Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

81 reviews

allyjshand's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

The young adult novel I needed growing up. Forna creates a fantasy world which is, in some ways, not too different from our own. Through the eyes of the protagonist, Deka, we explore a patriarchy which abuses and controls women, scared of their powers. Forna also ties in issues such as  racism, homophobia and xenophobia within this incredible debut novel. Thus, whilst it is darker than I expected for a YA novel, this only makes The Gilded Ones a more powerful read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexism

mekeisha's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Torture

mybeevenme's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Death of parent

readwithmoniqua's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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 book is black girl magic through and through. Deka really learns a lot about herself and her past. She’s open-minded which you don’t see from a lot of young characters. White Hands, aka Fatu, isn’t who she seems at all and I’m glad for that. This book started off so dark, like really dark, but when I lightened, boy did it ever. I was all smiles until the last page. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

kayo32's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Grief, and Physical abuse

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

There is so much to love about this book! The world felt fresh to me, even if some of the tropes are repeats from other YA fantasies. Deka's voice was strong and really helped to carry the story. Even if the ending was slightly predictable for me, I didn't mind. The plot and the characters really helped to balance that out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, Violence, Sexism, and Body horror

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Vomit

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

If the cover doesn’t convince you to read this book, then everything I say here probably won’t either lol. This was a good not great fantasy book with a strong premise that went downhill from there for me.

My main issue was with the plot—I thought it was a little messy and there were some plot holes that never got filled.

I’m still not sure how Deka’s mom died...if she was an alaki and the alaki’s final death turned them into deathshrieks...wouldn’t she be a deathshriek?

I found the world and world-building interesting and the main conflict compelling, but I was disappointed by the reveals at the end that seemed to not give the conflict any nuance. This is probably my own fault but I thought things were wrapped up too nicely.

The characters were okay, but not compelling enough to make me overlook my issues with the plot. Deka was likable but inconsistent and no one else really gets a character arc (no, I do not consider the love interest’s development as an arc because it was way too unbelievable and fast and convenient for the plot...).

Overall, it was entertaining and a quick read, but I don’t think I’ll read the sequels.

Read if you like: young adult fantasy, female warriors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

justabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense

• 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: Animal death, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Homophobia

cupidities's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

3.5

The Gilded Ones is solid YA fantasy, and it does what (in my opinion) YA fantasy does best: using another world to challenge readers' perspectives on our own world. I can also see why this has gotten as much buzz as it has - the story is excellent, Deka is a strong character, the worldbuilding is awesome - but I never really got emotionally invested in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Racism, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Torture, and Xenophobia

maggie_atwood's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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: Gore, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Death, Grief, and Sexual violence