Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

54 reviews

rustylasagna's review

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Torture, Religious bigotry, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

vicyoung18's review

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Minor: Trafficking

analienfromouterspace's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

I picked up this book spontaneously and ended up loving it so much. The character development, plot twist and just the whole world, LOVED IT. A little slow at times, hence not 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, and Sexism

Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, War, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Genocide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

tencooper's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

Minor: Sexual violence

btothebooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Its a good young fantasy. I don’t know if I’d quantify it as young adult or late middle school/early high school. The premise is unique and interesting but it felt a bit young for me (Which Is not a negative, just a comment on my tastes as a mid-30s reader). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Trafficking

chellcake's review

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Torture, Religious bigotry, Child death, War, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Physical abuse, Grief, Vomit, Self harm, Bullying, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Cursing, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, Confinement, Drug use, and Trafficking

ducklingh's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Pregnancy

abby_reads_books's review

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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, War, and Trafficking

katsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense 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

4.0

“No matter my origins, there is worth in what I am.”

“The physical body—it heals. The scars fade. But the memories are forever. Even when you forget, they remain inside, taunting you, resurfacing when you least expect.”

“They might need us now because we're valuable, might pretend to accept us, to reward us - but never forget what they did to us first.”

I'll be real. I put this book down about halfway through and almost didn't pick it back up. But I'm really glad I did. Other than the dip in the middle, the world-building was solid and intriguing. The patriarchy that Forna depicted was hard to read at times but I couldn't help drawing parallels to the real world. 

I really enjoyed the found family trope. The secondary characters were so lovely and I ended up really liking how the author seemed to hold up the platonic relationships to the same level as the romantic one. It made the romantic relationship feel healthy and grounded while also not letting it take over the rest of the narrative. 

I am interested to see how the second book progresses given that this one seemed to wrap up pretty nicely. It's almost like the author wasn't sure she if she would get to publish the second one so left enough loose ends, just in case, while tying up the big, important ones. 

I also want to give some pretty major trigger warnings for death, torture and violence. This is marketed as Young Adult but I would definitely push this towards older teen readers for those scenes alone. The main character and her friends can heal from almost any injury so there are multiple scenes of torture including a pretty prominent scene of dismemberment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abandonment and Animal cruelty

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual violence

poffalina's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

I found this book difficult to get through as I found the story to be slow and stilted. The character growth was confusing and felt unmotivated or arbitrary. I really liked the concept and the world; I was intrigued by that aspect of the story most.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Child abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Confinement, War, and Misogyny

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Death of parent