Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna is a YA fantasy about a 16-year-old named Deka, who finds out she has golden blood and thus must decide to die or be conscripted into the Emperor's secret elite fighting force. From here, Deka is thrown into a violent and dangerous world where she must unravel the lies she has been taught and figure out what is right for herself.
So much of this story is about trauma and violence. The story centers on a war between humans and creatures called death shrikes in a society that oppresses women blatantly and violently. The narrative ties in these themes to the whole of the story very smoothly and interestingly. Gender-based violence and war are so interconnected, and this story handles both so sensitively.
The story overall is very fun and very fast to read. I found the magic to be interesting, and I liked the overall pace of the writing, I was really pulled through this book very quickly. If you like a chosen one narrative then I think this book is a really fun approach to this trope.
The side characters were a part of the story I wanted more from. I was so interested in them and never actually felt like I got to know them very well. We were told that Deka had strong relationships with these people and are shown them following her throughout the story, but I don't think we got enough time to get to know others. I didn't really get enough chance to see them building these very strong bonds that would have been so delightful to see more of on the page. I think that the time spent developing the romance was a good time, but seeing that relationship being built out mostly just made me crave that same level of detail for the friendships, which seemed so close to the overarching theme of the book.
In the early parts of the book, I didn't love the world-building elements; this did change for me as I read more. I really liked where we ended with the world. It has been about two weeks since I read this book as I am writing this, and my notes on this aren't incredibly extensive in this area. I remember not thinking the world was fleshed out enough early on and not totally understanding the way society operates and how the gilded ones factor into this exactly. This is especially noticeable in the trade of their blood; I genuinely do not understand what use their blood has until the use invented about 3/4 of the way through the book. I read this blog for Oxford Exchange's Fiction, Fantasies, and Epics book club, and the whole group seemed a little baffled by this and a few other world-building elements as well. The second half has really interesting lore, politics, and magic. I just felt like the book needed more from the first half. I also found all the time skips in the first half to be clunky and disconcerting.
I have this issue with about half of the YA SSF I read, so maybe it is me and not the books, but I thought the foreshadowing was a bit heavy-handed. The twists seemed pretty apparent right from the first seeds being planted, so I wasn't incredibly surprised when they finally happened, and I thought it dragged a bit in the solving of the mystery because I had already figured it out, but I assume that this experience will change a lot depending on who the reader is and how much of the genre they have read previously.
I gave this book three stars. I am planning on continuing this series, I did really enjoy my time reading the second half of the book, and I am excited for the expansion of the world and the additional time spent with these characters that is sure to come in the next book.
