Title: The Gilded Ones
Author: Namina Forna
Publisher: Usbourne Publishing
Publication Date: 4 February 2021
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 400
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in Otera, a deeply patriarchal ancient kingdom, where a woman’s worth is tied to her purity, and she must bleed to prove it. But when Deka bleeds gold – the colour of impurity, of a demon – she faces a consequence worse than death. She is saved by a mysterious woman who tells Deka of her true nature: she is an Alaki, a near-immortal with exceptional gifts. The stranger offers her a choice: fight for the Emperor, with others just like her, or be destroyed…
A debut fantasy by Namina Forna who I believe will become and up and coming favourite author. She created a beautiful story about womanhood and what it means to be a woman within a society run by men.
What’s the story about you say? In a world over run with patriarchal society that abuses women and girls, there is a ritual that girls will have to attend their 15th year where they will be bled by the priest to determine their purity. You bleed red your pure, you bleed gold your impure. A Demon. If your lucky you will be killed, if not, you will be enslaved, sold, tortured, until they find your final death. Deka’s blood runs gold and she is therefore cast aside by her family and friends and is locked away in the cellar where she is killed. Nine times. They can’t find her final death so instead they use her blood for money. Until one day a mysterious woman; Whitehands will come and save her from the torture and take her to the capitol to join others like her to train and be the emperors warrior and kill the enemy. The Deathshrieks. However, along her journey of becoming the one of the emperors warrior she starts to unravel secrets of her past and what’s really going on within this cruel society she lives in.
Ive begun to believe that the strong point of any novel is its characters. Yes, a story can still be good with its world and plot but the characters are what carries a good story. The characters Namina created were so good and really helped carry this story. Deka was a powerful main character, with many flaws but that’s what made her so realistic, and the background characters we just as good. All with their unique personalities and how these groups of women band together to bring down evil, the patriarch and how they know that they are all powerful, strong women who will stand for what they know is right and that is to be a free woman.
The writing was beautiful yet easy to read. It does seem to read a little younger than most YA but that doesn’t do anything to how great the story is. I found the pacing to be great. I practically flew through this novel, however it wasn’t too fast which I liked. I’m sure this will definitely be in my top 10 of this year, which is a lot to say as the year has only just started. If that doesn’t explain to you how much I loved it then I don’t know what will.
The Gilded Ones is such a powerful feminist YA fantasy with so much representation and tackled issues that we all know too well today. I loved how it was a fun and enjoyable epic fantasy that took you on a beautiful journey but was there to also send an important message. I loved it. The magic system, political intrigue, characters and world was done so so well. I hope for this story to be as successful as it deserves as Namina Forna is such a great writer and story teller. I’m so excited to see more from Deka and this world and many others that she will create in the future and I wish her all the success with her writing and incredible stories she creates.
I received and early copy as part of June’s Fairyloot box. This book will release February 4th for all UK readers and February 9th for the US, so make sure to get your preorders in now so you can get it for release day and enjoy this powerful story as much as I did. Also the cover is absolutely stunning and I know how much is readers love our pretty covers so that should sell you alone right?
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About the Author
Namina Forna was born in Sierra Leone but emigrated with her family to the US in the 1990s, during her homeland’s civil war, and has been travelling back and forth ever since. She has worked as a writer and producer for film and TV in LA since graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Namina was a finalist for NBC / Universal Writers on the Verge, a semi-finalist for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab and top 50 in the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting Fellowship. Namina loves spicy food and witchy-looking cats, and has been known to wear unicorn onesies to the nearest taco truck. The Gilded Ones is her debut novel.
Xoxo Casey
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