Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

46 reviews

yomireads's review

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

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Child death, Genocide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, and War

chezler24's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

I really enjoyed this book's world-building and the attention Namina Forna put toward the land's religion and history. We got a taste of the different personalities and cultures of different geographic regions and groups through our main character's, Deka's, point of view. (I would love to see a prequel book diving directly into the history of the gods and goddesses.) Deka is an easy main character to root for throughout the early challenges she faces as well as her growth in training and unlearning certain things she believed to be undeniably true. In some sections, I felt like she teetered towards being too overpowered but certain training sessions and lack of information did help curtail some of those fears. Of course, the alaki ARE pretty heightened individuals anyway. For character relationships, the warrior sisterhood aspect was nice; it felt very akin to the movie The Woman King. I was (as always) nervous about the romance introduced and that it would detract from the woman-focused aspect of the novel; however, the reason for the male character to be introduced made sense in this world AND Deka always maintained that her alaki sisters would be her primary and longest relationship moving forward. I'm excited for the sequel to see the events after the final battle and hear how the country has changed regarding new information revealed toward the end of the book (no spoilers). 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

marena02's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Abandonment, Racism, Sexism, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Confinement, and Cursing

alliskarathe's review

adventurous dark

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

4.5

I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE BC WOW I NEVER PREDICTED THIS TO BE SUCH AN EAZY FIVE STARS

*update after a depressing like 8 months
why tf did i misspell easy and also mispell
anyways 5 stars? i lowkey hated this series after a point 
couldnt make it thru second book
maybe partly bc it was online
it just wasnt epic?? and not war-y enough
i understand i liked it back then tho so ill give it a good 4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, Rape, and War

Minor: Sexual violence and Transphobia

nomackenzie's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

Enjoyable ready that has me wanting to move right onto the sequel! The friendships are so well developed - I kinda wish the romance element had the same level of development, though. I also felt something was missing from Deka's character. She just needed a little more bite or humour or something to make her more lovable - the side characters definitely outshone her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit and Rape

yalestay's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Racism

Minor: Rape

christalbotheindl's review

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Body horror, Misogyny, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, and Fire/Fire injury

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Honestly, I didn’t really like this book at all.  I just couldn’t seem to get into it with the characters falling flat and the stiff dialogue; the only reason I didn’t DNF is because it was an audiobook and I figured I made it half way already.

While I liked the idea of this book, fighting against a world were there was unnecessary hatred; there were just so many moments that made no sense with how the belief system worked.  Not to mention how did all the Northerns, Southerners, Easterners, and Westerners all agree all girls who bleed gold were demons but girls who bleed red were valued??  You’re telling me not one person out of all the different ideologies each group had that they didn’t noticed an issue with their system??

I don’t know if it’s because I don’t care for first person point of view or just how the book was written but I didn’t get attached to any of the characters either which is really disappointing.  However, the world building was easy to understand for a fantasy book.  It was simple and to the point.

My biggest questions though is how did no one bleed before they were sixteen?!  Women were not allowed to do “strenuous” work because they could NOT bleed before they turned sixteen years old?!

You’re telling me:

• No one lost their baby teeth until sixteen then?
• No one tripped and skinned their knee as a kid?
• No one had any medical issues until then?
• No one had bodily functions like periods until the minute of their sixteen birthday?
• That there weren’t any accidents in their everyday life that happened UNTIL they turned sixteen?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, War, Sexism, Death, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Self harm, Grief, Animal death, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Child death, and Vomit

yulecogs's review

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, War, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Slavery