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craftybabe 's review for:
The Gilded Ones
by Namina Forna
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
This book took me wayyyy too long to finish, but I finally did it. I fell into a hard reading slump towards the beginning of this book, so I struggled to read it. I do think that the beginning 100ish pages were quite slow, which didn't pull me in as much as I wish it did, but I still overall really liked this book
This book is about a girl named Deka, who is coming of age and must take part in the Ritual of Purity. This ritual is supposed to prove that the girl's blood is "clean." If she runs "clean," or red, she's then set up for marriage and continues on her journey of having a family. Deka's blood runs gold, the color of impurity, and she's sentenced to the Death Mandate. Deathshrieks attack her village, and she gets exploited for her body for the majority of the beginning part of the book before being rescued by a character named White Hands, who takes her to the city center to fight in an army for the emperor against the Deathshriek monsters.
Overall, the character development was beautiful in this book. The author created a complex society and country/land area that allowed me to visualize the characters really easily in my head. I liked how she included all races by separating different people into different regions, giving them distinct accents, and different traits. The themes and tropes from this book reminded me of a blend between Harry Potter and Avatar the Last Airbender, but instead of focusing on a boy, the emphasis was on a girl. There were different moments that triggered me thinking about these two verses, but I still think it felt really original, creative, and imaginative.
I love the plot twists in this book and the complex character of White Hands. I think the author did a great job creating a lot of suspense around that character and making her shady and morally gray. The mystery behind Deka's personhood and creation was fascinating and I really enjoyed how this was explored.
I also loved the concept of found family in this story and how Britta was valued just as much as Keita was. I feel like most of the time, the author prioritizes the romantic connection, but that wasn't the case in this story. If anything, Britta was potentially taken more seriously than Keita at different parts. I loved it. The friendship and sisterhood were beautifully explored between many characters.
That's most of my thoughts about this one! It was hard to read at times with the amount of graphic violence and difficult topics, but I think it was well done. I'd recommend this one!
This book is about a girl named Deka, who is coming of age and must take part in the Ritual of Purity. This ritual is supposed to prove that the girl's blood is "clean." If she runs "clean," or red, she's then set up for marriage and continues on her journey of having a family. Deka's blood runs gold, the color of impurity, and she's sentenced to the Death Mandate. Deathshrieks attack her village, and she gets exploited for her body for the majority of the beginning part of the book before being rescued by a character named White Hands, who takes her to the city center to fight in an army for the emperor against the Deathshriek monsters.
Overall, the character development was beautiful in this book. The author created a complex society and country/land area that allowed me to visualize the characters really easily in my head. I liked how she included all races by separating different people into different regions, giving them distinct accents, and different traits. The themes and tropes from this book reminded me of a blend between Harry Potter and Avatar the Last Airbender, but instead of focusing on a boy, the emphasis was on a girl. There were different moments that triggered me thinking about these two verses, but I still think it felt really original, creative, and imaginative.
I love the plot twists in this book and the complex character of White Hands. I think the author did a great job creating a lot of suspense around that character and making her shady and morally gray. The mystery behind Deka's personhood and creation was fascinating and I really enjoyed how this was explored.
I also loved the concept of found family in this story and how Britta was valued just as much as Keita was. I feel like most of the time, the author prioritizes the romantic connection, but that wasn't the case in this story. If anything, Britta was potentially taken more seriously than Keita at different parts. I loved it. The friendship and sisterhood were beautifully explored between many characters.
That's most of my thoughts about this one! It was hard to read at times with the amount of graphic violence and difficult topics, but I think it was well done. I'd recommend this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, War, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Rape, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury