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A review by serenhybrid
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I really wanted to like this book but it just fell utterly flat! It's written by a black female author, and centers on a culture very different to my own, which I would normally love and relish! It's meant to be about feminism and defeating the patriarchy, but parts of it read more like torture porn. There was an almost gratuitous focus on some of the horrific things that happened to the characters, and only the merest lip service paid to the effect it has on them.
For me, this book perpetuates the troubling narrative that trauma makes women stronger, that their suffering is somehow noble and that every terrible thing was worth it because it made them better people. This is false, and troubling to read in a book that purports to be feminist. Frequently, I wondered if this was written by a man! The characters made no sense, had very little internal logic and just seemed to be devices to push forward a plot with a clear agenda. The story somehow moves both too fast and extremely slow. The ending is just awful, huge amounts of exposition and back story pushed into about 5 pages. I don't like any of the characters and I have no investment in the world or outcomes.
This has so much promise, but the writing is just not good enough to support the ideas. requently , an idea was planted and then resolved just a page or two later. This lead to a serious dearth of tension and anticipation. I wish the whole book was the trilogy, so we could explore the world and characters a lot more, and so some of the later plot twists were slightly more built up to. I just can't recommend that anyone reads this book, especially if they have experienced any trauma.
For me, this book perpetuates the troubling narrative that trauma makes women stronger, that their suffering is somehow noble and that every terrible thing was worth it because it made them better people. This is false, and troubling to read in a book that purports to be feminist. Frequently, I wondered if this was written by a man! The characters made no sense, had very little internal logic and just seemed to be devices to push forward a plot with a clear agenda. The story somehow moves both too fast and extremely slow. The ending is just awful, huge amounts of exposition and back story pushed into about 5 pages. I don't like any of the characters and I have no investment in the world or outcomes.
This has so much promise, but the writing is just not good enough to support the ideas. requently , an idea was planted and then resolved just a page or two later. This lead to a serious dearth of tension and anticipation. I wish the whole book was the trilogy, so we could explore the world and characters a lot more, and so some of the later plot twists were slightly more built up to. I just can't recommend that anyone reads this book, especially if they have experienced any trauma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death, Misogyny, Genocide, and Sexism
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape