A review by rubybereading
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

OMG!! Wow wow wow!! This was intense. This took me almost a full month to finish because I was reading a few other (very much LESS intense) books at the same time. Turns out, those other books served as perfect palate cleansers in between all the heavy subject matters, plot, and character treatment and especially character BUILDING of the more relevant characters of the book. This book shocked me! 
I thought it was going to be very mid based on the first few chapters. Midway through, I was intrigued and enjoyed the story, thinking it was a very solid book that still left much to be desired. So, I paused reading this for a few days (a few separate times) and instead spent those times starting and or finishing a few other books that were, again, much less 
"intense". Maybe I'm a lightweight. Idk. But this book was A LOT for me (first it was the colorism shoved down our throats in the first chapter, the plot jumps throughout, and then the torture and treatment the girls were going through, the heavy subject matter, the gore, etc). I ended up deciding to finish it JUST to get it over with so I could move on (since I'm trying NOT to DNF any books). And then, MY GOD (!!!). Somewhere after the halfway point, it took me to a whole nother REALM! This book turned me every which way but loose gotdamnit! And it left me wanting MORE! This book could've and probably SHOULD'VE been twice as long. That's part of my only slight criticism: there were time lapses throughout the story where the reader is just given the basic gist of what happened during the lapses instead of making it a part of the plot. The whole "telling us instead of showing us". It would've been nice to be able to read more of the character growth, experiences that enhanced her abilities, growth in strength and self-esteem, etc. Instead, there were multiple points in the story where we're told days, weeks and even months went by and something significant happened or occurred to the main character, and then the story would just continue from there. I would've preferred reading about it in detail, and definitely would not have minded if the book was even twice as long in order to do so. And I would've had to be literally peeled away from the pages! That would've made this book perfect! Still, it's a 5* for me! Having the palate cleansers and the short breaks definitely made this a better read for me though. Nonetheless, 5 star! 5 star! 5 star!!
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