The Gilded Ones: Book Review

I have had the ARC of this book since last year. I started and stopped the book many times. It was not the fault of the book. I just couldn’t read anything last year, pandemic brain. I finally completed the book in the first week of February and I have never felt so accomplished in reading a book before. 

I enjoyed the book immensely. It dealt with very strong themes of misogyny, religious fervor, feminism, and patriarchy. I enjoy reading a black-dominated YA fantasy novel. 

Deka is from a small village in the province of Otera that is uber-religious and has strong abusive patriarchy. When girls reach the age of 15 or 16, they must participate in the purity ritual checking to see if the girls’ blood is pure. If the girl’s blood runs red, they are pure. If their blood runs gold, they are “impure” and therefore sentenced to death. 

After being tortured and killed over and over again (those with gold blood can heal themselves), she is given the “choice“ to continue this torment or fight for the empire.

With all the heavy subject matter intertwined in the book, Forna does an excellent job telling a magical and uplifting story.

What I enjoyed about the book

• The world-building in this book was very detailed. I was able to immerse myself in Otera alongside Deka. 
• Deka’s pet was amazing with everything it could do. (Trying not to give anything away)
• The positive female friendships were incredible! There was no female hate or jealousy. Whatever differences they did have the girls worked through them together.
• The story is action-packed with intense training scenes and fighting.
• There were some huge revelations in this book, especially towards the end.

What could be better

• The pacing of the book. The beginning was a little slow with the whole world-building and towards the end the story sped down hill.
  • Since it is the first novel in a series it had to set the stage for the rest of the novels

Overall, this was a fantastic debut and story about Black Girl Power!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advance reader copy. This is part of my Netgalley challenge. Please check it out here. This did not influence my review. My own opinions.

Have you read the book? Let me know in the comments below.