A review by vampire_burrito
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.5

Okay re-reading this was definitely a good idead because how was I not obsessed with this book the first time around. Sure the first few hundred pages are very slow (the first 70% took me two months to read) but the last 100 pages!! Shook!! Everything happened at once and I loved it. And though it took me a long time to read, the first part of the book is very good although it did end up feeling a little but repetitive because it's basically just a cycle of "train, kill deathshrieks, something strange happens to Deka, trying to find out why that happened" for 200 pages. My favourite parts of the book was Deka's relationships with other characters particularly her friendship with Britta. I loved how the author put friendship with woman as the forefront of the book. The other thing that I really loved was that the book never condemned any of the characters for wanting to fall in love. I feel like a lot of feminist stories do that and I hate it. But The Gilded Ones has a character who's entire motivation is to go home to her village, marry the guy that she's in love with and have children. And it's never shown as a bad thing. The romance between Deka and Keita was also very sweet and I definitely liked it more upon a re-read. Overall  good, would recommend and I will be reading the sequels.
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