Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

#1

YA Fantasy

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.

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My Thoughts

CW: Graphic violence, gore, blood, death, execution, drowning, burning, self-harm, beheading, sexual assault (mentioned)

It is not an exaggeration to say I have been waiting to read this book for almost two years. Part of the reason I put it off for a while after publication was that my expectations were so high I was afraid of being disappointed. I am pleased to say that, for the most part, I was not.

The writing was easy to read, and flowed beautifully. It also conveyed the atmosphere and emotions at various points in the book really well. The book was fairly fast paced, but not enough to give you whiplash, so it’s a pretty quick read.

This book had a great cast, but, besides Deka and White Claws, they weren’t super memorable. This was an example of where the characters worked well as an ensemble, but didn’t overshadow the protagonist, which really allowed Deka, the plot, and the worldbuilding to shine.

Much of the plot revolves around the girls learning to use their powers, and eventually, hunting Deathshrieks on surgical strike-type missions. I’m a bit partial to the training montage, and the high stakes missions, so I really enjoyed this aspect of The Gilded Ones. I also really loved picking up on the foreshadowed elements throughout the novel and coming up with theories. I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty good at this, so I’m not easily surprised. In this case my theories about the big reveal at the end were close, but still far enough away that I found myself saying, ‘Well that was unexpected!’

The worldbuilding was really well crafted, if a bit horrifying. Deka lives in a patriarchal society that has co-opted religion in order to oppress women. Females in this society are severely restricted in what they are allowed to do and say. Deka also faces racism as a mixed race child in a very white village, despite the lands of both her mother and father being part of one empire.

The mythology and magical aspects of The Gilded Ones were also fascinating. Girls are subjected to a coming-of-age test in their sixteenth year to see if their blood is ‘pure’ and therefore will be welcomed into society as women (although still as second-class citizens.) If their blood runs gold, they are deemed to be demons, and are usually executed. Although at this point, the Emperor is recruiting these girls to fight in his army against monsters known as Deathshrieks, because they are stronger, faster, and more resilient to harm than the average human.

I’m not going to lie, The Gilded Ones is not going to be the book for everyone. It has a lot of content that is frankly distressing. I’ve included pretty specific content warnings at the beginning of this review for a reason. I found a lot of the early scenes very graphic, and I did have trouble reading them. If you’re able to get past those, then this is an excellent book. I didn’t think (and I almost can’t believe I’m saying this) that any of those scenes were of gratuitous violence against girls. Every single awful thing that happened to Deka (and another character) was extremely important for their character development. These scenes were the ultimate example of showing, and not telling. I don’t think The Gilded Ones would have been nearly as successful or impactful without those events shaping these characters lives. That being said, this is not a book for the faint of heart, and I would certainly pause before I passed this book on to younger readers. This is definitely on the older end of YA, and I think it would depend on the tastes and maturity of the reader.

My only real let down was the ending. It felt a bit rushed, and kind of unbelievable. It’s hard to say much more without giving too much away, but suffice it to say, I thought that the information Deka receives in the big reveal was way too easily accepted. Had it not been for that one element, I actually liked the ending. Perhaps ‘like’ is the wrong word, but I appreciated where the author took us, no matter how heartbreaking the implications are.

I think that fans of Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko would definitely enjoy this book, as it shared some of the same themes relating to colonialism and gender oppression, as well as having a great ensemble cast, and vivid, expansive worldbuilding.