Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Gilded Ones

This book was fabulous! The writing and the symbolism were done wonderfully! The author is clearly talented and understands how to write a compelling story. If you like fantasy and strong women leads, then you will enjoy this book. My only complaint and why this book received 4.5 out of 5 stars from me is that it seemed like the author rushed some of the dramatic scenes at the end. The ending of this book could have been the final ending of the story and while I did not want a cliffhanger ending, the book had more happily ever after ending than we have problems we need to deal with in the rest of the series. I think I would have rather the action that happened at the end of the book be extended and have the ending be more mysterious where the readers are dying to pick up the next book. I definitely want to continue on with this series, but I am not obsessing over the next book as much as I would have been if the ending would have been a little more open-ended.

So, you should read this book if you like fantasy and feminism! The author is a master at writing and weaving together the plot. There are many content warnings and I suggest you research all your triggers to ensure that you are able to read this. Content warnings include child abuse, sexual abuse, misogyny, and more.

Content Warnings

madroxreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Content Warnings

whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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? No

3.0

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

Deka lives in fear of the blood ceremony, that will determine if she is pure. But when the day finally comes, her blood runs gold, the colour of a demon.

After falling in love with this cover over a year ago, and waiting what felt like forever for its release, I think my hopes were just too high. Sometimes I hype a book up so much in my mind, that when it falls a little short, I can't help but feel like it's my fault in a way.

This was a good YA fantasy, that read super quick, and had a really interesting magical system. I just struggled to picture the world, and some of the side characters felt like a bit of an afterthought. Deka on the other hand, was fully fleshed out, and the journey she goes on of growth, as she finds out her history, was what kept me reading.

Another small gripe that probably won't bother too many people, was the kind of pointless romantic arc. This was a story about women, banding together to bring down the patriarchy, so to me the romance felt very out of place and a little forced.

What I did love about The Gilded Ones was the ending, it made the whole read worth it in my eyes. The stakes felt so high, I was flipping the pages like crazy. Even though this book let me down in some aspects of the writing, overall is was a solid read, and after that ending I am dying to get my hands on the next book.

Content Warnings

introvertinterrupted's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

deedireads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Gilded Ones is a fantastic debut fantasy novel. It’s got some tough subject matter, but it’s exciting and intriguing with a lush world and lovable characters.

For you if: You like YA fantasy, especially African fantasy.

FULL REVIEW:

“We all have a choice right now. Are we girls or are we demons? Are we going to die or are we going to survive?”

Thank you Delacorte Press for the advanced copy of this book on NetGalley. I loved it! The Gilded Ones is exciting and fun to read while also dealing with dark and heavy central themes — in a way that feels true without overpowering everything else the book does. It’s also got a great central mystery that I thought was set up well. I really liked it!

The story is about a 16-year-old girl named Deka. When the ceremony to reveal whether her blood is “pure” or not goes wrong, she’s faced with a choice: Remain the subject of persecution and unspeakable violence (those with golden blood can be killed over and over again without permanently dying, and their blood can be sold for a lot of money), or join the emperor’s new army of “demons” and earn a future of absolution. But as she trains for an upcoming battle, it becomes clear that she’s different, even among others with impure blood. As she learns more about herself, she learns that what she’s always believed is only a shadow of the truth.

I found the narrative style in this book to be slightly different from what I’m “used to” — a little more … straightforward? it’s kind of hard to name — but definitely not in a bad way. I think it’s a combination of the YA genre and a West African storytelling style. I settled in quickly and loved the story all the more for it. But it did help me guess smaller plot points before they were revealed. Given that, I was all the more impressed by the book’s final reveal, when all the smaller puzzle pieces were finally put together in a way I hadn’t imagined. The ending was big and exciting and satisfying!

This one’s not without its trigger warnings: confinement, plenty of blood and death, and others. But as usual with well-written YA, I was so impressed that it managed to tackle these topics without feeling like a heavy book overall.

All in all, a fantastic debut. I’ll be over here, eagerly awaiting the second book!

Content Warnings

bookswhitme's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

daniellestarredpages's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.5

See my (old) review here:

https://youtu.be/sQw8vRDxwGw

Content Warnings

roguebelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark fast-paced

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

3.75

I could heartily recommend this book to someone looking to get into YA fantasy, particularly if that reader is from a marginalized community and wanted to see herself as the protagonist in such a story. I would have to do so with the suggestion that she look carefully at the story's content warnings, however, as there is a lot of graphic gore and less-graphic sexual violence embedded in the narrative.

For frequent readers of YA fantasy, the general patterns and tropes will be apparent from "go". A sixteen year old girl faces a Ritual (yes, capitalized) dictated by her patriarchal and puritanical society. Things go Terribly Wrong because she is Different, and in the rest of the story, she must Embrace Her Destiny (capitalizations mine, here). Standard fare, but it's certainly nice to see more diversity applied to those tropes.

The religious themes are heavy-handed with little room for nuance, but in a way that's fairly typical for the genre. The story's "big twist" is easy to see coming a mile away for any genre-savvy reader, and getting to that point is a bit of a bumpy ride. The narrative sort of careens between training montages and infodumps, without giving us a lot of time to appreciate the characters. We're often informed about personalities, but we get less opportunity to see them on display.

The predictable YA romance is predictable and rather boring. There was absolutely a more interesting choice, and if I continue with this series, it would mostly be to see if the author pulls a bait-and-switch on the expected direction and makes the bolder choice later on.

I mean, seriously, pair Deka up with Britta and suddenly this whole story is a lot more interesting.

Content Warnings

More...