The Gilded Ones: Review

I recently got this stunning edition of The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, and of course I jumped in and read it as soon as possible!

First off: let me say this book is BRUTAL. It’s all about girls who are nearly impossible to kill, but they still suffer grisly injuries that would be lethal for anyone else, and Forna does not skimp on the descriptions. So this book is not for the faint of heart. If you don’t like gore, you might want to give this one a pass. However, if you don’t mind some bloody viscera on your pages, you might like this one!

To expand on the premise a little bit: every year, girls of a certain age are given purity tests. If they bleed red, they live. If they bleed gold, they’re considered cursed, and they’re killed, often more than once to find their “final death.” Deka bleeds gold, and she’s tortured for weeks for her golden blood and to try and find the way to kill her for good before she’s taken away to join an army of girls like her that fight monsters to protect the empire. If they serve for twenty years, they’ll be “purified” and pardoned by the king.

As one might guess from the premise, this is a book laden with themes of racism and sexism. Deka herself is brainwashed to hate herself and see herself as lesser, and it’s a long and hard journey for her to learn to love herself. On the other hand, though, since the army she’s in consists entirely of women, this book is also full of solidarity between women, and that’s one of the most heartwarming parts. They form powerful bonds, they stand up for each other, and even if they fight amongst each other they still don’t want to see the others die. They find that they belong among each other, so perhaps it doesn’t matter so much if the rest of the world rejects them, and that’s beautiful.

Forna’s writing is detailed, and Deka’s emotions feel real and raw. Her anger, her pain, her self-loathing, are all uncomfortably authentic on the page, meaning her character development also feels natural as the hatred she holds for herself turns into acceptance of the self.

This book is also incredibly diverse, and not just in a racial sense. There are LGBT+ characters. There’s even body diversity, with characters who are skinny, characters who are bulky with muscles, and those with unapologetic curves.

As for the plot, it’s almost perfect! It’s well-paced, it’s exciting, and the climax has a twist to give you whiplash! Except… some plot points come a bit out of nowhere, and others arrive and then solve themselves within pages. They’re weird, and a bit confusing, but not too distracting from the whole plot.

Overall, this book is definitely worth a read. The flaws are just drops in an ocean of great traits. If you can stomach the blood, you’ll probably like this book.