Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

112 reviews

kimberly_a's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Genocide, Death of parent, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry

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.

thatssotamara's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, War, Misogyny, Murder, Genocide, Death of parent, Torture, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Physical abuse

bammys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

yomireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

Deka is a compelling and emotionally rich protagonist, and following her evolution from meek, religiously traumatized girl, to powerful warrior inacting change is very rewarding. There are a few instances where time lapses by and the character growth isn't shown on the page, so sometimes the shift in personality feels a little unearned, but never to the point of unreality. I do wish the internal conflict and empowerment of escaping toxic self-hatred and purity-culture (literally in this case) was better represented. Nonetheless, Deka's growth makes for a gripping story. 

The plot itself initially presents itself as a generic: "kill the evil monsters and become heros" archetype, but takes the questions a critical reader might take issue with, and makes it the key component to this compelling narrative. It does present as a little frustrating to have these questions that feel almost like plot-holes (don't worry, they're not) and have the protagonist lagging behind the reader as what feels like blatantly obvious suppression of truth. Truly, the reveal by the end shouldn't have taken so long to uncover.

There are a few things I could nit pick about, but I'm holding out hope that much of my feeling of unresolved or unconfronted problems in the narrative will be addressed in the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Abandonment

yaelaed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, War, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Confinement

vtruelove's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

This story is about women rising up to reclaim their power. It also has a timely theme of religion being used to control a population. It is truly one of the best books I've read in quite a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Body horror, Death, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

booksngrannies's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, War, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Rape

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.0

Hey, I finally read it! This definitely kept my attention and kept me guessing. I've already checked out the sequel from the library! I need to know what happens next.

CW: racism, sexism, misogyny, violence, death, torture, abuse (emotional and physical), confinement, religious bigotry, talk of rape, previous death of parent, blood, body horror, genocide, it's a LONG LIST ( Content Warnings - The Gilded Ones | The StoryGraph )

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

gotem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

Get past the first 100ish pages, and its a riveting book about found family, the exposure of intense indoctrination, and magical girl powers all wrapped in one.

Unsettlingly gory at parts, and strikingly vague in others. This would work well for someone who reads with a heavy focus on action and dialogue. Please do mind the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexism, Vomit, Trafficking, Body horror, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Child abuse, Torture, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood