Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

136 reviews

rubybereading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

OMG!! Wow wow wow!! This was intense. This took me almost a full month to finish because I was reading a few other (very much LESS intense) books at the same time. Turns out, those other books served as perfect palate cleansers in between all the heavy subject matters, plot, and character treatment and especially character BUILDING of the more relevant characters of the book. This book shocked me! 

I thought it was going to be very mid based on the first few chapters. Midway through, I was intrigued and enjoyed the story, thinking it was a very solid book that still left much to be desired. So, I paused reading this for a few days (a few separate times) and instead spent those times starting and or finishing a few other books that were, again, much less 

"intense". Maybe I'm a lightweight. Idk. But this book was A LOT for me (first it was the colorism shoved down our throats in the first chapter, the plot jumps throughout, and then the torture and treatment the girls were going through, the heavy subject matter, the gore, etc). I ended up deciding to finish it JUST to get it over with so I could move on (since I'm trying NOT to DNF any books). And then, MY GOD (!!!). Somewhere after the halfway point, it took me to a whole nother REALM! This book turned me every which way but loose gotdamnit! And it left me wanting MORE! This book could've and probably SHOULD'VE been twice as long. That's part of my only slight criticism: there were time lapses throughout the story where the reader is just given the basic gist of what happened during the lapses instead of making it a part of the plot. The whole "telling us instead of showing us". It would've been nice to be able to read more of the character growth, experiences that enhanced her abilities, growth in strength and self-esteem, etc. Instead, there were multiple points in the story where we're told days, weeks and even months went by and something significant happened or occurred to the main character, and then the story would just continue from there. I would've preferred reading about it in detail, and definitely would not have minded if the book was even twice as long in order to do so. And I would've had to be literally peeled away from the pages! That would've made this book perfect! Still, it's a 5* for me! Having the palate cleansers and the short breaks definitely made this a better read for me though. Nonetheless, 5 star! 5 star! 5 star!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Gore, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, and War

Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark medium-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

3.0

This reads on the younger side of YA when it comes to the maturity of the characters, but the world itself is very dark, and the characters really go through it. I found it easy to read and pretty compelling. The part I didn't buy into is the romance. To me, there wasn't enough build-up between Deka and Keita to justify it. The relationship between Deka and the other girls on the other hand was fleshed out, and I loved seeing the found family developing throughout the book. I also really liked the world and the lore, and am curious to see where the story goes from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse and Death

Minor: Rape and Animal death

dr_steph's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I think the overall plot of this novel was interesting and there were some really great concepts. But unfortunately lots of things felt underdeveloped and rushed (especially towards the very end). The main character experiences a fundamental belief system change, and yet this change happens in a very choppy and sudden way rather than gradually building. There was lots of telling instead of showing, and in my opinion this manuscript needed further editing and development. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Physical abuse, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Vomit

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

heremireadz's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Sexism, Torture, and Death of parent

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

katskratchh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The pacing was a little all over the place in parts which I think caused for a little rushing through important and impactful moments in the latter half of the book, but that’s truly my only complaint because the rest of the book was so incredibly good, and gave you very much sisterhood/girl power energy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, Abandonment, Murder, Grief, Animal cruelty, Violence, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Very YA-style writing at times, bordering on juvenile, but this book deals with some heavy themes which needed more mature writing. Definitely check the trigger warnings for this story because it deals with rape, torture, femicide, murder and gore. Generally good worldbuilding and differentiation between different cultures in this world. However, there was an unnecessary romance included and it felt massively out of place. Alao, there are only so many times you can read about girls getting dismembered and tortured.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, Bullying, and Pregnancy

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