Wow, this book grabbed my attention from page one! The world-building truly is (*chefs kiss*) stunning and brilliantly done.

This story was a lot gorier and more harrowing than I expected going into it but I kind of loved that? It really stands out as a fantasy where the author is not afraid to rip your heart out and stamp on it 💔😂

The characters come across so genuine and all had heart-breaking and interesting back stories. Seriously if you're a fan of Six of Crows' character building then check out this book! But I also loved the male chatacters (or at least the ones you're meant to) and I liked how it wasn't just a 'we hate all men' type of narrative. The camraderie between the characters reminded me of RWBY so if you're a fan of girl gangs in books then this one is for you!

My favourite character was definitely White Hands though 🤍 (and Ixa)

I did knock off a star because this book is a little slow in places. It makes sense and is needed to create meaningful character arcs but I wish we got a little more action in the middle of the book.

Overall, I LOVED this and cannot wait to see where the series goes!

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

This book has already been super hyped which is often a little unsettling with books that are yet to be published!

But my gosh it deserves a huge audience!

I totally loved it and couldn’t put it down!

Deka is an amazingly strong and vibrant MC, her journey from farm girl to warrior is brilliant! During the Ritual of Purity, a religious ceremony to determine the purity of teenage girls, Deka’s blood runs golden which marks her as one of the Alaki. After being held captive and recovering from death she is taken to the capital to train with other Alaki.

I loved the themes in the book! I’m a sucker for a bit of smashing the patriarchy, rites of passage and ceremony. These themes are executed in the most magical story. Forna not only creates an amazing world in which I would love to spend more time but she also creates a world where black girls are strong, fearless, loyal to their friends and awesome leaders.

This is an original, harrowing, dark YA fantasy that was my first five star read of the year and I am so looking forward to the next in this series!

The Gilded Ones is an empowering, feminist and rich YA fantasy unlike any other.

You are not ready for what Forna has in store for you.

It’s beautifully written but also steeped in so much blood and violence. Forna is unflinching in her graphic depiction of this twisted world. This is a violent, harrowing book that leaves an indelible mark upon your mind and keeps compelling you to turn the page and uncover the awful truth. I was worried about how much I was anticipating The Gilded Ones, but it not only lived up to my hyped expectations, it blew them away. Rarely have I seen such a vivid and well-imagined YA fantasy novel with an extremely compelling storylines and well-crafted characters to boot.

Forna builds such a detailed world, complete with intricate mythology and a complex history. I was utterly immersed in this blood-drenched world. There’s a brilliant discussion about the historical erasure of marginalised groups and women from their own narratives, manipulating them instead to suit the powerful in society and cement social order. It’s such a refreshing, original tale that incorporates elements often found in YA fantasy, but reimagines them through a new lens and perspective often excluded or relegated to the background of such books.

I really liked Deka as a protagonist, as she challenged every idea around her, while being smart and strong to boot. I really appreciated how she didn’t initially start like that, rather she was devout, meek and submissive, completely enmeshed in this extreme patriarchal society. Unlearning everything she’s been taught and learning to not dismiss her trauma due to the ‘evil’ within her is a slow, ongoing process. Eventually, she becomes a strong, capable badass warrior, however, she didn’t fall into the strong female character trope, as she was also emotional and vulnerable.

By delivering a complex, emotionally open protagonist, Forna further serves to inspire young women reading this story. Many will be able to see themselves in Deka and on that note, even this cover is just so impactful. When publishing used to obfuscate and actively exclude POC from covers, Deka stands proud and tall. Young Black and POC women deserve to see themselves in books just as much as anyone else, in a variety of roles and genres, but actively telling their own story and standing on their own two feet.

The Gilded Ones is a phenomenal fantasy novel that delves into some of the most horrific topics with a laser-focus and well-crafted backdrop. This imaginative storytelling, combined with three-dimensional, complex characters, makes it a clear stand-out.

SUMMARY: Deka is a 16-year-old girl, who has been brought up in a deeply patriarchal society. Deka eagerly anticipates the “blood ceremony” which will solidify her status as a member of her village in the Northern Province - if she bleeds red on the day. Unfortunately, Deka’s blood runs gold and is subjected to the “death mandate”. Deka is rescued by a mysterious woman and is given a chance to obtain absolution by embarking on a journey to the Southern Province to train as a warrior for the Emperor, with an army of other “impure girls”.

REVIEW: This is a fast-paced and action-packed YA fantasy novel that does not shy away from heavy topics. The story grapples with many issues such as patriarchy, misogyny, religious oppression and exploitation of women, xenophobia and colourism. The story is also quite graphic/violent in nature so younger audiences should be mindful of this before picking it up.

I really liked Deka’s character and enjoyed witnessing her journey from being branded unworthy to becoming powerful and revered, much like Zelie in Children of Blood & Bone. The bonds Deka formed on her journey with the other female warriors or “alaki” were wholesome and endearing. I also enjoyed the portrayal of female empowerment throughout and particularly at the end of the story.

Overall, I thought this was a good story to reintroduce me back into the YA fantasy world. I would have liked there to have been more focus on world-building, more of an explanation about the plot-twist and I could have done without the forced romance, but I think the author did a good job in bringing this story to life. I’m interested to see where this story will go in the next book as it was tied up pretty neatly but I guess we will have to wait and see...

Also, can we just take a minute to appreciate that beautiful cover!?

RATING: ★ ★ ★.79

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Usborne Publishing for the ARC.

In this book we follow Deka who's a young woman in a world rules by men. All women are forced to serve men, but for those who are revealed to be different, serving the men in their lives sound like a dream. At fifteen, all girls undergo a ritual meant to separate the pure from the impure. Those who's blue run gold are called alaki and they are tortured and murdered under the law. And when Deka is revealed to be one of them, she's mutilated and tortured in the priest's search for her final death, the method where Deka dies for good. But thanks to a woman she calls White Hands, Deka is rescued and brought to the emperor to train and fight as his elite force deemed to vanquish an enemy called Deathstrikers. An unholy band of beasts that slaughter humans for sports.

As Deka trains with other alaki, she forms friendships she never thought possible, and she earns for the freedom she's promised once the her 20 years of service is up. But as time passes, Deka's powers evolve, and for every truth she uncovers about her heritage and the gilded ones, dozen more questions arise. Who are the alaki, and why can Deka alone command the Deathshrieks?

I got an arc of this book from NetGalley, and I'm honestly really thankful for it. This book was everything it promised and more. It was an interesting and compelling read from beginning to end and I didn't want to put it down. Deka is a lovely character, who's struggling with her faith and living up to what she's been taught a woman should be, while at the same time wanting to break her bonds and become more, become who she is.

The themes are strong here and it's as much a story of patriarchy and how it comes to be, and equally a story of standing up for who you are and doing what's right. It's both a painful read, and I really fun and enjoyable one.

I think the author's voice is really strong and the way it's written is easy to read while at the same time being serious and honest enough to show that this is an important subject. Deka is truly a young woman to look up to.

The plot flows well and there's always something happening, and there are twists and turns and the plot builds up nicely for the climax. It might be a bit too predictable, I wasn't really surprised by the twists since I saw them coming from the beginning of the book. And at times it was a little tiresome reading what felt like the same scenes over and over again when the alaki were training and then sent to hunt down Deathshrieks. But at the same time, I didn't mind it so much that it lowers my score of the book in any significant way.

This book is a great read, and I think everyone who likes fantasy should read it. There are interesting and diverse characters here, fun creatures and bad men and good men.

There's probably only one thing that I really didn't connect with here, and that's the romance plot. The romance didn't fit for me, it didn't feel real. It would have been better to leave it out, in my opinion. Not only because it's already such a small part of the book that it feels unnecessary and rushed, but also because it feels forced. There was no connection at all between the two characters unfortunately.

But overall, this is a definite 5/5 stars for me. So, buy this book and support author Namina Forna and buy this book cause you won't regret it.

"They might need us now because we're valuable, might pretend to accept us, to reward us - but never forget what they did to us first."

Thank you to Netgalley and Usborne Publishing for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I enjoyed this book and was really excited that I got approved for an advanced copy. Set in a misogynistic land, sixteen-year-old Deka is looking forward to the blood ceremony - a traditional ritual which discovers whether the girls of the village bleed red or gold. When monsters attack the ceremony, Deka bleeds gold, meaning she is an alaki and immortal until her 'true death' is discovered. Trapped underground, Deka longs for death, until a mysterious woman arrives, offering her a choice. She can stay and submit to the men who have hurt her or she can join an army of alaki and fight for the empire.

I found this book to be incredibly empowering and I loved the theme of feminism throughout. Deka was a strong protagonist and I enjoyed her development. She was a strong leader and I liked the representation that was featured in this book. From her first scene, my favourite character was Belcalis and I loved how fierce she was, despite all the horror she had suffered. The twist succeeded in surprising me and I enjoyed the ending immensely.

However, I was disappointed in the pacing. I felt it started and ended well, but the middle of this book was slow and I had little motivation to read. The romance was also completely unnecessary and Keita was such a 'meh' character with no redeeming personality. Despite the length of the book, the romance seemed very quick, and I would have preferred a more complex love interest and slow-burn romance.

Overall, I would recommend to fellow fantasy lovers and readers who enjoy strong female representation and sisterhood.

This was a gritty, vivid, West African-inspired high fantasy debut that lives up to its absolutely GORGEOUS cover.

'The Gilded Ones' has a lot of refreshing elements that were fun to see - I've read quite a lot of YA high fantasy over the years and this didn't feel like anything I'd come across before. By far my favourite thing about 'The Gilded Ones' is the sisterhood and found family themes that ground it. I absolutely adored that the friendship is treasured just as much if not more than the romance. This is not just an interpretation but stated outright by the protagonist Deka herself. Not something you see in a lot of YA (or any?) books and it was heartwarming - I almost teared up a few times!

In a book with so many strong female characters, I really appreciated that all of them felt distinct, and bonus points for no girl-on-girl hate or trope-y mean girl figure. The older women are also quite varied, complex and significant - I feel like one of the 'good' mentor-role characters definitely has something up her sleeve and I'm definitely keeping an eye on her in the sequel... I also really liked this small scene where they're talking about sex lives and how neither having sex nor virginity are ridiculed or promoted over the other. Small but quite nice to read, and illustrates the diversity of characters in this book.

All talk of 'new' stuff aside, there are definitely some YA hallmarks in this. The love interest was so obvious, and while I initially found it cliché, ultimately it was really quite sweet. There was also THE CLASSIC 'let out the breath she didn't know she was holding'-type line in this and I cackled when I saw it! I kinda love spotting them, sort of like YA Easter eggs.

The first half of the book felt a lot longer than the second - it was good, I liked Deka and the other girls, yet while it was interesting I didn't feel compelled to read the book over doing other things. And then! We hit the 50%-ish mark! Suddenly I'm 10x more invested and the mystery behind the monsters attacking the empire became far more intriguing. I had my theories and it didn't turn out quite as I'd expected, so that was fun. At times it could get a little info-dumpy, but somehow I'm still confused about parts of the backstory. (Hoping that the sequel will clear that up for me.) I also think that my spike in emotional investment is because I'm an absolute sucker for magical creature-human bonding. It was done so adorably here and a beautiful ray of light amidst quite a lot of darkness in Deka's life/past.

Overall, I really enjoyed this distinctive and feminist new fantasy with messages of endurance, hope and self-love - check it out if you haven't already!

4.5 stars

C/W: Misogyny, violence, religious manipulation, references to underaged rape

Namina Forna's "The Gilded Ones" is on many's "most anticipated reads" list for a reason. "The Gilded Ones" provides impeccable commentary on patriarchy, religious manipulation, politics and has some of my most favourite tropes reimagined to weave a new universe.

I loved the world-building and lore. Everything is so tightly packed and well-paced that "The Gilded Ones" read wonderfully as a stand-alone.

While I wish the conversations around gender and sexuality were less binary, I do think that there is a character that everyone can see themselves in.

"The Gilded Ones" is a read that does not disappoint and I can't wait to read the next two books in the trilogy.

The concept of The Gilded Ones intrigued me from the start: a fierce, feminist fantasy? Sign me up!

The Gilded Ones follows the story of Deka, a young girl who has just discovered she has the powers of a demon. Her journey is one of self-discovery as she moves to the Warthu Bera to train in the Emperor’s special Alaki army.

I really enjoyed watching Deka develop throughout this book. She begins as an incredibly self-conscious, fearful girl who has been beaten down by the patriarchy. As the plot progresses, she becomes more resilient, powerful, and determined to discover the truth about the world she lives in.

Namina Forna has done an excellent job at creating a painfully patriarchal world which refuses to even let women show their faces once they have gone through the Ritual of Purity. Despite being set in a fantasy world, the parallels to our own world are striking. It is clear Forna is using Deka’s story to show young girls that they are more powerful than they realise — and I love it.

The one thing letting The Gilded Ones down is the vagueness of some of its detail. While I got a great feel for the overarching theme of the novel, the specifics remained in the distance. Deka moves to the Warthu Bera, a training ground for alaki, to become a soldier in the Emperor’s army. However, the book really lacks the action that makes it all come to life.

I adored the theme of this book. Forna has created something with enough familiarity that the reader sinks into it easily, yet with enough uniqueness to keep it interesting and exciting. The writing is good in terms of getting a sense of the characters, but not so much when it comes to the nitty gritty. Despite the alaki being trained as soldiers, we get very little real action to demonstrate their daily lives. Instead, chapters are more like snapshots of the scenes that push the story forward, rather than develop its richness.

Having said this, the concept and theme do make up for what the writing lacks. The novel explores femininity and feminism in generally quite an inclusive way. I particularly loved the theme of friendship running throughout. Where stereotypical writing would create conflict through petty arguments, Forna breaks the barrier by showing girls supporting each other, regardless of their backgrounds, skin colour or sexuality. In this way, The Gilded Ones truly is a blueprint for how girls (and women) should lift each other up. In fact, the friendships between the alaki and their uruni — boy soldiers trained to protect them — are just as wonderful.

The Gilded Ones was a great debut. Namina Forna is passionate about her themes and her characters, and that really shows. I look forward to the potential of a sequel, and hope it brings with it the level of writing to support this beautiful series.

I loved this story. I'm a big fan of Deka's character development, not only how she became a stronger more outspoken character but how she got past her internalised misogyny and realised that the way of thinking that she has been taught is flawed.

The friendship development was good as was the romance. However, I do wish that more of the romantic development was done onscreen instead of the author telling us about the development after the fact, but aside from that what was shown was enjoyable.

The world-building also could've been handled a bit better, instead of mostly being dumped in the early part of the story through Deka's thoughts but it was interesting none the less.

The pacing was good and the story itself was pretty interesting. I do wish we got a bit more back story on the mythology but I can understand why there wasn't much information, given what the characters were led to believe.

All of the talk about this book says that it's going to be THE fantasy debut of the year. I can see exactly why people think that.

This is a fantastic book. The world building is great, the characters are wonderful. I love the friendships that developed between the girls and some of the boys, and I hate almost all the adults, but I'm pretty sure we were meant to!

I did absolutely hate the fact that people were openly keeping secrets from Deka - genuinely, "I'll tell you later" keeping things from her. That's something I always hate, and even though I kind of understand why they were keeping secrets here, I still don't feel it was worth it.

But that's only a tiny part of this amazing, lush, wonderful story. I can't wait to see where Namina takes this series next, but I suspect this first book was only the tip of the iceberg.

I think I might be in the minority when it comes to reviewing The Gilded Ones - I technically rate it 2.5 stars

I wanted to LOVE this book. As soon as I saw the cover, I fell in love and was even more gripped with the synopsis. But then I read it and I was...so disappointed. The story itself is great and the premise of the book was sweet to read - something I would have loved to read when I was younger but also value now that I am older. The imagery in some parts were great and allowed me to imagine the scene vividly.

But the execution of the story was so poor! I understand that this is meant to be a series but in this one book alone, it read as though 2 or 3 books worth of content was squeezed into it. Conversations that were had between characters were summarised into short paragraphs and didn’t even allow me to connect with them. Even with having Dexa’s POV, I still struggled to connect with her because I was only told how she felt rather than shown it (on top of that, it seemed as though she was only limited to 3 emotions anyway). Even the romance was lukewarm at best. Not only did I witness very little interaction between Dexa and Keita (although I was told they held hands, hugged and had deep conversations), but it seemed their relationship progressed far too quickly for me to actually feel anything towards it.

It’s sad to give a less than glowing review for a book I was highly anticipating this year but the wasted potential was just too much to bear.

This is a book that has been on many "most anticipated reads of 2021" lists. Fans of fantasy won't be disappointed by this unique, captivating story about a deeply patriarchal society where on their sixteenth birthday, girls are bled to determine whether their blood runs red, signalling them to be pure, or gold, marking them as unpure and thus sentencing them to death. When the main character Deka's blood runs gold, her life is flipped upside down as she's given the choice to remain in her village and submit to her fate or train to become part of a special army to defend the emperor and the kingdom from Deathshrieks, formidable creatures that pose a threat to the land. The book is filled with plenty of action and twists and turns, with an overall underlying message of the strength of women and fighting back against a patriarchal society that is threatened by that strength.

While I thought the concept of this story was pretty interesting and I liked the general themes and ideas, I unfortunately didn't quite enjoy the execution. I thought there were a lot of interesting concepts that could have been explored in more depth or gone in more interesting ways, but instead the story took a slightly predictable turn and the twist/revelation towards the end felt a little rushed and thrown together. This was the author’s debut novel and I actually thought the writing style wasn’t too bad, but I think the characters could have been better developed. The story is told from the main character, Deka's, perspective, but while we're in her head, I felt we didn’t really get much of a sense of her personality, and the other characters pretty much just exist as sidekicks to Deka. Britta was probably my favourite character, but I wish her character was explored a little further and given greater depth than just being devoted to Deka. Also, I found it slightly weird how Britta’s dialogue is written with an accent but literally no other character in the book is written as speaking with an accent, I felt like it threw things off a bit and was a bit distracting. Another issue I had was that there were a lot of info dumps, which is a real pet peeve of mine. As I said, I didn’t really mind the writer’s general writing style, so I wouldn’t necessarily let this put you off as I don’t think it affected the flow of the story necessarily, but I personally don’t like being told things through a monologue rather than it being shown through the characters figuring things out, but that was something I found happened a lot in this book.

There’s also a point to be made about the fact that this is a story about a society divided very strictly by gender but there is no discussion or suggestion of the existence of trans and non-binary people at all. There are a few throwaway lines in a single scene acknowledging a character’s non-heterosexual sexuality but that’s really the extent that this book delves into the realm of LGBTQ+ characters and themes. This was something I found particularly disappointing because I felt like Deka had zero chemistry with her love interest and the whole romance subplot felt beyond forced, whereas it would’ve been much more believable and satisfying if her love interest had been one of the alaki.

Despite all this, I'm hesitant to rate this any less than 3 stars because I acknowledge that I'm probably not the intended audience for this book. I admit I was excited to read it because of all the hype around the book, but really, I'm not much of a fan of fantasy (particularly not YA fantasy), which probably fed into my lack of enjoyment and the criticisms I had. However, I can see fantasy fans really enjoying this story and I really do think that generally, the author did a good job of coming up with such an interesting concept, and I really appreciate the existence of a YA fantasy that’s inspired by African culture and features a large cast of non-White characters. It seems as though this will be a series, so I’d be interested in seeing how the series develops as the author gets used to writing these characters and worlds.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am actually so torn about this book. Torn because the worldbuiling and the lore are really great and well done but in the same time the writing style or should I say the writing structure of the story is what kept me from getting totally interested.

Starting by the good things. Namina Forna created an immersive world. I believe it is inspired by West Africa culture/folklore but don’t quote me on that. The author created something totally new and unheard of. Starting from the history with gods, war and background to the « current days » in her story, she gave you everything to be able to immerse yourself as if you were in the book. I guess my favorite point was how some words were made up like « Jatu » or « Alaki » — it gave to the story something more real to it and gave me the impression that the author actually did care about the world building, you know?

Though I guess what I found the most interesting was the exploration of patriarchy in a high fantasy context especially with a cast of characters who were mainly person of colors. I always find it more interesting to talk about patriarchy and feminism when the talk comes from a woman of color because you can generally skip all the white feminism bullsh*t. Namina Forna, in my opinion, did a really great job in creating a patriarcal world. More than just saying « girls are inferior than boys » she created rules and a whole history about why girls are said to be inferior. And I believe this part is important to the story — and History in general — because you always hear stuff like « well it was always like that so there is no reason for it to change. » And by creating such a complex world with a bunch of rules coming from ancient texts, the author fixes this misogynic thoughts in everybody’s minds — whether it’s in women or men’s minds. I felt it was quite brilliant to do so because even if women weren’t allowed to do stuff like going out alone or run, they never really questioned it because it was always like that. And you, as an outsider, you can’t help but think how bad all of this is.

This is why you can’t help but root for Deka, the main character. You root for her and her friends. You root for her to be able to be finally free from this system which bounds women to men even if there is no reasons to do so. Deka as a main character was really relatable because she starts as this fragile and hurt character. She went through the worst stuff you can imagine but grew from this. She was betrayed and hurt but never really gave up even when she had the occasion to do so. When she could have run away, she didn’t and choose the tough path because it meant becoming stronger, powerful and eventually taking back her freedom even if she had to go to war for that.

Now let’s talk about what I liked the least about The Gilded Ones. Since the author made up the whole world, there was no way but giving you a lot of informations if you wanted to understand what was going on. Unfortunately, I felt like it was quite a bit info dumpy, especially in the first part of the story. But then, it’s probably just me because reading other people’s review, that point wasn’t brought up. I guess my brain can’t take it when there are more than three informations given to me at the same time and yes I’m exposing myself as an idiot here.

Anyways. The main point I disliked about the story is actually how it was being told. I have nothing against the author’s writing style — it was actually quite okay and goes straight to the point so it was pretty effective when it came to fight scenes. The main problem I got is that sometimes, it felt like the author said more than what should have been said, leading the reader to know more than what they should have known. And by doing that, it was quite easy to guess what was going to happen and especially figuring out the main plot twists. The thing is when you have a main character who is always asking themselves the same two questions, you can’t help but have readers focusing on those questions. By doing that, you direct your readers in a certain way and you have them constantly thinking about those questions and it is quite easy for them to understand where you’re going. I don’t know if the author wanted all those questions to be some kind of foreshadowing (like saying: « hey Deka thought about that and here it comes! ») but yeah, I felt like it wasn’t done in the greatest way. Long story short, because Deka kept asking herself the same questions and because the author kept showing certain stuffs (I believe the purpose was to show how much it was important), I pretty much guessed all the plot twists?

Then, I believe it’s more about personal tastes than anything else. I know some readers tend to like it when the author « shows you the way. » I’m more a person who likes to be surprised by the story. In any case it means The Gilded Ones is a bad story — I actually believe it’s an important one, who shows the importance of fighting back and taking back what’s yours.

It's an beautiful and enthralling tale and it revolves around the main protagonist 'Deka' who is an Alaki. Tigger warning includes rape , sexual abuse etc. I really felt that I was indulging in this magnificient tale. It's an ownvoices book so it contains many unfamilarized words which are new but thanks to the glossary you will be able to read the book with ease. Haunting, brutal, and relevant. This book will suck you into a world where girls bleed gold, magic fills the air, and the real monsters hide behind words instead of claws. There were few themes that were difficult to read and witness but were hopeful and empowering at so times. There were also some great twists to the story which I really loved and appreciated. Overall I loved this book and recommended to the all especially the fans of Children of Blood and Bone.

I hadn't read high fantasy in a while so I decided to finally read The Gilded Ones and it was the best decision I could make.

The Gilded Ones is everything I love in fantasy. The first thing you see is a map, so you know you're in for an epic story, the worldbuilding is great, you learn about this empire, Otera, and all its different regions, with all its different customs. It's not an Eurocentered empire so all the characters are different and diverse. There's magic, there are fantastic creatures, there are epic battles, there are beautiful friendships. I loved it so much.

The story begins in this awful patriarchal society where women are taught to be submissive, weak, and small. Their only purpose is to serve men and do what they're told. But as the story goes on the characters discover that they're a lot more than that, that they can be strong, and bold, and fierce. They create this sisterhood, helping and protecting and loving one another. The found family trope is one of my favourite tropes, and Forna wrote it so well.

The ending is so promising and I am so very excited for the next book.

Deka is 15, living in a patriarchal society where she’ll have to prove her purity. Turns out - she’s not pure, which means her societal worth is low, and her future is dreary. Luckily, she gets drafted into a specialist army of women, and the story goes on from there...

Gorgeous world-building, well developed characters and a really interesting plot, The Gilded Ones is a brilliant debut from Namina Forna which I would really recommend to anyone who likes fantasy YA. Well worth the hype.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Thank you to @usborneya, @namina.forna & @Netgalley for my digital ARC of ‘The Gilded Ones’.

READ THIS IF… you like young adult books, fantastical worlds where teenagers fight against terrifying creatures, and books with a strong feminist message.

THE STORY… In a world where girls have to undergo a dramatic blood ceremony, when Deka’s blood runs gold she is declared to be a demon. She is an alaki - a creature who can repeatedly come back to life until her ‘final death’ is discovered, and her ability to command the terrifying creatures known as deathshrieks sets her apart even from the other cursed girls. Despite repeated attempts, the village elders cannot kill her. Her only chance of escape comes as an offer from a mysterious woman: join the alaki army to fight against the deathshrieks.

I… wish I could have read this when I was a teenager! As it stands, I still enjoyed it enough as an ‘adult’ that it has shot up to the top of my ‘favourite reads of 2021’ list. This is Divergent with 10 times the stakes, Black Panther if the women had more of a central role, The Handmaid’s Tale if it was about teenagers with superpowers. I could give a hundred comparisons but none of them would quite do justice to how brilliant this book is.

Deka and her friends face racism, misogyny, torture, and more - but this isn’t a story with gratuitous violence, nor one that is overwhelmingly negative. Female friendship is the foundation of this story, with characters including Britta and Belcalis being just as compelling as the protagonist.

I felt like this story was reading my mind, as I would begin to think ‘ooh I wish they’d dive deeper into this issue’, and then it would immediately come up! Despite this, I was still shocked at many of the twists, and truly couldn’t predict how this was going to end.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Please be aware that this book features graphic violence, as well as mentions of rape and sexual abuse.

NOW… Immediately after finishing this I added the currently unnamed second and third instalments of this trilogy as ‘Want To Read’ on Goodreads, and I’m on the edge of my seat to see what comes next. READ THIS - you won’t regret it!

The Gilded Ones is a story of belonging, coming of age, sisterhood, abuse, racism, religion and self worth and it was so cleverly written in a way that each theme is explored without being overly graphic, more in an off the page sort of way.
The reader is taken on a journey with Deka who is a 16 year old girl whose main objective is to prove her purity at the blood ceremony so she can get married and have a family of her own.We literally watch Deka transform from a shy girl of Irfut into a warrior who is confident in her abilities. Her self awareness is remarkably juxtaposed with the self conscience, insecure and outcast girl we saw at the start of the story.

There are many twists and turns in the story which gives you elements of surprise and when you think you've figured it all out, there comes another twist and the author takes you on another path.
It is so important to have black protagonists in stories so children are able to see themselves as the hero instead of the villain, the gangster or the slave which is the usual depiction of black characters within stories.
Through Namina's writing she makes sure that everyone regardless of their race, gender or orientation is properly represented and has dispelled so many stereotypes that are often written about.
This is a fantastic read for any fantasy fan and is a real action book.

Thank you Usborne Publishing for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Reads like: Give the Dark my Love by Beth Revis

“Outcasts by blood. Warriors by choice.” A grim and outstanding novel about sisterhood and inner strength. Woman everywhere and every age should read this one!

WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT IT
The first few chapters are possible one of my favorite openings of all time. I DID NOT EXPECT WHAT HAPPENED. The opening scenes clearly depict the patriarchal world that Deka inhabits and its scary. I felt right there with Deka through every trial and hardship. I totally forgot the synopsis before reading it so that maybe helped. The violence was so accurate and some scenes were so violent I could realize myself right there (which may be distressing to others).

WHAT DID YOU NOT LIKE ABOUT IT
I struggled a bit with the character of Britta. It could have been the accent thing (I really suck at reading that sort of thing, think Trainspotting, I just gave up on that book:) and it sort of ruined that easy reading flow I was getting used to, but I did get used to it. There were also some personality traits of Deka’s that irked me at times. Pushing that aside it was very predictable (but these YA fantasies are) the pacing and flow of the story could have been neater but overall it was a really a really interesting, enjoyable read. The end of this book is where it really flew, I loved how this story played out.

OKAY BUT SHOULD I BUY IT
Yes, YES you should buy it for this damn gorgeous cover alone. This would make a beautiful addition to anyone’s YA fantasy collection and I am interested in seeing what happens to Deka in the following books.

Rating: 3.8
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Book 1 in the Deathless trilogy
Publish Date: 04 February 2021 (according to NetGalley publish date)
Cover Rating: 9/10
Young Adult – Fantasy – Epic Fantasy