The Gilded Ones

by Namina Forna

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Series

Deathless (1)

Genres

Publication

Delacorte Press (2021), Edition: First Edition, Later Printing, 432 pages

Description

Fantasy. Mythology. Young Adult Fiction. HTML:INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TEEN VOGUE "A dark feminist tale spun with blood and gold. Must read!" �Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles 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. The start of a bold and immersive fantasy series for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member krau0098

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Deathless trilogy. I got an ARC of through Amazon Vine for review.

Story (5/5): Deka lives in fear of being found impure, if she bleeds gold instead of red during her purity ceremony she will be found to be part demon and prosecuted as such. The day

of Deka’s purity ceremony her village is attacked by vicious monsters and Deka bleeds gold, sending Deka into a cascade of events she never could have predicted..

This was a very well crafted fantasy story. The whole culture of Deka’s world and the monsters that hunt it are very well done. I loved how the story unfolded and the secrets that were revealed about the alaki (near immortals with gold blood). There is a lot of action in here as well and it was very well done.

Characters (5/5): After reading so many epic fantasies in a row it was nice to read a fantasy where we only hear from one POV, Deka’s. She is a very well done character. She starts out pretty timid and is put through more than any character should ever have to go through, but comes out stronger on the other side. The women that surround her and the men chosen as their battle companions are all very well done; they are complex and have a lot of depth to them and were all very entertaining to read about.

Setting (5/5): This is a very well built world that is mainly founded on the mythology/history of the gods that built it. I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to seeing where things go in the next book.

Writing Style (5/5): This is incredibly well written; it’s easy to read, moves at a good pace, and has a wonderful blend of an amazing world, intriguing characters, and a well done plot that keeps you guessing. This is just a nice straight-forward fantasy with some interesting elements around mythology and gods. It is a bit darker in tone; the girls are abused (and die a lot) and there is torture and rape (never explicit but discussed).

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this. I am getting spoiled with great fantasy novels so far this year!! This was an amazingly entertaining and fast-paced fantasy that I really enjoyed a ton. If you love action packed dark fantasy I would definitely give this a read, I loved it and can’t wait for the next book in the series.

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LibraryThing member eyes.2c

Demons and more!

Exciting premise to the story—one that I both loved and hated when I really thought about the society’s racial biases. Only pure bloods are allowed to continue their lives within their villages (even if for women thats along strictly traditional patriarchal lines) The others,

those whose blood runs a different colour (gold) when tested are deemed to be descended from so called demons. This is the Ritual of Purity that happens all over the land of Otera when a girl turns sixteen. If other they are used, abused and killed over and over for the economic value of their golden blood secretions.
This idea of the ‘other’ being sorted out and disposed of raises of course the specter of Gladiators and Roman arena ordeals, the slave markets. I kept thinking Hunger Games, but in Otera the rejects, the racially impure must fight to save the pure. So battle slaves are essentially being trained to save the Chosen ones. You’re being selected out and trained to fight in the arena of life, to save the pure bloods from annihilation, but not enough to be given freedom. The yoke of the powerful and righteous remains on the neck of the impure. Training is brutal.
Several tropes are occurring, the training sequences that produces friendships, the fight against monsters, secrets withheld from the main protagonist, unlooked for abilities springing to the fore, the evil within and without, acceptance, racism, parochialism. Despite all this as I continued to read, I became less engaged.
Naming Forna is an exciting new voice. Reading her introduction gives shape to that.
I am sure The Guilded Ones will be well received by many. I became somewhat disconnected as the tale developed and I’m not sure why.
I do love the cover BTW.

A Random House Children’s ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

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LibraryThing member sleahey

In this novel, Forna has fully realized another world of complexity, with a fascinating culture and religion. The beginning is rather slow-starting as the stage is set for the plot to take off running. We learn about the purity ritual that girls endure when they turn 16, the mores that force all

women to be passive participants in their lives, at the risk of disgrace or death. And we are introduced to Deka, the heroine, about to turn 16, who has always been an outlier and feared her differences. From this point the action picks up with the arrival of the Deathshrieks, the brutal creatures who can quickly destroy an entire community and whom Deka can control with her voice. There are issues to ponder while following the lively plot: the subjugation of females, the importance of loyalty and trust, and the value of friendship and family, the power of preparation. As secrets are revealed and the action comes to a satisfactory resolution, it is easy to imagine reading more about Deka and her world in the probable sequels.

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LibraryThing member bell7

Deka just wants to be accepted by the village and find her place as a young woman, getting married and raising kids. But when her blood runs gold, marking her impure, she is tortured by the community and finally brought to a place where girls like her are made into warriors.

I wanted to like this so

much, and I did find it an intriguing, fast-paced read. However, the world-building fell a little short for me: instead of slowly developing revelations, there were very clear unsaid things that were suddenly revealed. Character development felt that way too: Deka is matched up with a boy to be her brother-in-arms and they fall in love, but instead of scenes where the feelings slowly change from distrust to love, we get a few scenes that very suddenly drop the information that they've become friendly, and then how much Deka wants to kiss him. Still, it's a first novel with an overall satisfying story and a few kinks that may get worked out as she continues to write. I'll look forward to seeing what Forna does next.

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LibraryThing member JanaRose1

At the age of sixteen, every girl is subjected to a purity ritual. If her blood runs red, she is pure and welcomed as a woman of the village. If her blood runs gold, she is unpure, a demon who is immediately subject to death. However, those with gold blood are stronger, and much harder to kill.

When Deka's blood runs gold, village elders attempt to kill her 9 times, before White Hands offers her a choice. Deka can either stay in her village and continue to be tortured and bled, or she can join an elite fighting unit composed of others of her kind.

I really enjoyed this book right up until the end. The characters were dynamic, well written and engaging. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I thought the ending was poorly done. It seemed rushed and explanations were glossed over. Overall, the ending felt very unsatisfying. Because of these criticism, I am not likely to pick up the next book in the series.

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LibraryThing member JRlibrary

I listened to the audiobook, and absolutely LOVED the narration. It was fantastic and I’m going to miss the characters and their voices. If you like YA fantasy, this one is REALLY good.

LibraryThing member rgruberexcel

RGG: The cover is the most exciting aspect of this new fantasy. The misognistic othering and the mystery of the main character's origin is only somewhat interesting.

LibraryThing member SapphireMoonlight23

Okay. So. I finally finished this book and... woah, I'm really looking forward to the next one.

This was way more fast paced than most fantasy books, but I really loved the world building and... damn, the whole idea of the Deathless universe is amazing.

But, the romance was a little disappointing. I

mean... Keita and Deka were obviously going to get together. It was just... way too obvious and a bit forced in my opinion .

However, wow! This book was amazing and some moments were... woah.

Recommended!

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LibraryThing member oldandnewbooksmell

Trigger Warnings: Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, inequality, abuse, trauma, rape

Deka has been anticipating the blood ceremony her whole life - she prays she will bleed red blood to prove once and for all to her village she is pure and that she belongs. But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs

gold, the color of impurity, and Deka knows she will face consequences worse than death.

But, a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and accept her fate, or leave to fight in army made of girls just like her. Deka goes with the woman and meets other alaki, the girls who are like Deka. Alaki are near immortals with rare gifts - and they're the only ones who can stop the Deathshrieks, monsters who kill villagers.

Through the journey to the capital, Deka trains for the biggest battle of her life alongside people she calls her bloodsisters. There are secrets everywhere and no one is quite what they seem, including Deka herself.

I have been wanting to read this book for ages... the cover alone caught my attention and I just knew I would love it. I totally judged a book by it's cover, but this is one I could just tell I would love. I was right.

This is a super empowering YA novel that offers a large diverse cast of female characters. The main character is black and there are many black, Asian, and brown major and minor characters. All the characters were flushed out and had depth to them that made me curious to know more about them. Britta was one of my favorites, her loyalty to Deka and her humor always made me smile. Even characters I wasn't too fond of still had moments - like when the villagers were calling the alaki horrible names and saying how they don't want them here and Captain Kelechi was like, "Well then, who wants to take their place? No one? Then be quiet!".

There were only two things I had a bit of a trouble with. One was that the romance part of the novel fell a little flat for me. I felt like Deka had other worries and concerns that we focused on more... it wasn't that I didn't want or like them together, there were just more interesting things happening than that. The other part was a bit of the pacing. There would be some months that we fast forwarded through that would only be briefly mentioned by Deka. It was mostly during training and I completely understood there wasn't anything crazy going on, but I wouldn't have minded a few more details here and there.

The ending was kind of crazy and I honestly wasn't expecting it, especially since it's the first book of the series. It makes me super excited to see what the next book is going to be about though!

Overall, I loved this novel. The characters and their development were well thought out and detailed, the plot was engrossing and amazing, and the writing was phenomenal. Namina Forna put a lot of work into this novel and it shows, what an excellent author she is. I would recommend this series to fans of Children of Blood and Bone, Black Panther, and The Good Luck Girls.

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LibraryThing member quondame

Another supergirl and the evil empire story, mostly well enough put together, but with some how could anyone be taken by surprise that way moments of plot stupidity. Not much to distinguish it from other current iterations, though the balance on the side of women's friendships is less common in my

reading but is right for this story.

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LibraryThing member tornadox

Like it, but the ending felt rushed

LibraryThing member RandyMorgan

Young women must participate in the coming of age ceremony that tests their blood for purities or curses. Deka’s blood runs gold, cursed. In accordance with tradition she is subjected to seclusion, torture, and multiple deaths. Deka is recruited to join the imperial immortal army of alak with the

purpose of defeating the deathshrieks.

Kudos to the narrator Shayna Small! She did an incredible job switching between voices for different characters and not breakup up the narration. The only dynamic and rhythmic changes appeared intentional.

Author Namina Forna wrote a fierce book depicting the cycles of grief and oppression. The Gilded Ones naturally shows how a victim becomes a victor over their life. I am excited to start the next book The Mercoless Ones.

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LibraryThing member zjakkelien

I think actually this was a little too YA, the writing and story a little too simple, too easy for me, to really merit 4 stars. On the other hand, it got close. And it had characters of all colours, lots of strong women, friendships, and loyalty. And the parts where I could see the cardboard making

up the landscape or where the subtlety was lacking were not too problematic. It was overall a good book.

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LibraryThing member BarnesBookshelf

I greatly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the sequles in the future. That said, I had a hard time enjoying it at first because of the things Deka believed. I know that it being difficult was the point, but I kept waiting for her to change perspective. Once she did, it felt like

a relief. I loved the world built in the story, but the society not so much (as is the point).

I also really loved the female friendships developed in the novel. We love women supporting women!

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