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A review by lyakimov
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
3.0
This was a pretty quick read and pretty entertaining. Lots of twists and turns, most of which being pretty predictable but it was still interesting. I appreciated the attention to the plot and character development of not only Deka, but also the side characters. The writing was good, but some of the world building confused me a bit.
There was a good friend group in this book. I think some of them were undeveloped, though. I absolutely love the girl friendships and it makes me happy that the Bechdel test was passed with flying colors. Additionally, there was not an annoying third-act scene that broke the friendships up for a little bit and then they later become friends again at the end. That is so annoying so I really appreciated how supportive the friend group was for the entirety of the novel. I think this was definitely true women supporting women behavior.
The romance was so underdeveloped and I was so uninterested. I can't believe that they are out here saying they are in love when they only seemed to have little random moments together and everything else was off-page. It was more telling, not showing. Also, Deka randomly keeps mentioning that guy Ionas from her village who killed her in the first couple chapters of the book and even states that she loved him near the end of the book. WHAT?? They barely spoke to each other and in the beginning of the book, Deka stated that they did not really have any interactions previous to the start of the book anyway, she just kind of thought he was hot. How did she suddenly say that she used to love him? Am I missing something? I don't know, it was just weird.
Overall this was an interesting story and was an entertaining read. I might pick up the sequel, even though it seems like everything was completely wrapped up!
There was a good friend group in this book. I think some of them were undeveloped, though. I absolutely love the girl friendships and it makes me happy that the Bechdel test was passed with flying colors. Additionally, there was not an annoying third-act scene that broke the friendships up for a little bit and then they later become friends again at the end. That is so annoying so I really appreciated how supportive the friend group was for the entirety of the novel. I think this was definitely true women supporting women behavior.
The romance was so underdeveloped and I was so uninterested. I can't believe that they are out here saying they are in love when they only seemed to have little random moments together and everything else was off-page. It was more telling, not showing. Also, Deka randomly keeps mentioning that guy Ionas from her village who killed her in the first couple chapters of the book and even states that she loved him near the end of the book. WHAT?? They barely spoke to each other and in the beginning of the book, Deka stated that they did not really have any interactions previous to the start of the book anyway, she just kind of thought he was hot. How did she suddenly say that she used to love him? Am I missing something? I don't know, it was just weird.
Overall this was an interesting story and was an entertaining read. I might pick up the sequel, even though it seems like everything was completely wrapped up!