence, Misogyny, Torture, War, Blood, Murder, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Bullying, Sexual violence, and Body horror

Minor: Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Self harm, and Rape

goodthingsread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I have to admit that I really enjoyed this novel. Even though it holds on tightly to some well established YA fantasy tropes, it also has its own unique edge to how it presents those tropes. I appreciated the twists and the growth of the main character; even though at some times she could feel a little dense, as many YA heroines do, there were valid reasons for that. Reasonable justification for characterization is all that I need, and Deka growing up in the restrictive, homogenous and religious environment that she did allowed for her to reasonably not see what was right in front of her.

The romance felt a little tacked on and restrained, which honestly feels like the phrasing I use for the YA novels that I love best, so that should be a compliment. I appreciated, too, that Keita has drunk his Respect Women juice. I hate when the YA novel ends with a twist and cliffhanger and the love interest is revealed to be evil or presented as dubious with a big TBD stamped on his forehead. Instead, this novel ends without a cliffhanger at all. The setup for a further story is there -- one I am very interested in -- but you get the satisfaction of Deka's accomplishment and can revel in that for a moment before moving on to what's next. I don't see that as often in series, especially not YA ones, so that choice was a breath of fresh air.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Misogyny

ctara2123's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, War, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Bullying

decie's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Sexism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape

nelldiaz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

Fantastic book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Torture, Body horror, Child death, Blood, Death, Violence, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

brighgreen's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

I wanted to like this and I absolutely did not. Poor writing, no character development, confusing plot after no world building - you’re just thrown into a world that is immediately dismantled, multiple times. It’s all bad. 

The main character is so one-dimensional and flip flops ideologies and beliefs too quickly to follow. It’s like reading a 300 page panic attack and then suddenly she’s fully formed and confident. She’s so inconsistent that the whole book is rendered pointless. Not one character acts how a real human would; I understand this is fantasy but we’re still supposed to believe they’re real people, right?

And how is this book’s pace simultaneously too fast and too slow? I had no idea what was going on and yet it was somehow stupidly predictable??

The story could have been good - I could see myself caring about this world - it was just executed so poorly. I like what this book was trying to do (I’m always looking for diverse fantasy and strong female leads) but this ain’t it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Misogyny

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death of parent, Trafficking, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Slavery, War, Torture, Murder, Death, Sexism, Outing, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Excrement, Body shaming, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Vomit

colorism

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