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A review by ariellesbookreviews
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
3.5
When I first saw this book, I was very excited to read it. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and it pulled me in right away. The storyline seemed very interesting, but it's not the story I thought it would be. When I first started reading this book, I did have to take a break after 100 pages; because it was sad, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. The story talks a lot about purity culture and the oppression of women in society. I was intrigued by the story right away and was captivated by the first couple of pages. Overall, I don’t know if I liked the book as much as I wanted to. This is mainly because of how the plot developed.
I could’ve never guessed the ending of the story, and is so different from what I would've thought. The author also doesn’t create a lot of situations for the reader to connect with secondary characters. I often forget about them and would not remember their backstories until it’s brought up again. There are only a few exceptions to this.
The author also doesn’t create a sense of time in this book. Time is clearly passing because the characters are training and strengthening, but how much time passes is very unclear. Also, new recruits are continuously coming into the location, so that creates a lot of confusion; because I thought the purity test only occurred twice a year. The characters start as neophytes but somewhere become novices. The timeline doesn’t make a lot of sense.
By the ending of the book, I had multiple questions. Not questions that will be answered in the next book; instead questions caused by possible plot holes. I also do not understand what the Death Strikes look like; whatever, I’m picturing in my head is not how they physically appear. The author doesn't do a good job of describing what they look like and how they move, and this created a lot of confusion for me throughout the story.
This book wrapped up very quickly and easily. However, there is another book in the series, and this feels unnecessary. The author adds the possibility of a future conflict at the very end of the novel, but she wrapped up the conflict so quickly, the future conflicts feel inauthentic.
While this book isn’t bad, it’s also not what I thought it was gonna be. It just took a random turn 3/5 of the way in, so I don’t like it as much as I anticipated. I also don’t dislike it; it’s just really different. I’m giving the book 3 1/2 stars. Mainly because I don’t know where the story is going, and I'm not sure it needs to continue in another book
I could’ve never guessed the ending of the story, and is so different from what I would've thought. The author also doesn’t create a lot of situations for the reader to connect with secondary characters. I often forget about them and would not remember their backstories until it’s brought up again. There are only a few exceptions to this.
The author also doesn’t create a sense of time in this book. Time is clearly passing because the characters are training and strengthening, but how much time passes is very unclear. Also, new recruits are continuously coming into the location, so that creates a lot of confusion; because I thought the purity test only occurred twice a year. The characters start as neophytes but somewhere become novices. The timeline doesn’t make a lot of sense.
By the ending of the book, I had multiple questions. Not questions that will be answered in the next book; instead questions caused by possible plot holes. I also do not understand what the Death Strikes look like; whatever, I’m picturing in my head is not how they physically appear. The author doesn't do a good job of describing what they look like and how they move, and this created a lot of confusion for me throughout the story.
This book wrapped up very quickly and easily. However, there is another book in the series, and this feels unnecessary. The author adds the possibility of a future conflict at the very end of the novel, but she wrapped up the conflict so quickly, the future conflicts feel inauthentic.
While this book isn’t bad, it’s also not what I thought it was gonna be. It just took a random turn 3/5 of the way in, so I don’t like it as much as I anticipated. I also don’t dislike it; it’s just really different. I’m giving the book 3 1/2 stars. Mainly because I don’t know where the story is going, and I'm not sure it needs to continue in another book